Butterfingers

I'm only concerned about moving forward. We can't do anything about what has gone on previously

The protest is about wanting changes isn't it? Well theres been some pretty big ones in the last couple of weeks. Nothing can be done to change what has gone before and you'll be waiting a pretty long time, if that's what you're hoping for.

2 minutes ago, sexbelowsound said:

I fail to see what has truly changed.

It depends on what you define as "truly"

If you mean that we haven't truly changed into title contenders, you would be correct.

What has changed is that 2 of the biggest A'holes ever to be associated with Aston Villa have gone. Two "football" people have come in-Two people that most would be happy with. The manager has now also gone.

Not bad going in the space of a few weeks-I suspect that more is to follow.

Guys-I have supported you in your actions and have been grateful to you for making the effort.

My current feeling is not too dissimilar to dn1982. I think that you are in danger of becoming an even greater minority.

When Mike started this all off, we were at rock bottom. I'm not saying we're any better off now but since Mikes initial post, 2 of the biggest culprits have been ousted. In addition, Remi Garde has also been shown the door. Finally, we have put together a team at executive level that might, just might have some mileage in them. All we need now is for Riley to go and I think that most of us will be happy, under the dreadful circumstances.

I think the group are in danger of alienating itself by continuing to protest for protests sake. Certainly, the decision not to leave on 74 minutes for the last game has divided support.

I would like to think that the protest and publicity surrounding it has prompted action from Lerner and the changes are positive signs. Rome wasn't built in a day but that is a pretty good start-Who wouldn't have settled for that at the outset of the protesting?

It could be that most people are now (to quote a legend) ready to go again. Would it be worth considering suspending protests, as was announced pre-Spurs and give the new set up a bit of time to convince us that the club are once more moving in the right direction? There is no need to disband and things could be kept in place to start up again in the future if needs be. I personally don't see what more the club could have done in this short space of time.

Supporting and singing from the same hymn sheet will always be more beneficial in the long term than being divided-I say that with no love for Lerner whatsoever. We can't force him to sell and our best way of seeing him sell is for us to get promoted straight away. Theres far more chance of this without protests going on in the background.

I personally have no preference out of the "top 4" Moyes, Bruce, Dyche or Pearson.

All would be an improvement and all have different plus points.

Whilst Moyes is running ahead in this poll, we are also seeing many different names suggested-This indicates to me that opinion is fairly divided. There is no real "right" choice here and any one of those 4 could succeed (as could some of the other names mentioned)

We need a slice of luck and also a commitment from Lerner that money is going to be made available. Hopefully, we can keep a fairly big sized squad which will be an advantage, get rid of some of the current squad and replace them with players who fit the managers vision. The obvious disadvantage being that we may not hit the ground running next season.

In fairness, if we can get any kind of a fee for him, it will be a win, win situation. He gets his move and we get some money for him.

I've been hot and cold with him since day 1. He had a purple patch last season when he was playing right back and getting some great crosses in. All in all, part of the problem, not the solution.

Not the kind of player you want in the trenches next to you next season.

I personally see the next manager as a stepping stone-A needs to a must. The type of manager that 5 years ago would have seen McLeish type protests.

We have to accept that we are not the attractive proposition that we once were 5 years ago and need to set our sight accordingly.

Nigel Pearson did a great job with Leicester. I don't care how much he bullies the players-In fact I think they need a bit. Whether Pearson will be as effective without his coaching staff is a big question.

Steve Bruce has always bought well. Two signings that stand out for me were Savage when Blues got promoted (who was just what our midfield needed at the time) and Bent for Sunserland. I think he knows the division and knows the players that are needed to get us out.

I wouldn't be overly concerned with either, probably edging towards Bruce. Of bigger importance to me is how the club plan to approach it. We have a windfall payment and we need to utilise it. We need to keep as bigger squad as possible and to pay the wages that makes us an attractive proposition to join. Working on a shoe string hasn't kept us in the division, it sure as hell won't get us back there.

I have to say that Fox, Almstadt & Riley out, Little, Bernstein in, is a step in the right direction. The first step, hopefully of many that will see the club back in its rightful place.

Next to go will hopefully be Garde who has been placed in the wrong job at the wrong time . That said, he has hardly set the world alight and with rumours that he's lost the dressing room rife, he is the obvious next casualty.

New manager comes in and an overhaul of the squad in the summer.

Everything is not OK but I think most fans will settle for this at this present time

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

he is just a glorified scout by sounds of it so he will probably be demoted

He's not even that. I believe his background was compiling stats on players and downloading them onto discs.

Rumour has it that he's a plasterer by trade.

I was listening to Talksport the other day and it was mentioned that Villa have this system in place where they predict the amount of goals a player will score or make, from his stats. I don't know how true this is but it certainly fits in with Reileys previous. I would love to hear what Paul Lambert had to say on Villas buying policy.

These utter, utter comedians have gambled with the clubs status on some absolutely crazy ideas. Who in their right frame of mind would trust the judgement of Paddy Reiley ahead of Tim Sherwood, Ray Wilkins or even Paul Lambert.

With the benefit of hindsight, is it any wonder that the club are where we are, given the assortment of chancers we've had at the helm

3 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

I'm feeling like it's deja vu all over again.

Haven't we been round this track over and over again and always ended up concluding the £62.6m was the full price for all the shares?

Ellis owned 39% of the shares I believe.

 

I've no idea what you've been round but £62 million went to Ellis, around the same again went to the smaller shareholders. Lerners total outlay was around £120million.

19 hours ago, ender4 said:

It's definitely not included in the £252million of losses to date.

But I can't remember if it's included as part of the £62 mill purchase price. From memory, wasnt the £62 mill the total purchase price for all 100% of shares. I think it was, but can't be sure.

No-The £62 million went to Doug for his share in the club. Lerner then forced all small shareholders to sell to him as well, giving him total control. This was around the same again, as Doug roughly owned half of the club.

9 hours ago, ender4 said:

£62m purchase price

£252m losses to date

minus the £80m loans owed to him.

So £234 million to the end of last season.

Is the £60 odd million that he spent buying out individual shareholders included in the £252 million?

I find it very hard to criticise Garde, given the shambles both above him (at board level) and below him (at squad level)

I have to say that even taking this into consideration, there has been absolutely nothing to convince me that he is/was a good appointment.

Given the massive difference in the league we will be playing in next season. my wish is for us to part company-In whatever way is necessary.

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

Think your going to have difficulty getting this off the ground again now after cancelling it.

Yes-Agree 100%

The OTDO74 campaign is over and it won't be coming bac

This is not to say that another group will not step in between now and the end of the season and get something off the ground

2 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

Don't be too concerned. He could always do a Gabby and stick stick around for 20 years doing **** all. He isn't exactly on the bread line.

I'm not overly concerned. He is set up for life.

I do know the family though. They are Villa through & through as much as the next man. My point is that it is unrealistic to expect him to stay at the club because he is a Villa fan.

1 hour ago, The Fun Factory said:

What supposedly biggest ever villa fan jack grealish? It could be a great opportunity to him to silence the critics next season. Or move to a mid table prem side on a bigger contract.

I personally consider myself to be a bigger Villa fan than Jack Grealish. There can be no question that his immediate family are massive fans. It is impossible to be a fan when you have played at the highest level, since the age of 7, as Jack has.

As much as I love the Villa, if my son was in Jacks shoes and had the opportunity to move and earn an extra £5 million, I would advise him to do so. Simply speaking, I love my son more than I love the Villa. To ask someone to turn down millions is ridiculous-Would anyone on here do so, especially as Lerner would benefit whilst not compensating?

It is unfair to throw the "supporter" card at Jack. If he is good enough to play at the highest level, he should be entitled to do so if he chooses.

9 million. Remind me again how much Leicester paid for Kante?

Someone thought they were playing with monopoly money in the summer

1 minute ago, PaulC said:

The problem for me is that Garde has done nothing to merit keeping his job next season, the players aren't playing for him, performances have got worse rather than better. We are now at an all time low in terms of confidence.

He's done nothing for me either and I think its gone too far for him to turn it round.

To suggest sacking him now is just ridiculous. It will cost us money in severance and to achieve what?

2 hours ago, DCJonah said:

In his very limited time I think he's shown more than most of our players. His first game he caused the problems that led to an equaliser. He was brilliant in the cup game after. He created the only goal against Sunderland and in most other appearances does what he's meant to do, which is beat the fullback and get a cross in. 

He's miles away from the finished product but I'd have him in there over all attacking players bar Ayew.

I would also add that none of our players have any end product-That's why goals are at a premium.

33 minutes ago, dudevillaisnice said:

That's presuming a lot of things. That they would choose the right manager, that there is money to spend, that the manager would get to spend it how he would want to without interference.

Spending money isn't the answer said Hollis, think it will get a lot worse before it gets better.

Its also presuming that a manager is going to leave his club and join us which unless we're looking at non league managers, I doubt anyone would jump.

There is no gain to be made by making a hasty decision now, just to gain a little pride this season-its gone way past that. We need to wait until the summer and see who is where and who is realistically available

8 hours ago, YGabbana said:

Yeah pointless sacking him now. Lets just keep losing and shipping goals for the 9 games left and sink the confidence even lower and make us a laughing stock.

Good shout-I never thought of that.

Yes-Lets sack him, throw away another couple of million in wages that would be better spent in the summer and put Sid Cowans or Kev Mac in charge-That's worked well in the past.

We may even hit 25 points. If we really put a run together, we could possibly hit 19th spot instead of 20th.

What possible gain is there to be had by sacking a manager with 9 games left to go? Who do you think would come in, in any case? & would you sack him at the end of the season also if results don't go our way.

Pointless sacking him now. We might as well get the remaining 9 games out of the way.

I would hope however that his replacement has already been approached and is watching the utter shambles. Quite what can be done about it is an entirely different matter though.

I suspect we are going to be starting next season with another new look side, which will probably put us at a disadvantage because the players need time to gel.

In Villas defence, we did try to back Garde in January. We tried to sign a keeper and also a striker, that I know of, maybe another player as well. One turned us down, the other coulfn't get a work permit. I'm glad we didn't waste money on signings in January-It would not have saved us. Hopefully, that money will be better spent in the summer, or at least go towards the wages of one of the few players we'd like to keep.

12 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

Appreciate Okore nearly scored two own goals in his last match and Gil is very lightweight, but for me dropping both is a mistake.

Persevering with Gabby, Westwood and Clark is another mistake.

Garde is now more Sherwood than Sherwood was!

 

Okore is an accident waiting to happen.

I really cannot get the obsession with him. He is short, overweight, inexperienced and not very good.

If he really badmouthed the club after we stuck by him through injury, I'd sooner net see him in a Villa shirt again.

Oh yes-Lets all hail the saving grace, the old "tracking back

Albrighton has put more crosses in this season than any other player-I'd wager that his "tracking back" is amongst the worst.

I see no debate on Gil regarding tracking back yet he is (or at least was until recently), the darling of VT.

Since the Lambert 4-3-3 days, everyone has become obsessed with tracking back.

Give me 15/20 minutes of Traore as opposed to 90 minutes of Gabby or Sinclair any day of the week.

5 minutes ago, sexbelowsound said:

I wasn't suggesting Riley.It should have been another manager.

Got you.

I was personally right behind Sherwood. He had given us a great end to the season and a cup final out of the blue. The last 3 games were appalling admittedly but I felt he'd done enough prior to that to justify a pre-season.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was probably the worst pre-season in our entire history to have an opportunity to buy. We were dire, known throughout the football world to be dire, our wage structure was poor and we'd just lost our best 4 players. Who in their right frame of mind would have wanted to sign for us?

That said, its looking like the 2 French players Sunderland signed in Jan are better than any of the ones we bought in the summer.

6 hours ago, sexbelowsound said:

Many said that Sherwood earned the right to have a preseason and at the time I agreed.

I don't think a well run club would have allowed that though. You just don't let an inexperienced manager have the final say on our biggest squad overhaul in Premier League history.

It doesn't matter how inexperienced Sherwood was/is. I would still have preferred him to have the final say on his signings, as opposed to the likes of Reilley.