Duncan Barkes

They sent me the video of the looks on their faces as they were waiting to go.

on it and i texted back i said that's gonna set you up because we've got a test of nerves coming over the next few months at fratton park so you know you'll you'll be all battle hardened for that but it is going to be an interesting final third of the season isn't it

No, I used to say to Aston Villa fans, why?

What's the point?

You never go down, you never win anything.

Exactly.

Feel free to tell me that I'm reading too much into this, but during the week, I saw John Massino saying that fans are frustrated with the lack of spend, the lack of big...

big names coming in for several million quid he said but once we've established ourselves in the championship which might take a season or two then the money will start to materialize to build on that so i found myself thinking this is an interesting situation it's a very volatile job being a championship manager you usually only last about 20 minutes and yet here he is i suspect already looking

at junior schools for his toddler children in the South Sea area.

He's on a win-win situation.

If he was given 50 million quid to spend and we didn't get promoted, say, or at least we weren't even in the top six, that would make him look bad.

But if he can keep us going on bargain basement buys,

Makes him look even better, doesn't it?

We've almost run out of time, so we must get your prediction, your soothsayers genius for the West Brom game, which people will be listening to after the game.

So you're going out on a limb, but off you go.

Okay.

Both of those are worth a bet, but don't bet with anything you can't afford.

Please, bet responsibly.

Bet responsibly, yes.

I've always said that if I made my own beer, I would call it responsibly.