Birmingham Mail and Villa coverage

[wittonwarrior]

Makes you think just how little assistance they actually get from Villa Park.  I would imagine very little, judging by the output.

[kippaxvilla2]

Claret and Blues - aaaaaghhh!

N'Zogbia was released on a free at the end of last season after a forgettable spell with the claret and blues and has been training with the Wearsiders.

[in exile]

I don't read the Birmingham Mail (paper form or online edition) due to the way they report on us so it doesn't effect me.
What does bother me is the official Villa website calling us the same

[trevor fisher]

After the first match of the season, its sadly obvious that the Mail has actually got worse. I can tolerate the awful writing, the speculation without facts and even the abysmal failure to realise we are no longer a Premiership side ("Villa are a premiership side playing at Villa Park..." - yes, that is what they say) but why do they no longer give the full team news?

They only give the starting line up, not the subs used and still less the subs unused, useful information they used to give. Any one know why they only recognised 11 players today?

[brentastonb6]

Claret and Blues - aaaaaghhh!

N'Zogbia was released on a free at the end of last season after a forgettable spell with the claret and blues and has been training with the Wearsiders.

Can someone please change our Wikkipedia entry as that now refers to 'Claret and Blues' as being one of our nicknames too.... This is becoming contagious  :(t

[Proposition Joe]

Slightly off-topic but still related, story in the Press Gazette by a sacked writer from the Leicester Mercury railing against clickbait local journalism.  Their paper was also taken over by Trinity Mirror ...

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/spiked-column-by-sacked-star-writer-on-the-leicester-mercury-railed-against-risible-standard-of-clickbait-online-journalism/

Except online advertising is hard to sell. Firms are luke warm about it, presumably because they don’t want to advertise on a website laced with non-stories masquerading as news which they can’t read because of an avalanche of ads.

And so on it goes.

Newspapers which sell fewer copies each year and websites that are so difficult to use they infuriate their readers.

[robbo1874]

Good read Prop Joe. Thanks for the link.

[kippaxvilla2]

Birmingham City director Panos Pavlakis takes a cheeky pop at Aston Villa after EFL Cup exit

Panos-Pavlakis.jpg
Panos Pavlakis
Birmingham City director Panos Pavlakis has taken a cheeky pop at rivals Aston Villa following their EFL Cup exit.
Pavlakis took to Twitter after Villa were knocked out at the first round stage with a 3-1 defeat to League Two club Luton Town.

Blues are also licking their wounds after a 1-0 extra time defeat to Oxford United, of League One, at St Andrew's last night.


It means there will be no repeat of last season's League Cup derby at Villa Park, so the Second City neighbours will have to make do with meeting twice in the Championship instead.

Moments after the final whistled signalled Villa's defeat at Kenilworth Road, which was screened live on Sky Sports, Pavlakis tweeted: "Quiet night with the bcfc lads. Anything on TV tonight?"

[CJ]

Blimey, even their directors are obsessed with us.

[saunders_heroes]

Noticed that professional Villa hater Colin Tattum in that photo as well. Celebrating the night after they lost at home to little Oxford in front of 6,000 Small Heath fans.

[rob_bridge]

Noticed that professional Villa hater Colin Tattum in that photo as well. Celebrating the night after they lost at home to little Oxford in front of 6,000 Small Heath fans.

Maybes the rest of them took the night off to have their monthly shower

[kippaxvilla2]

Just imagine an article like this being written about one of our neighbours, said no one ever.

Opinion: Why Birmingham City are performing better in the Championship than Aston Villa and Wolves
11:53, 14 SEP 2016 UPDATED 11:54, 14 SEP 2016
BY STEVE WOLLASTON
A close look at why it is going right for Blues compared to their big-spending neighbours
   
The simple answer is of course, they have more points.

The Championship however is a far more complex beast.

One that Blues understand well.

That understanding has grown from the studious approach of Gary Rowett who has built a team with a solidity and team ethic that matches what the Championship requires.

Wolves and Villa have spent money, lots of it.

Wolves went for the wild and manic approach of buying players from all over Europe and hoping that it sticks under the guidance of controversial managerial choice Walter Zenga.

Walter Zenga manager / head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers grabs the match ballWalter Zenga manager / head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers grabs the match ball
It will take that team a long time to settle in, even more so with the talk that Zenga almost favours a different Saturday team a changed Tuesday team.

That's as preposterous as anyone believing he has anything to do with the signings on the pitch.

Villa have been more measured, but equally as ambitious.

Big money signings have come in with the club even breaking the Championship transfer record twice.

Players have departed, mostly with their tails between their legs.

Birmingham City goalkeeper Adam Legzdins has this to say after his 'very easy job'
The similarity with Wolves is there for all to see though, wholesale changes that have seen their team for this season barely resembling the ones that finished last season.

That's a good and a bad thing.

You may have eleven players that are as hopeless as the day is long, the change however has to be handled carefully.

Wolves have handled it wrong, Villa have handled it better.

The teams are now a disjointed mess that need to meld and knit together.

And they need to do that in the cauldron of the hardest league in the world.

Or certainly one of them, you see, the Championship takes no prisoners.

Wolves know that and know the league explicitly, at least they did under the guidance of the shred Jez Moxey.

Now they are rudderless, in stormy waters, albeit with a bostin' new boat.

The Championship requires consistency from a team, and unity.

That unity comes from trust, graft and togetherness amongst a group of players, and damn good coaching.

The necessary reasoned approach, stability and solidity is now what the two teams must focus on.

There are teams in the past that have done well and even been promoted from this league that have had inferior teams compared to others.

It happens a lot, and that's because they tick the boxes needed.

Teams have to be able to get in the trenches, play ugly and play dirty.

They can switch on the pace and style when they have to, and they have to be clinical.

Any fan of the two teams can see where they are going wrong in these areas.

Villa have all the components to compete in this league and the chances they are creating show that they will be a real threat.

Nottingham Forest and others this season though have shown them the importance of being clinical.

There is the need to find that knack of being streetwise enough to see out those games, that should come with the purchases of tried and trusted Championship players.

Wolves? They lack the shape at the moment, despite sitting higher in the table.

They have to find what works for them in terms of the players and the shape of the team, and fast.

Birmingham City's Gary Rowett at Reading
So what about Blues? This article is about them too.

Blues are already ahead of both teams in many key areas.

Gary Rowett is slowly evolving his team, adding here and there, and trimming where he needs to.

Blues are like a Bonsai Tree, in the safe capable hands of Mr Miyagi and his tiny tweezers, continuing to grow, slowly, but surely.

The financial situation at Blues means they can't compete with Villa and Wolves in terms of signings, but that isn't always what the Championship requires.

That's not to say Rowett wouldn't want more money, he would of course.

I don't think that the Blues boss would attempt to ever rebuild Blues in such a gung-ho fashion, and after years of instability, Blues are finally in a place where they don't need to.

The league position is no fluke.

Gary Rowett knows the league, he knows the capabilities of his team, and he knows how to make sure they are well-prepared for battle.

A battle that Villa and Wolves are yet to turn up.

[Keeno]

Genuinely, that looks as though it was written by an A Level student, or intern. I can't believe a professional organisation has allowed that to be put out! Maybe on the original you'll be able to spot the finger spaces too, in between the 10 word long sentences. And that's before you even get to the content, the slanted nature of which has been highlighted so much on here. Dreadful.

[nodge]

No doubt they've got the youtube clip on their site of the young person in the Villa top having abuse etc hurled at them on Saturday at Euston Station?

[PeterWithesShin]

No doubt they've got the youtube clip on their site of the young person in the Villa top having abuse etc hurled at them on Saturday at Euston Station?

They do.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/watch-lone-aston-villa-fan-11875569