Heretic

TBH, I'm hoping we've seen the last of him in a Villa shirt.

For me, other players don't make midfielders look good. I think midfielders tend to make other players look good. It's Westwood's job to make other players look good by doing his job well. He looks a long distance behind Lansbury and Hourihane and IMO he won't reach their level. I've seen nothing to suggest that he will.

Why? If we have better starters than GG, I'd be looking more to youth to be backup. We'll have to give some of them a chance at some point. Andre Green's looked good when he's had the opportunity. The chances are as time goes on, we may strengthen further in the transfer market anyway pushing GG further down. A youth player could use the opportunity to improve. I'm not sure GG will improve much more and that won't be good enough for where the club's aiming.

I've entertained this for some considerable time. I'm very surprised SB gave him a new contract. Hourihane looks better by a massive distance.

It's Conor Hourihanerihanerihanerihane reports. (for Day Today fans).

Would there be anything else to alert you to the fact this is fake? Perhaps a couple of clues on both sides of the torso?

Big T may be investing in a Chinese company that invests in a studio. That would make him an investor by proxy, but still an investor. He'd be investing alongside others. You can buy shares for tens of millions. Co-financing is a deal worth hundreds of millions. This is fascinating stuff from Big T.

There's companies - i.e. production companies, and there are film studios, both major and mini-major. The list above is of major studios. There are minor ones e.g. Lionsgate, the Weinstein company. Quite possible Big T has his eye on a prodco or mini-major.

Bruce said this was the first time he'd spoken publicly about a player's attitude in 20 years. There's clips of Robbie Savage on Youtube talking about the awful crap he pulled on Bruce when they were at Blues. Savage wanted a move away and by his own admission behaved badly. When you hear about his actions, his description is accurate. It's Savage that's talked about it, not SB. Given this, RM's attitude must be pretty bad to make SB feel as if he can talk about this so openly. I doubt there's much to RM here except a terrible attitude. All of this leads me to believe SB is in the right here.

Given your username, SB would be advised to have you shadow RM 24-7.

Don't misunderestimate me.

That's one expense they won't have to worry about.

With Twitter, I can reach the bloke down the pub in my browser without having to leave the house.

Just watched MOTD - the Everton vs Man City highlights. So impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of Tom Davies. He looked like he'd run himself into the ground at the end. He was shattered. He looked head and shoulders above the expensive City team. My immediate thought was of Grealish and how little he's produced even in the Championship. Tom Davies is the definition of a prospect. He just showed how lazy and unproductive Grealish is.

Some areas of this forum could be renamed. The Hall of Fame could be renamed the Saunders Hall of Fame. Off Topic could be renamed Taylor Talk or something like that. It would be nice to include Tony Barton somewhere too.

I hope that today shines a light on how good he was as a manager. For too long he's been defined by the England job. He took Watford from the 4th to the 1st division in five seasons. They played in the UEFA Cup. He left Watford in 9th position in D1 to come to a relegated Villa. That's how much he wanted to come here. He can tell you what he found in his own words: To put things in perspective for younger Villans: Sir Alex took over at Man Utd on 6 November 1986 when they were second from bottom in D1. Sir Graham took us over in May 1987 having just been booted out of D1 (finishing bottom) and starting life the coming season in D2. Sir Alex had just over 6 months head start on Sir Graham PLUS he had a full season of D1 football over Sir Graham in which to attract better players. Here's their standings at season's end 1990 in D1: 2nd, Aston Villa. P38, W21, F57, A38. P = 70. 13th Man Utd P38 W13, F46, A47, P = 48. I hope this gives you some measure of his achievements. In 60 months we had built on the foundation of being kings of all we surveyed to being the bottom club in D1. There is always pride in Aston Villa. It's an English football institution. What we lost was dignity. It was humiliating to watch the decay end in being dumped out of a division we ruled not so long ago. In his first season with us in D2 we finished runners-up to Millwall and went back up to D1. In his second and our first season back, we scraped survival. In his third season, he took us to second in D1. I am sorry for those who didn't see the 89/90 season. It was a hell of a time to be a Villa fan. He brought us Yorke, Platt, McGrath, Nielsen. He brought a grateful Sid back from Italy. He built a side that feared nobody. The football was often far better than he was ever given credit for. It's true that Watford was often route one. But what could he do? He showed at Villa why he came to Villa - we had the clout to extend his horizons, and how well he used this new canvas. When he left, I was heartbroken. But when you look at what he built, younger Villans, you owe him gratitude. The shade you and we enjoyed under Big Ron was because Sir Graham planted the acorn those years ago. He found a foundation of clay and built a foundation of rock. I've wondered, what would he have done if he stayed? Under HDE, I'm not sure he would have done much more. His standing would have grown, IMO. But eventually HDE would have penny-pinched him on a top player and Sir Graham would have walked. He once said - 'HDE and I have a love-hate relationship. He loves me.' The tantalising prospect is this - what if Sir Graham had a manager equally as ambitious and without ego? I think he would have strengthened us even further. I think we would have had more success. He probably would have stayed too long and we probably would have drifted, but who knows who we would have brought in at that time. Ifs, buts, maybes, couldas, wouldas, shouldas. What I know for sure is that Sir Graham was an old-school gentleman from the time when being a footballer was a profession and not a status. He treated players as adults and fans as friends. Today is not just the loss of Sir Graham but of a treasure from a great age of football that I, through rose-tinted spectacles and as I write this, a tear in my eye, miss. Younger fans don't know that time. You can never recapture what you never had. As time marches on, we lose these wonderful characters - outspoken, unspun, usually the highest paid person at the club. You may not have seen much of him, but due to what he built you will surely have felt his legacy. I feel privileged to have witnessed him and his work first-hand and I am very proud that this institution called Aston Villa is so closely entwined with the gracious, humble, fun, kind, and wonderful football man that was Graham Taylor. Graham, thank you for giving us back not just our status but our dignity and making it thrilling to be a Villan once more. Give me best to Dalian when you see him.

Even Steve Bull wanted the great man's autograph! (Back, to the right).

How ironic. There's been a recent thread about club legends. For me, this man qualifies. This club was a shambles when he took over. He grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and turned it around. We could have been title winners under him. The turnaround was amazing. One of the great names in this club's history, IMO. Goodbye, Sir Graham. Thanks for the wonderful memories.

Looked very solid and commanding. I can see why he's rated highly.

The conversation ends up going sideways.

The awful thing is that however ridiculous his stats are quoted as, they're still on the cusp of believability.

His stats aren't just appalling, you have to check the calendar to see if it's April 1.

Hopefully not on the same side.