New York Villans Newsletter
Jan. 28, 2007
Well it sure has been an eventful past few weeks for the Claret and Blue. As promised, Martin O'Neal strengthened the squad in the transfer window with the signings of Carew, Young, Bardsley, and Ronaldhino (OK, I made that last one up), and we won our first game since the Clinton Administration, 2-0 against Watford. We couldn't score with our own feet, so the Hornets were kind enough to knock one in for us, before Gabby (don't make me type his full name!) sealed the deal at the end. The match also saw the return of Patrick Berger from injury, while signaling the end of Milan Baros 's Villa career (I can hear your hearts breaking). Best of luck, Milan. We hardly knew ya…
It's also been an active past few weeks for the New York Villans. Thanks to Donal, we secured our own domain name and launched our re-vamped Website, http://www.nyvillans.com/ . And thanks to Steve's hard work and our increasing numbers, we achieved official supporters club status with Aston Villa FC. You'll now find us listed on the official site's supporters clubs page and, soon, the Villa matchday program.
To top it off, we had perhaps our best turn-out to date at Nevada Smiths for the Watford game on Jan. 20th. Not bad for a freezing-cold day in mid-January against the EPL's last-place team! Fortunately, the result ensured plenty of smiling faces for the group photo we snapped following the game (attached to this mail for those who may have missed it). It was great seeing everyone make it out, especially the newer lads!
Looking ahead, we've got Newcastle away this Wednesday the 31st at 3pm. The match was a late addition to Sky's broadcast schedule and will be shown at Nevada Smiths after all. Obviously, the weekday kickoff time makes it difficult for most of us to attend, but I'm sure we'll have at least a few Villans in the bar while the rest of us use ESPN Gamecast (and our imaginations) to follow the action from work. Hopefully it will be a happy debut for Young and Carew. I know for a fact that there are many Newcastle supporters here in the New York area. (I always see some of them while shopping at Foot Locker.) So I'm sure they'll get a good turn-out.
Then it's home to West Ham this Saturday Feb. 3rd, which most of us should make it out for, at the usual 10:00 am start time. The Hammers always get good support at Nevada's so it figures to be a lively atmosphere.
Last Tuesday the 23rd, the New York Villans held an informal committee meeting at Revival (a bar near Union Square in Manhattan ), which several of you attended. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss plans and solicit ideas for the club going forward, including how to promote ourselves and what types of events to organize. Steve described the various benefits that we'll enjoy now that we've achieved official status with AVFC, and everyone offered up great ideas for future activities.
Some of the suggestions included: organizing a showing of the 1982 European Cup final DVD at Nevada Smiths; renting out a field and/or forming a 5-a-side team in one of the local leagues; attending a New York Red Bulls (MLS) match as a group this summer (if not a Villa match if they decide the tour the US). We're currently in the process of researching and working on these ideas and will send out more information in the coming weeks. If you have any other ideas, questions, or comments on the above, please don't hesitate to e-mail us, or we can discuss at Nevada's during the next match. (And as always, if you have any Villa-supporting friends, whether living here or just visiting, be sure and bring them along!)
And don't forget, if you want to join in the New York Villans EPL Fantasy League, log on to http://fantasy.premierleague.com/. The league code is 1192884-197608 and the deadline is this Saturday Feb. 3rd.
Hope to see you all at Nevada Smiths for the West Ham game on Saturday, and, work schedules permitting, the Newcastle game this Wednesday. I'll leave you with a few links below that I thought you might enjoy.
Up the Villa!
Bob W.
Jan. 28, 2007
John Carew in action for Lyon …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUiJTjFqN6o
My pick for Villa Goal of the Year so far …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUBrBqcHAg4
Paul McGrath's career stats from http://www.soccerbase.com/(great site!) …
http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=5119
