The end is nigh.

[eamonn]

I thought you were a happy in your nappy clapper Percy.

[Chris Smith]

A great indicator of how much of the euphoria and excitement we have lost from a few seasons ago was evident at last nights Valencia game. The attendance, the feel good factor, the optimism, none of it was there.

Trace your mind back a few seasons ago and the friendly we had against Inter Milan and judge for yourself the massive contrasts in opinions of the season ahead.

100% support for Mon. It has disappeared. Last night just proves it.

20,000 for a friendly, with no new signings, and live on national free-to-air-tv?

That just proves we've still got bloody good support in my book.

That's what I thought, I can remember when we were getting that sort of crowd for league games so to use it as a criticism seems misplaced to me.

[VillaZogmariner]

I agree, I think all things considered (don't forget it was also on a Friday evening) the crowd was very good for the Valencia match.

[Dave Clark Five]

I thought it was an appalling decision but it didn't have a big impact on how I feel about the club. I thought by holding the dinner they had acknowledged that it was a mistake.

They had acknowledged the mistake that 'they' had made. It is a pity that O'Neill told the bloke to 'shut up' in such a disgusting manner, after he had asked a perfectly valid question. I suspect he treats the players like that when they say or do something that he disagrees with.

[Villa'Zawg]

I thought it was an appalling decision but it didn't have a big impact on how I feel about the club. I thought by holding the dinner they had acknowledged that it was a mistake.

They had acknowledged the mistake that 'they' had made. It is a pity that O'Neill told the bloke to 'shut up' in such a disgusting manner, after he had asked a perfectly valid question. I suspect he treats the players like that when they say or do something that he disagrees with.

That reason for wanting him gone is so last season.

[Percy McCarthy]

A great indicator of how much of the euphoria and excitement we have lost from a few seasons ago was evident at last nights Valencia game. The attendance, the feel good factor, the optimism, none of it was there.

Trace your mind back a few seasons ago and the friendly we had against Inter Milan and judge for yourself the massive contrasts in opinions of the season ahead.

100% support for Mon. It has disappeared. Last night just proves it.

20,000 for a friendly, with no new signings, and live on national free-to-air-tv?

That just proves we've still got bloody good support in my book.

Be interesting to see how many are at the Ninth Level of Hell today. £5 in, £2 to season ticket holders, compared to £15 and a fiver for kids at our ground last night. And they've got new signings, and it's not on telly.

10k at small heath. Considering the factors I mentioned above - embarrassing. Especially for the ones who text me Friday night taking the piss out of the Villa crowd.

[BILL DE VALL]

I'm 35 and my vertical aspirations have sadly ended.
[/quote]

tsk tsk Jabba.. remember the party line is we are all 28

[old man villa fan]

But no links in the article in question, and spurious numbers with regards to the amount of Villa staff, no breakdown as to whether these are highly paid players or just 20K a year admin bods or waitresses in the Corner Flag.

The numbers related to Villa staff are not spurious and are taken direct from the RAL accounts ending 31 May 2009.  A more detailed breakdown is as follows:

                                                                                  2009   (2008)
Players, football management and coaches                134    (86)
Commercial, merchandising and operations                168   (157)
Maintenance and administration                                   99     (76)
Community projects staff                                              44     (17)

Total full-time employees                                             445   (336)
Part-time employess on matchdays/other events        953   (941)

Interesting jump in numbers of players etc from 2008.

[Villa'Zawg]

But no links in the article in question, and spurious numbers with regards to the amount of Villa staff, no breakdown as to whether these are highly paid players or just 20K a year admin bods or waitresses in the Corner Flag.

The numbers related to Villa staff are not spurious and are taken direct from the RAL accounts ending 31 May 2009.  A more detailed breakdown is as follows:

                                                                                  2009   (2008)
Players, football management and coaches                134    (86)
Commercial, merchandising and operations                168   (157)
Maintenance and administration                                   99     (76)
Community projects staff                                              44     (17)

Total full-time employees                                             445   (336)
Part-time employess on matchdays/other events        953   (941)

Interesting jump in numbers of players etc from 2008.

That is a surprising leap in numbers of "Players, football management and coaches", it looks like they decided to account for something in a different way.

The Spurs £60.5m "staff costs" relates to only 286 employees in total, that seems a bit odd doesn't it?

[VillaZogmariner]

Not if they sub-contract a lot of work out it doesn't.

[Dave Cooper please]

Still, the whole point of Robobabble's article was to try to justify why we pay more in wages to players than Tottingham yet still managed to finish two places below them, or he was trying to make out that actually we don't pay more in wages than Tottingham...I don't really know, the whole article was badly written arse.

Just a word of caution really, treat anything coming from this source with real caution, the bloke is a dribbly twat.

[pauliewalnuts]

One premier league footballer on 40k a week is 2m pounds a year.

2m pounds a year = 100 staff on 20k a year.

[Villa'Zawg]

One premier league footballer on 40k a week is 2m pounds a year.

2m pounds a year = 100 staff on 20k a year.

and the fact that Spurs have several more PL players than we do, players that cost much more to purchase than ours did, is what made the assertion that their players costs are lower suspicious in the first place.

The "staff costs" figures clearly doesn't tell the whole story and isn't a like for like comparison. It simply isn't a "fact" that we pay more for player costs than Spurs on the basis of that particular line item in the accounts.

[KevinGage]

Is this your subtle way of telling us that it still doesn't compute for you that Tottenham have a lower wage bill?

I know that this is a passion of yours -along with the latest flight of fantasy that websites such as these have a negative bearing on club morale- and I admire your stamina.

But as has been pointed out various times before, even if Spurs paid big transfer fees for Modric or players from lower leagues, said players usually command lower wages than those already in the Premiership.

[Villa'Zawg]

Is this your subtle way of telling us that it still doesn't compute for you that Tottenham have a lower wage bill?

I know that this is a passion of yours -along with the latest flight of fantasy that websites such as these have a negative bearing on club morale- and I admire your stamina.

But as has been pointed out various times before, even if Spurs paid big transfer fees for Modric or players from lower leagues, said players usually command lower wages than those already in the Premiership.

Why would I be subtle, I just disagree. It doesn't compute for me because the facts don't stack up.

It doesn't make any sense to suggest that Spurs spend less to pay their players than we do and there is no evidence to say that Spurs spend less to pay their players than we do. The suggestion that there is evidence to support your view came about because of a misunderstand that you could compare the "staff costs" line item in the Villa and Spurs accounts on a like for like basis. You can't. Does that compute OK for you?