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thunderball

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Everything posted by thunderball

  1. thunderball
    I think Cahill would be ideal.
  2. thunderball
    My hope for the window is Mings, El Ghazi, Hause, Lolley, Maupay, Tammy and Axel. I know this is unlikely. Second I would like about 2-4 <25 y.o £10m promising players and very decent DM and CB. Lastly, I would love to see two very good wingers - £20m plus, and a very decent Striker. I know thats greedy and impossible to think may happen, but we could spend upward of £100m if the these owners are the real deal. Incidentally, I think this is what is needed and is not especially extravagant, it only seems so as we have so few squad members. I have no expectation above mid table (anywhere between 16th to 8th) and think as coming 5th in the Championship and scraping through albeit solidly we will have our work cut out - theoretically we are favourites to go back down.
  3. thunderball
    Yes but the top 6 of the championship are the equal of the bottom 6 of the premier league. There is decent young talent throughout the championship, many would hold their own and prosper in better teams, some will make it to the top end of the prenier league in time.
  4. thunderball
    Has great stats in Scotland. Lots of goals and assist from RB. Can’t work out this though if we already have Guilbert and albeit an ageing Elmo who has been very decent this year? Wither Bree.....
  5. thunderball
    It’s only in the Daily Mail, no one else seems to be running the story. Management seem confident that it’s not an issue. Even if we did the Championship has no jurisdiction in the Premier League. Sounds like a cynical click bait to me.
  6. thunderball
    Consolidated list to date: SIGNED: N/A POSSIBLE TARGETS MENTIONED: Kent, Hayden, Aribo, Lolley, Jota, Justin, Maupay, Tavernier, Cahill, McEachran, Arter, Gayle, Phillips, Alcaraz LIKELY CONVERTED LOANS: Mings, El Ghazi, Hause OUTSIDE CHANCE LOANS: Axel, Tammy GONE/OUT OF CONTRACT UNLIKEY TO BE RENEWED: Adomah, Elphick, Hutton, Jedinak, De Laat, Whelan, Bunn, Richards NOT REQUIRED/UNCERTAIN FUTURE: Gardner, Hogan, McCormack, Bjarnason, Nyland, Lansbury Feel free to copy and paste to update
  7. thunderball
    How many pages will this thread run to by close of window (8th August @ 5pm)? 1807 is my guess.
  8. thunderball
    What a great guy, sorry to see him go but it's understandable. Has been a great servant and always had a smile on his face, scored some great goals too. The Championship won't be remembered all that fondly by fans but he has definitely been a highlight and to say we got the better of what essentially was a swap for Adama Traore, is great testament to his ability and contribution to the team.
  9. thunderball

    The NSWE Board

    thunderball replied to a topic in Villa Talk

    Just added an edit note on this
  10. thunderball

    The NSWE Board

    thunderball replied to a topic in Villa Talk

    Deciphering this I would assume that due to FFP they are manoeuvring to transfer the ground out of the asset by "selling" it to the 'Trust' - not sure of what the trust's legal standing thereafter is or how it is linked back to the club other than it share some common ownership (only Sawiris and Edens)? I would imagine its completely separate but don't understand the significance of the 'Trust' halo, but think it may link the trust i.e. the ground to the club therefore protecting it and ensuring its association with the Aston Villa FC in perpetuity, removing any cynical concerns of fans that they think the ownership separation in the future could shaft the club. Basically its another way of inject ing capital into the club via another means and satisfying FFP at the same time, but clearly this is a once only transaction. By selling the ground at a price above the book value, the difference is profit and mops up shortfall keeping us within FFP rules. This is what Middlesborough's Gibson got his knickers in twist about with Derby's Mel Morris. But it is a legitimate transaction and allowed. I don't know If Sawiris is personally funding this and therefore this is why the share ownership and structure has changed, but would imagine that Xia and Purslow are removed as they only have a stake the 'Aston Villa FC' and not the ground purchase vehicle as this basically a huge unilateral injection of cash by the owner(s). I do however think it means we will have a lot of money to spend to reinforce this summer as well as retrospectively mopping up the legacy spend in the last Championship year. I am sure we have an accountant/lawyer here somewhere who might understand this better or who can interpret the implications and likely intention of all this.
  11. thunderball
    Two seasons. Are you worried about McGinn after one season? They all have to start in the Prem some time. What about Mahrez, Vardy, Ali etc stepping up - it’s about the quality. Not all players are “born” in the top divisions.
  12. thunderball
    I can’t see us buying Maupay with the intention of being the sole spearhead of our attack. We would buy him AND a headline Striker, Maupay would be building a squad of worthy players. Don’t forget we are likely losing Tammy, Hogan and McCormack. It’s about picking the low hanging fruit early, making sure we fill the ranks, the juicier, harder to get stuff is more difficult to get because everyone is after them.
  13. thunderball
    Maupay will succeed, he may not get 20 goals in the PL but he is effective and has succeeded under Smith’s system before. £15-£20m is the going rate for good players. Che Adams: I don’t like it, but I can question his effectiveness.
  14. thunderball
    Exactly. We could buy 5 players and spend £80m and field exactly the same team as we did on Monday, and I would feel we have strengthened the club (because they are proven players and would be young, wholly owned playing assets). No one could criticise us if we did that. Fulham did what we did in our relegation season: pulled in a load of new first teamers from overseas leagues with nothing in common. They broke up and disregarded their promotion winning side, with a load of players new to England and the Premier League. It had nothing to do with spending a lot of money, or actually buying a lot of players, but more about a badly conceived footballing strategy.
  15. thunderball
    To be fair we can flag both poor and terrific players from lower division teams. There are equally a great number of Championship derived players that have stepped up and thrived. It’s all about the player, scouting and the coaching. We do need a mix of talent though, but we have a first hand knowledge of Championship opponents so have a good perspective, they will all need to step up but the names mentioned have something about them and could succeed for phase 1 of the project.
  16. thunderball
    Sounds too early to be surfacing but the figures sounds spot on and doesn't surprise me. In fact it sounds cheap in context. Not sure if medicals are needed for loans (depends on terms, they usually return to the parent club) but clearly are needed by insurers for permanent deals?
  17. thunderball
    Looks like we need 4 centre backs. I think Chester is crocked, he could be out of the game and likely not to be relied upon. I suspect we can get Mings but it’s far from clear cut and we will be made to pay big time.
  18. thunderball
    Help me out here, from someone brought up at a time we played chuckle egg on Sinclair Spectrums, is ‘75 on FIFA’ good or bad please?
  19. thunderball
    Don’t forget Spurs were about on a level with us during the MON period, slightly above but not by much. They sold Bale but spunked the money, their success has actually come from shrewd scouting and buying, player development and very good management, not the super star model of MU, MC, Chelsea. Arsenal have had a solid squad and added two carefully scouted players each season, not by over paying. Liverpool have spent big recently but up until Klopp arrived, they were very hit and miss. We just need to be sensible and lay the foundations in promising younger players playing in a common team ethic.
  20. thunderball
    Hayden or Phillips for me
  21. thunderball
    Survival next season will be the ambition. We are starting from a very low base. Baby steps, patience.
  22. thunderball
    We need to spend £100m to stand still due to the under investment and bad decisions over the last 5 years. Has anyone seen the price of PL level players these days? We will need to spend £50m just to make our promotion winning side ours, let alone improve or strengthen it. Then we need to replace all the out of contract players. We need 3 strikers and they aren’t cheap. We run the risk of our entire back four next season having never played together before. Truth is only Grealish and McGinn are the only existing [owned] players capable of meeting the club’s ambition. This is why next season is about consolidating, building a platform whereby as a back stop if we go down we are better placed to bounce straight back.
  23. thunderball
    Purslow will be around for a good while yet. I suspect the intention is to build the club over the medium term, from say £60m valuation to £1b. If they are aggressive enough once we steady the ship and consolidate, we could be there in 7years. I fully expect this club to challenge the top six in 4 years. This next 12-18 months is the hardest, we have so much to do to build a solid sustainable platform, and Dean needs to step up too, it’s a challenge to all.
  24. thunderball
    Centre forward is the most important position, that’s why it commands the biggest fees. Pinning your success on a 21 y.o. £25m player has huge risks, however Tammy has a lot of development and potential to come. If we went down he would do the business, he’s proved that. If we buy and he flops Inreckon a wannabe relegation team would buy him for £20m, that’s shortly to be the going rate in the second tier. We now have the money, I think £20-25m is worth a punt on Tammy, but I think we need someone else up top and possibly around the £35m+ range. I hope we also get Maupay.
  25. thunderball
    I agree, a Villa fan too. My fear is what he would cost - he is very valuable to Forest. Would be a very good signing
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