John

A 12 point deduction would currently put them on minus 8 points. That would be 10 points behind the current bottom club, 12 points off safety and 17 points behind us. That would be cruel and unusualy harsh punishment. So be it. ?

I've heard of snakes on a plane but under the wallpaper?

Chris Iwelumo said on Talksport 2 that signing JT is a no-brainer. He added, "What he brings in the dressing room, the presence, the professionalism, the organisation, the communication," Everything that he does makes Aston Villa's squad a stronger squad. " "What he's achieved as a player, straight away he goes in and the dressing room lifts. "You must understand. You're saying it's a step back, I disagree. "It's another experienced head that has been there and done it. "He will have to get back up to speed, but what he brings in being ahead mentally as well, he sees the game, he plays the game, he's doing his coaching as well. "What he brings is a voice, is a leader, it's needed in every dressing room." Link to this from The Express: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1014039/Aston-Villa-news-John-Terry-transfer

Small Heath's problem would be finding the money to pay any FFP fine but that would be their problem and I for one, won't be losing any sleep about their financial difficulties. Turning to the club that matters, I wonder if our FFP issues might be resolved by selling the naming rights to the North Stand and calling it the FFP Stand?

How is he in goal these days?

Well said!

Too soon for Bolasie I understand Herman 22. I would play Hourihane instead and Cafu ahead of Taylor. I would also like to start Kodjia wide as well as Abraham to give us a goal threat up front as well as one at the back. Will it be a case of picking names out of a hat though?

I would be in a right huff if we signed him rather than JT myself.

New manager out then!

Some nice ones around here as well. ? Let''s give JT a choice to make.

Indeed. Terry for one. I see Nedum Onuoha is there as well I think we were linked with him once or twice when we were all still at school...

Agreed. The club had better try to make it happen because we need to do something about our central defence quickly and I am not sure shifting what we already have around will do the trick.

Can dinosaurs use an iPad?

It seems he just did not think Elphick was up to it any more and I tend to agree on that.

Yes that was what McInnes said about the proposed transfer as well as adding that he thought their player could do better than a Championship club. I think Moukoudi was the first choice all along but that deal dragged on until he said no on the last day of the window leaving us with little time left to get anyone else in. I guess we really thought Moukoudi was going to happen so did not go for our second choice before it was too late.

In the Championship?

It would be a real blow if this didn't happen now. Make sure it does happen Villa let us have our JT back!

Getting Terry back would be all gold. Just do it Villa!

Yes I think he would and hopefully will.

This will be the 159th league meeting between these two founder members of the football league. We have won 66 and drawn 33. They won 1-0 on our last visit to Ewood Park in April of last year and 5-1 on our first visit to their earlier Leamington Road ground in 1888. They were first relegated in 1936 as were we alongside them. They also have a proud history having won the FA Cup six times, the League Cup once and having been League Champions on three occasions. They were founded in 1875 following a meeting organised by Arthur Constantine and John Lewis (no relation). We really have to bounce back from our embarrassing defeat in Sheffield.The international break appears to have come at a good time for us for once (it should offer us time to select the right defence from the players we have, to possibly add another out of contract defender and to do some belated work in organising what is currently masquerading as our back four). Our last league win at Blackburn was in 2009. We really need another and a first clean sheet of the season. We are currently above Blackburn on goal difference only. We are bottom of the top half of the table and they top the bottom half of it. Win it Villa (2-0 would be nice).

Agree 100% on that. Most would probably describe themselves as being Scots rather than British as well. Perhaps we should ask the Scottish Cafu for some guidance on this?

Loving the small case for the small time club that Gary Gardner is currently with. Is Scotland a foreign country now (I thought they had said nae to devolution)?

He is. Asking a lot for Jacob to come straight in and resolve our problems at the back and I don't want us doing his confidence. That said, we really should have given him a game in the cup whilst we were still in it and he's worth a place on our bench now so we can get a better idea on whether he might be ready for first team football now or shortly.

We did try to bring in a defender but the first one chose to stay in France at the last minute and we couldn't get Aberdeen to take our money for our plan B on the final day of the window. We will be stuck with playing players playing out of position or bringing back John Terry which is my preference to fill the hole in our central defence until January now which puts our promotion hopes under real threat. It's something we should have sorted well before the last day though. Let's hope we're both in the mix come late December and good luck to your boys, although I suspect we may need that luck more than you will. By the way I prefer lemon on my kebab (it's a matter of taste and we at Villa Park are reputed to have great taste when it comes to football as well as fine dining).

Interesting stats. Leeds have been out of the top flight for too long and I'm happy for you to go up this season as long as it's not at our expense. I think Bielsa was a very good appointment. You could do a Wolves this season or a Derby. It's too early to tell. We have had a disappointing start but again it is early days and we might yet do a Fulham and finish strongly when our new signings settle in and if we do something about our brittle defence. Time will tell. At this stage of the season we both have hope you just have a head start on us. We are both likely to have poor runs at some point. We have just gone early...