QldVilla

Agree.

I thought we were bitter because he signed a new contract and stated he was staying, only to back track and sign for Man City. Hence the term snake, which was commonly used by supporters at the time.

I agree we need another forward, but I have a funny feeling Kodjia is the back up. And if he is the back up then buying another forward may be seen as a luxury. Time will tell.

I personally just don't see McGinn going anywhere. If the club shows the ambition that is required to be successful and win trophies, then most players will want to stay. We will always get that one player who has his head turned, but McGinn doesn't come across as that type of player. If he leaves it will becuase he's outgrown Villa and their ambition.

I believed at the end of last season we were the best team in the Championship. If we could sign most of the spine and upgrade some players. We would be a better team under Smith. But even I didn’t anticipate what has been done so far... It will take 6-8 games for the team to properly gel, but we have a head start and the style of play against Walsall was even better than under O’Neill. It is going to be exciting this season and where this squad might take us.

I was watching some young red headed lad who was talking about Villa yesterday, and he made the comment, "if you don't know who Aston Villa are", after spitting out my weet-bix for breakfast, I'm thinking are there really that many ignorant people who can't go back further than 3 years of premier league? PS fan of the Villa View and Villa on Tour.

Your right, they would only take a loan if the option to buy and fee was set at the end of the loan period. But my argument is why would they do this with Tuanzebe, if he was available to transfer? The media is talking about another loan, not with an option to buy.

Maybe, I just can’t get my head around the fact that Purslow and Smith categorically stated that they will not be making any loans. Time will tell.

Maybe check my previous post mate, Purslow and Smith have both said they won’t be loaning players. Did they lie?

I thought the exact same thing and was about to write then thought, why would we loan someone we've already loaned, yes a buy out clause, but we already know we want him, why wouldn't we just buy upfront.

Don't know about this, Purslow and Smith were quite adamant in the interview after the play off win that they would not loan any further players, to improve them and send back to their clubs for them to cost more. The only way I see Tuanzebe at Villa is a permanent move. Man Utd are a shambles, the manager will probably be sacked before Christmas. It would be great to do a deal for Tuanzebe, as they have poached some of our best players over the past 20 years.

Delighted to have Mings at the club, the best defender we've had at the club in a long time and he will only get better.

Yes Nostradamus but you only read what you wanted to read, I didn't say it would be straight forward, I said I thought Bournemouth would be reasonable and they may still be. I said: " Mings is an important signing for Villa, the best defender we have had since Laursen and is a leader on the pitch. I believe we'll sign him, yes another club may offer silly money, but I think he wants to be at Villa, Bournemouth will know that and should be reasonable in dealings with Villa. Purslow has already put it out there, we won't pay over for players we've improved. Where Mings wants to play his football will play a big part." Being reasonable doesn't mean they were going to bend over, it means if they want to sell the player, they should be reasonable, that may mean they want to bring in players before selling, or it could mean as per Purslows quote, they were unreasonable and the club has moved onto other options. No one knows except the club. Maybe Mings after his holiday and time to take emotion out of it, wants to fight for his place at Bournemouth? It is all speculation.

Doesn't the club have a facilities manager? It seems a lot of these things should be picked up by a facilities manager who looks after the maintenance and capital works at Villa Park. It was noticeable when I was there a month ago that the hardstand/car park in front of the Villa store had a lot of pot holes, and minor subsidence issues, should be dug up and redone.

I trust the club, but I'm not as convinced with Phillips, believe there are better players and for a far better price.

Anything can be done these days, there's a stadium in Brisbane, Australia called Lang Park only used to seat 34,000 they redeveloped it 20 years ago and now seats 55,000, and a very similar footprint to Villa Park. Personally, I would rather stay Villa Park and redevelop it to a 60,000+ seater, with the modern conveniences etc.

I was confident if we could keep the spine and sign some quality players we could finish around 10th. Still some work to do, but confident we will stay away from the relegation battle.

I had a feeling he would stick around, all his comments in the press are that he wanted a long apprenticeship. He could easily be Villa Manager one day.

I haven't given up on the club signing Tuanzebe, for the first time in a long time Man U are being run poorly and are making bad decisions that never would have happened under Ferguson.

I thought Smith said after the play off final it was just a bad cramp for Mings?

Really pleased with this signing, seen him in a couple of CL games and thought there was a bit of quality. As some have already said, looks like an upgraded Tammy, more physical, a little bit more speed, drop deep, hold up the ball for other attacking players etc...and will improve as a player. Up the Villa!

The club has already told us that they have a plan in place, they won't get every player and will have to compromise in some cases, this has already started. So the spend is irrelevant, they've already set a budget and are acting on it. I believe to stay up it was vital that we were able to keep the spine of the team, this has already blown up as Tuanzebe and Abraham are unlikely to be coming, maybe something will happen late in the transfer period, but unlikely. History already tells us that in most cases only the team that finished first in the Championship stay up the following season. I would argue that although we had ups and downs we were as good as any team in the Championship in the final 3 months of the season. Keeping that spine would have made the job just that little easier, but Smith will now have to start again with a relatively new squad, and again history tells us that Smiths ways take a little while to develop amongst the playing group, and we can't afford a slow start in the PL. It will be easier with a pre-season but when we're looking at possibly 6-7 new first 11 and another 5-6 squad cover, it won't be easy. I have no doubt we will sign the right players, but the job isn't easy and a lot of work behind the scenes will need to occur for all the stars to align into Villa staying up.

I've been looking at it as well, apparently there's a few different ways you can get the Pl in Australia. Through the apple box, fetch box which costs about $500, xbox etc, apparently there's a connection in each and just need to sign up to Optus PL pack $14.95 per month. Every PL match, champions league etc. That's my plan anyway.

Agree. First look said Abraham, but probably reading too much into it.

He had a great first season before the injury, but doesn't seem to have found his best since. Even at his best I think he was just short of being PL quality. Maybe he can do a job, but think if a reasonable offer comes in the club will probably sell.