The Villa Times - 28/10/2008

Unoial Villa News...

Reminder of the chance to donate towards the Paul Birch Trust: Raising Money For The Paul Birch Trust

Wigan match images on the official site: Click Here

Villa trained at Villa Park today in front of 5500 fans. What a great turn out! Pictures on our forum: Click Here and on the official site: Click Here

Don't forget for those who are forum shy, we have a debate thread on the front page: The Aston Villa Debate Thread - Part 1

Tickets for our double header of Barclays Premier League games against Blackburn and Middlesbrough are now on general sale. The game against Paul Ince's side takes place on Wednesday (ko 7.45pm) while Gareth Southgate returns to Villa Park with his Middlesbrough side on Sunday November 9 (ko 3pm). Adult tickets for both matches start at £15 and you can buy online: Click Here

The Mirror have again repeated the rumour that Villa striker Marlon Harewood might be on his way in January. They say that Stoke City are willing to pay £4million for him.

Martin O'Neill says he has no worries about the attitude of Curtis Davies who has found himself on the bench having been replaced by Carlos Cuellar recently. MON said: 'Curtis has been excellent. We as a team had a tough time at Stamford Bridge, so I made some changes. Curtis is the least of my concerns. He`s so strong mentally so that is not a problem. He`s played a lot of games for us so how can there be frustration the first time that he`s not started a game? I`m not saying that we will be rotating in the manner that other clubs with bigger resources than we have at the moment are able to do, but we will rotate.' Full article: Click Here

Aston Villa's young goalkeeper David Bevan has had his loan spell at Tamworth extended for another month.

James Milner says the momentum is building as Villa face up to a very busy period of games. The winger who had a great game v Wigan told AVTV 'There is no respite. But when you get momentum, you want games to keep coming because you are winning. You love picking up three points and you don't feel that fatigue. But the great thing is we do have a good squad - and a lot of quality. That's when the squad comes in. We have a lot of great players on the bench - look at what Steve Sidwell did when he came on against Wigan. We even have quality among the lads who aren't getting on the bench. That's so healthy. We have great strength in depth. We have real competition for places.'

Nicky Shorey says being dropped last week gave him a wake up call. 'I`m always disappointed when I`m not playing, but there`s obviously a reason behind it. I just want to play, but that`s the way it is in football and you can`t play every game. I`ve come back against Ajax and really enjoyed it. He`s the manager, he makes the decisions that`s the bottom line and you get on with it.'

Wigan v Villa VIDEO match highlights: Click Here
Wigan v Villa match report: Glensider away at Wigan
Wigan v Villa match stats: Click Here

The Club statement relating to the hoo and indeed the haa about Poppy sales following an article in the News of the World: Click Here

Steve Sidwell says he wants to be a Holte end hero and hopes his next goal will be in front of the Villa faithful at home. Sidwell, (can we call him Sid or is that name resaved for THE Sid, Gordon Cowan's?!), scored a sublime goal v Wigan at the JJB and told the official site: 'It was nice to get on the pitch, first and foremost. To chip in with a goal was pleasing. It was a nice cherry on the cake. It was nice to score in front of the away fans too. I knew when it left my boot that it was going in. There's only one thing in my mind when I get a chance in front of goal and that's to shoot.' Full quotes: Steve Sidwell Looking For Home Comforts

The build up to Prague starts here.... By Lee Lindsay: Click Here

All the quotes, poll result etc on the John Carew situation which now looks to be dying down after the storm over last weeks incident. Full article: John Carew Lapping It Up!!

Martin O'Neill has said he does want to bring in another striker in January. Hurrah! He told the Daily Star... 'If we`re still making the progress we`re doing now it`s definitely something we`d want to look at. If you have aspirations of trying to get close to the top you should have a few alternatives in attack. With the best will in the world, Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew are not going to play every match.'

Thought for the day: A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.