villabromsgrove

I know it's been said before, but take a look at Leicester's first team squad and ask yourself why they got relegated? It was mainly down to rank bad management. Have a look back at Villa's first team squad before and up to when we lost to Fulham 3-1 and Gerrard had his backside kicked out of the Villa door. Why were we in relegation danger already at that stage of the season? It was mainly down to rank bad management. Both Leicester and Villa had a number of demotivated players whose fitness had slipped and they appeared to be just going through the motions. Look at the huge change that Emery has been able to effect with our players, their fitness, confidence, and motivation has risen exponentially to transform them into a top seven team, and I'm guessing that Unai thinks he can do the same with Tielemans, otherwise he wouldn't have brought him onboard.

Emery was an unbelievable signing, and Monchi will be an awesome addition to his top team if he comes to us. Emery is a "tier one" manager and Monchi is a "tier one" director of football. They can build a Villa dynasty with the backing of our "tier one" owners. I've got my fingers tightly crossed on this one, as it's hugely important to us. NSWE....EMERY....MONCHI....the absolute definition of "football passion and ambition". Onwards and upwards! UTV!

Unai is in his dream job. He has two owners who can compete financially with any other owners out there. FFP may well be a nuisance which is what UEFA hoped for when they introduced it to protect their bread and butter "big teams", but Unai is a team builder and possibly the very best coach out there. He's not thinking about cracking the top six in the PL, he's aiming to disrupt the top four. Champions league is his target. Any "big name" manager can go into any one of the UEFA "golden clubs" and have a chance of a trophy before players with huge pay packets and very little surviving ambition get fed up with them, or the "billy big boll*cks" fans start shouting for a change because they're bored. Emery is different. He revels in being the underdog, but now he's the "underdog" with real financial backing. This is his moment. He will never have another opportunity as unique as this one.

Ashley Young was our club captain last season and is leaving us with our very best wishes for his future and our thanks for being such a great influence on all around him. Tyrone Mings should now be given the title of Club Captain (imo) as he is an inspirational figure in and around Villa Park. John McGinn has earned the right to be the Captain on the pitch for his leadership by example, but I would love to see Ty get the recognition he deserves for the brilliant personal qualities that he displays on a regular basis.

I like the Armel Bella Kotchap rumour (Southampton). If Emery is looking to play three CB"s and a left wing back then ABK could do the RCB job effectively. His stature, physicality, pace and power make him very hard to get by in 1v1's. He's only 21 but could be just right for us.

Having a Left Wing Back and a RB (holding) can work well. Moreno has the pace and technique to maraud forward and still deliver quality passes into the box. That would allow our right back to slot into a back three when Moreno is attacking. The right side set up needs to be a solid physical right back, with a pacy technical right sided attacker in front of him. Moreno with Luiz or Ramsey in front of him on the left ( tucking in so he can go by them), and Cash or Konsa on the right with David or Williams in front adding the pace and technique to stretch central defenders. That would be my ideal set up. I would love to see CB options of Mings, Carlos, Pau Torres and Konsa to form an impenetrable defensive block.

John McGinn said something after the Brighton game that resonated with me. He said that we'd made mistakes with some signings in the past, but we need to make sure that new signings "are the right character and the right player. We've heard that said by Villa manager over recent seasons but we've failed to follow that remit a number of times. My choice of right character and right player would be Pau Torres and Matteo Guendouzi as the right players to strengthen the spine of the team, and I would also like to see Jonathan David come in to offer an upgrade to Villa's goal scoring potential in both the second striker and RW positions. (I think that Felix would be riskier than David but hugely exciting as a very expensive alternative). Add a quality back up keeper and that would be a very good transfer window in my opinion. I hope Sir John will be happy my selections, lol!

I lived in Marseille on a street called Rue Capitain Dessemond over looking the Vieux Port, and you're right about the passion for football as Marseille has the biggest crowd attendance in France with over 60 thousand. Apart from Lyon and Paris it is one of the largest population centres in France. The Marseillais are not typically French in outlook (they hate Parisiennes) and are less reserved and 'friendlier' than in other areas. It must be something to do with the sunshine and the hundreds of bars! It wasn't the safest place to live, but it was definitely vibrant and energising if you looked past how dirty and scruffy it was in many areas.

Top post!

PSG is all about Middle Eastern money. I'm not surprised that top footballers want to join PSG because I know that there are only a couple of things that are driving them .... Greed, and a very easy qualification for Champions League football every season. I lived in France back in the 70's, and it's a laid back parochial lifestyle. It's reasonably attractive and the weather is nice if you go a lot further south than Paris, but forget football because it's very ordinary and poorly supported. If Qatar hadn't decided to do a bit of "sport washing" by buying PSG we wouldn't be talking about French football. The big names in football have sold out and settled for playing in a sub standard league for one thing .... MONEY. If players that we approach would rather play in France (Paris) then I have no interest in them and their lack of ambition.

MWARLEY, I normally love your posts but you're underestimating Birmingham. We are regularly voted as the top city in the UK to visit (London doesn't come close). We even come in the top ten of worldwide tourist recommendations, and we are also currently number one on the"vibrant city" list! Let's not be so quick to join the list of the woeful cliched journalists who regular reach for out of date hackneyed labels.

PSG can offer Champions League football (exciting if you're in the first eleven), AND regular trips to play smallish clubs in places as exciting as Angers, Troyes, Auxerre (it's a bit like Redditch) Brest, Clermont, Reims, Montpelier, and scenic away days to Ajaccio and Monaco where Asensio can thrill to the atmosphere of between 4 and 7 thousand fans rocking the stadia (two thirds of the league are smallish clubs with low attendances). Crowds at most games outside of the top 5 or 6 clubs are historically only ever three quarters of each clubs capacity on average, so the atmosphere can leave a lot to be desired. (but hey-ho, Paris is exciting initially and the money's good) Ligue one is a very pale comparison to the Premier League. Asensio is only going to be a good signing for Villa if his mind is totally focussed on playing quality football and it is his number one priority. If his choice of clubs comes down to restaurants and cafe culture and being seen by fellow posers, then PSG might suit him (Paris is a great TOURIST city but having been there a handful of times I'm in no hurry to go back). If testing himself against great clubs with exciting names and histories on an almost weekly basis, and demonstrating his skills in front of packed grounds full of passionate fans (even Luton will pack out their ground with 10,000 vociferous supporters) then the Premier League is the only place to be. Does Marco want to play for a world class manager who values him highly and will play him, or take a chance on a currently manager less club appointing a new "name" (Mourinho is bookies favourite) who may not fancy him and may return him to a "squad player" situation? I think we all agree that from now on we must only sign totally focussed and committed, mentally strong, passionate players. Asensio's decision will tell us whether he's the right fit for Aston Villa or not.

The point that I was trying to make is that as a Villa fan days like today are worth treasuring. They don't come around that often. I saw Villa in 1957 when we won the FA Cup by beating Man Utd. As a kid I assumed that winning was something Villa were always going to do. As I grew up I realised that winning wasn't a "given". I've continued to support through the lows and highs of the intervening decades. I've seen great players and lesser players but they've always had my support because they are part of the team that I love. Today was a really special day for me and I hope for all of us. We have risen from the ashes of poor ownership and mismanagement, to regain our credibility as a well run club with great owners, a great manager and a bunch of players willing to bust a gut for the claret and blue. The future is unwritten, but has more than a hint of a rosy hue about it. There will be plenty of time over the next few weeks and months to give our views on the players we need to bring in and the players they need to replace, but today (in my opinion) is not the right day. Believe me when I say as a diehard optimist that the days between 1957 and 2023 have not offered too many chances to feel on top of the world as a Villa fan. Today is one of those rare days, so why not just positively enjoy it.

Every one was a winner today, it's a team! If you feel the need to criticise players today then you will never enjoy or understand what it means to be a lifelong Villa fan.

Very raw and undisciplined, but one hell of a prospect!

My four player wish list for this summer is: Jonathan David .... Matteo Guendouzi .... Nico Williams .... Pau Torres. Expensive, but not an impossible quartet of targets.

Barnes scores goals, has ability on the ball and can be a handful on the left wing, but whenever I've watched him he looks like he plays for himself and not the team. He hardly ever assists which is a prerequisite for a wide man, he holds on to the ball too long and his passing is hit and miss. Also his defensive contribution is practically nil. Even the Leicester fans think he is a one trick pony, good for just charging up the wing for a one on one with the right full back, and nothing else. It's been said on forums recently that he is "lazy", "stupid", "avoids physical contact" and "is the worst defensively in the squad". I read on a forum yesterday that he should definitely avoid going to Villa because "he would be required to work his bum off, and he's not up for that". Leicester fans also say that he wouldn't be a first choice over any Villa midfielders so would be a bench player, and some say that it feels like they're playing with ten men when Barnes is on the pitch. Twelve goals this season is impressive, but the rest of his game would drag Villa down.

Infrastructure costs do not affect FFP.

Purslow is one of AVFC's top assets.

Do we want to qualify for the Europa Conference this season? West Ham have played 13 EC games so far this season plus a 14th tonight and probably a 15th soon as they look to be favourites to get to the final. Meanwhile they are currently 15th in the Premier League table and have recently been even closer to the bottom three. Add in their FA/EFL cup games and they will end this season having played 56/57 games! Are Villa ready for that? Would it have a negative effect on our PL performance next season?

In two days time Barcelona present their two year "escape" plan to La Liga bosses. They have written up a 24 month scenario to try to comply with La Liga financial rules, which they are currently totally in breach of. If they have their plan approved, they will need Alemany desperately to get anywhere near their stated financial targets. Barcelona may be league champions, but they are well up "sh*t creek" and Alemany is their only paddle!

I've just re read Cordon's wiki page and was suitably impressed. Emery will know all about his abilities as Antonio spent 17 years at Villarreal joining as a scout and rising to sporting director. The Villarreal structure that Emery walked into was largely built on Cordon's efforts. His work at Real Betis is well documented, and his CV seems well tailored for Villa. I don't have a clue whether there was any truth in earlier links, but I wouldn't be disappointed if he were to join us.

Alemany sounds as though he has been very effective for Barcelona. He seem's like an astute contracts negotiator, but he was hugely assisted by Barcelona's name and perception in the world wide football hierarchy, which enabled them to attract big name free contracts, and then sell some of them on at a profit. He would not have had that magical "name" assistance at Aston Villa, which would have meant that he would just be a well connected negotiator working to the firm instructions of Unai Emery. His appointment would have been a publicity coup, but it is Emery who will make the big decisions on incoming players so I'm still very excited about the coming summer transfer window and beyond.

The years 1980 to 1982 were amazing as a Fan on the footballing side, but very worrying off the pitch. Ron Bendall was the chairman and major shareholder, and he was fighting battles with Ellis and others on the board. Key board members resigned and Saunders fell out with Bendall over his personal contract and the lack of money for players, and was replaced by Barton. There were also claims of financial irregularities regarding the building of the North Stand and about that time a very large amount of money allocated for the build "went missing" with the club racking up serious debts. This started the decline that led to relegation a few years later. We have no such worries with NSWE as owners and custodians of AVFC. The "off the pitch" set up is already very good and is becoming even stronger with current additions in the pipelines. Our manager is genuinely world class, our playing staff is becoming a real force and will soon have some exciting additions. Major stadium and infrastructure improvements are in hand, and will greatly enhance the match day experience and Villa's standing as an ambitious and "potentially" massive club. 2023 is a fantastic time to be a Villa fan .... I would say it's the best time .... I agree with PerryBarrPet and mjmooney when they say they have never been so optimistic about Villa's prospects.

I haven't got a clue who we might sign, but I'm happy and excited to wait and see. I would bet Emery's/ Alemany's signings (with the backing of NSWE) will be perfect for our immediate needs. I trust them all completely . "Complete trust" is a magical commodity which none of our previous owners or managers and staff have engendered in us. This is a first!