The Aston Villa Courier
Squad23 Aug 2027
Boubacar Kamara in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aston Villa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Real improvement from Elijah Briscoe at Aston Villa
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elijah Briscoe is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A move Saidy Janko would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Saidy Janko is living that version at Aston Villa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Aston Villa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Aston Villa
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market23 Aug 2027
Aston Villa promote Liam Phillips from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Liam Phillips has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market23 Aug 2027
Aston Villa promote Joseph King from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joseph King has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market23 Aug 2027
John King steps up from the Aston Villa academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. John King has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market23 Aug 2027
One of our own: Jacob Henderson joins the Aston Villa first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jacob Henderson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Match Sunderland take the points off Aston Villa
- Boardroom A promise the Aston Villa board did not keep
- Player ratings Evann Guessand runs at them all day