Annoyman

Not sure I've ever seen a referee in less control of a game

He broke Brad Friedel signing well before anyone else knew anything iirc. That was fairly recently right? Oh god!

Remember "if Ashley Young is worth £9 million, no disrespect, what must Gary McSheffrey be worth?" As if the answer wasn't just straightforwardly "about 3.5 you daft ****"

It's definitely going to feel weird. As much as having new signings pouring in is nice, there was something reassuring about having a homegrown star who could do things nobody else in the league could do. He's the best player many of us have seen at the club and the chances of us having another homegrown talent of that magnitude come through in this lifetime are p slim Mainly I just feel regret that we were in such a bad state as a club for the time he was with us

We need to move on bringing in Torsten Frings and quickly. No, I don't care that he retired in 2012

[walking through Pompeii as it is destroyed by lava and all its inhabitants asphyxiated by a blanket of choking ash] So has there actually been any evidence at all that this "volcano" was ever going to "erupt" at all? None of these so-called "ITKs" know anything! They're just Herculaneum fans on the windup!

Absolutely baffling and heartbreaking that he would choose to throw away the goodwill and credibility he built up with his 3000 followers by not existing I hope this blow doesn't impact Wes's ability to run the club effectively

It's easy for American guy to command disproportionate attention rn because there's a short-term demand for quick fix "Grealish is staying" content from Villa fans who are unwilling or unable to twig that it's been increasingly likely for the last week that JG wants to go to City and will go to City unless something goes wrong A new wallet inspector will be along soon

This random American guy who has no reason to know anything at all is in fact, more likely to be right than anyone else, because he has less reason to lie than anyone else. From the mouths of babes Actually no though he does actually have connections cos he's a regular at a team Wes Edens owns - who else can say that, other than uh maybe half the people who post here

Was just saying to the lads in the pub last night that Nadia Katie-Marshall Camilla Payne is one of the most reliable sources on Villa stuff

Villatalk now in danger of all out civil war between the bedwetters and the guys who stuck the house on Grealish staying because they drank too much of the Trust The Project Kool-Aid is it

Tbf it was the Rock who turned heel over chants Don't think we've had "die Jackie die" yet thankfully, but if we ever do you can bet your monkey ass that the Jack will NEVER forget that

It's swung back and forth a lot but people who post here who have no reason to lie have said they've heard from close sources he's going, and the City writers and ITKs that have predicted movement soon do not appear to be as non-credible as some posters have wishfully projected them to be, so it's kind of reading between the lines (and the silence) a bit

The overwhelming majority of outward-facing public communication by any club or player is vacuous PR bullshit that was expedient at the time it was put out

I can't even imagine how much of a knob I'd be if I was in Jack Grealish's shoes. Crashing into parked cars and demanding more money every five minutes would only be the start of it

Yeah I'm ready for it to be done either way now, but suggestions seem to be that this week or next week are likely

I think his agent said at the end of last season "there are clubs interested so well see what happens, but it's also possible he could stay at Villa." so it makes sense that he's been shuttling back and forth between the two planting "deal nearly done" and "Grealish having second thoughts and expected to sign new contract" as appropriate to play the percentages and make sure both sides are offering as much as they possibly can

I also think Grealish will get a certain amount of undying hatred from the more bunny-boiler end of our support if he ever leaves Villa under any circumstances. Social media posts which were overwhelmingly likely to have not been made directly by him, or which would just be part of the usual churn of content being handled as business as usual until a deal is actually announced, are not going to be a coded sign that he is or isn't staying. If he goes and people have bought shirts or happily decided he was staying based on Instagram posts the club are just going to say "what were we going to do, tip out hand and scrub him out of everything before we knew a deal was definitely done just so people didn't get upset?"

He didn't have to sign the deal last summer at all and it was a little surprising that he did, so he held the cards and would potentially have had control over the release clause People don't seem to be able to produce the exact quote about "no release clauses" to verify that it was after the new contract, and even if it was it doesn't necessarily mean it was true

Christ, he must be walking round with his balls in a wheelbarrow at the moment. Hope the coaches can get him back into a mobile state before opening day

Dunno why so many people were clutching their pearls over the Sweden red card vs Ukraine that was basically an unfortunate collision after a clearance then

Martinez all screaming "YOU'RE NERVOUS. YEAH, YOU'RE NERVOUS. I'M EATING YOU UP BROTHER" at his dinner