Some days were better than others.
We’re reportedly looking to sell a stake in the women’s team. This is all part of our strategy to broaden the global appeal of the Aston Villa brand and nothing, repeat NOTHING, to do with getting round PSR. Perish the thought.
Marcus Rashford’s out for the rest of the season with a hamstring strain. Goodbye, thanks for what you did and it was nice while it lasted.
We’ve got a new mural in the shop, and very impressive it looks too, even if a few of the characters chosen to be on display are a bit strange.
Chris Heck’s on his way back to the States at the end of the season. He came, he saw, he pissed off a lot of supporters and he raised both ticket prices and income to previously-undreamed off heights, although Unai Emery can claim a fair bit of credit for that last one. No news yet on his replacement, but whoever it is could at least pretend that they give a toss about anyone who doesn’t have serious amounts of money and/or a family desperate to spend it on club-approved tat. And by the time they start work I doubt Chris Heck will remember Villa Park at all.
Spurs are moaning that we won’t move our match to help them out for a cup final they haven’t qualified for yet. And who can blame them?After all, we’ve had so much help when we’ve had big European matches or pandemic-hit squads to contend with.
The woman’s team do a bit to make that valuation more realistic by beating Arsenal 5-2. They’re safe from relegation now.
Back to Villa Park and getting on with what’s left of the season, Fulham turn up with a handful of supporters and some daft idea about catching us up. The team’s more or less unchanged from last Saturday’s debacle and they start off in the right mood. We’d already had a coupe of good chances when John McGinn put over a corner in the twelfth minute for Youri Tielemans, whose header was as good as his passing.
We had a few more chances and a definite penalty turned down. Ollie Watkins should have scored another and might have got more, Tielemans had a shot well saved and the ever-improving Donyell Malen hit the bar but there were no more goals. The one we did get was more than the other team managed and at this stage of the season that’s all that matters.
Then that evening the death was reported of former keeper Jake Findlay, He was part of the 1972 FA Youth Cup winning-side and spent most of his time here in the reserves but played in the legendary 5-1 win over Liverpool in 1976. He was 7o.
Sunday’s other matches were a mixture of good and disappointing but they were overshadowed by the breaking news that Peter McParland has died. At 91 he was the oldest former Villa player and the last survivor of the 1957 team, but that only tells a fraction of his incredible story. We’ll be paying a fuller tribute later but for the moment, a legend, and a gentleman. We shall never see his like again.
