The Villa Times - 02/03/2008

Unoial Villa News...

Tickets for Villa's home clash with Bolton go on general sale tomorrow (Monday 03 March).

Some reports suggest that Tottenham boss Juande Ramos is looking to bid for Liverpool keeper Scott Carson. Another report suggests that Liverpool and former Villa striker Peter Crouch has been given a take it or leave it contract offer by the Anfield outfit with Villa being one of the potential suitors if he doesn't sign. The News Of The World have repeated the claim that Martin O'Neill will return for American goalkeeper Brad Guzan in the summer. The same paper claims that Villa are interested in Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart. Full gossip round up: Villa Transfer Gossip: Click Here

Don't Tarnish Villa Fans By Minority

Match report for Arsenal 1-1 Villa by Glensider: Click Here
Match stats: Click Here
Post manager reactions: O'Neill Gutted, Wenger Relieved.
I managed to stir a bit of reaction with my Mark Clatenburg rant, it did start off a bit too sharp and I did - a very rare occurrence - edit down a bit! Click Here

Sadly Curtis Davies is out for the season after rupturing his Achilles yesterday v Arsenal. What a blow for a player who has been getting better and better for us. Click Here

The former ‘Business Villa’ name has been consigned to history as the club launch ‘Aston Villa Hospitality and Events.’ The business arm of the club deal with all of the corporate departments, sponsorship and events side of Aston Villa, and had in the early days of the new ownership engaged in a dynamic advertising campaign that spread itself across the West Midlands.

As reported by VV: Martin O'Neill has promised a spending spree this summer. He told the Express & Star: 'We tried to strengthen in January - it didn't materialise. We could have got extra numbers, but I thought if we avoid certain things, that's something I'd address in the summer if we're going to make inroads into things.' Fans will remember that O'Neill has previously stated he only really wants to sign players who are good enough to be first teamers on a regular basis,he's not interested in signing players who will be back up only, and I for one agree with him. All signings should be an improvement on what we have, not similar. Full quotes: Click Here

Hot on the heels of finding out that the Boro match has been moved (now Wednesday March 12 ko 7.45pm), our away trip to Blue Scouse has suffered the same fate. The Goodison Park clash was originally scheduled for Saturday April 26, but will now take place on Sunday April 27 so it can be screened live on Sky Sports. Nice to see another Saturday fixture bite the dust eh!

Olof Mellberg has explained the reason for his free summer switch to Italian Giants, Juventus. Speaking to the Evening Mail our former captain and bearded wonder explained that once the opportunity to move to Juve surfaced he couldn't in good conscious turn such a move down at this stage in his career. 'Sooner or later the time comes to leave all clubs and for me this is the right time. When the chance came to join Juventus I knew it would be the right choice. They are one of the more prestigious clubs in the world and they have watched me a lot, for Sweden and for Villa. I knew Claudio Ranieri from when I played in Spain and I am happy to have the opportunity to play Champions League football - it is something I could not turn down.'

Thought for the day: 'Why don't NHS bosses start hiring obsessive compulsives as nurses? Their attention to hygiene and constant hand washing would see an end to MRSA outbreaks in no time.' Stu Bray

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