Free pies, goals galore and a great start in the Race for Seventh

Heady times indeed, champagne football no less, it is just a shame there were more empty seats down the Villa than at Fred West’s funeral.

However, history shows that we dont get many full houses at the start of the season so our money men shouldn't panic.

We have got a good run of games at the start of this season and we could be right bang in the Race for Seventh by the end of September and hopefully the stands will be full.

Blackburn was great. A great day too, seeing so many old friends and finding out we’ve got some cracking seats for the season. Lower Holte, lower right side and less than a minute away from the toilet which with my bladder is a blessed relief. And I could dash out in the first half and cash in my free pie voucher without missing any action. First impressions there are not any uber-offensive negative yobs within our orbit either, in fact we are probably the yobs now!

Gabby scored the first goal, and what a goal it was, sublime even. How many other Premier League teams had a local boy score their first goal of the season? He gets a lot of grief from Villa fans but I’ve always been a fan and the fact he has scored 50 goals is a great achievement. He is often played out of position when he should be up front. And the one thing about Gabby is that he’s our first striker for years who scores against the big teams and in big games. Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have all been on the end of his goals and he has a great record in derbies too. OK, he’s not the sharpest tool in the box who should have kept his tool in his pants but who cares? He’s a local boy. And in this world of foreign football big time Charlies that should never been underestimated. That’s reminded me, The Zog, looked decent as well against Blackburn. He moved ten times more quicker than Stuart Downing handing in a transfer request. For Hereford we opted to roll back the years and sit at the top of the upper Holte. They sell pizza up there, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was nice to see so many kids at the game and nice that the teenagers still stand up at the back. I cut my teeth at the back of the Holte shouting ‘the left side’ and travelling about 20 yards when we scored without touching the floor. The sheer lawlessness of the back of the Holte was a joy to behold, boozing and smoking are the norm and for a 13-year-old trying to be cool those life-affirming Saturdays were the stuff my memories are made of. And I started off a few songs as well.

We played well against Hereford. ~~~CLICHE ALERT~~~ And Stephen Ireland looked great, his touch was great and it was ~~~WAIT FOR IT~~~ like having a new signing.

Not scoring until late on also tested the metal of our kids too and they produced the goods when they knew they had to.

One player who had an absolute stinker was Marc Albrighton. Our resident Barry Manilow lookalike had loads of the ball and loads of space but couldn’t pick out a player to save his life. I know he’s young but this season he has to do better. I do hope he’s not taking his place for granted now Young and Downing has left because we need him to supply the Goal Machine.

Wolves is our next game, the worst of the West Midlands derbies, who’d have thought it would have been a top of the table clash. We cant play worse than last season and my hunch is that Flaming Heck will set his team out not to lose and hopefully we can nick a winner somewhere along the line.

As usual modern football has kicked us in the teeth again by picking a 12.05pm kick off. Which means I’m getting picked up at 9.30am for the Villa, on a home game, where is the sense in that.

Anyway, Up the Villa!

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here