Straggler

The problem with Chinese owners is half a season later you want another one.

Don't know. I'm not Pearson. However as a precedent for what he will try to do it seems reasonable.

I heard that when Pearson joined Leicester one of the first things he did was get rid of the bad attitude players. He didn't ttry to tame them or bully them into submission he just got them out of the club. This included some of the more talented players. First thing he wanted to create was a culture where everyone was pulling in the same direction. This was said by a psychologist still working at Leicester interviewed on the BBC about the amazing rise of lcfc. Doesn't sound so bad to me.

It is weird that he feels his priority is winning games. That ship has sailed. A win is as relevant to us now as a 20% off petrol voucher to a dead goldfish. Our priority should be preparing for next season, which may include blooding a few players who may be of use in place of the players we know want no part of it. I'm thoroughly fed up of the woolly thinking that come out of Villa Park these days.

To be fair to Grealish, Sinclair did dummy the run inside then didn't make any run at all.

Nice dummy by Gestede there. He can't have been aiming at the ball then surely?

Was Hutton holding that up in our own corner?

Looking great today. To clarify, his football is shocking, but the hair is on point.

What a croc of shite team.

Nope, Gabby is playing the anti Tardis. Massive on the outside and a small man inside.

That is a very good point. His message does completely lack a next step. He needs to go and soon, his inability to lead is crippling the club.

He is in breach of his contract. It baffles me how he isn't fired and possibly even sued. That we have yet another freeloader player for us hardly comes as a shock, but the reaction of the club defies logic. Okore has refused to perform his duties, for which he is handsomely rewarded and as an employer the Villa have gone "yeah fair enough, I suppose it's your decision". To an extent it is his decision. He can refuse to play and we can refuse to pay him. That seems reasonable. The whole part where he can refuse to play, so we continue to pay him, to provide facilities for him to stay fit, to provide him with coaching to help improve him, to provide him with medical facilities to help his recovery and to stick him with the kids so he can be yet another stunning example of a model pro confuses me. The day he refused to sit on the bench he should have been suspended and sent home. Where has the god damn leadership gone in this place?

Et tu Okore?

He is still a child. He writes like a 10 year old who has been told by mummy that he is a super writer and should probably be an author. His privileged position has got him to the point where there is no filter between brain and pen and no one who can tell him he is spouting crap. I get the feeling he thinks he is writing poetry, in much the same way he thinks he is able to run a football club. I can see now why being in his employ and being critical of him can make your position untenable.

Not only that, he was confrontational about it and backed Wilkins down. It really is no wonder the players are getting away with half arsing everything. A joke of a club from top to bottom.

Thank God you replied, I love that gag, was worried I had done the set up for no punchline for a minute there.

My understanding is that we can move back as and when we open it back up. Sadly there is so much that can happen between now and then. Unless a new owner comes in I see div 1 as the more likely destination than the Prem. As group we have decided to give it a few days to mull the decision over. It is so much more than just not getting the tickets. Whilst I've had these seats for 15 years we have been going to Villa together for 30 years. It is the camaraderie with our friends and the tradition of the event that is so hard to give up. Genuinely torn on what to do.

My seat gone too. There are 5 of us that have sat in the same seats for 15 years. A great spot we had too. It is a perfect storm of kicks to the gut from the club at the moment. I told the others I don't want to renew now, although I think the news from the football board had done most of the work on that decision already. To think that just 3 days ago despite everything I was ready to renew without hesitation.

A journo needs to get to one of theses guys and get to the bottom of the reasons for leaving. The boot is already in from the letters so all they will do is being clarity and it is badly needed.

I think you are over valuing our assets. The land our buildings sit on is hardly prime. The players are operating at a loss. A fire sale of everything would do wel to raise even half the asking price.

What did she tell you......

My worry exactly. Every day that passes is an opportunity missed. Leave it much longer and they start being nails in the coffin for next season. If the club has to stop what it is doing to wait for a man that cares as little as he does and has less ability we are screwed. We are already way behind being optimal and not far off shooting ourselves in the foot again.

He could have said something like this. Having made the decision to part ways with Remi we approached David Moyes. David was very excited about the opportunity to revive our fortunes and impressed with the preparations we had in place. As such I would like to announce that Moyes will be our manager next season and will be in place immediately in a consultancy role to oversee the reconstruction of he club. Don't just talk about plans, demonstrate with some action.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is probably a duck. Aston Villa under Lerner have lurched from one mind numbingly stupid decision to another. The club has not shown any great subtlety or ability for subterfuge, all they have successfully done in communicating us is managed on occasion to say nothing. The messaging from the club at all levels has been that we are waiting. Little said it to the supporters groups, Hollis is saying it in his statement. I for one am more that prepared to believe them. That it is the absence of a strategy and absolutely blows my mind that the club is so unprepared sadly is consistent, stupid behavior from the Villa. What are we waiting for exactly? The right manager to come knocking on the door and asking for the job? Football is a competitive sport, no one achieves anything without driving for success. Even if (and god I hope it is the case) we are working hard behind the scenes and are much further advanced than we appear, why not communicate that with the fans. Say that they have plans, say that they have targets and say that they are working on them hard. We already know that our own players have started their plans to move on and in some cases (Gana) they are advanced enough for the agents to be mentioning teams. This will be happening across football whilst we dither. There are enough decent managers out of work, why the hell not approach them? Find out who fancies it. Even the ones in work, at least put the feelers out there. If we are not talking to them you can bet your ass that someone else is. God damn this stuff frustrates me. You cannot build momentum without applying a force and we needed to start pushing over a month ago. Football is a race, whilst we stand still our competitors race ahead. It is so stupid you have to believe that there is a bigger better plan being worked on in the background, I certainly hope that there is. However, I hoped that Sherwood would be able to oversee a team overhaul having never bought a player. I hoped after dodging the bullet with Mclaren we would get a good manager. I hoped that Richards had learned how to be a center back in Italy. I hoped Lescott would bring leadership and quality, I hoped that Gestede would be a suitable replacement for Benteke. I had so many hopes that the folks in charge of Aston Villa knew better even though I expected the worst. ( I even changed my dream team name to hope>expectation this year). Sadly all the evidence of the last six years points to apathy and inertia leading to our stagnation and ultimate demise. That the club is announcing more of the same as a strategy for the summer should not be a surprise, it is only the stunning obviousness of its stupidity that has us grasping at straws that surely there has to be something bigger and better going on behind the curtain. I don't think that there is. I think we are quacking like the same duck we have been for the last 6 years, which to be fair is pretty decent as we appear to be a dead one.

Went to a fancy French restaurant tonight. All I wanted was a steak and the bastard waiter kept on trying to get me to eat this fillet minion. I've seen the minions and I don't want no bastard yellow meat.