Villa Park Redevelopment

[VillaTim]

As a child who loved football, I really wanted to play, but girls pretty much just didn’t then.

I love that girls play now, and that they can see a way forward for their ambition. I used to dream of playing for Villa just like boys did, but it was some wild ‘out there’ convoluted thing with loads of barriers to get through.

My grandson’s teams have girls in. Even before the women won the Euros, it still seemed a bit odd seeing them there, but after the England women won the Euros, something changed and it just looked right.

I watch our Villa women when they are on TV, and have been to a few games in person and whilst it isn’t ’the same’ it’s enjoyable. Like Boozey & Risso, I don’t hurt about the Villa women’s team in the same way, but I follow the women’s fans Facebook page, and there are a massive group of fans that do. Obviously not as massive as the men’s team, but it’s all relative as crowds iro 5000 is still a big number. It is important to a lot of people.

For a lot of families now it’s a cheap and easy way to take in a Villa game when they couldn’t otherwise. The atmosphere is better for small children than the aggression in men’s football crowds. For those reasons it will grow.

We don’t do this with other sports. Female runners, tennis players, rowers, gymnasts etc aren’t called out for not being as good as the men. The women’s game has a long way to go in terms of the standard, but more and more girls are growing up with a ball at their feet now, and this will change. In my grandson’s team, one of the girls is one of the best players now, she’s the one who has the natural movement, the drop of the shoulder, the twists and turns that make everyone look.

There has clearly been a tradition of it being a ‘men's game’, but just like we now see parents taking their daughters in a way they only used to take their sons to games, it’s changing.

I don’t believe in a forced parity. I agree that the talking about teams without saying they are the women’s team is a major annoyance. I nearly had a heart attack when our women’s team announced their new Manager! They shouldn’t be paid as much as the men until they bring in the money that the men’s game does. It’s. The entertainment industry at the end of the day. I don’t think the women winning the Euros was like the men winning it, but it was fun.

It has its place & its supporters, and they walk past that wall too, and little girls who love Villa see someone they can aspire to be, alongside their male heroes. Being able to ‘see yourself’ there is something men have always taken for granted. Now we can too.

Applause

[Villan82]

Amfy, well said

[CLEEVE]

Letting Lehmann go who is huge on socials won't help the women's team grow

[AV82EC]

Letting Lehmann go who is huge on socials won't help the women's team grow

She was a sub standard WSL player imv and her profile a massive distraction to us actually developing the team. You don’t get competitive being “big on socials”.

[Gareth]

Letting Lehmann go who is huge on socials won't help the women's team grow

Not sure her socials gave Villa Womens team much of a profile boost…winning games is more important and doing that requires better players and Lehmann can be improved upon

[PeterWithesShin]

Just realised there's 9 league titles, surely they aren't including the 2 Second Division wins?

[Percy McCarthy]

Just realised there's 9 league titles, surely they aren't including the 2 Second Division wins?

Yes they are. No Division three though.

[Rory]

Just realised there's 9 league titles, surely they aren't including the 2 Second Division wins?

Yes they are. No Division three though.

Hmm. That's a Blues move.

[Drummond]

Maybe they are suggesting we have the North for two more years?

[BC Villain]

Just realised there's 9 league titles, surely they aren't including the 2 Second Division wins?

Yes they are. No Division three though.

If they're putting the two second division wins on then surely they should put Division 3 on as well.  Bit disrespectful to the memories of the likes of Vic Crowe and Charlie Aitken

[pauliewalnuts]

That’s really small time.

Small Heath level.

[PeterWithesShin]

7, 7, 5, 1, 1.

The only trophies we should be celebrating. I'm trying to work out if we've added FA Youth Cups as well.

[Ads]

I fail to see how anything to do with trophies is Small Heathen.

[ADVILLAFAN]

If we put up a mural celebrating selling our best player, that would be Small Heath like.

[London Villan]

What are the 6 at the right hand?