Adam2003

I mean I’m not sure it’s the only question as having Bruce also means we will probably finish top six (I’m sure almost anyone would at least say top half) whereas someone like RDM would have got us relegated. So if he’s replaced, I hope there is a really well thought through replacement. Sacking any manager is only half the story.

I like Adomah but if we were considering releasing him on a free to sign for someone else, then doesn’t it show that not one team all summer was interested in paying money for him? A little worried what story that tells...

This year we seem to have given ourselves options to buy on the majority (I might be wrong) which makes me think it’s about FFP and shifting the costs a year, and also about us not having to do the deals if we don’t get promoted. So it seems less short term.

Not to do a Bruce in, Bruce out blah blah boring post, but this is why I didn’t quite get the “he missed promotion, he has to go.” We seem to be on a positive trend over a couple of years now. It’s not as fast as we would have liked but I still think we can match any team in this league and go for promotion this season. We have kept our star player and added new potential. Still missing a couple of spots but still on an upward trend. Maybe Bruce didn’t feel we could manage to play this way at the start of last season. Maybe he was wrong, maybe right. Maybe we needed Player X or Player Y. But we are not in a bad place... let’s just keep improving. Agreed that handing out a couple of beatings at this point could be great for the season’s momentum and the feel good!

Want this done but I’m not worried about him missing the game at the weekend. I wouldn’t have wanted him and our other new winger both coming in at once... drop Elmo back to RB on Saturday, have Anwar start on one wing and Adomah/Green on the other. Bolasie can come in for that other place in a game or two and we can gradually keep improving.

Surely it's better than (a) buying him, given your concerns or (b) just loaning him, in case he's made a full recovery and we wish we could keep him? I mean this is Villa so we'll probably make it permanent in a year THEN his legs will fall off, but...

With McGinn next to him and Bolasie etc ahead he will tear up this league. But he’s not Messi, he won’t tear up every match. Still - I think we will go up and we will look back on this as a superb season for him.

If an established player isn’t in a PL team’s plans they also might be waiting to see if they get a bid from another European league where the window is still open, just putting them out on loan if not. So maybe a waiting game. Different with the kids they want to keep long term I guess which could happen sooner.

This isn't where I see his game going. More and more I see him developing into a Modric-style player, deep-lying, technical, picking the ball up at the start of every attack and directing it like a point guard in basketball. If he can do that nearly as well as Modric he will thrive without goals and assists - but I agree with you it will take him an extra 5 years (as with Modric) for neutral fans to recognise that versus if he got shots off like Zaha or Rashford.

Couldn't watch this but was it that bad? 63% possession, 12 shots... would have liked to kill off Yeovil more effectively, but 3 wins from 3 in August after a summer where we thought we were going out of business is not a bad start... I was pleased to see we had looked to control it and played a few of the young lads, so surprised to read the reactions here to SB.

Leeds always look amazing at this time of year and never end up anywhere at the end. That won’t change this season

I honestly don’t think the fans of any other football club would be so unhappy to win their first two games as the complaints in here. Hope we can keep it going!

It's a different game right now but that's exactly what Brian Clough would have done if he wanted the player! I don't think Bruce did though, agreed.

To be honest if someone offered me a contract to play for Stoke, I said yes great, and then Everton came in just as I was signing, I'd be off up the motorway. Shame if he's a good player, but if you offered me this or keeping Grealish at the start of the week I know which I would have taken. We have had an OK summer in the end! (Picking those teams as examples of ones I don't care about - in the same way as this kid doesn't care about us or Fulham, it's just a job).

Obviously now very much hoping he stays. If Spurs turn around and offer a fortune though, I'll at least be pleased we are bringing in some (hopefully) good players - as opposed to selling him just to keep the lights on. Best of both worlds is of course that he stays and we still bring in these good players!

Looking at that Hibs forum I think if we offer 4m for him and pay him 10k a week it is likely blowing Celtic away. There isn't a lot of money in Scottish football.

I hadn’t heard of him (haven’t seen any Scottish football in years) but looking at the link to a Hibs forum in the transfer thread they look at him the same way we look at Grealish. Sounds well worth a punt. Also gave me a laugh when one of them said “they got Des Bremner on the cheap from us” - sounds like they would rather he came here than Celtic. Gut feel is I’d like to see him come in.

Yes sorry I was just joking around!

I hope he plays garbage in our comfortable win. Or even picks up a little strain that rules him out for a week, just past when Spurs would want him to do a medical....

Conversely, if Bruce hadn’t come in and straightened the kid out he might have still been passing out in ditches in Marbella this summer and on his way to League 2. I’m fine with people hating Bruce for all sorts of reasons but I’m really convinced on this one that Bruce - and players like Terry who Bruce brought in - saved Grealish’s career. Plenty of players as good as him faded away because they didn’t have good management.

I’m not looking too closely at this but a quick google suggests that when they were 23 Scholes scored 3 a season, Lampard 9 and Gerrard 10 in 50 games. Completely different types of players but just as you asked. I don’t think Grealish will ever be a 20-goal a season guarantee like Lampard and Gerrard were but it wouldn’t surprise me for him to knock in ten next season as you suggest.

I was just looking at our fixture list for the season and thinking "win, win, win, yep, win, yep, we will win all these games." If i'm right, that bodes really well for promotion.

I’d rather earn £30,000 a week with Villa. Along with a lack of talent (sadly!) that mental mindset is a big part of why we aren’t professional footballers. I think any psychologist would agree with this BUT I accept there can be odd exceptions to even very defined characteristics. I hope Jack is one of them just as much as you do, so I will stop this line of argument now!

...because of everything I said in my post? Playing for the 4th or 5th best team in the country and playing every game for England is slightly different to playing in the Championship and never getting a look in. I absolutely believe if we were 5th in the Premier League he would want to stay. We aren’t. The examples you have referenced couldn’t be further from our situation. Still, hope he stays!

Someone should tell Kate Middleton’s dad...