This time last year I was asking Randy to get me Quique Sanchez Flores for my birthday and he completely let me down and gave me McLeish instead. That was probably the worst birthday present anybody ever gave me, but I'll forgive him as he has redeemed himself somewhat this year.

It's been a while since I've written about football, specifically about Aston Villa, because let's face it, writing anything half decent, particularly when you're not getting paid for it, requires at least some degree of inspiration, which Aston Villa spectacularly failed to provide last season.

Even the sacking of McLeish and the subsequent speculation about a replacement manager couldn't make me muster any sort of excitement after the suspense and subsequent shuddering disappointment of the last appointment. I refused to have any sort of expectation that the board might actually do the right thing for fear of having those hopes shattered again.

The genius that is @quaystock shared this link http://t.co/f5AA8N47 yesterday so I have been experimenting with close-ups today.

I tweeted several weeks ago "I don't dislike Bent. I dislike that he gets so much credit for so little" and that is still very much the case, probably more so than when I originally tweeted it.

As part of the incredibly exciting "The Face Project", which comprises many ideas such as a performance of chamber opera "Face on the Ballroom Floor", a video installation and a virtual choir, it was suggested that a good idea would be an art exhibition depicting faces affected by facial palsy. This ties in nicely with the opera, in which there is a scene where an artist is painting a face on the ballroom floor, and led to the suggestion of an art competition with the winning piece becoming the "Face on the Ballroom Floor".

It wasn't a great day in Croyde for taking photos of surfers; the waves were seriously messy, but a few managed to stay up while others opted to stand on the beach and look at it ponderously.

With Gabriel Agbonlahor in arguably the form of his life right now, it should have been a no-brainer for Capello to include him in the squad for Saturday's friendly against Spain. I think most Villa fan's would agree that they are delighted for him and that he fully deserves it, but I'm not sure, from a selfish point of view, I'm entirely happy.

No-one can complain about the very convincing 41-10 scoreline against a very physical Georgia side, and in any game scoring 6 tries is not bad going at all. It was certainly a much better performance than against Argentina; we moved the ball faster and there seemed to be far more intent going forward as a team, but the number of penalties we are conceding is still something of a concern.

Those who are still disappointed with our lack of signings (did you not read my previous post?) should consider that we no longer have as much scope to strengthen our squad thanks to the FA rules brought in last year. Just in case you missed them, a club must register a squad of up to 25 players including a minimum of 8 home grown players (those that have been affiliated to the FA for a minimum of 36 months prior to their 21st birthday) and a maximum of 17 foreign players, which may be supplemented by an unlimited number of players under 21.

So summer is over, well not officially until September 23rd but in terms of football at least, and where does that leave us?

Having lost Webcam and Pid, NRC, Big Brad, several bit-part and youth team players, and perhaps most devastatingly Mike Bradley (I still haven't got over it) the mood amongst most Villa fans was fairly negative, just for a change. However, I'm fairly happy with the business we have conducted this transfer window.