mikeyjavfc

So how exactly do we say his name? Moreas More-rey-as? More-ree-as? Mo-rey-as? Mo-ree-as? More-ace? More-eyes?

If we're paying north of £15m then we would need to be really sure he is over his injury woes, since he spent the best part of 4 years with bad injuries. It's harsh, but if he can't satisfy the medical team that he is top condition for years to come then we should walk away for this level of fee. The last 6 months were obviously a good indicator he is over his issues, but I'm sure a medical involves scans and estimating probability of occurrence etc which gives you a clearer picture. Hope it all works out.

He definitely has a daughter. He talks extensively about her in this interview: https://www.afcb.co.uk/news/first-team/the-long-read-tyrone-mings A great interview btw. Seems like such a lovely guy!

Not a fan of black away kits for villa, nor yellow although I did own the MG sponsored yellow kit for some reason in the 90s. I prefer white for the away kit and also don’t mind that weird blue with black trim kit we’ve had a couple of times over the years. The famous green black Muller kit makes my eyes bleed which is a shame as someone said the new away is inspired by this

Good enough for me #Confirmed #WelcomeAxel

I would have given him another year to be honest to manage the team transition to the premier league, so I can understand if he feels a bit salty about being let go. I’m sure this interview was just some frustration coming out. In some ways promotion was the worst thing that could have happened to his career prospects as he’s unlikely to get a club of villas stature now. He won’t struggle to find another team though (probably championship level to be fair), so good luck to the guy on the future.

I would have given him another year to be honest to manage the team transition to the premier league, so I can understand if he feels a bit salty about being let go. I’m sure this interview was just some frustration coming out. In some ways promotion was the worst thing that could have happened to his career prospects as he’s unlikely to get a club of villas stature now. He won’t struggle to find another team though (probably championship level to be fair), so good luck to the guy on the future.

Glad this millstone from the championship era has been shifted. I just hope he doesn’t drink himself to death using his pay off, and finds some happiness in his post football life. Good luck Ross.

Based on absolutely nothing but the commonly held belief that ‘big teams always get the decisions going their way’ I think VAR will be good for us on our first season back. Not so much once we’ve cracked the top 6!

Sorry I meant ‘throughout the year’.

...This is our one chance all year to ask questions of the Villa hierarchy. I have a question I would like asked. You obviously think it is a stupid question; I don’t. I think a stadium ‘sale’ is imminent as theorised by the likes of Dave J and Price of Football on Twitter based on their analysis of our accounts, EFL FFP and the recent shenanigans on Company’s House . I think this could impact the club or fans in the long-term. The Villa hierarchy are welcome to confirm, deny, clarify or ignore entirely this question as they see fit. But I would like it asked. That’s all I have to say on this subject.

I think it’s right to be wary and question/challenge our owners where we can. Bitter experience tells us than when our owners say all the right things and say they have plan, we have been utterly shafted. With hindsight it’s easy to say the new ownership are miles ahead of the old, but there was a time not long ago when questioning the intentions of Dr Toni Xia would have seen you hounded on here or on Twitter for being overly negative and ungrateful. I think you are right...but we’ve been burned before

This is not the rumour. You cannot move the stadium from ‘one part of the business to another’ and realise this as profit. The rumour is that we are planning in ‘doing a derby’, where the ground is sold to a separate entity to Aston Villa Ltd., albeit one which is also owned by NSWE. If this doesn’t make you uncomfortable and you trust NSWE implicitly then fine, but it is hardly standard practice and the fans deserve clarity. Derby issued a statement around the sale of their stadium: “The board reassures its fans that restrictions have been included in the transaction to protect the interests of the club, the local community and the use of the stadium in its current and previous forms enduring into the future.” This is the minimum level of assurance that we should expect from Villa if they are planning something similar and this is what my questions are getting at.

Great if true, I look forward to club clarifying this.

Jota is a player I have always liked so I am happy with this link. The best player at blues by a mile, I was delighted whenever he missed the derby games. Badly mismanaged by Blues I think who have prioritised physicality over finesse. I agree with those who think this signing is cover for Grealish. Very similar players in my opinion, both seem to effortlessly float around the midfield with the ball. Regardless of where Jota has played in the past I think we will be coached by Smith to play a similar role to Grealish through the middle. Not an out and out winger for me as he lacks the blistering pace and physicality that a winger needs to beat a man down the line. Only downside for me is he seems a bit lightweight and not really one for a scrap if the game is getting a bit tasty. Maybe leave him on the bench against the likes of Burnley.

-Are the ownership selling the stadium? -If so do the ownership understand why this concept is problematic to the fan base as a point of club pride and given the sad example of Coventry City down the road. -If a sale is imminent, are any measures being put in place to protect the long-term retention of the stadium as Villa’s home (a ‘trust’ or condition of sale clause etc). -Under the proposed format of sale is it possible that the club could be sold at a future date without the linked sale of the stadium?

Glad Wes got at least one good result from his teams. Now he knows where he should spend his attention and money!

Ha I’m working out of our Leeds office tomorrow. This is going to be my new tactic to torture Leeds fans with!

We’ve been underdogs at the last 4 Wembley finals and we all know how those went. I’ll take being favourites if that’s what people want to call us! Most neutral media I have seen has us pretty evens with villa just shading it. That seems fair based on the season.

Almost as if the club had a load of large size stock they couldn’t shift before the end of the season so they slapped a 50p play-off final decal on the chest and sold em for double the price!

He's proven time and time again he's better off the bench. Keep him fresh for super sub status.

Take the fine, take the points deduction, leave Villa Park alone. Having a better shot at being promoted is not so important that we should put the core of the club at risk.

One of the greatest back handed complements I’ve seen!

I'm buzzing with the win, but being honest it was a very flat performance. Lots of possession but that was more due to the fact that WBA let us have the ball on the whole. Very little width all game and almost no overlapping from the full backs which has been a staple of our game all season, especially down the right. Fair play to WBA for stifling our style but ultimately they tried so hard to shut down our attack they forgot to leave there own half for the 210 minutes and deservedly lost. I am not blaming Deano too much. He has built up too much credit for that and I think a lot of that performance was player mentality. We played within ourselves as we had a lead to protect and then once they had scored the fear of the sucker punch exit from the playoffs meant we rarely played a pass that wasn't safe, or directly to feet. The lack of through balls or balls to chase / in to space was obvious and made us look very rigid and ponderous. I think we will play with more freedom in the final when the mentality is win or bust, and Leeds won't defend with 11 men like WBA. One definitely bonus is that the penalties were fantastic on the whole apart from Albert's skyrocket, and it was good to hear Deano say we have been practicing peno's for 4 weeks since we knew we were in the playoffs. I assume the psyche out routine from mild mannered Jed Steer was probably Deano's idea too! If the final goes the distance than I am VERY glad that we have the experience of a nervy shoot out under our belts!

Frustrating day but we got the rewards in the end. The goal we gifted Albion really influenced the 90 minutes as they could just sit on their lead and hope to take 1-0 back home. Ultimately that negative tactic came back to bite them when they let there guard drop a couple of times and lost the game. Not our best performance by a mile today, but we just needed to have patience and play our game as it has been proven to be effective 11 games out of last 13 now! They’ll need to come out of their half in the next leg so hopefully we’ll have some joy in cutting them open next time out and kill the tie early doors. Good subs from Smith, I bet he’s buzzing this afternoon! UTV