My Old Man Said — An Aston Villa Podcast

The main show is back. Pre-season friendlies have forming on the horizon, there's a Super Cup to be won, and we know the Premier League fixtures, well, until Sky Sports changes them. The World Cup is on, and while the transfer window is in stasis until the knockout rounds begin in earnest, there is a lot to get through. We catch up with all the latest news - a positive update on Boubacar Kamara, V...

The Mad Few is back. For the uninitiated: the name comes from Steve Bruce's affectionate description of Aston Villa supporters who weren't particularly happy with his management. It stuck. So when the questions for MOMS pile up, they become a Mad Few episode. Part one of at least two covers the season just gone, the questions it raised, and the conversations it opened. It starts where the season e...

The season is done. The trophy is in the cabinet. The top-four finish is banked - literally. And now — with the confetti swept and the open-top bus parked — it's time for the honest debrief. This week's episode is a free-form end of season conversation covering everything from the new 2026-27 home kit to Ollie Watkins' late-season renaissance, from the tipsy final day at Manchester City to the que...

Aston Villa are Europa League winners. Three-nil against SC Freiburg on a rain-soaked Wednesday night in Istanbul, that ended in the early hours with a trophy cabinet that finally has something new in it. This post-mortem covers what actually happened — and what it means. From Youri Tielemans' opening volley, which settled every nerve in the ground the moment it hit the corner of the net, to a sec...

Aston Villa face SC Freiburg in the Europa League final in Istanbul on Wednesday — and this week's episode is a full lowdown on the opponents, covering their history, their identity, their key players, and the tactical shape of what awaits. It's everything you need to know. The episode opens with a verdict that captures the problem succinctly: Villa have to shoot Bambi. Freiburg are 100% fan-owned...

Aston Villa beat Liverpool 4-2 at Villa Park on Friday evening, sealing Champions League qualification through the league and sending supporters into the Istanbul week in exactly the right frame of mind. The game that looked like a distraction turned into the best possible preparation. This week's My Old Man Said Post-Mortem opens with the moment that changed everything: the teamsheet. When Emery...

Aston Villa face Liverpool at Villa Park on Friday evening — the last Premier League fixture before the Europa League final in Istanbul on Wednesday. Champions League qualification still isn't mathematically confirmed through the league. It should already be wrapped up. It isn't. And that shapes everything about how the Liverpool game needs to be approached — not as a send-off but as unfinished bu...

Burnley away. The home team had only one win during 2026 so far and hadn't scored at home in months. Villa needed a win to pretty much secure Champions League football. The 2-2 draw was bordering on predictable. The My Old Man Said post-mortem dissects a performance that tells you more about the bigger picture than the result: two goals from a corner and a long punt, a performance spectrum through...

Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 at Villa Park to reach the Europa League final in Istanbul. Freiburg await. One more job to do to end 30-years of hurt. Some nights you have a feeling about before a ball is kicked. On a European night, not many English grounds can hold a candle to Villa Park on a European night. The atmosphere was electric and the players on the pitch also made sure they made it a...

Before the biggest night at Villa Park in years, a solo My Old Man Said show, with some personal memories and reflections back to 1994, and an honest assessment of what the second leg of the Europa League semi-final requires. In 1994, Villa were three-nil down at Tranmere in a League Cup semi-final first leg. The fanbase were feeling angry that the club were squandering a real good chance of silve...

What happened against Spurs on Sunday night? Unai Emery elected to shuffle his pack, and there were seven changes, but the line-up wasn't too dissimilar from the one that beat Fenerbahçe away 1-0 in the Europa League. The back four was the same apart from the left-back; the base of the midfield was the same with Bogarde next to Tieliemans, with Sancho and Rogers further forward, and Barkley and Ab...

Some Villa supporters have spent the week since the Fulham defeat getting increasingly pessimistic about the Europa League semi-final tie against Nottingham Forest. Especially after the Tricky Trees tonked Sunderland 5-0 in their own backyard. Have they forgotten about Unai Emery's record in this tournament? In a first impressions solo preview, My Old Man Said host David Michael takes a clear-eyed...

Villa are building a bigger stadium… but as the age profile of the current Aston Villa squad suggests, they will soon need to build a new team too. With the Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest bubbling away on the horizon for Aston Villa, the main show of My Old Man Said gets up to speed on a series of key issues like Villa's aging squad and the North Stand development, while also l...

One Eye on Fulham, Both Eyes on Forest A 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage that was never really about Fulham. Villa lost to Fulham on Saturday. Ryan Sessegnon, who has made a habit of tormenting Villa over the years, scored the only goal. Rogers and Watkins missed big chances within thirty seconds of each other that, on another day, would have settled the game before half-time. The four substitutions...

The most chaotic win of the season. And potentially one of the most significant. Three-one up and coasting. Then Sancho came on. Then it was three-three. Then Martinez stood up when it mattered most. Then Abraham scored the winner from a Digne cross that could have been measured with a ruler. Ten points clear of Chelsea. Champions League football confirmation is getting closer. The latest episode...

A 4-0 win on the night, 7-1 on aggregate. Aston Villa dispatched Bologna with comfortable ease to set up an all-English Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest. Villa were three goals up before half-time, Buendia was the player of the night in what may have been his most complete performance in a Villa shirt, and the second half became an extended exercise in managing minutes ahead of S...

After Villa's first leg 3-1 win in Bologna, the second leg at Villa Park seems to be a formality, but Unai Emery will take in the lessons of Bologna's win in Roma in the previous round. Champions League football isn't quite in touching distance just yet. In this Europa Vision episode of the My Old Man Said podcast show, we take in the full picture: the Bologna second leg and what Emery needs to do...

Villa drew 1-1 at the City Ground. The result was frustrating. The context is encouraging. Villa came away from the City Ground with a point that felt like less than they deserved. An own goal. A Morgan Rogers chance that clipped the bar. A Watkins one-on-one that should have been buried. A McGinn effort that forced a brilliant save. The xG may have said 0.98 to Villa, but the show's assessment is...

The international break debrief — fixture analysis, form tables, and the stat that puts the West Ham win in optimistic context. Two wins. Momentum restored. Six points clear of Chelsea, five of Liverpool, with seven games remaining and destiny firmly back in Villa's own hands. The question now is simple: can they do it themselves and not have to rely on others? In this episode the show takes stock...

The West Ham game was a non-negotiable. Once again, Chelsea and Liverpool had handed Villa the opportunity to take control of the Champions League race and unlike previous fumbles, this time they took it. A McGinn free-kick, a much-needed Watkins' goal, twenty-three shots, and a performance that looked more like the team that had won eleven games in a row than anything seen in the previous two mon...

A controlled first half, a second half that finally came to life, and two goals that sent Aston Villa into the Europa League quarter-finals 3-0 on aggregate. Martinez's pinpoint clearance, Sancho's backheel, and McGinn's composed finish, the elements of a great opener, before Leon Bailey finished the tie off. We look back at the Villa Park conclusion to the Lille two-legged Europa League tie — inc...

A third consecutive Premier League defeat. Eight league games left. And a set of questions about structure, recruitment and ambition that will not wait until the summer. Villa's 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford was not a shock. It was, as this podcast noted immediately, an expected result, an expected performance... and an expected xG. What makes it significant is the context and manner of it - three co...

France Has Fallen. Now for Old Trafford. Villa win 1-0 in Lille to take control of the Europa League tie — but the harder test arrives Sunday. In this double-header episode, the show analyses Villa's controlled but unconvincing win in France — the goal, the Watkins miss that should have killed the tie, and the moment John McGinn walked off the bench and immediately reminded everyone what Villa hav...

Aston Villa's Europa League last sixteen first leg against Lille on Thursday arrives at a critical moment in the season. With Villa sitting seventeenth in the Premier League form table over the last six games, the show discusses whether the Europa League now represents the most realistic route back to the Champions League, and whether the Lille tie can do for this season what the Bologna win did b...

For a while, it looked like Villa might just make a fight of it against Chelsea at Villa Park. The opening goal was exactly what the team needed. Quick tempo, Douglas Luiz breaking forward, Bailey finally receiving the ball in space, and a sharp finish by Luiz to cap a rare moment of attacking fluency. It was the type of move Villa have been missing. Then came the moment that changed the night. Wa...