TrentVilla

Oh another thing that bugs me, have the people that do the site not heard of conditional logic?

Why do they persist in advertising membership to people logged into the site who have membership???? It isn't hard to display different content to members to non members! So ammature.

Same applies to the instruction to link your Fan ID to your new login, I've done it already yet I'm reminded every time.

So piss poor.

2 minutes ago, stegzy said:

I’d be happy with us getting Doucoure as backup/ competition to Nakamba as DMC and playing a midfield 3 with Nak/Douc deep and Mcginn/ Luiz one side and Sansom/ Buendia/ Chuk other side and 3 up top out of Bailey/ Ings/ Buendia/ Watkins and Traore (with El Ghaz and JPB as backups).

No point signing someone as back up to Nakamba we need to sign better.

I’d give our window a 7 so far, we’ve been move active than most but the departure of Grealish means that was essential.

I’m not at all concerned at this stage, I’ve total faith in those running the club, they’ve not let us down yet.

It is hard to be sure what we need as we can’t be sure what formation we are looking to go with yet.

But in my view we need the following:

GK - 3rd choice

LB - I know Young will cover at LB but we really should have a young up and coming option 

CM x 2 - I think we need in the middle of the park, a ball player and a destroyer with more mobility and better distribution than Nakamba 

If we could add 4 players with the right level of quality I think we would be in good shape.

As for departutes, I think Hourihane will go once we have another CM through the door. Beyond that I can’t really see any other than loans, I can see 3 or 4 going out before the end of the window as EFL clubs make late moves.

So..... my thoughts on Jack's exit.... not that anyone was holding out to hear them at all but I feel the need to get them off my chest. In part because it will be cathartic and in part because for the last week the only two people I've had to talk with about it have been my two boys who are 8 and 6, oddly they are more rational than half the Twitter users on the Villa hastag. 

Perhaps starting with my kids views on Jack (doesn't feel right calling him that any more so that will be the last time I do) is the right place though because they loved him. I don't know if it was his natural charm, his cheeky persona, no doubt part of it was his swagger on the pitch and his ability but I think part of it was he sounds like me. Growing up in Nottingham as they are, I think in some kind of way him sounding like me gave them a connection with a club they are geographically removed from in a way I wasn't when I grew up.

I think that is the thing with Grealish, he gave us all a connection to our club in different ways. For some that connection was that he was one of us, living our dream. For others the connection was through the joy he brought us and the joy he expressed on the pitch. For me, the connection was to some extent with the love of the club and football itself. I was jaded, really jaded with the club in the Bruce era and the years that went before. Then I became a dad and I wanted my boys to be Villa, I'm not sure if they feel in love with Villa first then Grealish, or Grealish first and then Villa I genuinely couldn't say, the two were for them so intertwined. 

My boys are surrounded by Man City and United fans, by Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal plus the the Forest fans but they love Villa and a very very big part of that is because of Grealish, I will always love him for that. But....

I think the thing that hurts with Grealish, for me at least, is that the way he behaved and the things he said last summer made me believe he was different. I genuinely thought up until last week that he would stay. His words last summer were though disingenuous at best and that is hugely disappointing.

In footballing terms I completely understand his desire to move to City, they can offer him so so much, more than we can possibly offer for years if at all. In football terms it is understandable but emotionally it is hard to take because it feels like a betrayal.

That is the part many in the game and in the media seem to not get, Grealish wasn't just another player to the club or many of us fans. That is why I get so annoyed with them telling us how we should feel or react to the move. They have no right and frankly they have no insight or understanding to be able to do so, they see the game entirely differently to fans.

I also object to the way some fans try to tell others how they should feel/react to Grealish following his move so I'm certainly not going to do it.

For me, I won't boo him for making the move. I won't boo him on his return, I'll always be grateful for what he gave us and what he gave me with my boys. For me, he isn't a club legend, he could have been but he falls sadly short of that moniker.

I think he will find not being the star turn and centre of attention at City a challenge, it won't be to his liking or fuel the ego that sits beneath the boyish charm. But Grealish is a sublime footballer, those trying to kid themselves otherwise are simply making fools of themselves. He will I'm sure excel with better players and dare I say it a better coaches, although I think initially he will struggle not playing every minute and being given every ball. He will though come good and he will inevitably win plenty of trophies which is why the smug responses to the Charity Shield were premature although understandable.

Timing is everything in life and simply put the timing of Grealish career and the project being undertaken at Villa was out by a few years, had they been better aligned perhaps things would have been different. Perhaps not. I'm not sure we will ever be competing with City and their petrol pounds. I'm sure he will want to return to end his career, he hinted as much in his statement, who knows if paths will align to enable that to happen.

Post Grealish Villa will be very different, it will have to be, you can't replace the guy and I'm glad the club recognise that. One of the biggest mistakes I think we made in a decade of mistakes was thinking we could replace Ashley Young with the absolute wastrel that was N'Zogbia. While the moneyball approach at times makes me a little nervous I do agree with the logic from Purslow's statement.

I think this departure has been months in the making, I don't believe for one moment it has happened post Euro's its been in the offing for 6 months or more. I therefore feel confident that our planning for that eventuality will also have been similar rather than reactionary in recent days. I've enough faith in those running the club to believe that. We've been massively over reliant upon him for three years and that was unhealthy, I hope we find a way to play without him and to be more balanced. I won't lie, I fear for Smith without Jack as he has really struggled whenever he has been absent, I hope I'm wrong.

Personally, I guess I wish Grealish well. He is one of the games good guys, I've no desire to see City win anything but at the same time I hope it works out for him. I hope he doesn't live to regret it, I suspect he might at some point even with a few trophies on the shelf. Man CIty are a club that sold its soul, I think Grealish to some extent has done the same.

Anyway... I've got to go and take down two walls of Grealish pictures. My boys will have other hero's but probably none quite like our Jack. (allow me that one)

Oh and in case you are wondering, the 8 year old thinks we will be a better team without him if we spend well. The 6 year old thinks we will never have anyone like Grealish. I think they are probably both right.

Funny old game.

1 hour ago, Tayls said:

It’s going to suck once he does go. I was hoping it wouldn’t be so bad but… man… we are going to be so damn weak as a team. And losing another player to Man City… jeeez. 
 

@TrentVilla - heard anything positive relating to this? Anything at all? 

I think he will stay. That is just my personal take.

I think the only thing that is certain is that a hell of a lot of people in the media have gone out on limbs at various times claiming one thing or another but have been made to look stupid.

I’m taking no notice of any of it.

30 minutes ago, av1 said:

I’m not ITK, nor do I fully understand football finances, but respected posters like @TrentVilla said we were literally hours from going bump. What has been achieved in a relatively short period of time has been remarkable. 

There are some people far more clued up on this who I won’t name but who were privy at the time to just how desperate things were. We were in very serious trouble.

Future income had been used, there was no money left, we had a playing squad full of loans and out of contract players and a bill from HMRC we couldn’t pay.

The club was on its knees not too dissimilar to Derby right now. We were £&):ed and clubs in that state often fall into the jaws of sharks, we somehow landed in the laps of angels.

Wyness and Xia can squabble all they want but they were both responsible and their spat was the equivalent of the captain and first mate of the Titanic bickering about what song the band were playing. 

Still plenty of time to bring players in and not in the slightest bit concerned given how the club has been run these last 3 years.

For me we need the following, 

Back up keeper

RCB

DCM - (please be Bissouma!)

Winger

Striker

Anything on top would be a bonus but I think these positions are vital personally.