Other Games 2025-26

[Dave]

In other "the future's bright" news, the U21s including Bellingham Jr, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Dibling, Rico Lewis et al needed a 90th minute penalty to get a 1-1 draw with Andorra U21s.

[kippaxvilla2]

There’s plenty of players who’ve rocked up to Villa Park over the years seemingly not interested in playing football.

[olaftab]

I didn't know till today that Uruguay were thrashed 5-1 by the mighty USA a few days ago.

[dr.chekov]

Didn't Graham Taylor say that Mellberg treated football as just a job and wasn't particularly interested in it?

[Brend'Watkins]

He's a 'hard man' in the image of the 'edgy' one they'd have in 90's boy bands, and yes is very much poster boy for that outfit.

A ‘hard man’ you say, he’s not cultivating that image very well with his permanent sun bed tan or with his socks pulled up over his knees. That to me makes him whatever the opposite of a hard man look is.

[cdbearsfan]

In other "the future's bright" news, the U21s including Bellingham Jr, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Dibling, Rico Lewis et al needed a 90th minute penalty to get a 1-1 draw with Andorra U21s.

Andorra u-21s have done surprisingly well recently. They nad narrow one-nil defeats in England and Ireland, in their home games they were seconds away from a win against England, beat Kazakhstan and twatted Ireland 4-0. I'm not suggesting they're likely to dominate world football for the next thirty years, but that's still pretty decent for Andorra.

[TB]

I’m absolutely fascinated by professional footballers who are disinterested in the sport other than the money. I’m sure all of us on here remember being obsessed with the game from early childhood, playing headers and volleys at school, playing in weekend leagues etc. and dreaming of playing for the Villa.

Then you have greats like Gabriel Batistuta, who would have rather been playing polo and couldn’t be arsed with football outside of matches. Told his biographer that there’s not much point in talking about his career because all of the numbers are already available. Or Christian Vieri who told a load of French journalists at the 1998 World Cup that his sporting idol was Allan Border to widespread confusion and a few years later said he would pack up football altogether if he could get the same contract playing cricket.

At least they were honest that it was all about money but to get to that level of football and to not even be that arsed about it means they must have been extraordinarily talented.

As a teenager (50+ years ago), I could hit 30 out of 30 from a 10 m distance with an air gun or an air rifle, and if you inspected the target, you couldn't tell whether it was one bullet or 30. It ended up totally boring. It was just too easy. If I'd been offered good money to continue as a professional, I'd certainly accept, but I'd *still* find it utterly boring.

[Richard E]

On the other hand you’ve earned a lucrative and enjoyable living as a contract assassin.

[TB]

On the other hand you could have earned a lucrative and enjoyable living as a contract assassin.

Fixed. Formerly (now retired) teacher and IT consultant. If you'd contacted me 50 years ago when I was very young (and very stupid) I *might* have considered it...

[Sexual Ealing]

You are not Ollie Watkins and I don't want £5.

[Clampy]

Didn't Graham Taylor say that Mellberg treated football as just a job and wasn't particularly interested in it?

Yeah.  think Mellberg said he was more into tennis

[dave.woodhall]

Ron Saunders wasn't that interested in football, neither was Bob Paisley. Bill Shankly was devoted to it, Ron Atkinson loves it.

[Brazilian Villain]

On the other hand you’ve earned a lucrative and enjoyable living as a contract assassin.

And Frederick Forsyth would have titled his book, The Day of the Artic Fox.

[rougegorge]

Guessand has scored for Ivory Coast against South Korea…at Milton Keynes.