We had a couple of drinks in Yates which was full of villa fans and they were singing and having a great time......no trouble at all.
I think it depends on what they were ejected for. If it was for aggressive behaviour then he may get a warning, but if it was for his choice of clothing, he should never be allowed back near the ground!!!
Yeah, went past Yates at about 2pm, saw a load of villa fans outside, everyone seemed happy, as I said, the atmosphere in town was fab.
One thing that baffled me was the lack of yellow card in the first half for the pulling back of Pelle. The referee clearly signalled he gave a free kick for pulling, so Tom, any suggestions as to why it wasn't a yellow? This was a clear example of the lack of consistency that frustrates fans. Made me think that one of our best referees doesn't know the rules, or that isn't a rule.
Not really Tom, sometimes it is obvious.... Liking making a joke about Bertrand up front when the team sheet gets announced
Fair enough. He did have a good game apart from the inconsistency with the yellow card which has been mentioned. I think Lff was playing on your well-known tendency to rise to a bit of ref-baiting.
Quick summing up of several posts on here ... Ref should have produced a card for the Pelle incident. Spot on with the JWP booking, and he handled it well considering play continued for about 4 hours before he got a chance to card him (not literally, Tom. It's called hyperbole). Villa fans were excellent, and the two I travelled back with gave me the insider on man in orange top. Apparently he took objection to Villa fans breathing and started giving them the finger so they wound him up - not difficult it seems. They then had a go at his partner who responded sufficiently to get kicked out. Given that I needed sub-titles to understand the two Brummies I met on the train, I'm surprised our two intellectuals could understand anything that was said!
When you look at the "low wages" (I wish!) argument, bear in mind that we often signed players who massively increase in reputation after they have played for us. We will not, and I think should not, compete with the top 5 for salaries. Selling a player for twice what we paid for them is good business and how many of them have gone on to prove that we were robbed? (Can't include those on last year of their contract who refuse to sign another , obviously). The Original plan was 5 years to return to the EPL which we did in 3. We are already an established EPL team. The next bit is more difficult and nobody has done it consistently using a business model like ours. Maybe it's not possible, but I am content to wait and see. I remember what happened last time someone played fast and loose with the club's finances. Never again.
Ref was alright yesterday, despite not knowing the rules for a yellow card (smiley = joking.... Sort of). He got JWP booking spot on. The only thing that gets me is that despite him holding his hand to his watch every 5 minutes when Villa were time wasting, that this doesn't do anything. Book them, or call the captain over in the 50th minute and tell him the next slightest bit of time wasting will be a booking and hen a second one. Waiting until eighty-nine and a half minutes to book one of them is pretty pointless. They have already done the damage and broken the flow of play. It's hard for a referee but he can be the one to cut it out.
