jonno_2004

When I first saw the line-up last night, subject to any outgoings (Gana, Veretout), I thought this is probably what RDM sees as his strongest team. Hopefully a few lessons were learned. Will be interesting to see any tweaks made for the next friendly.

37 minutes ago, limpid said:

In what way?

If they've said they are staying then if they ask to leave he can say he was lied to. They are the ones who will look bad.

He can only be in the wrong if they haven't said they are staying. Even then he can say that he did everything he could to keep them.

Haters gonna hate whatever he does. I'd rather he talks than stays silent.

I don't have a problem with him talking and feel it to be a rather refreshing change from the previous regime, but it is inevitable he would lose credibility with elements of the fanbase despite his best intentions - you only have to look at this forum to see that.

I'm not sure whether pointing a finger and shouting 'but.. they lied!' would absolve him either, many reasonable fans would like to value the word of the owner and the promises they make without being written off as 'haters' - I imagine both parties wouldn't come out of the situation well. Anyhow, let's hope he's right.

He really has hung his hat on those Ayew and Amavi tweets. He's either incredibly confident for a reason we are not privy to or is very naive.

An interesting one this, I have no problem with the guy - strangely enough when he smashed that one in against Leicester I thought we had finally turned the corner - but sadly just isn't consistent enough at the top level.

He'd do well enough in the Championship but I'm not sure we have room for two luxury players in the team and I think Jack will be ahead of him in RDM's thoughts. If he wants first team football and has a chance to play at a top level in Spain, then good on him. It's not the end of the world by any means though.

I hope he decides to employ someone to manage the account for him or at least sieve through the rubbish as a first line of defence.

Anyone know if Nicky Keye is a dab hand with Twitter?

Have the London JP Morgan Corporate Challenge 5.6km on Thursday evening.

First race I've done since the same thing last year. I ran a pretty shoddy time (27.50) and was roundly ridiculed at work for it - trained really hard this year but unfortunately last Monday felt my achilles go about 15 mins in and as I was running a decent pace (by last year's standards anyway), was stupid enough to carry on through to the end and ended up with a 24.40.

The tendon has been very, very sore since then - my calf also tightened up to where I couldn't walk properly for a few days before easing off after plenty of alternating hot/cold therapy. Haven't ran since but managed to do an intense 15km on the bike yesterday without much trouble - I know I'm pretty much going to be done for a month or two after Thursday is out of the way, just hope I can put in a good effort and the pain isn't excruciating. 

Probably for the best Xia has learnt that lesson early.

I always feel a bit confused when you read so much hate of Villa fans on various forms of social media, but then again if I didn't support this club I probably would too. Some absolute idiots following this club and in some ways it's no better than they deserve.

I know there's the old "every club has them" adage but I just can't see it with things like this. New owner and a guy with a season ticket exploits him into retweeting a picture of a prolific paedophile. It's just so pathetic at such a fundamental level.

1 hour ago, sexbelowsound said:

£1600?? I know rent is high in London but that seems steep. Where abouts are you living?

I know what you mean but I still feel it's quite low on the spectrum comparatively with some areas..

Live a couple of minutes away from Battersea Park (admittedly, that probably wont allow you to gauge prices too well given the extremes in the area). It comes with its advantages (5 tube stops/25 minute run to work) but it's still ridiculous when I think about what I was paying prior to this.

Buying a property around here without risking negative equity if the prices suddenly tank is the dream, but I just don't see it in the immediate future.

Moving to London for my current job has increased my savings considerably (x4) in just over a year - however with no prospect of being able to afford a viable property in the near term whilst pumping out £1,600 in rent per month is a real killer. Brexit may leave with me without a job, but at least I might be able to afford a 1-bedroom flat 

Let's hope he can make an immediate impact with the likely departures of Gana, Veretout and Westwood. Will be interesting to see how the squad develops over the coming weeks.

For all of Amavi's nice words about fighting in the Championship and as much as we would like to ignore it, there is a high likelihood someone will take a punt on him before the end of the transfer window. I think we could be seeing an awful lot more of Joe Bennett next season than one would have envisaged.. for better or worse it remains to be seen.

Clocked that he retweeted a bit of a light-hearted dig from a fan yesterday.

Acknowledging the 'footballers are people too' viewpoint, but the season hasn't even started yet. Too much baggage IMO, should be moved on ASAP.

“Leaving Bournemouth was difficult but I always wanted to play for a big club. I’m not saying Bournemouth aren’t but it was just really exciting to come here"

Really starting to like this fella - the more I think about this transfer in hindsight the more I like it - if he had gone to Newcastle I would genuinely think they've pulled off a bit of a coup, so very happy he'll be one of the first names on the teamsheet in the coming season ahead.

£40k per week seems quite steep (if true). He can do a job for a team in the lower end of the Premier League, so the move to Burnley makes sense.

I don't think he'd make the difference for us in the hustle and bustle of the Championship which combined with getting his wages off the books means I wouldn't be disappointed to lose him for that price tag.

That said, given the shoddy midfield unit we currently have plus the fact Gana will most likely be gone by the end of the Summer as well, I'd sooner lose quite a few other players in the squad before old Westy.

For all intents and purposes it will be time to update the CV tomorrow should it be 'leave'. Might as well sit back and enjoy a nice (few) glasses of red in the meantime 

2 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

It's not 'absolute bollocks' though, is it. 

The person above is right, I haven't seen any videos of England fans stamping on people's heads. But to be honest, that seems like a fairly minimal behavioural barrier to clear. I have seen videos - large numbers at this point - of England fans throwing chairs and bottles, shouting or singing deliberately offensive chants and songs, and generally being drunk and disorderly in the centre of a major city. 

Whether you want them to, these idiots reflect badly on all of us. We, as a nation, are being damned by proxy. The FA, representing all of us, will be fined and criticised. Our police will rightly be blamed for failing to prevent a number of known troublemakers from travelling. And if we get barred from a future tournament that will be a punishment we all face. 

These people are a disgusting face of Britain, but they absolutely are 'we'. 

Of course it reflects poorly for the reasons you have described, but to suggest innocent fans getting charged by hooligan groups is simply a case of being 'deserved by association' is complete nonsense (which is the point I was making).

Would be very happy with Moyes. Despite no recent experience of getting a team promoted I definitely think he knows what it takes. Would be a bit of a coup in reality - I would have thought he was nailed on for Newcastle if the Benitez saga hadn't erupted.

9 minutes ago, Spoony said:

I see nothing untoward about this at all to the point I feel I've missed something. Not everything in business is black and white and that's why so many different corporate structures exist - to hide things, far more often than not legitimately and for legitimate purposes. You will never find out everything about this guy and his businesses. 

Has this all stemmed from "5 subsidiaries" actually being 1 and 4 probable purchases? If so this is almost definitely just a mistake from whoever drafts what goes on the website. I spend 90% of my life drilling home to clients that corporations are different entities and what owning or controlling them actually means. I would bet everything I own that Recon being the majority owner in one and seeking to buy 4 more got lost in translation and became "having 5 subsidiaries" either through the drafter misunderstanding what he was being told or not realising how big a mistake it is to essentially pre-empt a bunch of other acquisitions when they haven't yet happened (they may have just misunderstood something about how far down the line the sales were without actually having been completed). 

Who knows. I personally have confidence that this guy is the real deal. His credentials are excellent, he speaks sense, he has been honest about his intentions (including non footballing intentions), he has been very open where he hasn't had to be and he is from a country who are pushing football so any government involvement or influence can only be a positive thing (for now). 

 

I wasn't even sure if it was due to potential purchases, just the lack of differentiation between ownership of listed and private vehicles. Given the track record of Villa's PR, being a tad sloppy in this regard isn't the slightest bit surprising.

Props to him for giving the access he did, I must admit I was surprised he went as far as showing a bank statement when in reality he could have sat back and let the media/fans stew. Gives an insight into his personality that he's willing to put that out there to show he means business here. I'm cautiously optimistic with this guy.

45 minutes ago, villarule123 said:

My Everton supporting friend says Wyness was a complete prick and he was responsible for selling off their training ground, selling out to sponsors and that the club are still recovering from it all.

Sounds like nonsense tbh. Everton did very well under Moyes on a small budget (4th place finish thrown in there) and have just had a majority stake bought out by a billionaire. Doesn't sound like they're recovering from anything but a poor season under Martinez.

Incredibly impressive résumé. How refreshing it may be to have an owner who is for the most part self-made as opposed to having inherited Daddy's wealth.

3 hours ago, omariqy said:

I've pretty much always commuted a fair distance. First proper job was in Nottingham. I lived in city centre (Lace Market) and had to get the bus out of town to work. Then I got a job in London and commuted from Leamington for a good year and a half. I didn’t mind it as the Chiltern trains were brilliant and reliable. Used to watch sleep on the way in and watch a film on the way back. I then moved 10 mins from work until recently. Now have the standard 1 hour commute each way that most Londoners do. I long for the day that I live close to work. I will definitely make a lifestyle choice of working outside of London and living near work. I want to be able to see my daughter whilst she is awake rather than coming home and not seeing her awake till the next morning.  Ideally I would move back to Leamington and work for a local firm.

Yeah - I think in the short term my commute time will increase as it will be too expensive to purchase this close in.

Although I only moved to London 9 months ago to what is essentially a dream job at 25, there are still lurking thoughts to eventually get out of the rat race to start a family one day.