Visibility of Aston Villa.

[Jarpie]

The club should be working much more to get us visibility in media, we rarely see our ex-players as pundits or being quests in such programs as Goals on Sunday. I was pretty disappointed that Villa hardly gave any notice for the 125th anniversary of football league.

As the next year will be 140th anniversary of our club, they should really make big deal out of it but I'm not expecting anything. Would be nice to get somekind of co-production between our club and one of the tv-channels for documentary about the history of the club but I really doubt we'll see anything of the sorts.

I wonder if other clubs agressively lobby for their ex-players to appear in MOTD and other football progams but I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is a case, and many times they appear to be quite smug.

[Deano's Mullet]

Whenever we do have ex-players as pundits they are usually billed as "Ex-Man United" or "Ex-Chelsea" ie Yorke and Bosnich. As for marketing, for years you could buy Big 4 merchandise in West Midlands region and very little Villa. I do see that as changing a little, even down sarf in my local bookshop you can find copies of Mr Woodhall's Villa miscellany. Ok, its 1-2 books compared to about 25 each from the big 4 but that's better than it used to be. And you always see Villa tops down here, myself included, we just seem to have been lumped in with everyone else the longer the Premier League carries on being dominated by the same 3-4 clubs. Talking to people down here they seem to forget that we have had success or topped the table for periods other than after an opening day win against Arsenal (even if that was only for 2-3 hours).

[Deano's Mullet]

If we do well people talk to me as if its nice for us to have a decent run of results as if I've never experienced them before, yet only 3-4 years ago we were seen as one of the better teams in the division even if we were always labelled as Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa.

[KevinGage]

I'd be fairly certain that clubs wouldn't lobby for their ex players to get those type of roles.

But I do think that decision makers often take the easy option and select ex Liverpool or Manchester United players as they assume such fuckwitts will be more palatable to a mainstream audience.

Where this falls down is when they select an oddball like Lawrenson, who increasingly looks like a sinister sex tourist. Or a prick like Carragher, who can't even speak.

[Billy Walker]

The club should be working much more to get us visibility in media, we rarely see our ex-players as pundits or being quests in such programs as Goals on Sunday. I was pretty disappointed that Villa hardly gave any notice for the 125th anniversary of football league.

As the next year will be 140th anniversary of our club, they should really make big deal out of it but I'm not expecting anything. Would be nice to get somekind of co-production between our club and one of the tv-channels for documentary about the history of the club but I really doubt we'll see anything of the sorts.

I wonder if other clubs agressively lobby for their ex-players to appear in MOTD and other football progams but I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is a case, and many times they appear to be quite smug.

There must be a TV agent up there in the north west of England who specializes in getting ex-pros from that part of the world on the box.  If there is, I really wish he/she would stop. 

[Dave]

The club should be working much more to get us visibility in media, we rarely see our ex-players as pundits

Andy Townsend seems to be ITV's main co-commentator. Dion Dublin is regularly on the BBC and Sky. Dwight Yorke turns up regularly in a horrible shirt. Andy Gray has been a dick for the last two decades across two different media. Stan Collymore isn't short of someone to listen to what he's complaining about. Peter Schmeichel shouts incoherently.

It's not as many as Liverpool (no club does), but are we that lacking in former players over clubs of a similar size?

[Dante Lavelli]

Commercially you're right but I'm torn as Villa, the quality the heritage, is becoming a bit of a secret that I'm happy to keep amongst friends.

[Yossarian]

Last season's away kit must have helped.

[Jarpie]

The club should be working much more to get us visibility in media, we rarely see our ex-players as pundits

Andy Townsend seems to be ITV's main co-commentator. Dion Dublin is regularly on the BBC and Sky. Dwight Yorke turns up regularly in a horrible shirt. Andy Gray has been a dick for the last two decades across two different media. Stan Collymore isn't short of someone to listen to what he's complaining about. Peter Schmeichel shouts incoherently.

It's not as many as Liverpool (no club does), but are we that lacking in former players over clubs of a similar size?

Forgot about Dublin and Townsend. Yorke and Schmechel are usually billed as ManU players like Deano's Mullet mentioned. On a second thought lobbying for media appearances is petty so I was wrong in that.

[Dave]

Whether they are billed as ManYoo players or not, they are still former Villa players which was your complaint.

Players shouldn't be there in a partisan capacity, they should be there to be impartial and educate us plebs with the benefit of their experience*

*Obviously this isn't what happens, but the solution isn't for us to have our own dim equivalents of Lawrenson and Crooks.

[pauliewalnuts]

There are loads of former Villa players who do punditry work.

In fact, I'd say way, way more than most other clubs.

[saunders_heroes]

There are loads of former Villa players who do punditry work.

In fact, I'd say way, way more than most other clubs.

That's what I was thinking. Both Merson and McInally on Sky, Collymore on Talksport, Sir Graham on 5 live... I'm sure they're others I can't think of.

[Irish villain]

Paul Merson and Alan McInally are two names I haven't yet seen on this thread. Oh, And I have seen Southgate as a pundit and Big Ron was the big daddy on ITV for at least ten years?

[Louzie0]

There are loads of former Villa players who do punditry work.

In fact, I'd say way, way more than most other clubs.

That's what I was thinking. Both Merson and McInally on Sky, Collymore on Talksport, Sir Graham on 5 live... I'm sure they're others I can't think of.

Paul Merson and Alan McInally are two names I haven't yet seen on this thread. Oh, And I have seen Southgate as a pundit and Big Ron was the big daddy on ITV for at least ten years?

Ugo has turned up on TS a few times, and so have Brad Friedel and George Boateng, to add to the illustrious group named here.

[pauliewalnuts]

Paul Merson and Alan McInally are two names I haven't yet seen on this thread. Oh, And I have seen Southgate as a pundit and Big Ron was the big daddy on ITV for at least ten years?

Dion Dublin crops up a fair amount, too. Then there's Collymore who is probably the most partisan pundit on national media.

Honestly, with the number of former players doing punditry plus our rich harvest of high profile celebrity fans, we've got such a high visibility level in that sense, if I supported other teams, it'd annoy me.

Look at a comparable club to us. Say, Everton. Where are their equivalents? They're way more low key.

Ed Stewpot Stewart. Then who?