And the arrival of Brentford to bring glad tidings.
There’s a general feeling that Villa’s attitude to supporters now is along the lines of if you don’t want to buy it there’s thirty thousand who will. That idea could take a bit of a battering on Wednesday, when we welcome Brentford and their 27-strong travelling army to our safe Astonian home. It’s been a good while since the team ran out to blocks of empty seats for a league game but that one could well happen, even with the novel idea of a BOGOF on posh seats. Maybe, just maybe, the view from the directors box might be enough to persuade them that loyalty is one thing, but don’t take the piss.
Anyway, we’re playing Brentford, who’ve long outlived their usefulness as our nursery club and should be dispatched back where they belong, wherever that might be. Their manager looks like he was in a Scandivanian Britpop tribute band and they’ve got a player named Igor Thago, who with a name like that should be a six foot five Hungarian centre-half from the seventies instead of a Brazilian forward. They’ve got rid of Ivan Toney, which means that Ben Mee stands supreme as the most loathsome ‘man’ in their squad. Let’s hope nothing unfortunate happens to him. Or let’s not.
Brentford also reckon they’ve got a few injuries. That was, until they gaze upon our casualty list, or at least Tuesday’s version of it. There’ll probably be a couple more additions by kick-off. Of course none of this would be much of a problem if the team were doing well. Unfortunately they aren’t and that means we have to start putting it right soon. On Wednesday evening, to be precise. Which we will, and no doubt about it. Even then, though, the loudest noise might well be coming from the empty seats.
