Ollie Watkins

[Rigadon]

He said you can see him on the coverage and he is right in the front row. When Ollie is in the back of the goal you can see the fan shouting ‘Wanker’ at him repeatedly.
Players can hear individuals near the front. I remember us winding Shawcross up when he played for Stoke just by repeatedly calling his name in a sing song voice.

It looked to me like the bloke in the light-coloured jacket right in the centre and definitely repeated wanker at Ollie.  The bloke wasn't too young either the stupid pillock.

Cringe!

?, Me or him?

Definitely him.

Ah, gotcha.  I try my best not to be cringeworthy.😉

Ha!  Me too, with uneven results on some days if you ask my kids.  I don't know, there's just something exceptionally cringeworthy about older gentlemen in the crowd behaving like that.  We all get frustrated / angry watching football, but to continually single players out for whole games is a bit sad.   

[dutchvilla]

98th best (male) footballer in the world according to a Guardian panel

theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2023/dec/19/the-100-best-male-footballers-in-the-world-2023

[Mellin]

Won't be the last either. Emi will score highly again. Douglas Luiz probably in there too.

[Rigadon]

Won't be the last either. Emi will score highly again. Douglas Luiz probably in there too.

McGinn deserves to be in there I think, but probably won't.  Didn't think I'd be saying that 18 months ago.

[Dogtanian]

According to this article in the Athletic, one more goal makes Ollie the first Villa player to get to double figures in four top-flight seasons in a row since Peter Withe.

He'll also be the first Englishman since Robbie Fowler to do it in his first four seasons in the Premier League.

https://theathletic.com/5143240/2023/12/20/ollie-watkins-second-best-striker-premier-league/

[Risso]

According to this article in the Athletic, one more goal makes Ollie the first Villa player to get to double figures in four top-flight seasons in a row since Peter Withe.

He'll also be the first Englishman since Robbie Fowler to do it in his first four seasons in the Premier League.

https://theathletic.com/5143240/2023/12/20/ollie-watkins-second-best-striker-premier-league/

Not to take anything away from Ollie, but I have to say that on the whole those are fairly meaningless stats, because you've got the likes of Harry Kane who was introduced sparingly in his first year or two as a kid in the Premier League, but who then went on to average 20+ goals a season for the next 9 or 10 years. Same sort of thing with Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer.

[Somniloquism]

According to this article in the Athletic, one more goal makes Ollie the first Villa player to get to double figures in four top-flight seasons in a row since Peter Withe.

He'll also be the first Englishman since Robbie Fowler to do it in his first four seasons in the Premier League.

https://theathletic.com/5143240/2023/12/20/ollie-watkins-second-best-striker-premier-league/

Not to take anything away from Ollie, but I have to say that on the whole those are fairly meaningless stats, because you've got the likes of Harry Kane who was introduced sparingly in his first year or two as a kid in the Premier League, but who then went on to average 20+ goals a season for the next 9 or 10 years. Same sort of thing with Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer.

Alan Shearer did do it in his first four premier seasons as his formative years was before football was invented but Fowler came after.

Rooney did appear in 33 and 34 games in his first two seasons, starting 14 in that first season.

[Dogtanian]

I think the stat is really the fact that we haven't had a goal-scorer like this at Villa in a long time. The stuff about Fowler is due to a number of reasons, the fact that people now play one up front rather than two, the switch from 20-goal-a-season strikers to heavy-scoring midfielders, and of course that strikers are often the most expensive players and so proven ones from abroad are often preferred to unproven youngsters.

[baddowvillans]

Just had a look at the Brentford chat to see whether having heard Ollies account that his family was abused they had softwned their stance but they are having none of it.  They say why should they side with him rather than with a fellow fan.  No responsibility which I'm sure tells Ollie all he needs to know about the "paper thin" affection Brentford fans had for him.  They deny that it was possible for him to heard and believe Ollie just made it up to justify his actions.  Completely illogical.

The big disappointment for me is with Frank.  Ollie considered him a friend and so went to him to explain his actions.  Frank could have made a stand about inappropriate abuse  ut he has chosen to remain silent weak and dishonest. 

[Dave]

The big disappointment for me is with Frank.  Ollie considered him a friend and so went to him to explain his actions.  Frank could have made a stand about inappropriate abuse  ut he has chosen to remain silent weak and dishonest. 

With respect, this also feels a bit precious. Crowd gives player stick. Player scores and gives some back. Tale as old as time.

Don't really think anyone needs to clutch their pearls and nobody needs to make a stand, justify, condemn etc. It's all fine.

[AV84]

The pitch side video for the game came out yesterday and they cut it pretty quickly after he scored. If there's anything to be looked at or listened to on a more official level I'd imagine they would have picked it up while filming for that. They seem to have several people filming around the pitch at the same time.

[Ads]

Yeah they're a bunch of tin pot cranks. It's Ollies fault for reacting to their abuse as his reaction could have caused their behaviour to deteriorate further. Ok lads.

No mark gimps who think they're zainy/whacky fun time "guys" here to upset to big boys. In reality they're a reincarnation of Stoke and will soon be relegated back into oblivion with other none entities like Swansea, Swindon and whoever the fuck cares.

[Brend'Watkins]

The big disappointment for me is with Frank.  Ollie considered him a friend and so went to him to explain his actions.  Frank could have made a stand about inappropriate abuse  ut he has chosen to remain silent weak and dishonest. 

With respect, this also feels a bit precious. Crowd gives player stick. Player scores and gives some back. Tale as old as time.

Don't really think anyone needs to clutch their pearls and nobody needs to make a stand, justify, condemn etc. It's all fine.

That's my take too.

[Risso]

Which is why I thought getting the police involved was potentially a bit much.

[Drummond]

Which is why I thought getting the police involved was potentially a bit much.

Yep, it did seem a bit OTT, but then we don't know exactly what was said.