mikeyjavfc

Sounds like a serious cash flow problem - consistent with rumours from last season about late payment to suppliers. Dark times

QPR

Now that a national newspaper has commented on possible takeover talks I would expect to see a formal statement or at least a twitter rant squashing the rumours from the Xia / the club. We have seen this kind of reaction for much less in the past. So if we continue to get radio silence this week then I think we can assume the rumours are true.

We do not have the luxury anymore to support passengers in this squad. The squad is about to be thinned out significantly, and like it or not he is under contract for 2 more years here. If he can’t be sold, the club should work with Ross to get him mentally and physically fit to play so we protect our investment / asset. We might even get a performance or two out of this £12million player. This exile approach isn’t helping either the club or the player. Certainly Ross hasn’t helped himself but I think he had also been mismanaged whilst here, an organisation as large as villa should have mechanisms for helping players with personal problems. Imagine spending £12million on a player and then deciding the player is a total lost cause after less than a year...crazy. I honestly think we would be better trying to rehabilitate him than sell him on for a minimal fee. Christ you could pay for a full time chauffeur to make sure he got to training on time and didn’t go drinking after training for about 1/50th of his wage.

He’s worth whatever clubs are willing to pay. If we can whip up a bidding war then I’m sure we’ll receive over the odds for him despite our plight.

Does the fine count as expenditure under next year’s FFP assessment? ?

With FFP and Grabban gone this man must be brought back into the fold. Got to be worth a place on the bench given his resale value is 0. Do it Bruce - vault the gate and bring him back!

I would suggest that we just showing attempts to comply i.e. bring the wage bill down, sell a few unneeded types, and then hope for the best even if we haven't complied with the limits. As long as we have shown willing and have not been recklessly spending till the last I imagine we are looking at a fine at worst. The EFL will avoid docking points or demotion etc. except in worst offenders due to the inevitable legal challenge it will bring.

We bet the farm and lost. I would now hope the brain’s at Recon might be able to work out how we can work around FFP without stripping our club to the bones. Would selling Bodymoor to keep Jack Grealish at the club be worth it?

He's trying to downplay the fact that his team is young and inexperienced in high pressure games by flipping the narrative to say our team is 'too' experienced and therefore old / slow (?). Its a a ridiculous statement to be honest and highlights how worried he is about his teams mentality.

At the 2010 league cup final there was an empty block of seats covered in netting to separate the 2 sets of fans so I would say so.

About to sell out imminently if OS is to be believed.

Well it’s 9pm and there’s still at least 600 tickets left by my count. I think a few might make it to general sale after all.

The latest tweet from their club account says 300 left, so more or less: yes.

The international break comes at a good time for us as we are badly in need of a break. Lets just hope for a win at Bolton and that Derby do one against Cardiff this weekend, and then the run in will be interesting. Cardiff still have to play us and Wolves, which is a potential 6-point swing right there. QPR was a disaster but we might look back at that results as the catalyst for an unbeaten run-in. When the worst-case I can imagine is that we still make the play-offs, we can't be doing that badly.

What a come down after saturday! Time to consign that turgid performance to the past and focus on getting 3pts next Saturday. Let’s keep the faith and hope Cardiff can be as flakey as us in the future! If not then wembley beckons...

To catch Cardiff, the MINIMUM we need to do is: Beat them at home Match their other results, except... Find 1 more point than them I fully expect our goal difference will remain better than theirs till the end of the season now, so that would see us into second. When you put it like that it doesn't seem too much to ask. I would fancy us to better or match their results at the very least and if we want to finish above them we need to be beating them at home as we did to Wolves.

This team picks itself. I will be gutted if Bruce goes for anything else.

I think the good thing from our point of view is that we have a run of easier games now, with harder games to follow towards the end of the season. We need to make up 3 or 4 points on Cardiff whilst the fixtures are relatively kind and carry that confidence into the Cardiff game and the tricky games that follow that game. Yes it will get nervy towards the end of the season, but if we are in the hot seat at that point then we will have had a good run of wins to give us confidence we can get the job done. Not to mention many of the mid-tablers will be on the beach at that late stage of the season.

All the more reason for the EFL to investigate ASAP and apply the rules before they escape to the PL...

I said there were no easy games. I said Sunderland we’re fighting for their lives and would be hard to beat. I said we should start Grealish as he would be needed. I am an idiot.

This. If they are fit until the end of the season we will go up in second I believe. If they stay in and out the team we will struggle. Not surprisingly we need our best players to be fit to look convincing!

At the end of the day, the CEO reflects the will of the owner. If we eventually turn against Keith as some are suggesting it will be because we are turning against Dr Tony as well. I doubt you will find many clubs where fans are against their CEO, but in support their ownership. Was Tom Fox really any worse than any other CEO or was he just the mouthpiece of a criminally disinterested Randy Lerner? Look at Sunderland now, Martin Bain is drawing fire from Sunderland fans but he is given the impossible job of representing a negligent owner in Ellis Short. Right now Keith and Tony have the support of most Villa fans and I hope it stays that way.

Bad performance, good point. I am not worried yet assuming Jack’s injury is not serious. If it is and he will miss more games then god help us.

We are a one man team, and that man is injured. No shame in relying so heavily on our best player but it will ruin our season if Grealish is out much longer.