HalfTimePost

Who were they saying is arrogant just then?

I think the opposite, I think at his best, he looks almost like a Alex Moreno regen, just at RB. He's basically a winger in some games. But that's kind of the exact opposite type of RB that Unai seems to favour. He prefers Konsa at RB over Cash, he loved Foyth at RB at Villareal. Unai is content with, and actively pushes for a CB at RB, in order to push for this 4-4-2 in defence, 3-5-2 in attack with the RB becoming the 3rd CB. It's why I haven't quite believed the Jeremie Frimpong links and it's why the writing has been on the wall for KKH. I actually thought Argyle showed a path for him at Villa as he's played a few games at LB - which would be his best chance of games here at Villa. Either that or in Bailey/Cash's role. Either way, it felt unlikely he'd break through at Villa in his favourite position when Unai joined, the one Academy "collateral damage" I actually expected.

Yeah Pau has been on the bench for weeks, he starts imo. Tielemans on the bench

Race for Champions League - 126 pages Title Race - 71 People are more concerned with Top 4. You don't need to run in and ruin the fun just so you can say "I told you so" in April. We know. It's fun.

Yeah everyone! Enjoy the ride whilst I call you idiots from the sidelines whenever I see you enjoying it!

Spoke too soon

Bloody hell, City losing to Newcastle, Ederson off injured. We have to beat Everton, such a good opportunity now. Liverpool could be without Salah for 4 Games between now and mid Feb (Bournemouth, Chelsea, Arsenal, Burnley)

The trademarked one is obviously the one that gets used

I'm slightly unconvinced this guy is getting real leaks and isn't just rendering it himself in some way, it does look professionally done, but if he's been doing it for 20 years he probably has the skillset. Or, his agency is the one that was tapped up to do the design. We'll see, either way, the detailed lion is better in the design, but I'm not convinced the rest of it works still, and the Detailed Lion wouldn't work in many applications, the Digital crest is the one we'd see most often, and the current version of that is crap

Yeah we haven't made losses like that because we sold players. The most recent accounts in March '23 (for 21/22), had us make a £0.4m profit on the basis of Grealish's sale masking operating losses of £96m in that one season. The accounts that will be released this March will be a nice indicator, we sold Ings, Carney and Targett for around £50m , half that of the Grealish sale, but the spend was somewhat-similar. It'll be interesting to see where we're at on the P&L and whether our commercials have made up for the shortfall. If not, as we did this summer (Archer, AJ), we'll need to sell some players, but the academy isn't quite a factory just yet, there will be discussions that we may need to cash in on a bigger player in order to fund ourselves. Similar to what is being said here for Newcastle having to sell Isak, Bruno or Botman.

A lot of people in here correctly saying Newcastle will have to sell somebody to help balance the books with their spending. Be interested to see the same responses in our own thread when it comes to Emi, Dougie, Watkins, McGinn and Ramsey etc. We too are going to have to sell atleast one in the summer, the Grealish £100m will be up and off the FFP books, we'll need to generate more money.

Genuinely forgot that they had signed Harvey Barnes

Heck would never allow something for free. There's no Balti pies in The Terrace View, so no investment into Bardghji's for everyone else

Did they ever show their 'radically different' design? And now it's all over, are you able to share what it looked like?

I'll be honest, that guys badge is an improvement, but not a fan of the order of the colours at all. And he says he used the template colours from the AV150 mark... But the gold and blue appear much brighter than they did in that.

Part think Dybala would be a class signing. Part think Ollie's uptick in form really coincided with Ings leaving and him becoming *The Guy* again..and I'd be nervous of rocking the boat. Dybala would be an upgrade on Duran as it stands too. I think Duran could be better fit for the Premier League in a couple of years though, I wouldn't want us to sell him. Loan Duran and buy Dybala would be great if Ollie can keep him form up

You've posted every design that anybody has ever posted on Twitter, it's hard for there not to be some crossover

"Look like" ?

Fiver says we wind up with "Gaslamp" from last year but with Lerner's lion

According to this he Passes sideways too much, no to crabs, just a young Ashley Westwood

Here's the full Athletic article that Jas linked to Less than a year later, however, internal grumblings remained. Media outlets were encouraged not to adopt the new badge and instead stick with the former, suggesting another change would follow. Villa were also reticent to use it digitally and for marketing purposes. FAB members were told the badge was “too close to Chelsea” and did not offer distinguishable qualities. Temporary measures were put in place before the creation of another new crest, with the Lerner shield being adopted when possible. The circle-shaped badge was felt to have little relevance to Villa’s tradition and, as a consequence, a shield shape should be reinstalled. This appeared to go against the overwhelming preference of supporters, with over three-quarters of the vote wanting a circular crest. On September 16 of last year, three hours before Villa’s home fixture against Crystal Palace, the first FAB meeting was held in a suite in The Holte End with the incoming president of football operations, Chris Heck, and chief operating officer, Ben Hatton, following the departure of Purslow in the summer. It was outlined during the meeting, which lasted around 50 minutes and described as an “inadequate length of time to discuss a range of issues” by one person involved, that Villa would change crest once more. Heck had held a virtual call with the FAB before September’s first in-person discussion. “When Chris Heck initially told us that he was looking to change the crest, he said he would consult the fans,” says Chauhan. Heck started his role in May, having moved from the United States where he most recently worked in Basketball at the Philidelphia 76ers and was previously involved in marketing partnerships within the NBA. Between 2011-2013, he spent two years at New York Red Bulls, operating in a similar capacity to his present job at Villa. Hatton, meanwhile, served as a commercial director at Manchester United between 1997 and 2007 before, in between multiple other roles, returning to club football at Blackpool 12 years later. In October, Villa confirmed the decision publicly, conceding the crest did not bring about the desired benefits. This, in other words, included shirt sales, design and the overall look of Villa merchandise. In mitigation, shirt sales in particular would have been impacted by a new controversial gambling partner sponsoring the front of the kit and the generally poor quality of the manufacturer, Castore. A statement read: “As communicated at the recent meeting of its Fan Advisory Board, Aston Villa is planning to re-engage with supporters to explore options for the selection of a permanent new-look crest before the club’s 150th anniversary next year. “The crest, which tributes the club’s 1982 European Cup winners, will now be discarded at the end of the current season. Villa will continue discussions with supporters over the crest once the new consultation session gets underway shortly.” On December 20, three months after the first meeting, Heck and Hatton convened again with the advisory board. Villa had informed those who would be attending about two chief agendas they hoped to discuss — disability access around Villa Park and, secondly, an update on the crest. Towards the end of the meeting, supporters were shown a video montage which unveiled a new badge. Those inside the room spoke of their initial shock towards the announcement given they had not been consulted over the design. “Heck presented the new crest to us with a video accompanying it,” said one supporter, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity. “We never got asked if we liked it or not. But no one said anything because there was no time left in the meeting to discuss it. I think it was also because we were told ‘this the crest’ — no one asked us for our opinion.” The crest displayed within the montage is believed to be the one that surfaced online last week, as a result of an eagle-eyed supporter noticing that Villa had registered it as a trademark with the UK government before the meeting with the FAB group. Significantly, however, this was at odds with what Heck said in his first public interview since joining Villa, published on the club website on December 19, the day before the meeting. “We are working very closely with supporter groups and individuals that are fans,” said Heck. “The crest is for the fan. It is worn by the players and it is for the fan. We are passing it over to them to decide what is best. It is going to be great for the club and for the next 150 years. “The hope is that the crest will be shown to all fans when it is complete this winter. I expect that to be in a few weeks. I am very excited to see how that goes. I will say that the crest will be on the kit come summertime.” Heck’s first interview coincided with the unveiling of another separate logo celebrating Villa’s 150th anniversary, announced on his own Twitter account and simply captioned “#OnBrand” — a slogan he previously used at the Philidelphia 76ers. Heck had made a conscious effort to only speak publicly six months into his role, hoping to afford himself ample time to assess several departments, surveying any relevant concerns and areas for improvement. This contributed to the decision to discontinue plans to redevelop Villa Park. Heck’s interview was on the club website but not promoted across Villa’s social media channels. My Old Man Said is a Villa supporter group that sits on the fan advisory board. Last week, an article was published on its website, expressing concerns over the lack of fan consultation and claiming Villa had breached Football Association rules, which state that if a club wishes to make changes to its crest, there must be “a thorough and extensive consultation process with supporters”. The rule was introduced following the fan-led review of football governance in 2021. “Bar a very general survey, which was issued with the preface of returning to a shield design (that seems to have confirmed nothing new beyond the previous survey), there has been zero supporter consultation or insight,” said the article. “Any request during previous meetings to have any involvement in the process — as per FA rules — was rejected by Ben Hatton. There has been ZERO evidence of ‘working very closely with supporter groups’, or passing it over to them to decide what is best. Literally, none of what he has said has happened. “No supporter is asking for any direct influence or say in the crest process. It’s simply a matter of not wanting to listen to disrespectful empty rhetoric and for the FA rules to be followed properly at face value.” The Athletic understands the FA intends to speak to Villa’s fan advisory board through the FSA and will be asked to share concerns. This was outlined last Thursday (January 4). Any changes Villa end up making to the crest will be dependent on compliance with the FA’s ‘Heritage Asset rules’. Talks between the FA and the club will continue to ensure appropriate fan consultation. An informal meeting between Villa officials, including Hatton, and the fan advisory board is scheduled to take place on January 31. Discussions regarding off-the-field discord will continue. “The communication has just been poor,” said one FAB member. “It is just another sign of fans being overlooked on key issues.”

Kill me

And this is why we shouldn't go round in circles on it, entirely l eventually Chinese whispers start and suddenly we've lied to the FA?!