It was over a month ago that I first wrote about the bad JuJu surrounding Aston Villa in March under Martin O’Neill’s leadership and since then I have not rested in my quest to find the source of this curse and vanquish the demons once and for all.
I couldn’t reveal my journey to you all before now, for fear of derision and at half time today in Reading I seriously questioned whether by mission had truly been successful, but by
The walls of Aston Villa Central are still creaking under the weight of what turned out to be quite a busy day here yesterday. There were no less than three posts, none of them particularly brief and all of them focused on financial matters. So, plenty to make the eyes glaze over of most football fans, myself included.
I need to follow up on the third post (this one effectively replaces it), so here’s a quick recap of the
[Updated: This post has been replaced, The Telegraph have butchered the facts]
I didn’t expect to be following up the earlier post on the 2008/09 revenue so quickly, but I just spotted this article at The Telegraph which suggests that our accounts have now been filed, they’ve seen them and the revenue increase of 11% to £84.2 million is confirmed.
However, the not-so-sexy news is that we still made a loss. Not insignificant either. £43.7 million in the red for the
You may have already seen that Deloitte recently released their annual Football Money League report which ranks Europe’s top 20 football clubs by revenue. The headline for the 2008/09 season was that Real Madrid became the first sporting club in the world to earn more than €400m in one year.
If you’re not familiar with the report and/or don’t fancy reading the full story at The Guardian, I’ll just summarise the top 20 below (figures are €million) :-
1
Real Madrid
401.4
11
Hamburg
146.7
2
Barcelona
365.9
12
Roma
146.4
3
Manchester Utd
327.0
13
Lyon
139.6
4
Bayern Munich
289.5
14
Marseille
133.2
5
Arsenal
263.0
15
Tottenham
132.7
6
Chelsea
242.3
16
Schalke
124.5
7
Liverpool
217.0
17
Werder
I said I wouldn’t dwell on this sort of expose much, so apologies up front, but once again a slightly negative story with a sensationalized headline in the British tabloid media is seized upon by the delusional Aston Villa blogger in Sweden to further bolster his bizarre agenda.
This time the subject is Habib Beye and his quite understandable frustration at his lack of playing time. Firstly, let’s look at the headline and quotes (yes, they have quotes!!) from the
Nathan Delfouneso won his first England Under-21 cap this evening and managed to get a consolation goal back for England in the 2-1 loss to Greece in Doncaster. Nathan looked extremely lively as soon as he came on the pitch and made the most of his first touch with some impressive footwork down the left, leaving 2 Greek defenders chasing shadows, before sending a decent delivery into the box.
No one was on the end of it that time, but
…looking like a fool with you hands in the air. (That’s to the tune of “Pants on the Ground” for anyone not getting the reference)
I always laugh at players who commit a foul and then put their hands in the air as if to say “I didn’t touch him!!”. Nemanja Vidic gives a masterclass as he takes Gabby down to give away a penalty in the first 5 minutes of the Carling Cup Final.
Grab A Handful Of Shirt
Dive In
Quick,
Some pictures of last minute preparations at Wembley ahead of our Carling Cup Final against Man Utd tomorrow courtesy of Carling.
First View Of Wembley
Filming Football Focus
Final Touches To The Aston Villa Bench
The Tunnel
Hospitality
Utd Player Mural – Holding Area
Villa Player Mural – Holding Area
National Anthem Rehearsal
Wembley or Wimbledon?
Titans
Big Screen
Press Box
View From The Press Box
Fan Messages
@Umbro Arrives
@Rakey Almost There
I’m going to leave this post open and at the top of the home page all the way up until we get the team news for the Carling Cup Final on Sunday. I’ll drop links to all the latest news and opinion that attracts my attention on the wires and feeds, with the most recent at the top. Feel free to draw my attention to anything I miss.
I’m not completely sure how I’m going to handle the match