Stoke is a tough place to go. Only Arsenal, The Clowns, Manchester United and Chelsea have gone to the Britannia Stadium and picked up maximum points this season. The plus looking at that little statistic is we've beaten three of them this season and well, ever the optimist the day before a match, I think we can tomorrow too.

But, it won't be easy and I know I write that about most matches these days, but it is true. At the same time, I do think we have enough, if things all fall into place on the day and that has to be seen as some sort of progress - if it all clicks, we can beat anyone on our day.

This isn't meant to wind up the red half of Liverpool, but it needs to be said, just so there is a reference point to it in the future. Martin O'Neill will not leave Aston Villa to manage Liverpool, simply because it isn't the step up a manager like Martin O'Neill would need to take, at this stage in his career.

Martin O'Neill is 58 years old and while he doesn't need to work, is probably as addicted to football as the rest of us and wants to achieve things with a club, that he can truly call his own. At Aston Villa he isn't living in a shadow but if he went to Liverpool, rightly or wrongly, he would be and that shadow at Liverpool would never be his.

You've all heard of The Clowns - they are a football team that play at The Circus down the road. They have a new Ringmaster who has instilled this belief that anything is possible. It isn't really new manager syndrome, but it is, sort of.

The thing with The Clowns is, not even Sinbad the Sailor, borrowing three wishes from Aladdin, could turn that poor excuse for a travelling Circus into anything worthwhile or valuable. They are the typical yo-yo club and this is a great season for them, but we all know it is temporary.

No time for faffing about today, straight to the news and we have another nice bit to begin with. The Aston Villa Academy team made the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup last night after beating Fulham on penalties. That means, for all you non smart people who struggle to add up, that we have two FA Cup semi-finals this season - the future must be really positive with these kids coming through.

We have won the FA Youth Cup before and most will be aware of the 2002 win against Everton and a certain Wayne Rooney, but we also beat Liverpool 5-2 in 1972 and Manchester City 3-2 in 1980.

When I didn't see Gabby anywhere on the team sheet on Sunday, I was firstly disappointed, then surprised. By the end of the day I wasn't that concerned by it and had decided that whatever the relationship between John Carew and the manager or whatever the reason why Carew seems to play second fiddle to Heskey and Gabby, there is going to be a few surprised people if Carew doesn't start next time out, even if Gabby is fit as a fiddle.

Before, I get started though, I just want to make it clear where I stand on the three strikers, just so I don't have to answer again and hopefully so you can see where I am coming from, because my view might surprise you, especially as you'll learn very soon I am a fan of Gabby and you'll think I'm contradicting myself.

There are so many things to mention about yesterday and about what is coming up that I don't know where to begin. I think I'll start with the rumour as it's always a nice thing to start the week with.

The rumour is we are showing an interest in Cardiff City full back Adam Matthews. Matthews is 18 years old and considered a real talent and has already represented Wales at U17, U19 and U21 level. It is fair to assume O'Neill would be looking but that doesn't mean it will happen or that he even is. Still, we will find out in the summer.

I said at half time on Twitter that we needed a second half performance that you will be able to tell your grandchildren about and guess what, we got it.

It wasn´t that the first half was bad. Sure, we were two down, but the game was very entertaining and very end to end. Reading actually produced a great counter attacking goal for their second, that even Martin O´Neill would be proud of, but the game was very open and they just took their chances.

The FA Cup is a beautiful thing. Anyone can do well in it and all teams get excited about it. Look at Pompey; bottom of the table but they beat Birmingham City 2-0 yesterday; beautiful. The Clowns get a reality check and it makes me smile. Happy Sunday.

But, moving quickly along, because I want to touch on the last filed accounts submitted by Aston Villa and before I say my little bit, I have to tell you that I am not an accountant, which is why we've sent them to one and we'll get you some feedback next week. But I did just want to highlight the management fees of £7.6mn - seems like a lot of money.

The doom merchants have been out recently because we lost a game. It was to the English Champions and Champions League runners-up. But we still lost so it's the end of the world as we know it. Forget earthquakes destroying cities and moving the earth's axis, this was bigger in so many more ways.

Come on, I'm as annoyed as the rest of us at losing a Cup Final but it was against one of the best teams in the world.

Habib Beye has threatened to quit the club because he has had to watch a midfielder and a centre back play in his preferred position, while he just sits on the bench. This, according to the Daily Star.

So, seeing as it isn't a reputable player - expect this to be rubbished immediately and don't be surprised if a club PR person comes out to rubbish this talk, after telepathically communicating with Martin O'Neill, the moment he read it about it.

We are going to take a look at Reading on Sunday a little later but as I was saying to someone last night - we can not lose. I don't expect we will, but I also didn't expect the performance we got on Sunday, but Reading are a Championship side and our work rate and quality of player will be too much for them.

But more on Reading later, today, there is very little going on, so I am scraping the barrel. Now I know what it feels like to support Birmingham City.

Moving away from what did or didn't happen on Sunday, we have some rumours. Rumours are not what make football football but they do allow us a few brief moments to not worry about what is is isn't happening and today, we have two.

First up is Alexander Hleb from Barcelona, who according to the Daily Mirror, is desperate for a return to the Premier League and we are, along with Manchester City, standing by wanting to sign him.