GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS

Glowing endorsement!! Hope he's as good as they say.

Makes sense. ? Altho the way VT replied it does insinuate that loan signings are done at Bodymoor... Probably me over thinking it... I'm just greedy for more signings!!!

Would Nmecha be one of the 3 booked medicals though? Villa Transfers said Tuanzebe didn't undergo a full medical due to him being a loan, so surely Nmecha would be the same no?

It is isn't it and not entirely unrealistic - the biggest question mark being over whether we can keep Jack. Watching Tammy Abraham's short cameo in the Charity Shield yesterday had me thinking how well he'd compliment Green and Jack... we'd frighten the life out of teams!

It's happening!!! Get used to seeing this lot ripping sides apart very soon ?

He's a Bristol lad born and bred. Boro is over twice as far away than Brum - don't underestimate how much that will play a part.

If we are going to be playing a back 3 with wing backs either side, then I'd prefer to go with this... Right WB: De Laet & Bree as back up Left WB: Joe Bryan & Mitch Clark as back up Hutton would then act as further cover for both WB positions and the outside CB positions in the 3. We could then realistically get rid of Taylor & Elmo.

Shame because I think Woodburn and Jack playing as CAMS would have been very exciting, even better with Woods playing in a deeper role behind them ? Not worth being dictated to over playing time, so I can see why we've passed up on him.

But had we have gone up, Dr Tony would have likely been able to borrow more money against future TV payments, kept hold of us and we'd probably never have been taken over by NSWE. I think as painful as it was, long term we'll look back and see it as the best thing that could of happened... all thanks to SHA!

Way to p*ss all over the billionaire party vibe Paul. Come on, forget about the stupid rules - relax, have a drink, take your top off, it's fun in here now... we're rich!

There were rumours at the time his contract was running out that he wanted north of £100k a week... needless to say all the interest in him dropped off after that. I think he'll wait it out until the end of the window in the hope some team gets desperate and gives him a stupid contract.

Don't get me wrong, I would take both Terry and Snodgrass back, but I think we have greater needs in other areas especially if we're switching to 3 at the back. And I do think 3 at the back can work for us, albeit with some smart additions. Forget the performance against West Ham tonight - it was always going to be an ill prepared mess with Brucey caught up in Henry-gate and meeting the owners. This for me is the way to do it... Start by dropping Jedi into that middle centre back slot and putting Chester on the right side of him and another ball playing CB on the left. Could that be Tuanzebe? Can he play on the left hand side of a back 3? The middle 4 is then vital and I think you need energy right across that line as well as pace on each flank. De Laet for me has been a revelation pre-season and could make that RWB place his own. Hourihane has the engine and would probably be the more attacking of the middle two. After that I think this is where we need to concentrate our recruitment efforts. I was tempted to put Birkir in next to Hourihane (and he wouldn't do a bad job there at times) but if we can, i'd try and get some real quality in that position, someone who can dictate play from deep rather than us relying on Jack to come and do that. On the left I think we again need someone new. Taylor should have been a no-brainer for that position, but god knows what's happened to him since he joined. Get a proper wing back with rapid pace, someone who can run the line, draw defenders out wide to him and therefore create space for Jack. Attacking mids. For me it needs to be a mixture of pace and guile. Jack on the inside left position is obvious (providing he stays ?), then Green on the inside right, almost playing a support striker role behind Kodjia (think Sterling for England at the WC). Up top Kodjia would be first choice, but Davis could easily get plenty of games there over the course of the season. ------------------------------- Kodjia ----------------------------- ----------- Grealish ---------------------- Green ------------ NEW LWB -- Hourihane --- NEW MID -- De Laet ----------- Tuanzebe -- Jedinak -- Chester ----------- ----------------------------- NEW GK ---------------------------- In reserve i think we have enough cover to ensure we don't get stuck in the case of injuries or when we need to rotate: ------------------------------- Davis ------------------------- ----------- Adomah --------------- O'Hare / RHM ------- Taylor --- Thor ---- Lansbury / JDH --- Bree / Elmo ------------- Hutton -- Elphick -- Suliman ----------- ----------------------------- Steer ---------------------------- Thoughts?

No I certainly didn't want Eric Black to remain, but I did think that at the time we could have made a more considered choice. And I do think RDM was a glamour name in the context of where we were.

In many ways i'm disappointed but in others relieved. Whilst it would have been very exciting to see what Henry could do, we all know deep down that this wasn't the right time to make that appointment. It tells me that our new owners are sensible and pragmatic - they probably did want Henry but weighed up the situation and decided sticking with Bruce for now was the best option. Dr Xia did the opposite and went out and got his glamour name straight away, without proper consideration - think that tells you all you need to know about how different these new guys are. I'm more concerned about how we're going to tackle FFP. If we manage to somehow keep Jack and Chester, then add some decent loans then i'll be over the moon.

That's enough for me! [Insert It's happening gif here]

Haha, I would have agreed with you up until a week ago, but then I've have said the same about two super wadded billionaires turning up, buying us on the eve of administration and then appointing Thierry Henry as manager!!

Should Henry come in, is it too ambitious to think that we could bring Benteke back? I know it would need some kind of FFP loophole / creatively structured deal to do so but imagine for a moment that's possible, it could happen right? ? ? - Palace want to shift him out and he's not exactly got suiters lined up to sign him. - He's worked with Henry within the Belgium set up. - In the last few days he liked a tweet which had Henry pictured against a Villa background. - He'd be our version of Lukaku if Henry wanted to set us up in the same style as the Belgium side we saw at the world cup.

It's hard as they all managed under different circumstances, but for me experience is a double edged sword... In many ways it's vital and a huge aid to a manager. In others ways it can cloud your judgement, make you overly cautious or fearful. In the end I think it simply comes down to the individual and the unique qualities they have.

I posted in the Steve Bruce thread not so long ago (it's here if you fancy a read) with a list of reasons why we should keep hold of him for this coming season. And I still stand by a lot of that reasoning, however... I can't argue with what @villabromsgrove has said in his posts above. It's hard to see us making long term progress under Bruce, he's either a band-aid to keep us competitive in this division or at best he gets us up somehow and we probably go half, maybe a full season with him before needing to move on. He isn't the long term future of Aston Villa. So the question for me is do we hang around and play it safe for a year or two, or do we roll the dice now on a potential long term solution. We don't know what the new owners have planned. For all we know, this has been lined up for months, transfer targets identified, FFP loopholes explored etc etc. They've just saved us from the brink of administration, so I'm happy for them to do what they see best so long as it's not gambling with the future of our club's existence. Also, consider this. If we are able to spend money, who do you want spending it? Take away the loans he brought in, SB's transfer record looks like this... Neil Taylor Birkir Bjarnasson Conor Hourihane James Bree Henri Lansbury Scott Hogan Chris Samba Ahmed Elmohamady Glenn Whelan Out of 9 permanent transfers, I think you can only claim one to be a real success. The rest are either poor, average or yet to fully prove themselves. Fresh thinking in terms of both the football we play as well as the players we bring in is needed!

This is becoming a very surreal week isn't it.

Yeah that's definitely what he's implying - just personal opinion.

He's got to have been promised funds to bring players in hasn't he?

Oh my lord. If this is true then I don't know what to think.... Sensible half of me: It's too late to change manager this close to a season starting. The players like Bruce and his staff. It's too much upheaval at a time when the rest of the club is going through so much change. Silly half of me: IT'S THIERRY HENRY!! ? ? ?

Matt Scott has just done a massive backtrack on twitter. Seems we're not about to benefit from a re-evaluation. We can go back to disliking him again ?