With the transfer window closing this week it looked like football squads all over the UK had been finalised for the rest of the season…..however with the first set of Bidding positions closing at www.footballaid.com next week there’s still the chance to book your place in Aston Villa’s starting 11 for 2012!

Football Aid promises you a unique opportunity to Live the Dream of an authentic match day experience; gaining exclusive access to the pitch and tunnel areas, pulling on your own personalised shirt in the official changing rooms, walking down the tunnel to the sound of a cheering crowd and ultimately to step out onto the hallowed turf and represent Aston Villa in a never to be forgotten football match. And it’s all for charity as well!

Getting involved couldn’t be easier, just visit www.footballaid.com, select Aston Villa and position, then place your bid – it really is that simple. Bidding’s available throughout the month of February with the last available positions closing on Wed 7th March and there promises to be some hugely exciting auction action in the weeks to come.

Week 1 should appeal to any Midfield Maestros out there, with the 45 min No 6 (CM), 90 min No 7 (RM) and 45 min No 8 (LM) closing on consecutive days between Tue 7th and Thu 9th February. Week 2 features the always popular 90 min No 9 (CF), No 10 (CM) and No 11 (CF) positions closing Tue 14th, Wed 15th and Thu 16th. Week 3 gives an opportunity for any defensive stalwarts to claim their place at the back with the 45 min No 2 (RB), 90 min No 4 (CH) and 45 min No 5 (CH) closing Tue 21st, Wed 22nd and Thu 23rd and Week 4 gives a chance for any super subs to claim their place with the No 14 (CM), No 15 (CH), No 16 (RB) and No 17 (LM) closing between Mon 27th Feb and Thu 1st March. All that’s left is the last line of the defence, the 90 min No 1 GK position which closes on Fri 2nd. Finally, Wed 7th March sees any remaining positions made available in our always frenetic final day of bidding.

Home Team positions close at 15:00 pm with the Away Team closing at 16:00 pm. If you’re concerned about losing out in injury time, or won’t be available to monitor your bid for any reason, make sure and use the automated Maximum Bid option and remember you can close an auction early by using the Buy Now option on selected positions.

So don’t get left on the bench, visit www.footballaid.com now and make your bid to secure a place on your Field of Dreams!

Football Aid celebrated their 11th anniversary in 2011 and have allowed over 12,225 football fans the chance to ‘Live the Dream’ in more than 460 matches. They are a groundbreaking organisation which generates funds annually by hosting charity football matches at iconic stadiums all over the UK. The unique concept was the brainchild of businessman and Football Aid Chairman Craig Paterson and funds raised from the event will benefit the work of a charitable project nominated by the club, as well as projects nominated by Football Aid’s parent charity Field of Dreams.

It is quiet weird the amount of Aston Villa supporters who have slammed the club for dumping Nike, in favour of Italian Sports brand Macron.

If they stop and actually look at the deal, it is in fact a fantastic deal for Aston Villa.

The deal was never a spare of the moment thing and a lot of work went into getting the best deal for the club by Aston Villas Merchandising department.

The Head of Merchandising, John Greenfield, stated that the club had spoke, and done there homework with 12 different brands as well as discussions with current kit manufacturer Nike.

Here is just how the club will benefit from this deal:

• The deal is worth £15million, compared to the £10million Nike deal.
• Macron and the club will release the kit on the 16th June – and not October/November like Nike.
• Macron will continue with the clubs traditions, and will listen to the fans ideas.
• Aston Villa will become Macrons Flagship Premier League team.
• They will make over 100 products – compared to Nikes 25.
• All products will be exclusive to Aston Villa.

Now if that doesn’t make you change your mind then I don’t know what will. But the bigger picture is the club will benefit more than they ever could with Nike and you don’t get anywhere in life unless you look after number 1.

Well done to John Greenfield and the Merchandising Team.

Here is a mock up design by Marshall:

You can view more of Marshalls mock ups here on the Aston Villa Forums.

Some very interesting reports are going around the internet tonight and if there is an ounce of truth in any of them, it gives the impression that the ginger one has now lost the dressing room.

I like many Villa fans watched the game on Sky Sports today, and although I questioned a lot of McLeish’s decisions I can’t say I noticed any problems on the pitch.

When Stephen Ireland was substituted I did think it was a little strange, but with his injury record I just presumed he picked up a little knock!

However Simon Bird, who is a Daily Mirror sports writer stated on his twitter that Stephen Ireland and Alex McLeish has a bust up at half time witch resulted in the former Manchester City midfielder telling McLeish to ‘f**k off’ twice.

McLeish furious with Ireland for not cutting out cross. Told him so then Ireland 2x shouted back F-off to his manager.

Then to make things worse Stan Collymore reported that he sore several players including captain Stiliyan Petrov arguing with the manager.

And on top of that, just when you thought that was more than enough, Charles N’Zogbia wrote on his twitter not to long ago..

I am not enjoying my football for the first time in my career.

The French winger deleted his comment minutes after publishing it.

Now the thing is, I like many Villa fans never wanted Alex McLeish, but unlike some I just dealt with it and got on with supporting the club.

I have continued to watch the same players make the same mistakes, the same predictable tactics not work, and the same excuses come from the manager.

It is one thing not having the fans on side, but it is a completely different issue if you lose the dressing room. If the players do not want to play for the manager any longer it is time Randy Lerner got his backside back across the pond to get things sorted.

Once the players are against the manager, we have a serious issue – and that is our premiership status. I don’t want any dressing room feuds costing us our position in this league.

I have been thinking for a while now, that there is much more going on behind closed doors at Villa Park and I have a feeling we are about to find out exactly what is going on.

Habib Beye has been released on a free transfer this evening as both player and club reached a mutual agreement.

The club have tonight released a statement:

Aston Villa can confirm that defender Habib Beye has left by mutual agreement with the club.

The 34-year-old Senegal international is free to make permanent his move to Doncaster Rovers.

The 34 year old Senegalese defender was signed for the club by Martin O’Neill in August 2009 from then relegated Newcastle United.

Beye found it hard to break into the Villa first team with the likes of Luke Young and Carlos Cuellar both ahead of him in the pecking order.

He then joined Doncaster Rovers on loan in November 2011 on an emergency loan deal and will probably sign for them on a free transfer.

Habib Beye comes just another player Villa will be happy to get of the wages as they continue to cut there big wage bill and the defender was rumoured to be on around £50,000 a week.

The defender represented Aston Villa 15 times.

I was speaking with a little group of Aston Villa supporters on Twitter yesterday afternoon regarding the goings on around the club at the moment and I must say I was pretty surprised by some of the feedback I received back.

I feel very awkward when it comes to Aston Villa at the moment. Part of me understands that the club needs to be run in the right way, and if that means we need to tighten things up for a while until we get straight then so be it.

I also see that although Alex McLeish was never a target of the fans, let alone the number 1 target he does need to be given time.

The one thing that really annoys me is not knowing what is actually going on at the club. We can all put 2 and 2 together and get 4 but the simple fact is, as a season ticket holder for over 10 years I shouldn’t have to.

The club are more than happy to take my money of me week in week out so me asking them to come out and let me know what is going on isn’t exactly a lot to ask for is it? And this is the one thing that really gets under my skin.

When talking to fellow Villa fans on Twitter (as I already stated), I was surprised to hear that most of them (not all) are pretty happy with how things are at the club at the moment and understand what needs to be done to move forward.

With one stating it is a transitional period – but this is a fan putting 2 and 2 together as I suggested earlier and not actually from the club themselves.

So I am wondering what your views on the club are right now?