Europa League Play Off Draw

Here are all 76 teams entered in today’s Europa League Fourth Qualifying Round split into their seeded & unseeded groups. Villa are seeded and will be drawn against one of the teams from the bottom, unseeded group.

The Play Off Round will be played over two legs, home and away, to be held on 20th & 27th August 2009. 

Seeded teams

Werder Bremen (Ger)
Lille OSC (Fra)
Aston Villa (Eng)

Villarreal (Esp)
Everton (Eng)
Athletic Bilbao (Esp)

AS Roma (Ita)
Club Brugge (Bel)
Partizan Belgrade (Srb)

PSV Eindhoven (Ned)
Heerenveen (Ned)
Hapoel

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Europa League Explained

The draw for the fourth and final round of qualification for the UEFA Europa League will be made on Friday and it will define Villa’s first action in the tournament. UEFA competitions can often seem pretty complicated at first glance, but I find that they’re a lot like those old 3D magic eye images in that if you stare at them long enough, eventually they just fall into place.

I don’t want to count our chickens, but I’m going to

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Comical Ali’s Peace Cup Videos

OK, the Peace Cup is old news now, but I wanted to bring you the organiser’s productions of the semi-final and final and it will also give me a chance to have a whine about something that gets on my nerves.

I have to warn you, these videos feature lots of people talking about what a great concept the Peace Cup is and how well organised it was – complete with empty seats as far as the eye can see!!

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Oxford Utd 2 Aston Villa XI 0 and Fabian Delph Quotes

As expected, after playing so recently in the Peace Cup, it was just kids that were sent down to Oxford to play the conference side at the Kassam Stadium. I listened to the commentary on BBC Radio Oxford and I could hear the 700 odd Villa fans in good voice. I was also treated to the dolcid tones of Jack Woodward in the background, at one point comparing the pitch to a snooker table which left the radio

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Official: Fabian Delph Signs For Aston Villa

Aston Villa have just confirmed that Fabian Delph has been signed from Leeds Utd.

The fee is thought to be around £6million with £2million in potential add-ons.

He’s 19 years old, an attacking midfielder and the 2009 Football League Young Player of the Year. He won Players’ Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year & Goal of the Season in Leeds Utd’s annual awards for the 2008/09 season.

I’m really looking forward to seeing him and action and hope that

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Fabian Delph Set To Sign For Aston Villa

Firstly, I just want to reiterate my policy that this is a blog, not a news site. I’m not looking to create sensationalist headlines to fish traffic from NewsNow and so, for the time being at least, I’ve no intention of submitting this site to be included in their feeds. I generally don’t want to get involved in speculation or gossip.

However, today’s news has a slightly different slant on it that causes me to believe that the signing

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Aston Villa – Peace Cup Champions

It might only be pre-season, it might only be the Peace Cup, but damn it feels good to win something, doesn’t it?! Winning can be a habit and there’s no better time to start this particular habit than in pre-season.

Simply taking part in this tournament would have no great effect on Villa’s season beyond being a good bonding exercise in the sun. But winning it, and winning it in the manner that they did, could well be the

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Aston Villa Win The Peace Cup

Aston Villa have won the 2009 Peace Cup on penalties. A full review to follow.

It may only be pre-season, but it’s great to see some silverware!!!

Sir Bobby Robson

I’ve mentioned somewhere on this site before that I was a relatively late bloomer to football. It was really England’s adventure in Italia ’90, guided by Sir Bobby Robson, that sucked me in.

I have Bobby to thank for my love of the game and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that fact on the day of his passing.

Gone, but not forgotten. One of football’s true gentlemen. Thank you Bobby!!