CVByrne

27 minutes ago, NorthEastVillan said:

So, with Dougie back in contention this weekend would you throw him straight back into the starting XI?

Rogers and Diaby have done very well lately. The obvious choice would be Diaby on the bench with McGinn or Youri pushing forward to support Watkins, but we have looked very good in his absence. 

I'd go Rogers, Luiz, Tielemans, McGinn, Diaby, Watkins and then Digne and Cash as FBs. Deploy Bailey in second half 

4 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Yeah, but it's not really apparent how certain things are going to achieve that. Why would I buy merchandise this season when I don't know what the badge is and the club said the current one is shit?! Not the best now is it.

We have to wait until our new partners were all signed up before we can do any of that. We only announced our short sponsor a few days ago. Adidas need to make all these now. That's the reason for the delay 

2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

A good brand would help this.

A shit clip art badge that looks like a 7 year old has made it on his dad's computer won't help

Totally agree. I do prefer the new leaked badge and the old badge to the current round one. I think this is the right unique style and continuity we need 

1 minute ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I get a lot of negativity for harping on the off field issues.  I just want us to be as good off the field as we are on it. I want us to be the best version of ourselves and I think we deserve the best (especially given price increases).

To me, off the field is about revenue. Maximise it to close gap on the top clubs as that is the fuel for the investment in the squad. It's about winning football matches 

2 hours ago, fightoffyour said:

The new badge is objectively shit: pale yellow on light blue, objectively shit; drop shadow, objectively shit; off-centre lion position, objectively shit.

If this design turns out to be the actual badge as it seems, Heck - the supposed branding expert - can't be forgiven for that. This won't be one of those "the fans might not like it, but it's beneficial to the club" things, because it's objectively an incredibly shit design that will harm our branding when we seem set to reach the biggest international stage for the first time in a generation.

Your opinion. Everyone has one. 

They key part is not being a run of the mill round badge. Also the badge needs to be simple so it can be put on lots of different merchandise. 

25 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I would not swap Emery for anyone. Sometimes a manager is the right fit for a certain club and I believe Emery was just made for Aston Villa. He is the right manager for us, the best manager for us.

I wonder how much of a draw working under him will be for players. He has improved everyone at the club and surely any prospective signings will be thinking about that. Especially younger players 

5 minutes ago, sne said:

Is it possible to have done a good job in increasing our sponsor deals with Adidas & Betano (with the help of Nas Adidas connections and Emery on pitch performances) while also have done a poor job in communicating/explaining the 180 on the stadium rebuild & the badge re-brand re-branding saga (with perhaps a shoddy hand from Purslow) and the comical (subjective) AV150 logo launch no launch?

 

 

No, there are only binary outcomes, you love or hate him. Only 2 choices

If we qualify for the CL we'll crack £300m in revenue before player trading next year. That'll be ~ 70% rise in 3 seasons. 

12 hours ago, ender4 said:

I’m thinking he is more CCO - Chief Commercial Officer.

But then who is the CEO and COO of Aston Villa?  

He surely isn’t combining all three roles?

Nassef is Executive Chairman. That is when the role of CEO is combined with Chairman. 

18 hours ago, est1874 said:

Say what you want about his alleged behaviour and attitude, not unlikely but nonetheless unproven so far:

He was brought in with a clear mandate by NSWE to improve our financial standing and generate more revenue for the club, and he is doing that.

He's also got the right posture about breaking the cabal at the top, whether people consider them the big 6, the sky 6, the top 4 or however else people want to group / label them.

We are here to disrupt and he is a disrupter and despite a rocky start on the PR / fan engagement front (which I admit cannot be ignored or disregarded), he is getting the principle job done that he was employed to do.

He's done a superb job so far. He's head of Business Operations and has gone out and just got us over double our sponsorship revenue in 11 months. Closing the commercial revenue gap to the big 6 is the key thing the club has to do off the pitch to help sustain the top tier football department we have. 

The brand launch coming, plus the 150 years give us an opportunity to get even more exposure. The timing for a documentary on us is ripe and that's income and exposure.

How we grow matchday revenue is the next big step. There needs to be a better fan experience and transport to have people come to ground earlier and leave later. It's how to grow the overall revenue and experience.

48 minutes ago, sidcow said:

He'll go to the MLS I reckon.

Can only be on oan as they won't be paying us his £8.5m book value in a transfer fee and then his wages. 

1 hour ago, paul514 said:

Yes! As long as we have two full back either side who will play in the squad.

also similar to the left back position we should move on a older centre back it, it won’t be mings for the same reason as left back 

We'll see what Emery goes with. I'd be surprised if we had 4 senior fullbacks and 4 center backs.

I think we'll have 5 CBs and 3 senior players who can play FB with Nedeljkovic as the additional youth player. 

I think Lenglet, Chambers and Digne leave. We sign a LCB and a FB 

2 hours ago, duke313 said:

Another player that has similar stats to Pau is Mario Hermoso from Atletico who we've been linked with on a free transfer and is also left footed.

He's the perfect alternative option to Pau for our LCB of back 3 in build up. I think we will sign him. We love a free transfer and we can pay high wages.

5 hours ago, tinker said:

Once our first goal goes in Chelsea  will crumble, they have some good players but they looked completely broken against Arsenal, stick them same players in a rocking villa Park, and it will be, 8pm on a Saturday,  and they stand a very good chance of being overan. We want 9! We want 9.

They had no Palmer and he's 90% of their team basically 

1 minute ago, viivvaa66 said:

You seems to argue that we need two new CB, one to cover for Pau and one to cover for Mings, unless we find a CB with the skill sets of both Pau and Mings.

I listed the CBs in the post you quoted. Only 1 of the players was new, Hermoso replaces Lenglet. Chambers leaves club. We have 5 CBs as we often play games with 3 CBs on pitch and we have a stacked schedule with Europe and Domestic football. Mings needs to ease back into it also. 

There is no way we are going into next season with 4 CBs only. We had 5 this season, 2 are leaving and Mings is returning. 

2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I see where you coming from but surely Mings is capable of doing whatever Lenglat can do whilst being a better defender?

Emery has shown he only uses two left footed centre halves if he is out of options.

Lenglet was very similar to Pau in terms of his fbref stats, lots of progressive passes and carries, excellent passing etc. He was in 99th percentile at those when at Barcelona, then was very high in same stats at Spurs. That's not what Mings strengths were. 

Emery played Pau Mings Konsa Cash in pre season. What he was showing was his plans were Moreno or Cash can be the attacking FB and the other 3 CBs form the back 3 in possession. 

18 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Mings will replace Lenglat when he returns. Apart from DM I think you’re right in terms of there being no gaps if you consider we need 2 capable players in every position although we still need to see how new RB and reserve keeper turn out..  It’s all about improving on the quality of the squad now

People keep saying this. Mings is a completely different player to Pau and Lenglet. Mings is competition for Diego Costa. If Pau is injured for 2 months and Lenglet is not in the squad we have compromised our build up structure which is fundamental to the way we play. 

Mings is a superb defender and our poor record from set pieces defensively is because of how dominant Mings is with first contact and how weak Pau is. If you look at the two players profiles strengths and weaknesses they are completely different players. This is why I think it's critical we get another player with similar skillset as Pau and for me that's Hermoso on a free. 

With Pau, Hermoso, Mings, Costa and Konsa we have the perfect mix of player profiles for our system of one attacking FB and 3 CBs. 

There might be a reaction from Chelsea after that 5-0 drubbing. I don't think it helps our chances on Sat much if at all. 

We need the atmosphere at VP to be amazing and players to give everything. If we go 9 clear of Spurs that will be huge, the players know it. 

12 hours ago, thunderball said:

Jeez, where's all the money coming from? I have to assume we lose one senior player in the Summer and any arrivals will be 'astute' and off-radar signings rather than some en vogue names? Fair play to the management team however: Moreno, Pau, and Rogers have all looked excellent value and all up to the standard we require, and Diaby demonstrates we are happy to pay decent money if needed. 

Well it's more next seasons account which pose the issue for us. We get the boost of (hopefully CL football) we also have new sponsorship deals which are kicking in. I doubt Heck will be idle either, we'll be adding additional commercial partners, hopefully sell rights to the 23/24 season. 

From there we have a good base, we will move some players on to bring in revenue and lower our costs. This headroom allows us to sign some players. I feel we need to replace Lenglet and add a CDM. Other than that I don't see any squad gaps. We might move a player on and replace them 

5 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Based on your description, may mean instead of having to buy an LB AND RB ( Assuming one of our LBs leave this summer ), someone like this could competently cover both, as well as wings? ... Plus Cash and the kid we signed.

That is exactly my point yes. I think Emery will want Mings aerial dominance in the centre of a back 3 and play with one full back most of the time. I feel the attacking FB will be our RB more often than LB

4 minutes ago, RichW said:

John Percy reported here it was 4 and a half years which takes him till 2027 and it was reported the last year was an option. 

So we exercised the option to extend to 2027 then? While we will sit down with him in summer to negotiate a new contract with new option I imagine plus some pay bumps for him

25 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I hope he has some understanding of how much we love him here. 

I think the time he's given to totally build and adapt his squad and have complete control of the football operations is big for him

3 minutes ago, RichW said:

His original contract was already till 2027 I don't think his signed a new one, more the club and him have agreed to take up the option of the extra year he had to put a stop to the clickbait speculation that was starting to appear. 

The Athletic have reported he will sit down with the owners in the summer which I'd imagine is where he'd get a pay rise and maybe even sign for longer. Presume him and the club don't want any distractions whilst the season is ongoing. 

His contract wasn't until 2027, he's signed an extension to 2027. I think his contract was to 2025 or 2026 so it's a short extension, probably to insert a bigger buyout clause in exchange for another year or two. 

I think in summer they'll look to get creative. Set performance targets that trigger an extension. I like the idea of locking him down on a log contract

1 minute ago, lexicon said:

Versatile, fast, strong by the looks of it - so could well fit in the 'Moreno' role 

Yes, very much so, seems happy to play Left side or Right side. Might be very proficient with both feet. If we're building a squad with 5 CBs with Pau / Konsa able to play LB/RB then a versatile player like this would be good to add to the squad.

He seems to have played full back quite a bit this season too. Could be one of those Emery specials, sign a player and change his position.