Author: Matthew McMahon

For a club with such a grand stadium in one of England’s largest cities, you would expect a day out at Villa Park to be one of the most expensive in the Premier League. However, this is far from the case. In a recent study conducted by the BBC, a day out at Villa Park costs only £30.40, which includes a match ticket, a programme, a cup of tea and a pie. If we compare this to one of the most expensive days out at Stamford Bridge, where fans have to fork out £57.50 for the same day out, then there…

With Benteke set to return to the Aston Villa squad, many Villa fans have forgotten that another target man, Libor Kozak, is also nearing a return. The twenty-five-year-old has often been overshadowed by Benteke during his time at Villa and hasn’t really enjoyed a proper stint in the side because of Benteke’s brilliant form or through injury. I for one am looking forward to seeing the Czech return to the side and feel that the sooner he returns the less pressure there will be on Benteke to perform. Libor Kozak is a quality striker who finished as top scorer in…

Paul Lambert has signed a new deal with Aston Villa. This season is now his third in charge of the club so let’s take a look back at some of Lambert’s highlights as Villa boss: The signing of Christian Benteke – 2012 Many Villa fans were surprised to see the Belgian signed for a fee of £7 million, especially when he was unproven in the Premier League and Lambert was working to a tight budget at the time. This proved to be one of the transfers of the season, as Benteke was soon a hit with the fans. He scored a remarkable nineteen league…

Jack Grealish is one of the latest stars to break through from the Aston Villa academy players who were crowned European NextGen Champions in 2013. Many Villa fans knew we had a star in the making and he went by the name of Jack Grealish. Of course, as many already know, Grealish grew up as one of us, having been a Villa supporter from a very young age. It was a dream of his to play at Villa Park in front of the Holte End and that dream has been fulfilled. Hopefully, there are many more years in claret and blue to come for this…

Fabian Delph earned his first England cap last night in the 1-0 victory over Norway at Wembley. He is the first Villa player to make an appearance for the England national side since the days when Young, Downing and Bent were in their prime at Villa. This could be the start of something special for the claret and blue of Aston Villa and a building block for some of our other English players, who will look up to Delph and start pushing for places in the national squad themselves. We have already signed an England regular in Tom Cleverley. He is someone…

Two seasons ago, Aston Villa Football Club was knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Bradford City. It was a two leg affair and defeat was hard to take in a tie that most Villa fans were expecting the team to win comfortably. Since that day, every cup game has seemed like a mountain to climb and that was proven yet again last night with a 0-1 loss to League One side Leyton Orient. This was not just any cup loss: it was yet another loss at Villa Park, when fans were hopeful that maybe this season could be…

It has been reported that Randy Lerner flew into Birmingham this week to discuss transfer budgets with Paul Lambert. £10 million is the figure that has been doing the rounds in the media and, if this is the case, it could go a long way to strengthening what is a very lightweight squad. With Helenius, Luna, Bowery, Sylla and now Carruthers all departing, it is time to bring in some new players who can offer us some quality. Firstly, I think a central midfielder is a must, particularly now that Carruthers has joined MK Dons. We only really have four…

The new season will soon be underway and many will be expecting a much better campaign than the disappointment of last year. It’s not all doom and gloom for Villa fans and here are five reasons as to why the Villans are in better shape and could finish this season in a stronger league position. Experience has finally arrived Joe Cole, Philippe Senderos and Kieran Richardson are the three most recent Villa signings and all three come with bags of experience, each having played for a top four club at one point in their careers. Villa fans were crying out…

Aston Villa duo Jores Okore and Charles N’Zogbia are set to return to full fitness before the new season begins. Forget new signings: these two returning players will be like two brand new signings come the start of next season. We are yet to see much of Okore as he only featured in a handful of games last season and a fully fit N’Zogbia can cause any defence problems on his day. The Villa faithful are expecting big things from the Danish defender, who will have the opportunity to slot in at the back beside the experienced Ron Vlaar. I would expect the two…

On Tuesday, an official announcement was made to inform us that Roy Keane would step in as Paul Lambert’s right hand man ahead of the new campaign. Keane is known for his fiery attitude and is renowned for telling everyone exactly what’s on his mind, even if others don’t agree – just ask Sir Alex Ferguson. What can we expect from Keano as our new assistant manager? There certainly won’t be an awful lot of slacking in training: Keane will make sure the boys give their all; anything less and the Irishman will let them know about it. The ex-Sunderland boss hasn’t…