John

We have beaten Rotherham 3-0 on their last two visits to Villa Park and another 3-0 win would possibly give us the opportunity to put an unbeaten run together and to begin to feel a little more positive about this season. We currently only have a slender one point in hand over our visitors which demonstrates that they have had an encouraging start to the season and that we have failed to hit the ground running for a third successive Championship season. The Millers have won once in their five league visits to Villa Park (2-1 in 1971) with us having won the other four. Both clubs had Tommy Docherty as their manager during 1968. Rotherham were our visitors in 1967 when I attended my first Villa game outside of the top flight. We won that one 3-1 having also beaten them 3-0 in 1961 to win the first League Cup Final. Rotherham make a bit of a habit of conceding three goals at Villa Park don't they? They have done so on 5 occasions in their 9 league and cup visits to date. Let's make it 6 on Tuesday!

Not our best performance but also some way off our worst. We stopped the rot by not losing this one and showed some resilience by coming back late in the game to get something from it. On another day and with another referee we would have got a penalty and may have gone on to win comfortably. We go again and hopefully will go on to win again on Tuesday.

Jack has not been at his best so far this season but every player suffers from the occasional drop in form and Harry Kane is a current example of this. He will come good again as will Jack. We all wanted him to stay at the club and we got our wish. Now is the time to back the player. He has not become a bad player overnight. He has new players around him and he needs to grow familiar with playing with them as do they with playing with him. Let's get behind Jack and the team as they try to play themselves into something approaching the form we had hoped to see from them. To accuse Jack of being in a sulk and disinterested because he didn't get his move to Spurs is an all to easy conclusion to reach. Could it be that he's just unable to carry an under performing team alone as he did so regularly last season at the moment? Playing poorly is also unlikely to get the so called club of his dreams coming back for him in the next transfer window if that was what he actually wanted. Could it be that he's already where he wants to be and is as frustrated as we are concerning how things are currently going? He's one of our own and we should not be turning on each other quite so readily. Jack will come good again and he needs our support now not just when we are winning and he is playing a big part in making that happen.

Nice to hear them both singing our name and then singing "We hate Villa more than you". How very small time they both are. You would think they would focus on each other tonight...

Or could it be: The fact is, we have to trim the wage bill. If there are players Bruce isn't going to play then he will be getting rid of them. We are desperate to save money so that we can use those wages to sign Terry.

Not for us and JT it's not....yet!

That Russian fan was wrong then. John Terry would have known that the Russians would nova chuk money at him so that wasn't the reason he didn't join them.

A couple more: Will we have a better chance of promotion with JT than without him? - Yes. Does signing JT guarantee that Steve Bruce will still be our manager irrespective of how the rest of this season goes? - No. Should we just sign JT then and see if that can make a difference to the club's fortunes this season? - Yes.

Could it be that we have yet to make him a concrete offer?

Bringing JT back is not about Steve Bruce's future although his relationship with the player may be as important as the new owners money in making the deal happen. The club's dwindling hopes of a top six finish would be greatly enhanced by having JT back. He is by some distance the best option that is currently available to us. He has said he has "unfinished business" with us and appears to have developed an affection for our club and for it's fans. Let's do this, doing nothing is not a viable option and our season in my opinion is more than likely to depend upon it.

Now sign him up Villa!

Agreed, I guess the first thing we will hear is when and if, one of the above is pictured at the club on the brink of signing for us. It would be very nice to have a deal done in time for Saturday's game. I'm hoping there is some urgency at the club concerning this.

I'm sure a move wouldn't be dependent on that at this stage of the season.

Well 10% will do for me, it's much better than 99% as seemed the case at the weekend. Of course it might now be 9% or 8% and it may have been 98% or 90% at the weekend. As Mark Twain said, "Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable." What seems to be the case is that there is now a better chance that JT will return to plug the hole in our defence. It still remains open to question whether we will sign anyone to do this job or whether on grounds of cost we will choose Huth or Collins instead. I'm hoping that a high percentage of Villa fans get the player that we want.

Hope springs eternal? Bristol Live have a link to UA Tribuna which claims JT's move to Moscow could be off. The chances of that deal happening are now said to be 10%. He's coming home, he's coming home.... Link: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/uk-sport-news/aston-villa-john-terry-news-1990459

Or is it?

Our only hope is that we bring in a decent out of contract centre half from somewhere or that we start playing Axel there and we can somehow limp along until the new year keeping within striking distance of the top six. If we can get this team playing to something approaching their potential that should not be beyond us. We need an unbeaten run and to find some confidence. It's too early to give up just yet. Let's see where we are after twelve league games before we throw in the towel and that straw I'm still clutching to... ?

So there is still a shread of hope..If we want him enhuth he may come back to us after all...

Sign all of the out of contract central defenders!

Having missed a season through injury I hope his injury problems are now behind him because if he signs we will be relying on him playing regularly until the next window. ?Perhaps we should sign James Collins as well to give us a bit of insurance because it's asking a lot for Huth to be able to consistently play two games a week for 4 months.

Good lad! It looks like his parents may have watched Frasier or Cheers on the television a couple of decades ago (Frasier Crane - Kelsey Grammer). Or possibly Sideshow Bob that he voiced in The Simpsons?

Is he good and fit enhuth though? I suppose there is not a lot of choice left if JT is not coming and we do need someone from somewhere now as a matter of urgency. We could and have done worse.

Ex-Villa players often turn out to play in charity games. These two have done so here for Stan and what is a very good cause. Fair play to them. What they did and didn't do at our club can be put to one side for this weekend for me. They have done a good thing this time and have turned out for Stan to assist him in raising much needed cash. Well done to Stan and everyone else involved.

Did we ever make him an offer I wonder? Perhaps if he is in Moscow he can sleep on it and change his mind before he signs a contract with them (It's happened to us after all)? Clutching at straws I know.

He's not the greatest centre half we have ever had but he has been a great centre half and is the best centre half that is currently available! He did a good job for us last season and could do a decent job for us this. I find it difficult to accept that he would move to a Russian club if he had also been made a firm offer to return to us. Up until now everything had suggested that he was well up for returning to us. Have we not made him an offer yet? If not, we need to do so now before it's too late. Just do it Villa!