Sunday 19 April 2015

Wembley: Fans Howard Hodgson and Jonny Gould roundup an emotional FA Cup semi-final victory for Aston Villa

Villa give Stevie G the bum's rush.

Aston Villa reach their first FA Cup Final since 2000 after a 2-1 win over Liverpool in the semifinal.

Manager Tim Sherwood said they bamboozled the Reds who didn't perform to their highest capability but Villa, through goals from Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph showed great determination to win.

It was the Reds who'd scored first through Philippe Coutinho. But as Brendan Rodgers contends with why Liverpool didn't show up for the big occasion, Sherwood is measuring up Villa's Cup Final suits!

What a turnaround since his appointment after the defeat at Hull!

Here's Howard and Jonny reliving the game right at the final whistle.



Wembley: Mat Kendrick, Howard Hodgson and Jonny preview the Aston Villa v Liverpool FA Cup semifinal.

Tim Sherwood has changed Villa
Mat Kendrick
Tim Sherwood stands on the verge of reaching an FA Cup Final with less than a season of managerial experience.

But can Aston Villa beat Liverpool to face Arsenal in the Final on May 30th?

Mat Kendrick from the Birmingham Mail, Howard Hodgson from the Aston Villa Supporters Trust and Jonny met under the Bobby Moore statue at Wembley just before kick-off to discuss!

Wednesday 1 April 2015

The Madridistas are 100% wrong about Our Gareth

Gareth's trademark er, shape thing
As the bookies fall over each other to shorten the odds on Gareth Bale returning to the Premier League this summer, spare a thought for the man himself.

Pilloried everywhere he roams, on the pitch even in the car park, Gareth Bale is a man under pressure to perform at Real Madrid.

But the world’s most expensive player is at the Bernabeu for a reason.

Here is a young Welshman, who through sheer weight of personality and self-belief, forced his way from left-back to wing back to left-winger and finally centre-forward, scoring half of Tottenham’s goals the season before last.

All this via a loan spell at Nottingham Forest, where he was nearly offloaded.

From the Real Madrid museum at the Bernabeu
If his first season at Real was dreamy, his second has proved a rude awakening

Stooping to score a brilliant header befitting the Champions League Final, he also used every sinew of his admirable physique to score one of the goals of the season in the Copa Del Rey Final.

Two trophies, two great goals and a gaggle of ungrateful, spoilt Real fans with short memories.

How dare those fans kick his car while driving out of Madrid’s training ground after defeat in Barcelona. Had Ronaldo not been offside, he'd have scored.

And the 25-year-old should ignore everyone of them. He’s earned the right to play for the Galacticos.

Champions League night at the Bernabeu
And he is a Galactico.

Not only that, he's a man of character. Just look at the vigour and patriotism with which he dons the Welsh shirt. How his performances have put Wales in with a shout of qualifying for a major tournament for the first time in two generations.

The man towers above the Madrid booboys, literally and metaphorically. What have they done but pay a few quid for their tickets year-after-year? Sure they can boo (if it empowers them) – but they don't have the right to hooliganism.

Tough it out and rise above it, Gareth.  The Madridistas are absolutely wrong about you.