TOWN v VILLA: Friend or foe? (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
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TOWN v VILLA: Friend or foe?
6:00am Tuesday 30th October 2012 in Sport By Sam Morshead
Old Boy: James Collins
JAMES Collins will come face to face with half-a-dozen Aston Villa players with whom he shared his footballing apprenticeship tonight.
The 21-year-old was on the books at the Premier League giants for two years as a youngster before being sold to Shrewsbury in the summer of 2011.
In that time he came to be a part of a very successful and extraordinarily talented youth team in the West Midlands, a side from which many of his former team-mates have gone on to forge careers in the Villa first-team squad.
Players like Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan and Chris Herd may now be household names up and down the country but Collins still views them as the kids he grew up with.
And he can’t wait to do battle with them once again this evening.
He told the Advertiser: “It means a great deal to me, I was very excited when the draw came out. I had some great times there and still have a lot of friends there so I’m really looking forward to it.
“There’s six or seven of them who I still know. We had a good youth team and they’ve all gone on to bigger and better things so it’ll be good on the night as well.
“They ring me and we have a little chat about it and a little laugh but when it comes down to it on the night it will be quite serious because obviously both sides have a lot at stake and want to go through to the next round.
“We still go on holiday in the summer together, me and a few of the lads.
“The banter’s good. We’re always texting and meeting up when we can so it’s good.
“They’ve been saying it would just be good to play against each other again, seeing all the old faces and I think a few of my old coaches are coming down to see the game as well.
“It would be good to see everyone but on the night you’ve got to put that behind you.
“I had a great time there, I had some great coaches there, we were quite successful as well winning youth leagues and reserve leagues - I enjoyed my time there.”
Having already seen off two Premier League sides under Paolo Di Canio, Collins is confident Town can add a third big scalp to their collection tonight.
“The gaffer’s said this from day one. Since the draw came out he’s said we can beat these and it’s a great advantage getting the fans behind us.,” he said.
“I don’t know whether they’ll want to come to Swindon on a Tuesday night and get at us like we’ll get at them. The lads are going to be at it. We don’t know too much about the history but if we can make history it would be fantastic.”
Comments(33)
Lazaat
says...
6:36am Tue 30 Oct 12
jedthered wrote:I can't make it tonight so thanks for that Jed, I will tune in to Radio 5 live.
Radio 5 live have the town match live tonight for those who do not have the town player and cannot get wiltshire sound, Enjoy!!!
COME ON YOU REDDDDDDDDSSSSSS
Red Army
says...
6:50am Tue 30 Oct 12
Any glory hunters can you not nick my parking space at the match tonight :)
Mickey1982
says...
7:04am Tue 30 Oct 12
graham81
says...
7:21am Tue 30 Oct 12
umpcah
says...
7:39am Tue 30 Oct 12
graham81 wrote:or suicide !
Looking forward to tonight. We manage to get last 3 seats together apparently. 1,2and3 right by the villa fans (which are sold out to) should be fun !!!!
Anoldgreymoonraker
says...
7:40am Tue 30 Oct 12
Red Army
says...
8:01am Tue 30 Oct 12
Mickey1982 wrote:hey mickey
Also an option is to watch it on thefirstrow. A live football streaming site. You don't have to sign up or anything. I have used it many times. Occasionally Swindon are on it and as far as I'm aware they are tonight. Just google thefirstrow for the website. Enjoy guys and girls :-)
Do you have to download software for this as I just get bombarded with adverts when I try to open any sports channels?
London Red
says...
8:05am Tue 30 Oct 12
.
Radio only if not at the CG
louiscassius
says...
8:05am Tue 30 Oct 12
Mickey1982 wrote:Mickey,
Also an option is to watch it on thefirstrow. A live football streaming site. You don't have to sign up or anything. I have used it many times. Occasionally Swindon are on it and as far as I'm aware they are tonight. Just google thefirstrow for the website. Enjoy guys and girls :-)
Just looked Reading seems to be on, but no Swindon mate?
Louis :-))
Anoldgreymoonraker
says...
8:30am Tue 30 Oct 12
Ollie Reed's Parky dance!
says...
8:31am Tue 30 Oct 12
jedthered wrote:Five Live website covering Leeds v Saints!.....no Swindon where did you get this info from?
Radio 5 live have the town match live tonight for those who do not have the town player and cannot get wiltshire sound, Enjoy!!!
COME ON YOU REDDDDDDDDSSSSSS
dabombdiggy
says...
8:40am Tue 30 Oct 12
/5live/programmes/sc
hedules
John Young's Grumpy
says...
8:42am Tue 30 Oct 12
old town robin
says...
8:46am Tue 30 Oct 12
Had a look at the Villa sites, couldn't find anything yet of substance from their fans, although there is an article where Paolo has said beating Villa tonight will be better than having sex with Madonna. Lol
Stfc_BristolRed
says...
8:50am Tue 30 Oct 12
hertz
says...
9:10am Tue 30 Oct 12
mgstfc
says...
9:16am Tue 30 Oct 12
Red Army wrote:Yeah - that's a great shout.
The day has come:)
Any glory hunters can you not nick my parking space at the match tonight :)
But let's be fair a packed CG will be brilliant tonight.
Ollie Reed's Parky dance!
says...
9:25am Tue 30 Oct 12
Ollie Reed's Parky dance!
says...
9:25am Tue 30 Oct 12
Redhouse Red
says...
9:43am Tue 30 Oct 12
Lazaat wrote:Apparently the new i player radio app will allow u to listen to live match day commentary on bbc wilts where ever you are in the country... Not tried it yet. Only downloaded it yesterday. Worth trying though
jedthered wrote:I can't make it tonight so thanks for that Jed, I will tune in to Radio 5 live.
Radio 5 live have the town match live tonight for those who do not have the town player and cannot get wiltshire sound, Enjoy!!!
COME ON YOU REDDDDDDDDSSSSSS
SeanG92
says...
9:54am Tue 30 Oct 12
jedthered
says...
9:54am Tue 30 Oct 12
– 22:30 5 live Sport
League Cup Football 2012-13, Swindon v Aston Villa
Live Capital One Cup football commentary of Swindon v Aston Villa.
.
SAPFanSTFC
says...
10:15am Tue 30 Oct 12
mgstfc wrote:I'm getting the bus into town to avoid the log jam....used to park up near the hospital occasionally and get the bus in from there - saved a lot of time getting back out again when leaving with the rush.
Red Army wrote:Yeah - that's a great shout.
The day has come:)
Any glory hunters can you not nick my parking space at the match tonight :)
But let's be fair a packed CG will be brilliant tonight.
Mickey1982
says...
10:19am Tue 30 Oct 12
I did hear it is on Al Jazeera sports though. When home will try find a link to that. Gutted
TenerifeRed
says...
10:31am Tue 30 Oct 12
I usually start looking around an hour before ko.
Wish I was there as it's going to be one hell of a game.
COYRs, you can do this!
SAPFanSTFC
says...
12:10pm Tue 30 Oct 12
pooroldsmiles
says...
12:59pm Tue 30 Oct 12
"WE GO EVERY WEEK, WE GO EVERY WEEEEEEEEK. WE ARE THE TOWN END, WE GO EVERY WEEK"
SeanG92
says...
1:14pm Tue 30 Oct 12
pooroldsmiles wrote:haha yesss!
Time to resurrect the song from Wembley for the JPT when the thousands of 'fans' came out of the woodwork....
"WE GO EVERY WEEK, WE GO EVERY WEEEEEEEEK. WE ARE THE TOWN END, WE GO EVERY WEEK"
Swindon1984
says...
1:42pm Tue 30 Oct 12
hertz
says...
2:34pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Malkym
says...
3:09pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Swindon1984 wrote:I'm in town already at work and boy is the clock ticking slow lol!
Heading out of work and on to the motorway at half four - another slow afternoon in the making...
Big Time
says...
5:01pm Tue 30 Oct 12
jedthered says...
6:20am Tue 30 Oct 12
COME ON YOU REDDDDDDDDSSSSSS