JPAngel

I reckon it's Ravel

And in 17 years time we'll be saying "17 years ago, £12m could buy you Ross McCormack and now can't even buy you Marlon Harewood Jnr".

So Xia said that if others play dirty why should we play nice?... Following this, we've likely snatched McCormack from Norwich's clutches and now are rumored to be in for Diame ahead of his move to Newcastle. Are we just going to nick everyone's transfer targets now?

I think you're right. They did do well for that 5 game stretch and it was a little unfair to chuck Vlaar straight back in ahead of Clark. Having said that, it's more fair to judge him on the other 155 games he played for us though and he was just sadly not up to scratch.

FIVE YEAR DEAL?!

It was the end of 2014 because Lambert was still in charge and wasn't it Vlaar that he brought back in ahead of Clark? Either way, Clark has done sweet FA for at least 20 months soo....

So nice just to be having some news regarding transfers IN again. Feels like an actual decade since Tshibola joined!

So what's he done in the three years since then?

Aahhh, I don't know how comfortable I am with XIa calling people out for betraying us on Twitter Love having him on there and I love his honesty but this looks poor.

Never disliked Guzan as a bloke but his confidence is shot with us and has in turn made him a complete liability. It's a shame but glad to see him go. Good luck Brad

I think we need a new link to an incoming transfer because VT is becoming full of sarcasm, point scoring and sly digs again. Wonder what James Beattie is up to. Could do a job?

People were booing at Telford and Bristol? God, how sad

I think saying he's lost the plot is a bit extreme .

I know this isn't a Middlesbrough board but does anyone know why they've signed a fourth goalkeeper? Not only that, they've made three signings now and two of them have been GKs "fit for the first team", shouldn't they be looking at the rest of their team? EDIT: They've signed way more than that but still. Two major GK signings.

That is great news! I haven't been to any pre-season games (going to the next one) but I was hoping he was a vocal keeper. Definitely something we've lacked!

I know we were all here, and we were all watching this, but seeing it in writing now everything has settled down still haunts/shocks me. Look at the bloody state of that team.

I won't be booing anyone anytime soon. We're very fragile after last season and I think maintaining a positive atmosphere is vital if we're to do well this season. Any booing from the terraces is going to be picked up by the media and more importantly the rest of the team. I just don't understand how it's going to benefit anyone.

So Xia has lied to us when he said he wanted to sign a new striker and some midfielders?

I just posted something similar in the Promotion thread but where are you getting your info from? He's been here for a month, spent second most in the Championship (£12m) on a proven leader and two players with a lot of potential add to this that we've won 4 out of 5 in pre-season. Finally, all the press surrounding Villa is brilliant, Xia is being very transparent and even has Twitter to engage with fans and perhaps most importantly the players seem to be having a great time of it in pre-season. We've also already passed our season ticket sales total for last season and we're in a worse division! Chill, Winston.

Just like to point out that we've won four games out of five since Xia was appointed and already spent £12m which is the 2nd most in the entire division. Just sayin'.

Bloody hell, people need to calm down a bit I think. We've got the right noises coming out of the club, made some decent signings with more to come (actual quotes from Xia stating as much) and we haven't lost a single pre-season game yet. I know they haven't been against Barcelona or Real Madrid but you can only beat what's in front of you.

Once had a friend who pronounced Vassell's name as Vass-ul. Used to absolutely do my head in. We don't talk anymore.

Gardner has played nearly 60 games at CM in the last three seasons in the Championship. Less of a wildcard that playing an idiot like Bacuna in CM having had one good game there in his whole Villa career and expecting him to become a box-to-box midfield revelation.

Yeah, Westwood, Sanchez, Gardner, Tshibola, Gana, Bacuna aren't really enough options as it stands for RDM. Guess we'll be forced to play the worst CM in the squad in the starting 11.

I think one thing we have to remember is that last season when facing the prospect of Newcastle coming to Villa Park I wasn't worried. In fact, I was glad about the potential of having a team we could actual compete against for a change. This season, Newcastle are deemed to have the strongest team in the whole division. What does that say about the calibre of the rest of the teams? I think we've got a really great chance to make a proper go of it this season, providing RDM gets things right behind the scenes.