Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: SaddVillan on January 01, 2024, 12:58:48 AM
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The Holy Grail ?
Too much to ask for?.
66 years and still waiting
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
It is to me and many others. I'm 70 by the time the final comes round.
Desperate to win this before i depart.
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Make it so.
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
Yes and forever.
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
It is to me and many others. I'm 70 by the time the final comes round.
Desperate to win this before i depart.
I understand this, Dad's 86 and I'd like him to see us lift it. BUT, I'm confident that we will win it with Unai at the helm, so I think this season the Holy Grail is getting CL football with the increased revenue and higher profile that brings (as well as being vindication for Unai). If it's at the expense of Arsenal and Lego Head, even better still.
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I'll go on record for the four millionth time: I would gladly see us lose every league and conference game for the rest of the season if it meant lifting the Cup in May. No amount of corporate cash or being third of the losers could ever come close.
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I wouldn't think Unai has it as a priority. We have just had a ropey Christmas and his focus will be on putting this right so the FA Cup may well be a collateral victim of this focus. I would like to see us win the FA Cup but not at the expense of the league. I remember how the FA Cup was the biggest game in football. 6 hours build up to the final. My biggest ambition was to be on the Villa Its a knockout team. Now I pay more attention to the CL than the FA Cup. I hope we beat Boro. I also hope we do it with a 2nd string team.
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I'd love to see us win the fa cup but I'd love to see us as top flight champions again even more.
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I'd love to see us win the fa cup but I'd love to see us as top flight champions again even more.
Let’s aim for the double then. Time to think big.
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Nope, the money is in the league and European cup so that should be the priority for us to progress as a team. Our squad isn’t deep enough to challenge on 3 fronts.
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I'd love to see us win the fa cup but I'd love to see us as top flight champions again even more.
Let’s aim for the double then. Time to think big.
You've been watching the darts again, haven't you?
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There's a school of thought that just getting into the Champions League shoots you forward. Getting into it and into the latter stages repeatedly, with the odd win, does that, but otherwise it's just finishing fourth before struggling against more odious clubs.
Gissa pot. Any pot.
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
Only to an aging population. If you're under forty or part of the 10,000 new supporters we've found post-lockdown the FA Cup is an irrelevance.
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Not the only match on the day, moving kick off times, reserve teams being used even by lower league teams, no champions league place, sponsorship, no numerous replays, penalty shoot outs, low crowds, no Question of Sport on day of final.
Not special for me anymore I’m afraid.
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The razzmatazz can stay buried with David Coleman. Every January I think of this and crave an update:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/19/f6/df/19f6dfc465d0f049a79b7d87e16db081.jpg)
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
Yep still is
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
Only to am aging population. If you're under forty or part of the 10,000 new supporters we've found post-lockdown the FA Cup is an irrelevance.
I ha ent been under 40 for a while now
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The razzmatazz can stay buried with David Coleman. Every January I think of this and crave an update:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/19/f6/df/19f6dfc465d0f049a79b7d87e16db081.jpg)
Remember that in a second hand shop on Station Rd ( in the 90’s ,think it was twenty quid) . Wish I’d bought it !
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Will always be the first, last and everything until we win it again.
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
Only to am aging population. If you're under forty or part of the 10,000 new supporters we've found post-lockdown the FA Cup is an irrelevance.
My 13 doesn’t get as excited about the cup as me, saying that if we got the QFs, he would start getting very excited by the whole thing.
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
To me it still is, although due to our lack of involvement for so long and the lack of coverage, I can’t remember the last time I sat in and watched it. But growing up that Saturday was magic, whoever was involved. You had football on the TV from around late morning non-stop, it was brilliant. You got to see the players in a different light, the crap songs, on their bus on route and little stories about players or fans. I suppose today we have social media on tap so that replace that little bit of insight.
I absolutely loved Cup Final day, so yes for me I’d like us to win it probably more than finishing second or the Champions League.
As so many have already said, it’s probably more to do with nostalgia than anything else.
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I was two years old in 1957 and asked why I couldn't go to Wembley with my Dad.
"You're too young son, you and your brother (aka BorderVillan) can go next time" replied Mom.
Well, we've been to every "next time" since then, Mom and Dad are now HEITS, but me and BorderVillan live in hope that we'll see us win The Holy Grail before we join them.
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I was two years old in 1957 and asked why I couldn't go to Wembley with my Dad.
"You're too young son, you and your brother (aka BorderVillan) can go next time" replied Mom.
Well, we've been to every "next time" since then, Mom and Dad are now HEITS, but me and BorderVillan live in hope that we'll see us win The Holy Grail before we join them.
I still have my Dad’s ticket and a programme from that great day but want a winning set of my own.
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Well after our no-shows in 2000 and 2015 I'd love us to get to the final on the basis our luck has got to change at some point.
That said the winner of the FA Cup picks up a total of £3.9m in prize money. That includes the money for wins at the different rounds of the competition.
Meanwhile, it appears Villa have already picked up €6.5m for their progress so far in the Conference League and stand to earn an additional €8.6m if they can win it.
So I think I know which competition the money men will want Unai to give priority to.
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If you aren't bothered about winning things what's the point?
I have seen us win everything else
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West Midlands cup?
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The razzmatazz can stay buried with David Coleman. Every January I think of this and crave an update:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/19/f6/df/19f6dfc465d0f049a79b7d87e16db081.jpg)
I'd also love an update, truly, but it's not what it was. I can't have been the only one in 2000 thinking it would be just a little bit hollow when the champions didn't think it worth defending?
I was still massively pissed off at that final, but it was already slightly tarnished for me. I'd still love it, but not as much as I would have in the days of yore.
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The razzmatazz can stay buried with David Coleman. Every January I think of this and crave an update:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/19/f6/df/19f6dfc465d0f049a79b7d87e16db081.jpg)
I’ll die happy once I’ve seen us win the FA Cup!
Also if our new club badge is similar to the one top left in the above picture I’ll be very pleased indeed.
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I’ve always wanted us to play strong teams in the cups, particularly the FA Cup. But this season I think a good cup run with the additional games may hinder us. I think champions league qualification and the conference league should be our priorities this season. Realise this won’t be a universally popular view.
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I’m forty this year and I wish the FA cup was still important to me in THAT way but honestly hand on heart it just isn’t. I think moving the kick off time to five o’clock and the lack of engaging finals over the last several years have done it for me.
I struggled earlier today to even remember who had won last years final, which shows how much of an impact the treble had had on me.
I enjoyed seeing Leicester and Wigan win the cup, but most finals over the past twenty years have been dreadful to watch.
I do wonder if sky owning the broadcast rights to the premier league for so many years (but not the cup) influenced the perceived level of prestige afforded to each competition, as they obviously hyped one competition a lot more than the other.
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The game has changed and an FA Cup win is not what it used to be.
It’s quite hard to compare different scenarios but I would consider 3rd Place in the league and a 4th round exit a very successful season, and I would consider 8th in the league and an FA Cup final a disaster (from where we are now).
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Now more than ever we can beat anyone on our day. It's probably only about 5 games to the final? If we take it seriously we can win it. For me villa are intrinsically linked to the FA Cup, despite not winning it in forever.
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Unai needs at least two more transfer windows to build a squad strong enough to seriously challenge in Europe, FA Cup and for a top four spot in the same season.
For me, this year we should go all guns blazing to get a top four spot and use Europe/FA Cup to keep our unused players 'sharp' for when and if they are needed in the league. But, if we get to semi finals of FA Cup or ECL, review position.
If this seasons second string team is not good enough to get us to the semi finals of the FA Cup or ECL, so be it.
When a kid, I used to play a lot of the game 'Risk' and soon learnt that if you 'spread to thinly across the board' you can end up winning feck all.
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Winning an FA cup isn't going to attract better players to the club, finishing in the top 4 would though. I'm way past 40 and as much as I'd love to see us lift the FA cup I find that I'm less excited by the competition as each year goes by. Domestic cups have given way to the European ones. That's the way it is now.
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When a kid, I used to play a lot of the game 'Risk' and soon learnt that if you 'spread to thinly across the board' you can end up winning feck all.
It didn't work for Hitler either.
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I guess it all begs the question - 'what is success?' are we having success now, as we are second in the league, or is success simply about winning trophies? If the latter, I'd be happy with any trophy. FA Cup would be marvellous.
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Winning the FA Cup goes on your list of honours for ever more. Coming 4th doesn't, although there's absolutely no reason we shouldn't be able to do both. Get some players in in January to help.
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Winning the FA Cup goes on your list of honours for ever more. Coming 4th doesn't, although there's absolutely no reason we shouldn't be able to do both. Get some players in in January to help.
But a top 4 club is more likely to retain it's best players, attract better quality players and win more trophies. (I know Spurs buck this trend). Now we have an elite manager and wealthy owners I want sustained success and finishing top 4 this season would be a huge first step.
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I've said this before when the subject of the Cup and it's demise has been discussed: find a spare half hour and watch Meanwhile Back In Sunderland on YouTube. That's what it once meant.
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I’m a football traditionalist and we’ve never won it in my lifetime so of course I’d love us to win it, but the FA Cup is nothing like the competition I enjoyed watching as a kid. The magic just isn’t there anymore.
There’ll be some good stories this weekend no doubt, as there has been since it started back in August but it’s a competition that gets worse as it progresses, and by the time you get to the Wembley semis it’s become very boring and unwatchable.
I’ll be at Boro on Saturday though… UTV!
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Me too, but I was only 2 years old when we won it in 1957...I don't remember it!
I loved watching the finals when I was a kid...it took ALL DAY! Pocket money spent on sweets kept down the side of the settee consumed throughout the day....then over the park with my mates and a ball to re-enact it before tea time!
Uncle Frank won it as a player in 1920, but was on the losing side when he was captain in 1924. He had a replica of the cup (and his England caps) on display in his pub in Worcester for years afterwards.
I'll be at Boro too.
See you there DeKuip!
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
No. Isn't what it was either. Ask fans of the genuine big clubs and they will tell you where it sits on their priorities. If we want to compete with those big clubs (& regularly so) and be in the big comps (ECL) then sentimentality wont serve us well
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I always thought it was up to Villa to stand for traditionalism in the game and not just run off into the distance with success and money. I would hope that if we grow to be successful again we would respect the competitions as best we could do. I'd hate for Villa to just become all the bits we hate from the other clubs.
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Is it the Holy Grail anymore?
No. Isn't what it was either. Ask fans of the genuine big clubs and they will tell you where it sits on their priorities. If we want to compete with those big clubs (& regularly so) and be in the big comps (ECL) then sentimentality wont serve us well
In case you’ve forgotten you support a genuinely big club.
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Winning an FA cup isn't going to attract better players to the club, finishing in the top 4 would though. I'm way past 40 and as much as I'd love to see us lift the FA cup I find that I'm less excited by the competition as each year goes by. Domestic cups have given way to the European ones. That's the way it is now.
Imagine if we win win the FA Cup AND finish top 4 though. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
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Winning an FA cup isn't going to attract better players to the club, finishing in the top 4 would though. I'm way past 40 and as much as I'd love to see us lift the FA cup I find that I'm less excited by the competition as each year goes by. Domestic cups have given way to the European ones. That's the way it is now.
Imagine if we win win the FA Cup AND finish top 4 though. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
Can I be greedy and throw the Conference Cup in there too?
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When a kid, I used to play a lot of the game 'Risk' and soon learnt that if you 'spread to thinly across the board' you can end up winning feck all.
It didn't work for Hitler either.
Haha, no it didn't. In Risk I like to turtle and then go on a rampage, not sure how that translates to football though.
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Go for everything and see what happens. I'm not going to be around forever, so can we hurry up and win some stuff, please.
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I’d like to see us win it, but not an either or for me. The two finals I’ve seen us in we’ve been poor. Top 4 and win it.
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I’d like to see us win it, but not an either or for me. The two finals I’ve seen us in we’ve been poor. Top 4 and win it.
Top 4 and FA Cup will do very, very nicely thank you.
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We got close to the double in 1990!
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Winning an FA cup isn't going to attract better players to the club, finishing in the top 4 would though. I'm way past 40 and as much as I'd love to see us lift the FA cup I find that I'm less excited by the competition as each year goes by. Domestic cups have given way to the European ones. That's the way it is now.
Imagine if we win win the FA Cup AND finish top 4 though. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
Can I be greedy and throw the Conference Cup in there too?
And the Birmingham Senior Cup that Dave Cooper covets.
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Winning an FA cup isn't going to attract better players to the club, finishing in the top 4 would though. I'm way past 40 and as much as I'd love to see us lift the FA cup I find that I'm less excited by the competition as each year goes by. Domestic cups have given way to the European ones. That's the way it is now.
Winning it started this whole Man City bandwagon off, so as well as the nostalgia for some of us oldies, it could also be the start of something