Aston Villa Kit 26/27

[Ads]

He’s like a lower rent Jonathan Wilson in terms of how he sees us.

Is there a back storey behind his beef or is he a misery with everybody?

[LeeB]

He’s like a lower rent Jonathan Wilson in terms of how he sees us.

Is there a back storey behind his beef or is he a misery with everybody?

He may have read me calling him a wing-nut headed div. Even on the Rest is History podcast he managed a half-joking dig at us not letting Sunderland in the original football league because it's a minor baltic outpost that nobody could be arsed to travel to.

[dave.woodhall]

He got pissed off with something someone either said or did to him.
 

[Somniloquism]

Breaching all the financial rules, dodgy deals with Chelsea, Harvey Elliot, selling our arms to our legs...

And if he had written stories about those, you might have had a point.

[andyh]

I always have a new shirt when they come out. I didn’t get this new one on release because I wanted to see who the sponsor might be, someone ‘cool’ like Audi hopefully.

Well, after yesterdays announcement I placed my order pretty damn quick to get a ‘naked’ one before they get printed up and naked ones are unavailable.

[Martyn Smith]

Hi all,

I know some will see this as 'this isn't an airport' or 'don't let the door etc', but the reason I'm doing it is to say a fond farewell to the many friendly acquaintances that I have made on this site

With this announcement about the new sponsorship deal, Villa have pushed me far enough. Following the ramping up of tickets for a similar seat from £44 to £58 in one season, the club has shoved me out of the exit door. There is a shameless, soulless commercialism about the place these days which goes above and beyond hard-nosed business sense. There is no sense of morality to the club any more

And that coupled with the PSR or whatever it's called rules which favour cost savings over on pitch success, and other factors over the years, I'm just done with the game. Cancelling my Sky Sports subscription

So, been nice chatting on here for the last 20 years (and of course buying the paper fanzine for 17 before that), but all good things

Perhaps one day in the future, if and when the club and the game as a whole discovers a few ethics again, I might return. Till then I'll be following it with an occasional glance at the sports pages at most

All the best everyone. Mods could you delete my account please

[Brazilian Villain]

See you on Aug. 23rd.

[PeterWithe]

There a lots of people who contribute to this site without attending games.

[PeterWithesShin]

Bye.

[VILLA MOLE]

What will you do with yourself Martyn ? 

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

What will you do with yourself Martyn ? 

He can't hear you. He's gone.

[Ads]

What will you do with yourself Martyn ? 

He can't hear you. He is with Bluesky now.

[Rigadon]

Wait, we're actually going to have this Rwanda thing on our actual shirt?  That's mental.

[Sexual Ealing]

Breaching all the financial rules, dodgy deals with Chelsea, Harvey Elliot, selling our arms to our legs...

And if he had written stories about those, you might have had a point.

Oh, I do have a point, because I'm not talking about a no-mark local BBC reporter, but responding to generalised, relentless self-pitying bleating.

[algy]

Villa upon signing the deal -

Very well, I accept. A man may fight for many things: his country, his principles, his friends, the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally I'd mud wrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock, and a sack of French porn. You're on.

Let's be honest, though:

Lerner - fortune from MBNA, known for being particularly rapacious in selling debt
Edens - made a fortune in the sub prime mortgage markets
Tony Xia - actual crook, in a Chinese jail
Years of gambling sponsorship - personally, I don't have a problem with this morally, far from it, but I know a lot of people do.

I agree, the Rwanda thing is disgusting, and embarassing, frankly, but we, as part of the entitled, have been wallowing in shady shite for years, as has every other PL club.

I mean, you can argue the ethics of a lot of these things, but realistically NSWE can't do a huge amount about people who've owned the club in the past.

I'd also wonder if, unethical though they may be, sub prime mortgages can be thought to be equivalent with genocide, torture, and so on.  Whilst I wouldn't want to delve in to the murky world of moral relativism, I think you can think both are bad whilst feeling that one is perhaps less tolerable than the other.

Gambling sponsorship - yeah, I'm a long time opponent of that myself.  I don't have an issue with people doing what they want with their own money, but again there's a difference between that and actively promoting/encouraging it (and there's no point in advertising of any sort if it doesn't do exactly that).  Again, you can argue against the moral relativism of anything, but I think encouraging the use of anything that is addictive isn't on and should be steered clear of.  And yes, I would also oppose sponsorship from either fags or alcohol.

Now, to my mind that's one thing, but it becomes a different thing entirely when you start dealing with governments.  That is an explicitly political move, a political statement.  I'd be very, very wary in the first place of taking money from foreign nation states in any case.  But ones that've been particularly singled out by Amnesty International seem like they'd probably not be the sort of people we should be associating with regardless of the money involved.

This is really, really not a good look for the club and I hope we terminate this as soon as possible.  I've been largely priced out of Villa games in any case, but there's absolutely no way I'm financially supporting the club whilst they're willing to take money from them.  I'll not quit here as a result, mind, so you can put your minds at ease in that regard