Tom Fox announced as new Villa CEO

[Percy McCarthy]

The Major: Hampshire won again Fawlty!

Basil: Did it? Oh good.

That's what I go by.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

I'm getting confused now.

I thought we supported Warwickshire.

They're great.

[ktvillan]

"Villa has"

Fox out!🐺

What's wrong with that?

It's that American way of treating football clubs as singular entities.  Aston Villa is the greatest club rather than Aston Villa are the greatest club.

I think it's grammatically corredt though. Aston Villa is a single entity. 'Are' suggests there is more than one.

I think both versions may be grammatically correct, it depends on whether you think of a club/team as a single entity (it) or a collection of people (they).  American English tends toward the former, I've always used the latter and most British people I know do too - for example in the famous chant   "and its Aston Villa,  Aston Villa FC, they're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen....".

And I always thought Basil Fawlty's "did  it" comment was a joke, hinting that he wasn't listening and not really interested.

[ktvillan]

The word on the Tweet is Micky Arrison is back on the scene following the arrival of the Fox.

This is on the Aston Villa 1874 Facebook page , I,m sure others on here will tell me how much credence it should be given ( probably not a lot ! ) ...............Godzvilla !

 " So massive talk on twitter that Arison will become owner of AVFC and it was his call on Fox and Keane. Apparently Fox and Lerner will meet with Arison in Sardinia for further discussion "

Someone with no interest in football has appointed our assistant manager. It's certainly got me convinced.

Didn't someone with no knowledge of football supposedly have a big say in the appointment of O'Neill back in 2006?

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

"Villa has"

Fox out!

What's wrong with that?

It's that American way of treating football clubs as singular entities.  Aston Villa is the greatest club rather than Aston Villa are the greatest club.

I think it's grammatically corredt though. Aston Villa is a single entity. 'Are' suggests there is more than one.

I think both versions may be grammatically correct, it depends on whether you think of a club/team as a single entity (it) or a collection of people (they).  American English tends toward the former, I've always used the latter and most British people I know do too - for example in the famous chant   "and its Aston Villa,  Aston Villa FC, they're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen....".

And I always thought Basil Fawlty's "did  it" comment was a joke, hinting that he wasn't listening and not really interested.

He was referring to the county and not the cricket team therefore ensuing hilarity forthwith.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Presumably, someone's already done the "Fox in the (executive) box" joke, so I won't bother.

[dave shelley]

Back on topic, the fecker's been here nearly twenty-four hours and no signings!  Fox out!

[Jimbo]

Back on topic, the fecker's been here nearly twenty-four hours and no signings!  Fox out!

What the Fox he playing at? Etc.

[Des Little]

Fox off!!

[LeeB]

Give him a chance, for Fox sake.

[joe_c]

Presumably, someone's already done the "Fox in the (executive) box" joke, so I won't bother.

Guilty as charged. Surprised nobody has seen fit to post the following though so I guess I'll have to.

[kippaxvilla2]

Back to the 'has' discussion.  At least he put a word between has and been.  So he doesn't consider us to be has beens.

[dicedlam]

Back on topic, the fecker's been here nearly twenty-four hours and no signings!  Fox out!

Fox the signings!

He needs to get Vlaar and Delph nailed down to new contracts first.

[old man villa fan]

The bit in bold is an interesting comment.

Chairman Randy Lerner said in a statement: “I was delighted and even flattered by Tom’s interest in the Villa job. His achievements at Arsenal speak for themselves and, above all, his reputation as a leader and team builder makes him, to my mind, a great fit to take our club forward.”

Although the official line has always been that everything was rosy between the top people in the club, perhaps Lerner did not see this in Paul Faulkner.  Even to the extent that Randy was thinking of bringing in somebody above PF and that is why he resigned.

[LTA]

Maybe Faulkner saw the arrival of someone he had to report to as a threat to his cosy relationship with Lerner, so he buggered off.

It does seem strange that we've big a bit more active in the window since he left