WBA v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[Chico Hamilton III]

call me ignorant but why are my tesco bags mates keep calling villa , the seals ?

It originates from a side splitting slice of comedy observation of Villa fans in the Trinity.

[Hoppo]

In the 'old' days our fans in The Trinity used to help out with the atmosphere by clapping and stamping their feet.. (as seals do). I personally used to enjoy The Trinity getting stuck in.

[not3bad]

Pride of the midlands bollocks aside, and ignoring silly geographic arguments, this is the oldest local derby in the world, surely?

We played the Albion in 3 FA Cup finals before Man United even existed. Historically, this is as big a it gets for Villa and Albion.

Imagine Sky wanking themselves up into frenzy if Manchester, Liverpool or London had 2 local rivals going back as far as us and FC Smerrick?

I don't think sky could or would give a toss about anything that happened before 1992.

So, given your remarks about Albion being irrelevant, you reckon we should be thinking more like Sky?

[Jimbo]

call me ignorant but why are my tesco bags mates keep calling villa , the seals ?

It's because in the late 1800s a seal strayed into the canal network and ended up somewhere in West Bromwich. Some Albion fans saw it and, having never strayed beyond Smethwick, thought it was a Villa spy. They mistook its vocalisations for the English language, which none of them could speak, so they put it on trial, found it guilty and hanged it in the town square.

[not3bad]

I really don't see what the fuss is all about. Albion are a decent small to medium size club who have done well to stay in the top flight for mor than a season this time around. However to think they are our rivals is just plain silly. They have never been never will be.

I would say in the late 70s/early 80s they were.

[eastie]

call me ignorant but why are my tesco bags mates keep calling villa , the seals ?

It's because in the late 1800s a seal strayed into the canal network and ended up somewhere in West Bromwich. Some Albion fans saw it and, having never strayed beyond Smethwick, thought it was a Villa spy. They mistook its vocalisations for the English language, which none of them could speak, so they put it on trial, found it guilty and hanged it in the town square.

This is not hartlepool , although easy to confuse them with Albion

[dave.woodhall]

I really don't see what the fuss is all about. Albion are a decent small to medium size club who have done well to stay in the top flight for mor than a season this time around. However to think they are our rivals is just plain silly. They have never been never will be.

I would say in the late 70s/early 80s they were.

Do we have to go into all this again? For the majority of our existence they were our main rivals. It is, as we say twice a year, the oldest league derby in the world. No other club has had such an effect on our history as they have.

[Dave Cooper please]

In the 'old' days our fans in The Trinity used to help out with the atmosphere by clapping and stamping their feet.. (as seals do). I personally used to enjoy The Trinity getting stuck in.

Do seals have feet?

[PGW]

call me ignorant but why are my tesco bags mates keep calling villa , the seals ?

It's because in the late 1800s a seal strayed into the canal network and ended up somewhere in West Bromwich. Some Albion fans saw it and, having never strayed beyond Smethwick, thought it was a Villa spy. They mistook its vocalisations for the English language, which none of them could speak, so they put it on trial, found it guilty and hanged it in the town square.

Jimbo so brilliant.....if only it were true. Made me smile that has!!!!

[not3bad]

I really don't see what the fuss is all about. Albion are a decent small to medium size club who have done well to stay in the top flight for mor than a season this time around. However to think they are our rivals is just plain silly. They have never been never will be.

I would say in the late 70s/early 80s they were.

Do we have to go into all this again? For the majority of our existence they were our main rivals. It is, as we say twice a year, the oldest league derby in the world. No other club has had such an effect on our history as they have.

I was more thinking during my lifetime.  Since the early 80s both Albion and Blues have declined somewhat (so, obviously, have Villa, but not so much as those two).

[dave.woodhall]

I really don't see what the fuss is all about. Albion are a decent small to medium size club who have done well to stay in the top flight for mor than a season this time around. However to think they are our rivals is just plain silly. They have never been never will be.

I would say in the late 70s/early 80s they were.

Do we have to go into all this again? For the majority of our existence they were our main rivals. It is, as we say twice a year, the oldest league derby in the world. No other club has had such an effect on our history as they have.

I was more thinking during my lifetime.  Since the early 80s both Albion and Blues have declined somewhat (so, obviously, have Villa, but not so much as those two).

I know you what you meant - I was replying to the comment that they've never been our rivals.

[Hoppo]

They don't have feet but flippers with claws on they make as much noise as feet when stamped.. Im off to The Lord Clifden if anyone fancies a Pre match pint. 'come on you lions'..

[eastie]

They don't have feet but flippers with claws on they make as much noise as feet when stamped.. Im off to The Lord Clifden if anyone fancies a Pre match pint. 'come on you lions'..

Are you in the chair hoppo?

[ADVILLAFAN]

http://www.skysports.com/fun_games/missingmen

2-1 win from 2008 - took me 90 seconds, mostly trying to get one of the centre-backs.

[andrew08]

It nervy day for those of us this side of town: I live closer to the Hawthorns than Villa Park.
The rivalry for me had pretty much gone with their demise really and had been overtaken by the early part of the century fixtures against blues. The first game against them a couple of years ago, I walked through their car park with my nipper and purchased a coffee from a concession and helped myself to milk from a proper jug and thought to myself how far removed is this from the stone dodging we have to do on Cattell Road every time we go there.

But now they're getting a little cocky with this 'we know who we are' nonsense, and need to be put down a peg or to. We know eventually, like blues and wolves, they will go down... Let's start the process tonight