THE SPECIAL - Villa Away!

Aston Villa v Newcastle United, Villa Park, 19/Apr/25, KO: 17:30, Premier League

On to Villa Park then.

Things are going ok at the minute aren't they? We are in that place where everything we hit seems to fly in. Big players are oozing class and it's got to the stage where even losing our manager to pneumonia doesn't seem to have stopped the feelgood chemtrails of the League cup win.

Watching United right now just extends the party that just won't stop. And it's annoying the neighbours. Just when you think you are going to come off the sugary high, someone scores a goal from the byline and you start singing that pump it up song all over again.

One game of warning is the 2023 version when we had won five in a row and were pulled apart 3-0 down there, while last year we pulled them apart when they were on a roll. Both times the losers qualified for the European Cup.

What's the first thing you think of when you think of this fixture? I guarantee it involves a bedsheet. A duvet or whatever the hell it was.

Apparently the story goes like this. Some lad called Leighton Castle (I once visited there. National Trust. Canny jam and scone) had a spare bit of material left over from a David O’Leary baiting ‘Bansky’ and decided to not waste it.

With his pretty shit effort he started a rivalry for a few years which no one knew we needed or wanted. I was there both days and the reaction of their supporters was quite bizarre. Our relegation in 2009 started the sort of party that made the Rio carnival look like a damp squib.

While the amount of glee was perplexing and still is, most Mags there that day didn't bat an eyelid. Our anger was focused fully on a shambolic group of players and an owner hellbent on sucking the life out of a great club.

For a good few years it was fireworks on and off the pitch and I've always thought that suited them more than us. I mean if one of your main rivals are West Bromwich Albion you need a juicier steak to chew on and I took it as a compliment.

Now we have both been bent over by FFP we hold hands together like some sort of cult and we are friends forever. Aren't we?

Of course it gets us to sing that “You laughed at us when we went down” song again. I might hold off. Everytime I sing that, the opposition scores. It even happened against Manchester United. That's surely proof enough that song is cursed.

Looking at the table now, we actually could probably take a point down there but when has that ever worked for us? If both sides qualify for the Champions League, which looks very likely, it will bookend the recovery both clubs have made since disastrous relegations in the last ten years.

Clubs transformed.

If someone had said to both sides’ supporters when they squeezed into Burton Albion’s stadium in 2016 that less than ten years later, both sides would have beaten Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, the response would have seen an ambulance called. Heady days.

The Crystal Palace game can only be bettered if you relive it. Not on YouTube. That's cheating. You are better than that. Best read Yousef's report below. He wrote it on a National Express coach don't you know? In one fell swoop giving the company the biggest leg up since the Divine Comedy decided to write a song about it. They also wrote the Father Ted theme tune which was insanely good, as is the report.

Sandro Tonali. What a player. It's not hyperbole to say that he has the potential to become one of our best ever. It's incredible to think that even going into the likes of Wolves and Brentford in the autumn, he was nowhere near guaranteed a game.

Tonali is my type of player. Crossing that golden gate bridge of being a cult classic (The way he wears those glasses and wears those black and white socks, man?) and actually being really good and reliable. He would be good in a five-a-side team wouldn't he?

Slavering over Tonali was more than an acceptable link into the joint Villa and United five a side don't you think? I'm going for Shay Given in nets. It has to be. Aaron Hughes is sweeping up at the back. David Ginola and Franz Carr are running at them and Peter Withe is the battering ram up top.

Steve Watson and Alan Thompson can try and get out of Jermaine Jenas what he really did at the BBC from the sports centre bench. Marlon Harewood isn't making the grade sadly.

Birmingham might not look at its best when you go down there. It's sad to see a place on its lowest ebb as it is right now and it looks like no end in sight with rubbish piling up and the media now extending the size of the rats from cats to black panthers.

Not nice if you are stuck in the middle of it, but even worse if you have lost thousands of pounds for doing a dirty, difficult, already unrewarded job. Yet again people at the frontline are paying for other people's mess. Literally. All said, expect some song tomorrow about it today. At least the Parisians would have felt at home the other night.

A couple of things before I go. Get the 14th of May in your diaries if you like your non league football. It's at St James’ as well. The Northumberland Senior Cup final is between Heaton Stannington and Morpeth who inexplicably got through their semi final on penalties. It’s Stan's first appearance in the final in 40 plus years and this game needs to be supported to keep the game at NE1. If you are from Durham, Shildon won your equivalent the other night, 4-0.

And finally the effervescent Nick Clark has your preview below.

The real guide to today and if you like the word ‘Giddy’ and who doesn't, it's essential reading.

That's me done. Enjoy !

Scott Robson

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Green Pages

It’s often ignored given the large shadow cast by English and even Scottish football but football on the island of Ireland has a rich history with a story to tell - players, clubs, fans and international sides - this looks like a good read and another on the TF reading list. The book was written by Chris Lee of the Outside Write website and podcast. Link in image for anyone interested in getting hold of a copy.

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Picture This

This photo of Mags on their way to the 1974 FAC Final is from the The People’s Archive - an absolutely brilliant social history record through photography of the game. It includes some brilliant images of working class fans enjoying the game and each other. Have a gander. Link in the image above.

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