Falconary at Villa Park

[Simba]

In the upper holte I've noticed too that there is a dummy owl up in the rafters to scare off the pigeons... Yes at times the games have been that boring I've taken to looking up at the roof of the holte end for more entertainment lol.

I hope that isn't the same one they had up there in the sixties! Must be pretty flea bitten by now poor thing.

[itbrvilla]

In the upper holte I've noticed too that there is a dummy owl up in the rafters to scare off the pigeons... Yes at times the games have been that boring I've taken to looking up at the roof of the holte end for more entertainment lol.

Seen one at the back of the Trinity towards the Witton End.

[not3bad]

Get rid of the lion, let's have a ................ Falcon crest

That could be the start of some kind of Dynasty.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Talking of birds; theres a lot of tits at St Andrews.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Crystal Palace have an Eagle that flies around before games.

Maybe we could train the bird to divebomb opposition fans.

[not3bad]

Talking of birds; theres a lot of tits at St Andrews.

That's a bit dissapointing.  When they sing about Birmimgham being full of tits and the Villa I wasn't thinking about Blues fans.

[spaf]

While you seem to know a bit about Belgium, would you mind explaining where this explosion in youth talent's come from? It's been really bugging me as suddenly they have a wealth in talent, particularly in youth. I'm writing a 16 page report on modern football and a segment on Belgium could really come in handy

I appreciated your misplaced trust on my expertise so much I tried to deliver. I didn't have a clue but was intrigued enough to try and find out. It seems they just got lucky.

Here's what Paul Doyle wrote on Guardian - in jan2011:
This prize crop of players is not, though, the fruit of careful cultivation by the Belgian Football Federation. Many players move to Holland or France while still in their early teens. Some Belgian clubs, however, have increased their commitment to youth development: Standard Liège have invested €18m (£15.2m) in their academy, producing talents such as Fellaini and Witsel, while Genk's nursery has also been lauded. Arne Nilis, the 17-year-old son of the former Aston Villa player Luc Nilis, was recently snapped up from Genk by PSV Eindhoven. Lukaku's father was also a decent player – a former Congo international – and Hazard's dad had a career in the Belgian second division. Mostly, though, the current plethora of young Belgian talent is just a generational quirk...

It's not all sunshine and lollipops:
...The fact that Belgium have already almost abandoned hope of reaching Euro 2012 shows that this generation risk falling below their potential. The reason is that in some cases the players' exceptional talent is matched by an even more exceptional bad attitude. Only last year the national team's medical staff resigned in protest against "the sick attitude of childish snobs", with one of the doctors complaining that certain players regularly demanded sick notes so that they could skip training and go carousing instead. The team have been beset by infighting...

Here's another try from In Bed With Maradona:

The lack of resources available to Belgian Jupiler Pro League sides means that the likes of Racing Genk, Standard Liege and Club Bruges quite simply cannot afford to import overseas talent on the scale of their English or Spanish neighbours. This lack of financial muscle creates a ‘back-to-basics’ approach, where clubs turn towards their own youth academies as a means of nurturing their own talent. If one such academy graduate can then be sold for a healthy fee (like the £15million Standard Liege received for Fellaini) then such a practice becomes financially beneficial for the parent club. This can explain the emergence of young talents like de Bruyne and Vossen at Genk. To put complaints about ‘unfair’ European football economics aside, this may be of overall national benefit. The need to nurture domestic talent may ultimately strengthen the national sides of those particular countries; as the current Belgian national team can testify.

Furthermore, it may well be that levels of immigration have had an effect. Many members of the Belgian team come from immigrant backgrounds. Fellaini (Morocco), Lukaku (Congo) and Witsel (Martinique) can all be viewed through the prism of a colonial past. This is not a new practice at international level. France has produced countless successful players from its former African-colonies, whilst the same process is underway in Germany -- Ozil (Turkey), Khedira (Tunisia) and Podolski (Poland) are key figures for the nationalmannschaft. This process certainly broadens the talent at Belgium’s disposal.

Another reason for the sudden emergence of Belgian talent could be the simplest one of all – chance. Every now and then, a country will throw together an abundance of talent, generally labelled as a ‘Golden Generation’. Portugal, a country of roughly the same population as Belgium, emerged from a tumultuous 1980’s to discover a Figo-led generation in the early 1990’s, for example.

Belgian Villain might be able to shed some more light into this matter.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

  IN FACT IT'S EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL BEING A VILLA FAN.

[cdbearsfan]

  IN FACT IT'S EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL BEING A VILLA FAN.

Someone needs to do a photoshop version of that poster with Kes replaced by Heskey and the boy doing a full-on Gregnash facepalm.

[Simba]

Son of Luc Nillis? Get him on board.

[cdbearsfan]

In ten years time we could have an Nilis-Angel forward line.

[Irish villain]

In ten years time we could have an Nilis-Angel forward line.

That would be awesome.

On the subject of pigeons, I really hate them.

[spaf]

In ten years time we could have an Nilis-Angel forward line.

That would be awesome.

On the subject of pigeons, I really hate them.

Don't know why Doyle mentioned Arne Nilis, who obviously isn't the next big thing. Or wasn't going to be it a year ago. According to Wikipedia after PSV decided not to renew his contract he failed to impress on trial at KSV Westerlo (1st tier) and is now plying his trade in KSK Hasselt in Belgian 3rd tier.