2 hours ago, maqroll said:

I can't remember the last testimonial match for a Premier League player.

Mark Noble? 

Tyrone organises our defence so well and wins more than his fair share of balls in the air. We have missed him defending corners, unsettling opposition defenders at our own corners and his timely defensive blocks. We have also missed his booming voice when we have been under the cosh in games. UE will have a place in mind for him.   

We really already have had more than enough of our share of injuries for this season and for next, so no more please! 

I was more worried about us picking up a further injury, than I was about Forest stealing a point from us. A tremendous win and another winning run at Villa Park has begun folks. This really is some team that we currently have the pleasure of watching! 

1 hour ago, DakotaVilla said:

Arsenal definitely made multiple formal bids for Luiz previously. 

Yes, I heard that too. It was when he had yet to extend his contract, so they thought they could get him on the cheap back then and tried to unsettle the player by letting their interest in him be known. Probably seriously under valued him or hoped they could add a few thousand and throw ESR in as part of any deal. If they bid again it's most likely to be less, than would stop the club telling them what to do with their bid and that suits me fine. 

7 hours ago, Pongo Waring said:

Lets not underestimate Ajax

Agreed, but I'm more of a Flash man myself! 

38 minutes ago, Milfner said:

Betis out!

Everybody Out! (except Villa)

37 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Just seen link to Arsenal for 85 million... Arsenal " preparing " a bid.

I think people underestimate what a massive loss Ollie would be.

Would need to be stupid money imo.

Hopefully those teams settle for Ivan Toney or something.

Makes a change from them preparing a bid for Douglas, but in both cases:

59 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Remember we were linked with this guy, huge bullet dodged.

Yes, but sad news for the player. 

I must admit when I first spotted this topic, I thought that we might be preparing to make a cheeky summer bid for Cole Palmer.  

23 hours ago, YLN said:

Young whipper snappers

I prefer to remember them in their playing days, as I prefer to think of myself, as I was back back then too. That said Gary still looks pretty good for a 63 year old! 

2 hours ago, sidcow said:

Wow.  I'm surprised it was still there in 1981.  It would have been there in my first visits to the ground although I have no memory of it.

Shame, it looks like an amazing building.  I'm surprised as late as 1981 they didn't have any difficulty getting it knocked down.  They'd have had trouble just a few years later I suspect.

 

I remember it. I recall there were still paint circles on one of the walls that the players perhaps used for target practice between the old Trinity and the club offices in the 60s. The buildings were noticeable,  when standing on the Witton End (at the right see pictures below).   

55 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Anyone know when that Gothic Victorian structure at the side of the North End was demolished? As late as when the North Stand was built? I guess some on VT may even remember it? 

In 1981. They had been used as the club's offices prior to that. During the 60's a gymnasium and a player's recreation area were housed in The Aquarium which was part of Aston Lower Grounds. Further information/pictures are on the link below:

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2011/12/01/from-the-archives-villa-life-went-swimmingly-with-the-aquarium

59 minutes ago, RicRic said:

Tbf it may not be needed chelsea have been a big fish in the last couple decades and theirs is slightly under ours i think but we certainly need some renovation and modernising in a few areas, some penthouse features like the inside of Tottenham’s wouldnt go a miss

Chelsea had an owner that was allowed to plough his roubles into that club before FFP was a thing, they like Manchester City jumped the queue on the back of their owners, when nobody felt the need to do anything about it. Without their excessive spending back then they wouldn't be where they are today and able to spend pretty much what they like. 

1 hour ago, paul514 said:

It isn't about us having no money or the owners wanting to spend nothing, this is about an accountancy method we have to be compliant with and how it is done whilst spending a lot. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fair enough. It is going to be interesting to see how much we will be able to spend in the window. FFP really takes the fun out of suggesting we sign Mbappe doesn't it?

3 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

We don't know exactly the extent of the financial hole we're in, but we may well have to sell one or two players without an expensive replacement, whether you find it 'tiring' or not. I agree that we 'need new revenue streams' but nothing on front is going to change last year's accounts, or this year's, or even really much of next year's (apart from playing in a higher European competition, if we manage that). You talk about a stadium move but that wouldn't be available, and would adversely impact finances, for a decade. 

(Also, no matter how much people on this forum love talking about a new stadium, the club have repeatedly ruled it out and are not doing any of the preparatory work that would be necessary. We aren't moving to a new stadium, you might as well get used to it)

Agreed, so why are we talking about what players we should sell, rather than players we can hopefully look to buy in the next window? If FFP is going to hit us like a house brick on the head before the next transfer window, then that is something that I will consider as and when, we know that for sure. In the interim, I will be thinking of what we could do with some sort of reasonable transfer budget in the next window. 

Anyone would think that we have HDE back counting the pennies again, or Randy after he had pulled the purse strings tighter than a duck's a**e, or even mega-rich Dr Xia, who ultimately couldn't even pay the club's milk bill!  No, we have billionaire owners who want to continue to back the club, UE and a team that are on the verge of something really big.

This topic has become all too depressing of late, following speculation that we are tomorrow's Everton, at a time when we should be stocking up champagne for the end of the season and for what follows that. 13 cup finals and possibly another one in Athens, to look forward to for me, along with players that we might bring in, rather than flog during the summer window.    

11 hours ago, VillanousOne said:

https://www.astonvillanews.co.uk/2024/02/18/aston-villa-v-nottingham-forest-injury-news-doctor-shares-nicolo-zaniolo-update/

It is speculation at the end of the day but more likely than we aren't allowed to bring him on for more than 5 minutes because it will count as an appearance type piffle

Doctor: Aston Villa player unlikely to start v Nottingham Forest amid fitness issues

Dr Rajpal Brar

Sun 18 February 2024 18:40, UK

 

I'm sure I heard a couple of weeks ago that he had picked up an injury and would therefore be missing for a few weeks. I discounted that when he made the bench a week or so later, but as has been said making the bench doesn't always add up to being match fit at the moment. I had also wondered if his number of games played might trigger a clause, but I would guess he already would have done, if there was one.

1 hour ago, TRO said:

Most of the older Bros, are usually the better..

• Ramseys
• Bellinghams
• Gardners
• Nevilles
• Ferdinands
• Littles

etc

There's always exceptions: 

Charlton - Jack & Bobby (although Jack was the better manager). 

Looks like our future midfield might read: Ramsey, Ramsey, Ramsey. Surely there is a right back amongst them?

9 minutes ago, paul514 said:

I don’t get how if you understand what I said how you think we will get around that fact other than selling players.

yea if we get in the CL it will be worth 25-50m for next season but costs will go up, there will be clauses in players contracts for higher wages for example.

If the budget is near zero for FFP now then you are talking about it maybe being 20m so an 80m spend if the players are on 4 year deals.

I have agreed that we will sell players, but only the ones that we are prepared to let go. We will still have a % of our income available to spend on players/wages and that amount will be increased by any player sales. I'm not an accountant, but I think that is about right. 

59 minutes ago, paul514 said:

A zero net spend is different to zero FFP room

FFP room could be made by making an amortised profit on a player.

So selling an academy player is Ramsey for 60m is pure profit but say you sold Diaby for 35m you would make a small FFP loss as his fee would have only amortised for one year and therefore still couldn’t spend 

Our best players, in fact all our players are for sale. I don’t think you understand the updated FFP rules and how massive our difference is in revenue to the clubs we are trying to compete with is. 
 

We have no choice but to trade players for profits to try and compete financially, that isn’t an opinion it is fact.

I appreciate the above and I'm aware that selling an academy player is good for PSR (that is why we did it in the summer). Players will leave, but they will be the players that the club decides that it is right to let go. That will add to the increased revenue that we would get from our higher league placing and CL qualification, that would in turn increase the money the club would be able to spend on wages/transfers. It shouldn't end up with us having to sell the likes of say a Douglas or an Emi or even a home grown Ramsey (if we consider doing so would ultimately weaken us). It is all about maintaining the usual suspects elite position and preventing upstarts like us from crashing their party. As a club we need to find a way around that system and that is what the club will be looking to do, rather than to sell our best players to clubs that we will be competing with, making them stronger and ourselves less of a problem for them.  

7 hours ago, paul514 said:

Maybe.

Here is a fun exercise for fellow posters to give grief over.

Assuming you have zero FFP spending room but the owners want to spend money….

Who would you sell to free up FFP room and who would you buy with that room?

I’ll do mine tomorrow, if some others do there’s, I already know a load of you are going to HATE mine.

Hasn't UE said that we won't need to sell our best players and why would we have zero net spending, if we have income coming in through a potential league 4th/5th finish, and CL qualification?

Players may come and go during the next window, but they are likely to be players that we are willing to let go or the odd one that having worked to achieve CL qualification, might then choose to jump ship rather than actually want to play for us in the CL next season. 

I think that our big hitters will be happy to stick around for at least one more season, assuming that we have exceeded our pre-season objectives by qualifying for the CL. I also consider that our owners won't hesitate to back UE and Monchi in getting their targets to the club. I for one, would prefer to focus on who those players will be, rather than on who we would be prepared to sell. We are not a selling club, after all. Our best players are not for sale, simples!

1 hour ago, stewiek2 said:

Someone I know who knows someone at Wolves (I know it sounds dodgy, my ex boss, a dingle is in with corporate there, wasn't happy to hear and told me) reckons Neves would be open to join us, happy to stay in the region, is kids at school here etc., we want him but the fee is an issue.

I wouldn't say no. I doubt we would want to pay the £55m or so they gave Wolves or be able to match his wage demands though. Depends whether his club would want an arm and a leg for him, or would settle for around £40m? 

I would hope that CL qualification would enable us to bring in a couple of players at around that price in the summer and that we could also bring in a couple of young players, such as those that we signed in the last window. UE and Monchi, will be making or have already agreed, their list.  

18 minutes ago, duke313 said:

We need to be more clinical in front of goal, because we’re gonna get screwed by PGMOL. Those 2-1s need to be 3-1 or 4-1. 

Saturday's win would have been, if it wasn't for PGMOL. 

2 hours ago, CVByrne said:

United will get 4th, it all depends now on Spurs and if they Spurs it. They've plenty of tough fixtures 

I'm sure they will and I admire your confidence in them, a confidence that is probably unmatched by all but a few of their most one eyed fans. With Best and Law up front and Charlton in the middle, they will probably pull back our 18 goal advantage over them by the end of the month! 

I understand if you have a season ticket you sit in your normal seat and the cost reflects that. If you don't have a ST the club allocates you a ticket and the overall cost is therefore higher. I would guess that if you book as a group, the club would aim to have you sitting together. I might be wrong though...