Your interest in the villa

[Dave Cooper please]

Villa are an enjoyable hobby, I flog the fanzines, occasionally go to a match and enjoy the banter in the Bartons afterwards. The result no longer particularly elates or upsets me any more and hasn't done since about 1990 or so to be honest. I suppose it was around then that, for a couple of reasons that I won't disclose, I realised that football doesn't matter a tiny jot in the grand scheme of things.

Still love football in general though, I'll watch anything at any level.

[Pat McMahon]

And what's annoying is...I'm fucking off to Asia for 6 months next week, so watching the games will be a bit more difficult. Ha ha! Will be going out of my way where possible to catch a few though.
[/quote]

Supertom, watching games in Asia will be even easier than the UK. Asia is obsessed by the Premier League, (though the NBA rules in China) and you will have to get used to it being called the EPL.

Where will you be moving to? In China & Singapore there is a 7 or 8 hour time difference (1 hour less in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam)  so 3pm games are at prime drinking time of 10 or 11pm. The only real pains are the Saturday 5.30pm  and Sunday 4pm kick offs as they finish late, and it is very hard to go to sleep at 2am on a Monday morning when you have seen us get stuffed 6-0 at Newcastle.

[peter w]

i'd like to concur with the honourable Macca above. When in pakistan I saw more Villa games than ever i very rarely didn't see a game televised. Same now in Nigeria. Always about 4 or 5 channels showing the games. I remember being in beijing and not being able to fins telly to watch Villa - Chelsea (the HDE handshake game). just as I was giving up hope at around 11/12 o'clock I dropped into a pub and it was full of football fans.

I disagree with pat's last bit. The worst were the evening kick-offs. In 3 and a half years i never saw us win once in the league and I eventually went to bed around 3 - half 3 meaning your head is still buzzing until about 4. I was up two or so hours later to go to work. Not one sodding win.

[andrew08]

I forget sometimes how hooked I am. I get a reminder every now and then, recently it was at West Ham right at the start of the game when the away end was singing at the start, if I recall we were only singing "Villa,Villa etc " but the the hairs stood up on the back of the neck and bloody hell I felt so alive. Villa is what defines me and has since my first game when I was 4. And you either understand it or you don't.

Sometimes I wish I didn't.

And another thing this passion gives us the right to moan and have dig at the team every now and then ( it's a Viila thing) but no one else is allowed to, especially former BNTs

[frank black]

Having been to the West ham game. Shelling out £40 for a ticket I do question myself.

I have since come to the conclusion that I'd rather go to gigs instead of footy. It's cheaper and you know your going to be entertained.

So it's the occasional game for me (if it's on special rates or a good away day). I will follow via the tinternet.

[AV1874]

Distance makes it hard to stay in touch with what's happening, I rely more on this site than on any news report or such. I don't have PAY TV so am unable to watch any matches and of course over here only the top four are normally shown on any highlights programs.

My involvement in the game over here also distracts from the scene overseas, but I always love reading about the Villa on here.

[QBVILLA]

Purchased the tickets for the Swansea game yesterday.First league game since we beat Newcastle 1-0 to send them down.

[Baldy]

Live on a Greek Isle and the coverage of the Premier League is great over here. Four or five 'live' games every weekend and all of the other games are shown in their entirity within a few days. Probably why we are up shyte creek without a paddle, we spend all day watching footie.

 

[Chipsticks]

I forget sometimes how hooked I am. I get a reminder every now and then, recently it was at West Ham right at the start of the game when the away end was singing at the start, if I recall we were only singing "Villa,Villa etc " but the the hairs stood up on the back of the neck and bloody hell I felt so alive. Villa is what defines me and has since my first game when I was 4. And you either understand it or you don't.

Sometimes I wish I didn't.

Perfect summary for me.

[robbo1874]

Ha

Last year I not only stopped getting up in the middle of the night to watch games, I only watched the recordings if we had won. Even then I often only watched our goals and then turned it off.  Like a lot of others though I feel completely different about this season, win lose or draw I've got a feeling we're going to be worth watching again

Ha ha, this exactly sums up last season for me too, WW.  I think I've ready watched a third of the matches I watched last season already.

[Californian Villain]

Distance makes it hard to stay in touch with what's happening, I rely more on this site than on any news report or such. I don't have PAY TV so am unable to watch any matches and of course over here only the top four are normally shown on any highlights programs.

My involvement in the game over here also distracts from the scene overseas, but I always love reading about the Villa on here.

Same here essentially....I go to a bar to watch the game with the California Lions group link, but with the time difference even this is difficult...Mostly I rely on this site for my info.

[Vancouver]

For on the West Coast, a 3pm kick off is at 7am. Perfect for a lazy morning with some breakfast. Then you have the whole ahead of you. But its just not the same as being there. Now & again the hairs stand up but that's only when hearing the Villa fans.

My love for football in general has waned a fair bit. I used to ridicule the North American sports format, but now some aspects are great. Particularly the salary cap

[JJ-AV]

I just like being at live football matches. The Villa make it a bonus.

I have noticed that I get more interested when we're playing someone half decent. To see us dicked on by Everton wasn't enjoyable but I was very impressed by them.

I'm looking forward to seeing Swansea again (I thought they were the best team I saw at Villa Park last year). Although I think it'll be another tough afternoon for us.

We've got a really good run of fixtures (home and away) until the Manc clubs and Arsenal are up in November.

[Rodders]

... when the away end was singing at the start, if I recall we were only singing "Villa,Villa etc " but the the hairs stood up on the back of the neck and bloody hell I felt so alive.

The "Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa" is the best chant in the world. With my classically-trained-musicology hat on, its simple, rising and descending melody eloquently reflect the lows and highs of supporting Aston Villa Football Club. When we sing it, it thrums round the park, its dynamics moving and swirling, expressing our love for the Villa with a passion that I imagine is akin to what the god-squadders feel when they sing a hymn.

I dream, too, of polyphony - just think, all four stands singing it as a round, like London's Burning.

Holte: Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa &c
Trinity:                               Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa &c
North:                                                             Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa &c
Witton:                                                                                         Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa, Villa

It would quickly end up with opposite stands singing the same line at the same time but from across the pitch at each other.

Any away support would be totally overwhelmed... and it would be a really, really beautiful thing to do. Just once.

I started supporting the Villa in 1980 - just a few months before we won the league - because I started junior school, somewhere you *had* to support a team. I lived (still do) in Shropshire, and Dad worked in Kidderminster, so I picked Villa out of geographical convenience on the chance that I might get taken to a match.

It's funny, because not a day has gone by since where I haven't smiled or frowned at a sudden thought about the Villa, spent long periods staring out of windows and thinking about 81, 82, finishing 2nd in 93, 94 and 96, Withey, Super gary Shaw, Dalian, Mcgrath, Deano, Dwight, Juan Pablo, Stan (Petrov), Mellberg, Laursen... and also TSM, DOL, Bosko, SVC, Alpay, Hutton and all the other cretins who we love to hate. I still get super-excited when I go to a game, but don't actually mind losing sometimes, as long as we have 'played up, played up, and played the game."

For something that started as a casual whim, from day one I've been claret and blue with a thoroughness that still has the power to surprise and move me.

[Legion]

I don't know what 'thrumbs' means but I love the thought of that.