brommy

Without my reading glasses, I had to zoom in to check that wasn't Bielsa in the middle! Congratulations go to ZED and their fans. Also, as already posted, their promotion can't harm our link/benefits.

Winning it is a decent sized obstacle for us to overcome but that hasn't stopped me from noting the large reaction from the broad stream media and wondering how they'd cover us. This morning's BBC news' 'live updates', focused entirely on WHU's win, was pinned to their main news page. There's not many truly neutral fans that wouldn't pick Villa as the bigger club, so IF we were to win it next year, it will be interesting to see how national the media really is.

Rumours of the sell-on share of the profit (£60.95m) due to sha vary from 15% (£9.1m) to 5% (£3m) as reported in German media. As ridiculous as £86m (100m Euro) is for any football player, Real will probably get good long term value from the deal, especially compared to the £100m Villa received for Grealish who was 6 years older when he moved. Just wondering if Dortmund will retire his shirt number, having played more games and created much more profit than for his previous club.

100m Euro, or £85.95m at the current exchange rate. As ridiculous as £86m for a football player seems, Real will probably get good long term value from the deal.

I get what you're saying but I think that's still too much for most, especially as many are not fussed about the programme. £15 including 2 drinks (no programme) would see me spending £45 for my 3 ST family on a few occasions each season. At £75, I might do it once out of curiosity but I have a feeling the novelty would wear off and I'd end up feeling ripped off. I now have a vision of Obi-Wan Purslow waving his hand across me whilst saying 'You're not the football fan we're looking for'.

I think they misinterpreted the survey results. I expressed an interest, naively thinking it might be a fiver each to enter and I'd treat my family of 3 ST holders a few times per season. I'm not sure if on the day access will even be available, but to commit £480 extra per season is too much for most. At just over £25 per game, it's too expensive even if it includes two pints and a programme.

Gave me Tony Moon vibes.

In fairness, they'd bite their 12th toe off to swap places with cov.

That's great news. A fantastic player, key to our future success.

But he's not won a game since Sunday. Not yet cabbage worthy but the Brussels sprout is at hand.

Feels like a Purslow decision. How can someone so increasingly marginalised still make so many bad decisions? A big thank you to Ash for his fantastic contribution over both times at our club. Some great memories.

Perhaps you'll be consoled that next year's final ground is a new 32500 seater. A 68% increase on this season's final capacity. You seem conflicted. Complaining about the organiser giving the competition 'the tinpot treatment' whilst stating it doesn't excite you anyway, yet frequently posting in a thread dedicated about it.

Let's get to the final before you worry about not getting a ticket!

Probably not the best thread for you then.

You sound surprised, yet our European qualification has been well discussed.

Hopefully!! For this summer, I think the clubs that would be interested in Luiz couldn't afford what he's worth to Villa (assuming there's no release clause) and/or wouldn't be of interest to Luiz. I'm fully expecting Luiz to continue his improvement and be attracting the absolute top tier clubs by next summer. Then it'll be a test of Villa's improvement on and off the pitch and Luiz's loyalty and desire to play on the biggest stages. The great news is Villa get to keep a great player still on a long contract or get a large transfer fee. With the correct team at the helm, either scenario could help us reach our goals.

This summer at least, I don't think any other club will match Villa's valuation of what Luiz adds to our club.

Definitely. The correct management structure and work ethos could see them back in the top 6 as early as next season. My earlier posts were purely hypothetical. I think it's too early to predict the medium term top level demise of either Chelsea or Spurs.

Not disagreeing at all, but what does a club mentality and culture actually mean in demonstrable terms? After all, if the investment is there, they're not actively trying to recruit bad staff and players or make wrong decisions.

But add that to Gerrard's points average and it'd be half decent. People said they couldn't play together, but Lampard and Gerrard as co-managers equals double bubble! They even rhyme!

Their revenue would decrease, at least relative to other clubs, if they spent years in mid-table. Losing as many games as they won isn't a great attraction to the corporate pound. In any case, I know it would be a good while yet and they probably will be back in the top 6 mix within the next season or two, BUT supposing they mess up the next couple of manager appointments and then get held back by more rigourously enforcement FFP leaving them unable to pass mid-table, how long before another team takes their big 6 place? With the media's long held love of Newcastle (I still remember $ky covering Michael Owen's signing like it was a monarch's coronation), I wonder if they'd be knocking Chelsea or maybe even Spurs out within say 4 to 6 years or just creating a 'big 7'? Two more questions - Why does there even need to be a 'big X', where X is 4, 5 or 6, depending on the decade since the nineties? I don't remember that artificial concept before the Premier League was created, yet top league football had been around for a century previous. How large could X be, if a big club like Villa or Newcastle achieved continuous success over the 5+ years?

Serious question - How long do you think Chelsea will be a member of the so called 'big 6' if they consistently fail to qualify for Europe? I remember before them before their success bought by Abramovich's oil money and they were no where near classed as a big club. London centric media would keep them in the spotlight longer than if the same had happened to for example, Villa or Everton, but surely Chelsea would fall from the big club cartel after a while. Even assuming they're not relegated, would the media still be calling them 'big 6' after, say 5 years of mediocrity or would it take 10+ years until their fan base dwindled, lacking the glory they hunt?

Paid a measly £5 to see leeedz relegated, paying me £115 back if they mess it up. Set the amount where I'd be happy in any event.

I remember now - details of phase 2 were very sketchy. I wonder if phase 2 will definitely happen, let's say in the next 5 years, or whether it'll be 'kicked in to the long grass' to be considered only when the D.E. stand is replaced, which could be decades away?

What is defined as phase two?