Pez1974

Understand that - but punishing Aston Villa in order annoy Newcastle is bonkers. Let's take advantage of them by giving them someone is is no longer good enough to play for us. For a lot of money (hopefully!)

This is not correct.

Seems odd, but I trust the club. I wonder if the loan is with an obligation to buy, as they are bringing in a lot of players at quite a high cost, so it might be a way to get around FFP. Is Gerrard doesn't rate him, or the player wants to go - then cut our losses. I know some don't want to deal with Newcastle, but giving them our back-up LB for an inflated fee is helping us a lot more than it's helping them. I'd say £20m+ to them, which would be a huge amount for him. (Can't see us getting the same as we paid for Digne!) If they are paying £13m for 29 year old Dan Burn (who plays about 1/2 of Brighton's games over the past couple of seasons), then for 26 year old Matt Targett, who was first choice until a couple of weeks ago, there's money to be had.

Exactly this.

The club surely understands what it wants the squad to look like next year, and the year after that. This would include players coming through the youth set up and when they need to go out on loan. If Targett isn't an integral part of the first team squad next season, and we can get good value for him now - then we should to sell. FFP might be crap, but it hasn't gone away. Getting (say) £20m now, plus his £40k-odd a week wages off the books will free up budget that can be put to better use. Keeping him won't just cost his salary - but his value will probably only go down from here, so the next 6 months might actually cost us £6m, if his value drops. And good luck to him. As much as shafting Newcastle sounds like fun - the right decision for Aston Villa should be the only decision we have to make.

No going to comment on his as a person. As a player, he just doesn't come across as someone who would give anything other than 100%. And he's still doing it at the top of La Liga. Clubs spend a fortune of 'substitute strikers' - someone to bring on for 20/30 minutes, and start a handful of games when there is a fixture backlog. A freebie, experienced player would make sense - even on £100k a week for a year, the total cost would be £5.2m. Ings is costing us more than that, plus about £7m a year in transfer fee depreciation. (Not a dig at Ings - just a comparison). As others have said, you could compare him to Cavani at Man Utd. And that's probably the one signing they got right over the past few years.

If anyone believes those graphs that have been produced saying who can spend what under FFP, Newcastle are around £166m (the one I've just found). If I remember correctly, its over a 3 year period, so they probably have some capacity now from 2-3 years ago, which is in the use it or lose it category. A short contract means the transfer fee will depreciate quicker - using up that allowance, and not drag on. I'm sure they've got a plan which is stay up this year - spend a load next year and aim at Europe, them CL, etc - so they will have mapped out what they can afford in which window. It might also be why there has been stories around selling Longstaff - as they would all be FFP profit. They are going to be a well run club it seems - much to my disappointment! Just gotta hope for t going wrong over the coming months and they get relegated - and/or they simply can't persuade the right players to move up there.

£25m - for a 2.5 year contract. Probably (guess) £100k a week - £5m a year. So, for FFP purposes - Newcastle have got a £15m a year hit on their hands for Chris Wood. I know if he keeps them it, people will say he's worth it - but wow. Also - Burnley's statement included "Wood, who joined the Club in 2017, departs Turf Moor after scoring a total of 53 goals in 165 appearances, including three goals in 21 games this season." Proper shithouse comment - love it.

This is not a criticism of anybody, but a reflection on football.... There is no way we sign Coutinho if Smith is still our manager. Is it really the case that Aston Villa F.C. is less of a draw (or less important) than the manager? Kinda makes me a little sad.

So....banging a little thing in with my 25 stone makes the difference? I'll tell the wife.

The 2 squads seem to be relatively covid free (a couple of cases in our camp, and 1 in theirs?), so this game could well go ahead. With games now being cancelled it seems inevitable there will be a pause soon. Maybe we'll get a bye from Man U in the FACup? It will be interesting to see if having played the games (and hopefully won the last 2) gives us the advantage, offsetting the disadvantage we seemed to have last January with the outbreak, which really derailed us. If you go - stay safe.

In the context of who they are refereeing, they don't earn a lot - but they still earn £70k to £80k a year - and if they do internationals, a whole chunk more. That is a good salary. That's more than a lot of League 1 players, and a whole load of League 2 players.

Poor first half. Great second half. The last 2 games shows that Gerrard is able to make a difference at half time; this is something that Deano didn't do too often (or this old fool can't remember!). The subs also worked. There was plenty of noise about them on social media during the game, but they were proven right. I do feel a bit sorry for the ref....the rule is dumb, and very badly worded. This is the sort of thing where he got the decision technically correct, but looks like a bell end. But surely our highly paid refs should be looking at the rules and making sure that such dumb elements are sorted out, before they are shown to an TV audience of millions. UTV

Grealish's problem is that he wants to be a Villa legend, but also wanted to leave the club and make loads of money, play with his idols, and work under Guardiola. And for some reason, idiots in his ear seemed to have told him that he could have both. And he can't - and every time he opens his mouth, it gets worse. Pick one.

Gutted. Personally, I think he should have had more time - circumstances (transfers, injuries, covid, etc) haven't helped. But he was on a tightrope due to results. I am biased as I love the guy, but there is also an element of 'who else?' - because when Newcastle were took over, I really couldn't see an outstanding candidate to take that role - and that isn't any different for us. The reality is that once we stopped progressing, our next manager would have to take us to another level. That is now. This next week will define the next 10 years of our club, so I am more nervous than excited. BUT...thank you Deano. You gave us our Villa back, and when the next history of our club is written, you should be proud to have a chapter which can only be shown as being a success.

Christ! The words "2003" and "too old" make me feel ancient. I got divorced for the first time in 2003.

Good for him. A game vs Andorra, and hopefully a goal or 3 would be amazing for him and us.

Came in to say something positive about MacPhee. Off to the whiskey cabinet.

Love that these kids are getting a chance. Has the potential to save us massive amounts of money. And they've been here longer than the average first team squad player, so they have a better feel for the club.

Same Given it was in front of the Holte, my brain couldn't compute where he was running to. You had 13,500 people going bonkers 20 yards in front of you. I'd run there. I think he was running to where his family were sat. So fair do's.

Back to this thread in a while.....some really bizarre comments, albeit the most recent seem much more balanced. For me - we are still a club coming out of a long standing crisis, ever since MON walked out. Smith is the first manager since then to give us a sense of stability, and hope - albeit based upon amazing owners. He accepts his own limitations, and is improving. There are many clubs in this league who would probably love to have him as their manager as opposed to the one they have. He loves the club - which does not excuse poor performance, but it is preferable to have someone in charge like this. We are still improving, and have done every season. Right now, we are top half and have only had 1 game with a largely fit squad - following our club captain and supposed talisman deciding to take the cable car to the top, rather than earn it. Serious question - who the hell could we reasonably get who would do better? I am not 'Smith In' or 'Smith Out'. I am a Villa fan who thinks our manager is, overall doing a good job. He needs to improve some areas - such as the use of subs - and if he doesn't and we stall in progress, then questions should be asked, and perhaps a change made. But any change would be a massive upheaval - as a club, that should not happen lightly.

Amazing 20 minutes. I am starting to think that we got a great deal this summer - signed a replacement for [he who will not be named] who better fits our style of play, and pocketed a net £70m. About him starting - I understand frustration, and perhaps the minor injury shows that the club was right to manage his workload. Being fit, and being able to stand the rigours of a game are different things. The PL (for all it's hype) is probably the most competitive league in the world (So'ton deserved to beat the Champions yesterday). And with games coming at 2 a week, he needs to be managed to maximise his impact for the good of the club. We must not make the mistake I think we made with [him], and let him think he was the club.

Classy gesture from the club. Made more classier by the fact we did it in the background. No big announcement from us - it's all come from them.

Still this about "no more signings" in the press! The Ings transfer shows that there are no ITKs. There is no noise from the club, so they have to write something. We have tonnes of money now, and rich owners - we are going to say 'yes, just 3 more signings', and see the prices double. The comments coming from anyone in the club are the only comments they could possibly make in the circumstances. So they ask the question to which there is an obvious answer, and then publish the rumour mill article. (Seen a few comments on social media that 'fans need to know' - do these people think other clubs don't read comments!?) We are in interesting times. If clubs need money, and they have a player we want, we need to be able to take advantage. So we can't just splash out all the money upfront, and miss out on bargains either later in the window or January. We are a well run club - let's remember this.

I also think one of *he who must not be named's* faults is that he could slow play down unnecessarily at times, and this made it possible for teams to regroup at the back We are set up for pace, and I think we'll see that more this season, with Buendia showing vs Walsall how he will thread passes through a defence, which wasn't really *his* strength.