villabromsgrove

Wow .... Good posts guys!

It's a wonderful video that brought tears to my eyes. Lucy and Tyrone are inspirational!

There's been both praise and criticism of JJ. I think the thing we may all be able to agree on is that he has a sell on value that will repay Villa's investment in him. We need more of our very good academy prospects to do the same. At his best he is outstanding, at his worst he still puts in a shift. I hope he stays with us, but I would expect a very healthy sale price if he does leave.

I'm excited about NSWE plans, but can anyone tell me the approximate date that the redevelopment actual breaks ground? Is it this summer?

Mings should be captain.

I'm delighted with this news. Ty is one of our few vocal leaders, and he has said that he is determined to improve his understanding of his CB duties under Emery's coaching.

Vitoria SC have a "B" team currently bottom of league three zone "A" (they could do with a couple of our youth prospects or young South American talent). Their first team is doing pretty well in the top division for a club of its size and finances and has played regular "European football". I'd say it's a shrewd move which will benefit both AVFC and Vitoria (if it's approved). As others have said, Portugal is a conduit for young talented South American players to transition to Europe. It should assist the widening of our scouting system.

Unai Emery is a good guy but he has the ruthless streak that is needed when judging a squad. There will be no arm round the shoulder approach for players he judges to be inadequate. The evidence of his own eyes from the last two matches against Leicester and Man City will have been particularly important to Unai as he compiles his summer "must have signings" list, and also his "for sale" list. I expect the summer transfer window to have Emery's trademark all over it, with Lange and co following his instructions to the letter.

I'm not making any predictions, I'm just enjoying the ride. We have unbelievably good owners after a decade of real worry. We have a world class coach/manager after a decade of getting this appointment wrong. We have the finances in place to sign some superb players, but what we currently don't have is the stature to attract top players. We need a top scouting team and a top negotiator with a big contact list to drive us forward. I like Lange as an individual but he lacks the contacts and gravitas to lead our next stage of progression.

Gambling is a real problem for many individuals and by extension many families are blighted by the consequences of gambling addiction. Legislation has to brought in to ban all forms of gambling promotion including all forms of coercive advertising. To say that individual football clubs should refuse gambling sponsorship is simplistic. It is currently a legal source of income that needs to be banned, so that no clubs can use it as a revenue stream. Precarious finances mean that no individual club is in a position to opt out on their own.

I'm really pleased to hear that.

I'm not knocking you Nick, I'm just looking at the positives. I remember you when you were really upbeat about Villa and I looked forward to reading your posts. I hope you can get back to that frame of mind soon. Cheers.

How about training Nick? Seven players who knew that they weren't going to start or may even not get minutes on a match day are no longer with us. Surely that must raise the positive vibes for the rest of the squad, and the young additions who may get drafted into training.

At his best Bertie can be brilliant. Usually we have to watch a lot of average to get to the brilliant bits, but hopefully Unai can inspire him and facilitate a system that enables his creativity.

I had to read this twice before my creaky vocabulary wheels finished grinding!

That's a simplistic view of the differences between the January and Summer transfer windows. My particular favourite targets, Matteo Guendouzi and Jonathan David are both playing for clubs who are busting a gut to qualify for the Champions League. The kind of players that Emery is targeting will also be involved in their current clubs campaigns, which means that even if they were tempted to join Villa by AVFC's approaches or agents pressure, it's not up to them, it's up to their clubs. The summer is a much more structured and elongated environment for both a club and its players to consider moves .... but you're bright enough to know that and just posted for effect as usual.

I was under the impression he had returned to BMH with a knee injury. Does anyone know for sure whether he's fully recovered?

Are Villa fans naturally miserable, or is it something we've been working on recently?

I haven't a clue whether or not we have tried to sign Guendouzi. What I do know is that he is exactly the type of player we need to improve us. It's about time we started to put very round pegs in very round holes. Emery knows what he needs and I hope the rest of our "buying and selling team" are fully committed to his project.

We now have a very good head coach adding tactical confidence to our squad on a daily basis .... we are visibly improving and results back this up. We have a decent first team and some reasonable options on the sub bench. Of course I'd love to see us sign two real quality additions (mid/st), but I'm not stressing about it because we have enough players to get us through the next 18 games. The thing that has most impressed me this transfer window is that we have at last shown a more ruthless attitude to clearing out unused and unwanted players. We've freed up space and wages for a real assault on the transfer market this Summer. If the lack of the much speculated about signings is down to Emery being prepared to wait until the specific player (or type of player) that he really wants is both available and willing to sign for us, then that is a positive thing. If Unai is concerned about striker cover he now has loan spots available. We'll know more in just over 31 hours.

I think that we are fortunate to have a manager who understands the difference between two often confused words .... Want and Need. Unai obviously knows want he "wants" but he is also very clear about what he actually "needs". January is a notoriously difficult and overpriced window with distorted values being the norm, so Emery has quietly got on with a bit of ground clearing work for the building project he has in mind. He needed a quick wing back to make his system work more effectively so he added Alex Moreno. I'm sure he would like Guendouzi this month, but only at a price that leaves his team building budget healthy going forward. Jhon Duran is a relatively cheap uncut diamond to be polished by a very good coach. Our results are good in the Premier League since he joined us, and the month of January has been truly excellent. The departure of Ings was the only hiccup as I'm sure Unai would have liked to retain his services until the summer, but his high wages and the fee offered meant that he made a pragmatic decision for the sake of the club project. We have eighteen matches left to play and no extra cup matches to get in the way, so we don't "need" any more signings this January, but as a fan I'll put my "want" hat on and say Matteo Guendouzi and Jonathan David would be very welcome additions before 11pm January 31st.

According to a pronunciation site on YouTube his christian names are pronounced "Jon Hader".

I've not had a drink since New Years eve. I'm giving my honest opinion.

I've looked at a load of articles, scout reports and YouTube videos. I guess you guys and girls have been doing the same. So give me some feedback on my top choices for the way Emery wants to set us up. Matteo Guendouzi and Jonathan David (now that Ings has gone). Can we afford them? Can we convince them to sign for us? Are they what we need? I think the two of them would lift us up to regular top eight, maybe higher if injuries and luck favour us.

Now that Ings has been sold, if we can sell or loan Nakamba and Sanson to get their wages off the books, then signing both Matteo Guendouzi and Jonathan David would improve our starting eleven considerably.