danceoftheshamen

Lambert has alluded to it in his recent interviews when tackled about the clubs transfer plans.. Also Hairy hands has posted stuff about it many pages back somewhere

So what i don't get, or maybe i missed it somewhere? Is just how low has this wage bill got to get before it is deemed low enough for this club to be self sufficient? Is it already there? ..Well apparently not! So what exactly? we are surely one of the top 8 clubs in the country size wise so how come we can't pay any decent wages out & all the smaller clubs than us can?.. Or are the wages really still too high? even after 3 years of cuts?

Beginning to think he wants the wage bill slashed so he can leave asap in the knowledge he left the club able to cover itself... Shouldn't be too much of a problem with Championship wages & attendances in the low to mid 20k's

Well i'm mid 40's, 1st game i went to was in the late 70's & this is definately the worst Villa squad in my memory

I have already accepted we will be playing Championship football next season. Have lost interest in the rest of this season already. We are basically S**t & have been for years now. Shame as i used to have some good times at Villa Park once upon a time.

Worst Villa side i can ever remember in over 35 years. They have nothing whatsoever.. Crap defence, crap midfield, hit & miss (more miss) forwards & a half decent keeper or two. Now zero confidence too.. I have already accepted this lot will be in the Championship next season... All those around us are strengthening whilst we sit there going "Oh.. our billionaire chairman can't afford to increase the wage bill which has been slashed for the last 3 years running" ...Der! Any team with even the remotest bit of quality about it would've shown some sort of reaction to the 8-0 Chelsea loss.... Our reaction?... lost the next game 0-4.. then the next 0-3... Then we get a lucky 2-2 draw at Swansea (should have been 4-2 loss lets be honest) scrape a 2-1 win against an awful Championship side in the cup & then get embarrassed AGAIN at a 4th tier team worth £7500!!.... So licking our wounds this remarkable history rewriting side come up with another corker of a reaction... They lose at home again against one of their main relegation rivals......lol! What a complete joke!

Know exactly how you feel Harry... The fun has gone eh? It's now all about embarrassment, disappointment, false hope & shock at the depths we have sunken to so quickly. When Mon was here & we were doing okayish i got us a new supporter.. a young lad who had just moved here from abroad, loved his football & he became a fan & told him about how this great club was on the up again & the sleeping giant was about to awaken etc etc... Now i can't even bear to speak to him about it all!.. What on Earth am i supposed to say?!..

Just watched the looped SSN interview with Lambert.. Good to hear he & everybody else are "highly embarrassed" at the Bradford result & he still thinks we can pull it back. Also he says he has had sleepless nights all week! & i think he meant it too! Only thing i cannot quite grasp is the whole "He understands the finances of the club need to work" thing! The way he said it made it sound as though the club could go bust or something?.. surely it's not that bad is it?... It does sound as though a Mr Lerner has simply stopped any investment & the club is in effect "on it's own" so to speak... Obviously with the wages being as they are with the hangers on on high salaries this is still causing a massive problem. So I think the situation may well be that Lerner is basically running the club on a "self sufficient" basis now. I.e no more bail outs or input from him personally...Kind of ties up with what Hairyhands said earlier too.

Great thanks for that Ender 4.. so thats good news then as in it makes it unlikely that thats in the plans..you would hope Only thing not factored in there is money from selling the likes of Bent etc & i'd include Benteke & a few others who would want out in that if we went down too... So that would no doubt reduce the "losses" somewhat. Gate receipts i assume would drop but would only make a difference of between around 5-8m as a wild estimate? So no .. it's unlikely that's the "Plan" which is a good thing!

Just shown on SSN that he is in the squad for Southampton!..Great news

I think we are maybe ahead of Reading but other than that i'd have QPR, Southampton, Stoke, Wigan (never thought i would hear myself say that), Newcastle, Fulham etc all ahead of us.....However!.. If we got Vlaar, Dunne, Bent, Albrighton, Westwood, Stephens back & stiffened the spine in January... It could be a very different picture & we have a chance... As it stands though.. no chance. The most important guy at Villa Park at this point for me is................The Physio Sign the two players Lambert is hinting he's after DM & CB & we could be ok..just.

Think Benteke would deffo be gone.. but then we have Bowery so maybe he'd come good at that level especially?

Exactly what i'm beginning to think now Coda... Wonder what the wage bill is at present? Also what will it drop to when some big contracts end in the summer? It does all make you wonder whether they are now actually looking at nothing but the hard nosed business aspect? i.e what we lose if relegated in tv money & gate receipts?... versus... what do we gain in parachute payments, less wages & sale fees of best players? Would we be better off financially "temporarily" if we went down.? Of course this would only be of relevance if we came back up very quickly which is surely a huge risk.. But this would give Lambert a chance to rebuild with less pressure on the young players & instill his ethos thoroughly before we "hopefully" came back up with the finances under full control, confidence back & a more settled & established team? Who knows with the wages then fully under control we may have room for a couple of marque signings by then too! It's just looking more & more likely to me but hey.... I could be miles off of course

I take that, coupled with Hairyhands' posts, as the surest sign yet that they are now preparing for relegation. If they were doing anything else adding another couple of signings would not be an issue considering how much the wage bill has been slashed over the last few seasons... It would be an issue however if we went down. Why would you not add 2 players who could keep us up with the massive difference it would make to finances at this point? It makes no sense.

I was just going to post defending the number of goals against as being warped by the Chelsea, Southampton, Spurs & Man City results (21 goals against in 4 games) & say that if you took those as somewhat abnormal due to the inexperience in the team/fluke results or whatever, then things were not as bad as they appear. But then i remember the games when we have been perhaps fortunate to get away with not conceding many...Liverpool (a), QPR (a), Swansea (a) & then suddenly i realised just how bad we actually are as the list just goes on & on & on then you add in Wigan (H), Bradford (a), Everton (H) etc etc & enough said i think.

"Prepared" should surely now be replaced with "Peppered"

Seconded!

Yeah i see that Jarpie... even so i think we are that bad at the back that even if he is on for an hour or something it would be beneficial to us.... I keep seeing 21 goals against in what, 6 games? That's desperation time!

Really?.. Hutton for sure & Warnock maybe, although i can't help but think even he is better than what we have at present. Error prone yes but then so are all of our Left backs. At least Warnock has experience to call on. As for Dunne i just think despite his occasional errors he would reduce the number of goals conceded & could just be the steadying influence we need back there.. At least until the summer. Only thing which would change my mind on that is if the rumours of "Disruptive influences" are correct of course.

If we sell anyone to QPR then they all need their pulses checking at VP.. Arry would love that.. strengthen them whilst removing the one player from us who just could come back in & fill a massive hole at the back!.

So if we did get relegated has anybody compared or got any idea of actually how much we would miss out on in new TV money as compared to how much we gain by being relegated? .....................Benefits of relegation A/ Contracts running down / players leaving / reduced wage bill B/ Money saved in last few transfer windows including this one (as surely we have adopted an "absolute minimum" policy?) D/ Parachute payments E/ Money gained from selling players Compared to what we would lose: A/ Lower gate receipts B/ Less TV coverage / Prize Money I am seriously beginning to think that the accountants at Villa Park have calculated that we would be financially better off by being relegated. If we manage to stay up great & thats a bonus but if we go down all the biggest earners would want out, contracts run down, wage issues alleviated... Basically we sweep clean & start again? This would explain the silence from the club, Mon walking, the selling of all our best players, the massive reduction in the wage bill at such a rapid rate, the decision to stall the ground expansion, the freezing out of Bent, the transfer policy in general & lack of movement thus far this window despite the desperate nature of things at present.

So to summise the last few pages I thought it may be worth trying to solve Villa's plight with Mathematics.. So here's how i got on: Firstly we needed to find the common denominator: ..SQUAD DECIMATED .....SQUAD DECIMATED.....SQUAD DECIMATED Mon walks --/--Houllier episode--/--Mcleish episode--/--Lambert episode Randy Lerner Enough said?

Re: Dunne.. Anyone know how far off he is?.. & Vlaar? .. I still think Lowton - Vlaar - Dunne - Warnock would make a massive difference to our goals against column.

""Villa have informed Sky Sports"" is what it says.. Took this as being a direct quote from the club?

Good point Sne & one which i agree with.