Just in case you’re not cool enough for RSS or Twitter, you can now subscribe to Aston Villa Central by email. So, you know, if you’re a big old square, head over there and subscribe. Square!
The emails should get fired out once a day, sometime between 12pm and 2pm GMT. (I guess that means that if you subscribe today, like now for example, you’ll get this post delivered to your inbox tomorrow. Probably).
Oh, and if you absolutely have to
Playing at Villa Park would have been better, but never look a gift horse in the mouth. Carling Cup Quarter Final draw…
Blackburn v Chelsea
Manchester City v Arsenal
Manchester United v Tottenham
Portsmouth v Aston Villa
If we can get past Pompey, the Semi-Finals will be in January over two legs. It will be tough, whoever is left in the competition, but over two legs anything can happen.
As promised, it’s time to look at this season’s performance in the Premiership in comparison with last season. A reminder of the two methods:-
Chronological – i.e. compare the first 10 games this season with the first 10 last season, regardless of opponent.
Apple for Apples – compare identical fixtures from last season, regardless of when they occurred. Since 3 teams are relegated and 3 promoted each year this isn’t possible across all 19 opponents so I’ve made the following
I was just updating some data and I noticed a little nugget; Martin O’Neill has now amassed 189 points in the Premiership from his 123 league games in charge of Aston Villa, which is the same number of points Brian Little achieved in his 130 game career.
Next target, John Gregory’s 229 points from 148 games:-
John Gregory – 229 points, 148 games
Martin O’Neill – 189 points, 123 games
Brian Little – 189 points, 130 games
David O’Leary – 145 points, 114 games
Ron Atkinson
There’s a group of scamps among the Aston Villa fan base who thrive on negativity. That may be the case at all clubs, but it’s always seemed particularly prevalent at Villa.
Among the Villa faithful, there have been persist rumours about John Carew’s relationship with Martin O’Neill that I delight in debunking at every opportunity. That’s as much to do with my enjoyment of proving people wrong as it is with being a Villa fan. That said, I
The Guardian seems to have a strange feature built around user submitted Photoshopped images. Gabby Agbonlahor is the subject of the latest addition and they’re truly bad.
No, I don’t know either. Note to The Guardian – please stop. Just stop.
Milner and Petrov (just) eased back into the Actim Index Top 100 this week, making 8 Aston Villa players overall. James Collins’ performances and winning goal propelled him up the charts from 58th to 16th place – our highest placed player.
16th James Collins – 147 points
19th Gabriel Agbonlahor – 144 points
34th Ashley Young – 124 points
39th Brad Friedel – 122 points
41st Richard Dunne – 120 points
63rd Carlos Cuellar – 105 points
71st James Milner – 100 points
99th Stiliyan Petrov – 86
As it’s coming up to Halloween I decided to carve myself a Jack-o-lantern, but those scary faces have been done a thousand times. I could be the first to carve an Aston Villa Jack-o-lantern though…
It’s not often that I get to link to Horticulture Week, but I’m delighted to direct your attention to the news that Aston Villa’s Jonathon Calderwood recently picked up the Groundman’s Groundsman of the Year award. I guess that’s the equivalent of the Players’ Player of the Year. I’m awaiting confirmation of who won the Groundman’s Young Groundsman of the Year.
I’m sure you’ll all agree that Jonathan does a brilliant job, I know Jack Woodward is particularly fond of comparing