My Old Man Said — An Aston Villa Podcast

Aston Villa's transfer window has gone from silent to frantic inside a week. Youri Tielemans has had his £35m release clause triggered to join Manchester United, Lucas Digne has had his release clause triggered to, as he's heading to join Paris Saint-Germain, and Johan Manzambi is arriving from SC Freiburg. We look at what frames it all, the restrictive UEFA settlement Villa have in place and the fact they desperately need to refresh an aging squad, that is one of the oldest in the Premier League.This week's episode gets into why Villa are moving on two influential, well-liked players in the same week, and why that's a rational response to the situation rather than a sign of panic. There's a breakdown of the numbers behind the Tielemans exit — the release clause nobody outside the club knew about, the pure profit it books, the wages it clears — and why Digne's move to PSG might be the cleanest piece of business Villa do all summer.Then we get into what the incoming Johan Manzambi is all about.There's also time for the parts of the summer that aren't about the pitch: the Visit Rwanda shirt sponsorship and the ethics around it, and progress on the North Stand rebuild.UTVAston Villa are still selling sponsorless shirts here - https://aston-villa-store.sjv.io/6kdvWb - if you don't want 'Visit Rwanda' on it.Get MOMS in your inbox every Friday, free. Sharp, funny, informative Villa writing for supporters who can spot the clickbait from the back of the Holte. No spam. Join the astonvilla.wtf newsletter →

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, Villa's key FIFA appeal, progress on Aston train stations, and more.The Three Points section covers everything from FIFA causing a hotel crisis with a "vacuum of availability" in World Cup host cities to the pitch that caused Boubacar Kamara's injury being under the spotlight.Emery's Clipboard has a World Cup theme and Villa's English player's impact on the Premier League. In the main section of the show, we look at the often forgotten UEFA financial settlement — year two of three — that has not gone away. Most Villa fans understand there is something called PSR that clubs have to navigate. What is less well understood is that UEFA operates its own separate set of rules, and those rules are considerably harder. This is the lens through which everything happening this summer has to be read: the Rogers noise, the Martinez whispers, the quiet on incoming signings.UTVListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Check out all the 2026-27 home kit options and new training range, here

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 ended: relief, disbelief, and a growing suspicion that what just happened might be the best sustained run of results in over forty years.Was the last week of the season the best since 1982? And where does Istanbul sit in the long history of Villa nights?The transfer market has already woken up. The Morgan Rogers noise is in full swing — the clickbait farms have him going to every club with a large international fanbase, and the media framing has been, to put it politely, somewhat disrespectful of what Villa are now. The sell-on clause reality and the contract length tell a rather different story to the headlines.The episode also works through listener questions on Villa legends, statues, redemption arcs, the best non-goal moment of the season, kit history, and a proposed updated closing line of Rise of the Villains.UTVListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Check out all the 2026-27 home kit options and new training range, here

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 question that will define next season before it has even started: does this summer's transfer window signal genuine ambition or cautious consolidation?There's also the numbers. A set of statistics on Emery's Clipboard that reframes the entire 2025-26 narrative, and they're not entirely comfortable reading despite the trophy and the top-four finish. When you look at how Villa performed against the teams they should be beating, the picture is rather different from the one the league table tells.On pricing, the annual conversation takes a sharper turn. The normalisation of a 5% rise — supporters beginning to treat it as expected — is identified as the real problem, not just the percentage itself.And the summer. What kind of signing changes the trajectory? What does a catalyst look like? Why does it matter for the players already in the building, not just the ones arriving?Europa League winners. Fourth in the Premier League. A UEFA Super Cup against PSG on the horizon. The MOMS end of season conversation has a great starting point.UTVListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Check out all the 2026-27 home kit options and new training range, here

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 second-half of focused control. Three picture-perfect strikes. A goalkeeper who broke a finger in the warm-up and played on regardless. A fanbase that spent two seasons fluent in PSR and amortisation getting to remember what football is actually for.The show also gets into the detail: the jeopardy that never quite materialised, the Freiburg threat that had been flagged and was effectively nullified, and the moments where the game could have tilted differently — and didn't. There's a longer conversation about what winning a second major European trophy does to the meaning of the first one, why this squad's achievement is more improbable than it looks on paper, and what the summer now looks like through a completely different lens.Thirty years is a long time to wait. Istanbul was worth it.UTVCover photo courtesy of Paul StringerListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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, operate on a fraction of Villa's transfer budget, have the lowest squad turnover rate in the Bundesliga. The rest of the world will be rooting for the virtuous underdog.Freiburg have been shaped over three decades by two long-serving managers and a philosophy that puts sustainability at the foundation of their success. Going into the final though they have been hit by a key injury after Suzuki, their Japanese attacking midfielder broke his collarbone earlier this month and is out of the final. His absence strips away the dimension that made Freiburg genuinely difficult to track in the Europa League and makes them a more straightforward proposition. Still, their set piece threat is real.The show also lands on a clear position going into Wednesday: there is no alternative to winning. Champions League is confirmed. The pressure is gone. This one is for the trophy, and for the supporters who have waited thirty years.UTVListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.