SidSidSidSid

Has started the season more like the old McGinn we all fell in love with. Very industrious today. 

Impressive today. Just behind JJ for motm. Gonna take some shifting by Targett, I reckon.

Best performance to date. Looked every bit a PL player today. My motm.

1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

If they didn't set it at 100m we would have just lost him to United for 60-70m that summer instead which would have been truly undervaluing him. 100m was the happy medium that satisfied both parties. Any higher and Jack wouldn't have signed the contract.

That's kinda what I was getting at. The £100m figure was likely more Grealish's/his agent's preference, than the club's. I don't reckon they'd have sold for 60-70m, regardless. They'd have been crucified.

1 hour ago, Sulberto21 said:

To be fair Christian Purslow said the board decided the figure. I guess they totally miscalculated. Any new contract surely would have had a world record fee release clause. 

Ain't watched the video but, from the description I read on here, I thought he said they didn't think it would be met. Not that they set it. Fair enough if they set it...they got it wrong, then.

1 hour ago, Wurzel said:

I have been a Villa fan for 52 years, and I want to thank the club, the players the staff and the fans for their support over those years, but the time has come for me to seek a new challenge so I hope you will all understand as I leave Aston Villa and start supporting Manchester Blues. See you soon.

Mind if I share this? It's Outstanding!

1 hour ago, Mister_a said:

I'm really confused by the logic. We have 3 players to replace what jack bought to the team, but we can't play 12 outfield players can we? 

Well, firstly, Grealish forced the move, so we have no choice.

We can't replace him like-for-like, so we replace Jack and two 'lesser' players with three players who aren't as good as Jack, but cumulatively are as good as, or better than, the previous three...hopefully! 

Have you not been watching football very long?

1 hour ago, Sulberto21 said:

If we set the release clause then it's a bit too low for my liking. We could have fleeced em for more.

I agree. £100m isn't acceptable compensation for what Villa have lost. I was of that opinion last summer, too.

Major miscalculation by the club?...Or taking one for Jack who, on advice from his agent, insisted on the figure? Guess we'll never know. 

2 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Apparently this poor bastard got his tattoo last month

That's actually put a smile on my face!

5 hours ago, desensitized43 said:

So I think so too but it surprised me a lot of the people on here didn't think so.

If he leaves and he does so in a respectful way (not doing what Kane is currently doing) and the club gets value, I don't see why that should tarnish him at all.

It's massively disappointing and it'll hurt bigtime but he's pretty much carried this club for a few years now and if he genuinely felt like he couldn't achieve what he wanted to here I'd say go. I think if the owners are serious then they need to be able to convince him that the vision is real and achievable.

Well he was sold on the project less than a year ago.

The team made massive strides last season. Most of them, given their ages, can be expected to improve further. The owners have made two, imo, excellent signings of intent so far this window. Keep Jack and there's no reason we can't hope for a top 6 challenge, maybe more if we could get a deadball specialist like JWP. 

The project's progressing nicely, but losing Jack will derail it somewhat. He knows this as well as most fans do.

So it's a question, really, of whether Jack's had his head turned sufficiently to turn his back on the project, his city, his club.

If he does, good luck to him. I won't suddenly hate him...but, given his comments last year, I would be a little disappointed in him. 

40 minutes ago, mykeyb said:

Depends what you choose to believe. Meetings with Pep, himself and his management team earlier in the year. He will have known a bid was incoming as he and his team will have been sounded out so he could at that point told the club if they bid 100 million and meet the release clause he wants to go. 

The rumours of City going to bid appeared in the media as the euros started so again he could have let the club as those rumours will have come from info from city end. The clearing in the woods on talksport got his info from Stellar about the bid when announced Grealish was off, again how long ago was that and it looks like the club will only find out on Monday what his intentions are.

 As a so called fan and for the club he has been at since he was six I am disappointed that he has treated the club this way.

You're 'choosing to believe' he's been sneaking around Villa's back, including his 'father figure' Smith, making plans to leave, while 'pretending' he was staying? ...That's bizarre to me.

2 hours ago, Pissflaps said:

So if Grealish leaves in a few days you will no longer feel the need to tell me to get a grip? 

If he doesn't leave then great. The fact remains about selling players when we are at our strongest and never being able to compete though. It's happened before, the cycle needs to end.

I've got some bad news for you! But for a few teams in the world...it's a NEVER-ENDING cycle! 

But you know this already...right? Your petulant footstamping ain't gonna change this.

2 hours ago, TRO said:

If we signed Abraham,Alvarez, Bailey, JWP with the money as just an example......that would seriously lift my disappointment.

You'd be lucky to get Abraham and JWP for £100m! That's why I can't believe our owners would accept that bid. 

3 hours ago, Digavilla said:

Yes that’s true. If our owners are really ambitious and not the Lerner/Doug etc , top up another 20m and bid 120m for Foden. Of course he wouldn’t come but as long as there’s a official bid , it shows we are not the pushover Villa of past , and will improve the morale of the team as well . 

I don't see how doing something that would turn our club into a laughing stock would improve morale, tbh!

3 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Maybe this is too simplistic a view, but if he was willing to commit, talk up the owners and project/vision and sign a new contract after we barely survived relegation… why would he want to leave now? When we’ve made huge strides and will continue to do so?

Things are looking good, we can keep kicking on and keep signing better players. We can get European football.

Makes complete sense to stick around and see how we do…

I don’t believe he’s as interested in moving as some so called journos and so called fans believe…

 

Playing Devil's Advocate, I'd say his 'stock', his profile, wasn't anywhere near what it is now, 12 months later. The rest of the football world were still ridiculing Villa fans' insistence that he should be in contention for England starts.

He moved on to another level at the start of last season. It was maybe easier for him to proclaim he was on board with Villa's 'project'. He couldn't even convince Man United to bid. Now it seems the best team in the PL want him. Not to mention he's been mixing with PL and Champion's League winners, who he's better than.

Having said that, I still think he stays for another season!

3 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Anyway I look at it this way.

If he leaves, we might not have/get a player " as good as " or " better than " Jack Grealish, for years.

However, we can potentially build a TEAM far superior to any we have ever had, WITH him here.

Without all the Bollox distractions of the " superstar "

Yeah, but...we all want a Superstar playing for our club, don't we?

I get what you're saying, but I've never felt Jack playing for us is a 'distraction', just a pure joy.

If he leaves it's a huge blow to our renaissance, not just his ability on the pitch, but the inspiration he gives teammates and fans. Not to mention the pull factor of having a Superstar that others might want to play alongside.

4 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Jesus wept. Look at this Quisling on Blue Moon

"There's still plenty of our fans who think he isn't leaving us. It's as if they can't understand why a player who's a boyhood fan might want to play in the CL and win a few trophies in the prime of his career. I've said it numerous times on Twitter but our fanbase have got to be amongst the most irritating in English football."

Yeah, this guy's embarrassingly transparent. 'Villa fan', my ar**! I've been posting on there the last few days, and actually posted a reply to that guff a while back.

His posts on there get way more likes than mine!

1 hour ago, Farlz said:

I know it’s not what we want but Sam Lee is a far more respected journo among City fans than say that waffle merchant Gregg Evans is to us. 

It’s not what we want to hear so we just instantly dismiss it all but fair enough he’s been quite open through this whole thing. 

I dunno. From reading City fans' comments on Bluemoon, I'd say he's viewed much more 'Gregg Evans' than 'John Percy'! 

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Jack should watch this documentary

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12142854/

I'd bet he has! 

3 hours ago, jim said:

All owners want that, what happens is another story. I’ve seen nothing yet to suggest we are looking to compete with the big guns. 

What a strange outlook...Do you mean we should be making moves for Kane and Mbappe!? 

What more should the club be doing, given the reality of where we currently are in the pecking order?

3 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

Just the truth. At fault for both goals at leicester, at fault for all 3 at Palace. At fault for a 95th minute equaliser against Newcastle. I'm certain there was another but I'm not too sure. 

Think West brom too but not certain. 

I blame McGinn for the Newcastle equaliser, tbf. Remember screaming at the tv! 

3 hours ago, Tom13 said:

Don't post opinions on it then without the full info

The 'full info' also includes the fact Jack is contracted for 4 years, and our owners will do all they can to keep him, imo, even if he has had his head turned.

4 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

Love him to bits, but he won't, an unfortunately he won't be treated as such either. KDB would be £150-200 million, Grealish won't be!

KDB

Torres

Mahrez

Cancelo

Laporte

Zinchenko

Dias

All quality, so debatable if Grealish is the better player.

 

I'd only rate KDB above Jack. The rest aren't even close.

10 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

footballers do just have that ability to trigger people

jeff bezos could literally give every single soul on the planet $1bn each and still have a fortune in excess of $190bn (let that sink in for a moment...)

but no one minds him playing star wars...how dare footballers have fun though!

That's the worst 'maffs' I've ever witnessed in my life, tbf! :-))

On 07/04/2018 at 17:29, dn1982 said:

I’d drop him for Tuesday 

This sounds even more ridiculous now! ☺