Vital Villan Interview: Fieldy!

Our very own VitalVillan, Fieldy, has done the Vital Villa interview:

1) When did you become a Villa fan and why?

Family of bluenoses in the main, but it just seemed right when I heard the name and met some of the dissenters.

2) Best moment/moments as a Villa fan?

Hard to pick. Atkinson's era when we lost the league. My first game and feeling the atmosphere. Little/JG early on with some of our performances. I can't just can't pick.

3) Worst moment/moments as a Villa fan?

Anything not involving a win against the Blues. Tail end of last season wasn't exactly a highpoint either. But I won't repeat my forum ramblings here.

4) Best and worst away ground visited?

Best - Villa Park, but let me ignore the North and Witton. I don't care about other grounds.
Worst - Been to very few other grounds and I find it hard to decide between the Sty and The Lamb. Reasonable company at The Lamb though.

5) What did you think of last season? Good, bad or indifferent and do you think we progressed?

In short no. I don't think we progressed, we weren't playing particularly good football at the beginning of the season but we were winning games. We lost the flukey pens and own goals, and nicking games 1-0 and the season was over.

I don't see how we progressed, we aren't playing aswell as we can, we may have had a record winning streak, we also had a rather good number of losses on the trot. Position wise no different, points wise, nope this season showed us all that was bad about our club, lack of tactics, no plan B, players still being picked regardless of form, out of position.

I shudder to think next season will be the same or worse given the loss of Laursen and Barry.

6) Which player/s should Villa sign this summer? And do you think Villa will spend enough this summer to progress?

Doesn't matter what I think, they won't be on the list. As for money I don't believe we need to spend £100 million to improve, what we need are proper players in who can do a job and won't spend the entire season on the bench, in the reserves or out of position.

That would be a start for me.

7) What do you expect next season?

Premier League: 8th
FA Cup: we'll prioritise the league
Europa League: we'll prioritise the FA Cup.
Carling Cup: We'll lose to Man U whenever we meet them.

8) Your opinion on Martin O'Neill now he is approaching his 4th season in charge?

Not the manager I believed him to be. I know he's got a lot right and consequtive 6th place finishes aren't to be scoffed at, but way too many mistakes. Four seasons is enough to build a core squad, and he should have next season to pull it all together. Another season like this and I think he'll have done all he can.

9) Your opinion on Randy Lerner and his board?

Nothing to complain about. Improvements to the ground, the relationship with fans, PR and community work, the infrastructure has headed in the right direction. Money has been made available for signings, great PR work with Acorns.

Opinion is exactly the same as it was when Randy joined and that's how it'll stay until he does something I disagree with.

10) Favourite current player?

May sound strange but I haven't really got one. It would've been Laursen, possibly followed by Luke Young because both bleed/bled claret and blue when on the pitch. The obvious picks like Petrov (one good season), Ash (not consistent enough), Gabby (just no) - nobody stands out enough for me.

11) Favourite former player/s?

God, Laursen, Teale, Bosnich, Staunton, Houghton, Saunders, Platt, Yorke, Taylor - the list goes on and on.

12) What did you make of the Gareth Barry exit?

Not that bothered, it speaks volumes to me how he views us taking next season by moving to Man City. He obviously has more confidence in Man City's ability to compete and grow than he does ours. He gave Monny the last 12 months like promised and we didn't deliver.

I have no fault with that, more than anything was just glad it was over so quickly although a word or two (well actually that's what we got) fro the club would've been nice.

13) Right, lets lower the tone... which celebrity would you most like to bang?!

This would be a shorter list if I was allowed to say who I wouldn't.

With thanks to VitalVillan, Fieldy!

How to join in on the interviews: http://www.astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/article

Season 1888-1889

League Table
			Home					Away
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	GD
1	PRESTON NORTH END	22	10	1	0	39	7	8	3	0	35	8	40	+59
2	ASTON VILLA	22	10	0	1	44	16	2	5	4	17	27	29	+18
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	22	8	2	1	30	14	4	2	5	20	23	28	+13
4	Blackburn Rovers	22	7	4	0	44	22	3	2	6	22	23	26	+21
5	Bolton Wanderers	22	6	0	5	35	30	4	2	5	28	29	22	+4
6	West Bromwich Albion	22	6	2	3	25	24	4	0	7	15	22	22	-6
7	Accrington Stanley	22	5	3	3	26	17	1	5	5	22	31	20	0
8	Everton	22	8	0	3	24	17	1	2	8	11	29	20	-11
9	Burnley	22	6	3	2	21	17	1	0	10	21	43	17	-20
10	Derby County	22	5	1	5	22	20	2	1	8	19	41	16	-20
11	Notts County	22	4	2	5	25	32	1	0	10	15	41	12	-33
12	Stoke City	22	3	4	4	15	18	1	0	10	11	33	12	-25

League Results
Date	H/A	Opponent	Result		Scorer(s)
8/9/88	A	Wolverhampton Wanderers	D	1-1	Green
15/9/88	H	Stoke City	W	5-1	Dixon A, Brown A, Allen, Green
22/9/88	H	Everton	W	2-1	Hodgetts (2)
29/9/88	H	Notts County	W	9-1	Allen (3), Hunter (2), Green (2), Hodgetts, Widdowson (OG)
6/10/88	A	Everton	L	0-2
13/10/88	H	Blackburn Rovers	W	6-1	Hunter, Green, Goodall, Brown A, Allen (2)
20/10/88	A	Bolton Wanderers	W	3-2	Hodgetts, Allen, Hunter
27/10/88	H	Accrington Stanley	W	4-3	Allen, Hodgetts, Brown A (2)
3/11/88	A	Stoke City	D	1-1	Allen
10/11/88	A	Preston North End	D	1-1	Green
17/11/88	A	Blackburn Rovers	L	1-5	Allen
24/11/88	H	Wolverhampton Wanderers	W	2-1	Goodall (2)
8/12/88	A	Notts County	W	4-2	Brown A, Green, Goodall
15/12/88	A	Accrington Stanley	D	1-1	Brown A
22/12/88	H	Burnley	W	4-2	Green, Goodall, Allen, Hunter
29/12/88	H	Derby County	W	4-2	Green (2), Allen, Goodall
5/1/89	A	Burnley	L	0-4
12/1/89	H	Bolton Wanderers	W	6-2	Allen, Hunter, Brown A, Green (2), Hodgetts
19/1/89	H	West Bromwich Albion	W	2-0	Hodgetts, Allen
26/1/89	A	West Bromwich Albion	D	3-3	Allen (2), Green
9/2/89	H	Preston North End	L	0-2
9/3/89	A	Derby County	L	2-5	Allen (2)

League Team Sheets
	W a r n e r	C o x	C o u l t o n	Y a t e s	D e v e y H	D a w s o n	B r o w n A	G r e e n	A l l e n	G a r v e y	H o d g e t t s	D i x o n A	H u n t e r	A s h m o r e	G o o d a l l	B u r t o n	W o o l l a s t o n	H a r r i s o n	T h o m a s
Wolves	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
Stoke	1	2	3	4	5		7	8	10		11	6	9
Everton		2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11	4	9	1
Notts C	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11	4	9
Everton	1	2	3	6	5	4	7	8	10		11		9
B Rovers	1	2	3	4			7	8	10		11		9		5	6
Bolton	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11		9			4
A Stanley	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11		9			4
Stoke	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11		9			4
PNE	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11		9		4
B Rovers	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11		9		4
Wolves	1	2	3	4	5		7	8	11				9		10	6
Notts C	1	2	3		5		7	8					9		10	6	4	11
A Stanley	1	2	3		5		7	8	11				9		10	6	4
Burnley	1	2	3		5		7	8	11				9		10	6	4
Derby	1	2	3		5	6	7	8	11				9		10	4
Burnley	1	2	3		5		7	8	10		11				4	6
Bolton	1	2	3		5		7	8	10		11		9		4	6
WBA	1	2	3		5		7	8	10		11		9		6	4
WBA	1	3		4	5		7	8	10		11		9		2	6
PNE	1	3		6	5		7	8	10		11		9		2	4
Derby	1	3			5		7	11	10	8	9				2	6	4
Total	21	22	19	14	21	3	22	22	21	2	17	3	19	1	14	15	4	1	0
Goals							7	14	18		7	1	6		7

FA Cup Results
Date	H/A	Opponent	Result		Scorer(s)
2/2/89	H	Witton	W	3-2	Allen, Hunter, Green
16/2/89	H	Derby County	W	5-3	Hunter (2), Hodgetts (2), Brown A
2/3/89	A	Blackburn Rovers	L	1-8	Hodgetts

FA Cup Team Sheets
	W a r n e r	C o x	C o u l t o n	Y a t e s	D e v e y H	D a w s o n	B r o w n A	G r e e n	A l l e n	G a r v e y	H o d g e t t s	D i x o n A	H u n t e r	A s h m o r e	G o o d a l l	B u r t o n	W o o l l a s t o n	H a r r i s o n	T h o m a s
Witton	1	2	3		5		7	8	10		11		9			4	6
Derby	1	2	3	6	5		7	8	10		11		9			4
B Rovers	1	3		4	5		7	8	10		11		9			6			2
Total	3	3	2	2	3	0	3	3	3	0	3	0	3	0	0	3	1	0	1
Goals							1	1	1		3		3