Starchild65 is next for the Vital Villa interview.
Starchild65 is next for the Vital Villa interview.
1) When did you become a Villa fan and why?
Back end of 1979 (October – December can`t be exactly sure of the date I saw the light). I was bored with supporting Celtic after 8 years of a 2 horse race season after season. I wanted a team that would provide some challenges and not one that was almost guaranteed to win something every season. Villa had been my “second” team for a few years – so I decided to swap them around.
2) What is your favourite Villa moment of all time/most treasured memory?
2 stick in the memory banks – 2nd May 1981 winning the First Division and 26th May 1982 in Rotterdam
. “It must be, and it is, Peter With puts Villa in the lead”. Still gives me goosebumps 32 years later.
3) If you could bring back a former Villa player into this team (at his peak) who would it be and why?
Gordon Cowans – my all time hero.
4) Paul Lambert? Your opinion please?
Should have been sacked after the Bradford farce – Deadly wouldn`t have hesitated and it might have ended the ridiculous buy young and hungry from lower leagues and abroad criteria. Maybe we wouldn`t have been relegation strugglers with the worst home record ever in a season. I`m sure he`s a nice enough person but he isn`t good enough to return Villa back to the upper reaches of the Premiership.
5) Best and worst moments of last season?
Best moment – beating Chelsea at VP and seeing Mourinho sent off. Worst moment – dumped out the FA Cup by a struggling First Division Sheffield United in the 3rd Round.
6) Your opinion of Randy Lerner now he has put us up for sale?
About time he did something positive with regards to this club. He`s starved us of proper investment, saddled us with a manager clearly out of his depth and not taken action to resolve the problem. Hope he sells to someone who will invest properly.
7) What sort of new owner would you like, what do you expect from them?
Someone who recognises the magnitude of Aston Villa, will invest properly and will grow to love the club as we do. Form is temporary but class is permanent – and Aston Villa and all its heritage and great traditions shows what potential there is for this great club to become great again.
8) Transfers are obviously up in the air as we are for sale, but any ideas of who (probably with the current regime) like to see us grab?
Well if we have transfer budget of £10m we won`t get much. We need a quality left back and maybe if we can offload the likes of Bent, Nzogbia, Hutton etc, we could generate funds for a quality central midfielder. What we have in the middle aside from Delph and maybe Westwood is not good enough. We could look to get rid of KEA, Sylla and a few others not fit to wear the Villa shirt.
9) Which player/s should Villa get rid of this summer?
See above for some. Others I`d ship out are Luna, Helenius, Bennett, Stevens (if he hasn`t already been sold).
10) Favourite and least favourite current player? (Explanation if you wish)
Top man last season for us was Delph. I like his energy and workrate. Least favourite in our squad right now – Hutton. A complete waste of money and not likely to be first choice.
11) Who was your first footballing hero and who are your favourite all time player/s?
If we are talking from before I started supporting Villa then for my first ever it was Kenny Dalglish when he was Celtic. Best moment was when he stuck the ball through Ray Clemence’s legs at Wembley when Scotland beat England 2:0. I think that was the game the Scotland fans wrecked the goals at full time. Many favourites since I became a Villan – mostly those from the golden era of 1980-1983. Gordon Cowans is still my all time favourite Villa player.
12) What do you expect us to do/finish this season if not sold… impossible to speculate if sold at the moment!?
Premier: 10th shouldn`t be unrealistic if we can cut out the mistakes at the back and strengthen our midfield.
FA Cup: Last 16. If Lambert takes it seriously.
Capital One: 2nd round. Lambert won’t take this one seriously.
13) You can ask yourself any question you want to about Villa and what is your answer?
The wife asks me every game “Why do you support Villa when you seem to spend all your time grinding your teeth, chuntering and screaming abuse at the pc during the game and getting angry with them? And then when they get beat you get ratty and short tempered with everyone in the house.”
A: When I made up my mind back in 1979 to follow Villa, I made a lifetime pledge that no matter what, I would be a loyal die hard fan. I was 14 then, I`m (ahem) a lot older, fatter, hairless and maybe not any wiser, but I love the club as much now if not more so despite it all. It`s like it`s in my blood, it`s something I cannot easily explain. I get frustrated cos I care about what is happening to my team. Oh I know we won`t win every match and dominate the English game winning a haul of trophies along the way, but when we do win something or beat one of the big boys, there is no better feeling as a fan. It makes all the heartache somehow worthwhile and keeps you believing.
14) Just to change the theme slightly, a snap shot of you outside of football, answer or ignore at your leisure:
(based on our WHO ARE YOU thread!!!)
a) Which celebrity/s would you most like to meet and why? The guy who runs the Tiger Enclosure at Australia Zoo so I can try and blag a job there.
b) Age: 21 plus VAT.
c) Location: Hull – hey don’t laugh, we are City of Culture 2017 lol
d) Favourite alcoholic drink: Cider.
e) Favourite non-alcoholic drink: meths? lol
f) Favourite Film/s: Anything but westerns and lovey dovey films.
g) Favourite TV Show/s: Comedy programmes. Although just recently I`ve been watching stuff like Homes Under The Hammer and Grand Designs so maybe I`m finally maturing.
h) Music?: Rock and metal predominantly but I also like abit of Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis every so often. I`ve been trying to get copies of all the top 40 songs from by gone decades starting with 70s and working my way to the present day – that’s going ok so far – I’ve found some real gems/one hit wonders that make you go ‘OMG I remember that song.’
i) Best ever moment in your life: I have to say getting married in 2009. Also finally seeing the original line up of Kiss in full make up and Destroyer era costume headlining at Donington in 1996 (Alright Donington. You wanted the best. You got the best. The hottest band in world
..KISS!!! The darkness of the venue ignited by a mass of flames and stage bombs as the opening chords of Deuce deafened the audience. You had to be there to see it…fan-bloody-tastic).
j) Ambitions: To finally finish writing that novel I`ve been working on for gawd knows how many years. I need to get back to it – it’s been almost a year since I wrote anything for it.
k) Wise words: Never wipe your bum on broken glass?
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