One of the regulars on here once said to me he'd rather Villa win a corner than England a match - I'm not that extreme and of course I would like to see England win tonight, but I'd sacrifice every single ounce of England success to see Villa win a trophy once more - I don't think any level of joy or emotion from the nation team can capture the joy of seeing us lift trophies at Wembley and similarly lose finals there too.My bug bear with England is the pseudo fans that turn up every 4 years and suddenly display emotion that belies there otherwise indifference to football as a whole - i can't stand it.
I always refer to Villa as we and always refer to England as they.
The two are not mutually exclusive but obviously Villa is our club and we get to see / support them around 50 times a season. They are a part of our daily lives and fuel a lot of our conversations whereas England is more of a summer passion. Those semi final defeats in 1990 and 1996 still hurt though.A tournament comes along every two years and as these tournaments expand the qualifying games become easier (don't tell Italy and Holland) so there is dullness around a lot of England fixtures.One thing I love about watching England matches in the pub is that my mates and I all support the same team. It is a rare joy and I love it. But Villa first, obviously.