Author: Liam Mucklow
Erika LaBrie’s name won’t mean much to most Villa fans, she’s the woman who in 2007 married the Eiffel Tower, although more recent reports suggest she’s now in love with a fence. Erika’s love for an inanimate object is difficult to comprehend, or at least it was, as I find myself falling head over heels for that shiny silver vase-type thing awarded to the winners of the Europa Conference League. Europe’s third-tier competition has taken a small piece of my heart. 1996 was the last time Villa laid their hands on some silverware, Leeds United swept aside in a 3-0…
I want to begin this piece with an important bit of housekeeping. Although what follows will contain criticisms of Steve Bruce and his antiquated, negative style of football, this is not an article for those wishing to pile on with more abuse. The reports this month of death threats to Bruce highlights the ugly side of a game that professes to be beautiful. As fans, we can, and must, do better. There is no place for this sort of abuse, which is sadly commonplace in the social media age, amplified on an increasingly furious Twitter. This article is designed to…
Southampton have not proven the most fruitful of opponents for Villa in recent times, the 4-3 reverse at Villa Park the most recent of eight winless games against the Saints. So, heading into last night’s fixture you could be forgiven for feeling some trepidation, particularly on the back of three straight defeats on the road including the baffling mid-week loss at Turf Moor. Hope came in the form of that scintillating first half at Burnley and the fact that Southampton came into the match on a less than impressive run of one win in seven league games. Dean Smith, as…
2020 has been, by any measure, a car crash of a year. The entire world has been in the grip of a deadly pandemic which has immeasurably altered and restricted the way we live our lives. Yet, in the midst of all this, Aston Villa have been a beacon of hope, exhilaration, and at times, pure unadulterated joy. Dean Smith’s men looked beyond redemption when Leicester bulldozed their way through them to record a resounding 4-0 win back in March. As it happened, this would be the last top-flight game prior to an enforced period of absence, and no side…
According to the official Premier League website, “In 2018/19, before VAR was introduced, the percentage of correct key match decisions was 82 per cent. With the help of VAR in 2019/20, it rose to 94 per cent.” So that’s that then isn’t it? After all, if more correct decisions are being made at the elite level, VAR must unquestionably be a good thing. That was my initial standpoint on the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee. I was one of those insufferable, know it all types, who would not entertain the idea that VAR could be a bad thing if…
A brief history of Villa kit sponsorships from 2004 to present; DWS Investments, 32 Red, FX-Pro, Genting Casinos, Dafabet, BR88 (sleeve sponsor), Intuit Quickbooks, Unibet and W88. Notice anything? Of nine sponsors covering almost seventeen years, six have been gambling companies, that’s 66% of sponsorship for that period. If you widen your gaze to the rest of English football’s top two divisions, the monopoly continues. Half of all current top-flight clubs have a gambling shirt sponsor and seventeen of twenty-four second-tier sides. When you account for non-kit sponsorships or partnerships, then 75% of the Premier League take the bookies cash,…
I’m writing this article as a 30-year-old white man who has never had to deal with racism and doesn’t profess to speak on behalf of those who have. I’m also someone who out of ignorance rather than malice, has enforced racist stereotypes as a naive teenager, and I feel that this honesty is important in the name of progress. Importantly in this context, I’m also someone whose life has been shaped in significant ways by English football. Black History Month So, during Black History Month, I decided to return to a theme I’d long wanted to write about, racism in…