Bright Future: 2014?

[curiousorange]

When people ask me what I want for Christmas or my birthday, I always answer the same thing: Villa to win the FA Cup. I presumed i'd be able to ask for something else by now.

[claret and blue blood]

My birthday is boxing day,I would settle for a win at Swansea this year as I think we have managed 1 win in the let 13 Boxing days!

[peter w]

I expected us to be pushing hard for trophies.

[not3bad]

The FA Cup, yeah. That would have been nice. Leagues and European trophies would have been great too of course.

[aj2k77]

I was hoping for rather more after 8 years of Lerner's reign. I see Liverpool are expanding their stadium to 59,000. Mr Ellis got Planning permission to increase Villa Park's capacity up to about 51,000 in 2 phases. First phase was complete around 2001, I think. Phase 2 never happened, and probably never will under Mr Lerner. In fact, at the current rate, 2 sides of the stadium could be closed! I was hoping for big European nights by now with crowds over 50,000. We all bought into the Bright Future mantra; sadly it never happened. What were your expectations after 8 years?

I heard about Anfield being extended earlier, and while I still sometimes hear that Villa Park is a great stadium I can't help but feel that it will soon fall quite a way behind somewhat.
At the moment, Man Utd, Arsenal, Newcastle, Man City (to rise from 48 to 60K), Liverpool (to be extended) and Sunderland have bigger stadia, with Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and Everton likely to soon overtake us.

They might be bigger but they're shit.

The Etihad is a bowl. Emirates just another corporate Wembley. The Theatre of ****** needs no explanation. Sunderland a cheap identikit job. Newcastles I like.

I can't imagine Spurs ground being anything other than another corporate bowl and West Hams ground is A too big for them and B  another boring oval.

I certainly don't envy any other teams grounds, there's still a character and soul to our place and if/when we ever expand it I hope we keep this in tact.

[DB]

Goodison too. It will be a shame when they eventually move. But needs must for them I suppose.

[robbo1874]

I was hoping for rather more after 8 years of Lerner's reign. I see Liverpool are expanding their stadium to 59,000. Mr Ellis got Planning permission to increase Villa Park's capacity up to about 51,000 in 2 phases. First phase was complete around 2001, I think. Phase 2 never happened, and probably never will under Mr Lerner. In fact, at the current rate, 2 sides of the stadium could be closed! I was hoping for big European nights by now with crowds over 50,000. We all bought into the Bright Future mantra; sadly it never happened. What were your expectations after 8 years?

I heard about Anfield being extended earlier, and while I still sometimes hear that Villa Park is a great stadium I can't help but feel that it will soon fall quite a way behind somewhat.
At the moment, Man Utd, Arsenal, Newcastle, Man City (to rise from 48 to 60K), Liverpool (to be extended) and Sunderland have bigger stadia, with Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and Everton likely to soon overtake us.

don't necessarily confuse bigger with better. Our ground is too big for us at the moment as it is. When we have good seasons we consistently get close to filling it, but do so only once or twice A season. When we're doing badly, there are swathes of empty seats.
For  acupfinal villa could probably sellout Wembley, but villa park on any given weekend is usually nowhere near full. Why expand it? Now especially.

[Chico Hamilton III]

West Hams ground is A too big for them and B  another boring oval

Don't get me started on this. Local news this week reported that a further £180m is being spent on the Olympic Stadium, including fitting  a new roof, bringing the total cost of West Ham's new ground to £600m. West Ham's contribution to this is £15m ( which I guess they'll more than get back when the flog the Boleyn). Guess who paid the rest? It's a national scandal

I'd still rather have Villa Park.

edit - here's your Olympic legacy

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/20/olympic-stadium-costs-soar-roof-west-ham

sorry, drifted off topic

[Diablo]

Bright future? An attack minded team, that are attractive to watch and that win more than they lose.

[exigo]

I'd settle for a Birmingham Senior Cup this season.

What? Oh.

[adrenachrome]

[Pat McMahon]

West Hams ground is A too big for them and B  another boring oval

Don't get me started on this. Local news this week reported that a further £180m is being spent on the Olympic Stadium, including fitting  a new roof, bringing the total cost of West Ham's new ground to £600m. West Ham's contribution to this is £15m ( which I guess they'll more than get back when the flog the Boleyn). Guess who paid the rest? It's a national scandal

I'd still rather have Villa Park.

edit - here's your Olympic legacy

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/20/olympic-stadium-costs-soar-roof-west-ham

sorry, drifted off topic



I'm with Chico all the way on this. I saw a documentary on the construction of the Olympic stadium and I recall it was designed to leave a 25,000 seater stadium after the games, which would have been perfect for UK athletics.

Really makes me angry that Wham have got a stadium for peanuts.

[aj2k77]

Those shady wanker porno barons and the pug faced tart that hangs around with them finally got their tax payer funded, huge, free ground then.

[N'ZMAV]

We can only dream about mid-table mediocrity.

[The Left Side]

After seeing that we have been given number 3 in the 3rd round draw of the cup, maybe this could be a good omen. After all number 2 hasn't done us any good over the last 57 years. I was outraged at first at the FA but perhaps it could work in our favour... link below, sorry about the length but I am bone idle.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30279875