rodigan

with senior players, n'zogbia and holman next season, hopefully marc will get the opportunity to develop properly as a young footballer growing into the premier league. having a situation like this season, where the kids have had to carry a team with no confidence at all, its hardly surprising that many of them have taken a step backward. those that have stepped up, clark, lichaj, herd and to a degree baker, have done brilliantly, but i don't think that it means that those that haven't won't make it if not treated properly. i also don't think its any surprise that our defensive kids have come through far better than our attacking ones - albrighton, bannan, gardner, weimann, delfouneso...

if RL gets rid of eck shortly, all of the shite of the past season (plus virtually the last of the MON contracts) will go with him. only dunne, warnock, collins (off the top of my head) will remain, and they will only have a year left, which will be useful as the incumbent wise heads, while a new squad of young players, the few elite players we have, and those that we buy in during the summer, start to gel... appointing someone like martinez, and giving him say 30m (not that much more than he gave eck last summer) to start rebuilding will bring with it, a far more positive attitude from the fans, who will be far more likely to give the process (at least some of) the time that it needs to be a success... maybe, just maybe, he's smarter than any of us have given him credit for...

only if its a 2-for-1 deal with his brother terry.

if the team had shown signs of a direction or things coming together over the course of the season, then i would think that there would be much more of case to keep on eck. however, can anyone say that the structure of the team is coming together, such that the return of DB9, and one or two additions to the squad will make us the complete article? i can't see one part of our game as a whole that says, you know what, at least that bit is now sorted out and we don't need to worry about it - from attack to defence, is there one aspect of our game that is better now than it was at the start of the season? If the answer is no, then the decision should be very very simple for RL. Martinez for me, if we can get him.

my view on this is very simple. whether the boys were right or wrong in what they did, they gave the media sufficient ammunition to right damning stories about themselves and AVFC. being out at 2:30am, being in an altercation (even more stupid due to the fact that it was with a bloody inanimate object), creating a situation where the media could insinuate drunken and yobbish behaviour, it being at a critical juncture of our season... all in all, just bloody stupid. look at the england rugby boys at the world cup - mike tindall in particular, danny cipriani going into a night club the day before england selection - if you give the media ammunition, no matter how innocuous you think it is at the time, they will bury you. its not about going out, or having a drink, or having a end of season awards - many did that but weren't in the press - its about being out at 2:30am and getting filmed having an altercation. This makes them bloody idiots, at a time when the last thing we need, is more bloody idiots.

exactly.... watch this space... RL has not come out and said that his support for Eck goes beyond the end of the season and Eck's comments in the press are nothing more than saying I will not be resigning, and if you do not fire me, please can i have some money to buy players...

its not even the end of the season yet, so lets wait until after the norwich game to see what RL has up his sleeve. He certainly hasn't come out and said Eck will be here next season, as far as I can tell. He came out and said we need to get behind him and the team for our last three games. Eck has come out and said that he is not going to resign, which would have been the one thing that would have earned him a smidgeon of begrudging respect from the fans. so he has left it in RL's hands - lets see how he plays it... As an aside, whatever happened to the General?

we have so few senior players left in the team, that I can't see bent leaving, unless he forces it himself. No idea where the idea that Gabby may leave has come from...

and therein lies the issue. Makoun, Delph, Ireland... All on big salaries, all offering similar skill sets to a lesser or greater degree. I suspect the conclusion was that we don't have the financial desire or ability to carry all three. Bannan, on a smaller salary, but again being a similar sort of player. Eck went with Delph and Ireland, supported by Bannan, but could just as easily have gone with Makoun for one of the other two. Remember, at the start of the season, none of the players had established themselves in the Villa first team, so it was a bit of a punt either way. I was at the Villa training sessions every day they were in Hong Kong, and at the time, it wasn't clearly the wrong call. Delph was fit, young and looking to start, which he did early on in the season. Ireland was coming back to fitness and had proven his ability at man city... If makoun comes back into the fold in the off season, I can see it being at the expense of delph or bannan.

Am a big fan of King Carlos and think he has been a model professional at the club. BUT In his time at the club, he has never established himself for a prolonged period of time, as a first choice centre back in the team. Collins and Dunne, rightly or wrongly, when fit, have principally been the first choice pairing. That has been under a number of managers, so I don't blame Eck for solely getting it wrong. As such, Carlos is a squad player, albeit a very good one. As a squad player, his salary, and worth to the club, should be determined with regards to other squad players, as opposed to established, and regularly used first team players. Having squad players that earn more than those playing every week in the first team, is a luxury of the MON era, and something that the club can't, while its losing GBP55 million a year, consider to be an acceptable or sustainable alternative. As with Carew and NRC last year, (as well as others such as Shorey, Beye, Sidwell and now Heskey), Carlos has fallen victim to financial prudence. What I believe RL is trying to do is to create a squad, where the overall wage bill is sustainable, and the lion's share of that wage bill is spent on those players who turn out for the first team on a regular basis. Much as none of us like this approach, the alternative is much more bleak. With the club losing money on an annual basis as it is, if RL had enough of all the abuse he gets on sites like this, and at the ground, and walked away, we would be in danger of being a Pompey, or a rangers, or dare I say it, even a small heath - flirting with administration each year, as we continually struggle to roll over our debt. Sad to see Carlos go, but unfortunately, I believe that he, and more like him, will need to go to ensure that the club we all love (even if we don't currently like) is there for our kids to enjoy as well.... All the best, CC...

agree with that as well... for a player with the pedigree that he has, who's had to put up with the stick and abuse that he gets, he's been a model professional. no moaning, no getting pissed, no kicking in gatecrasher doors, he's supported the club and the youngsters who have played in his position to get experience and has always, in my humble opinion, given 100 per cent on the pitch, whereever he's been asked to play... he's also, through no fault of his own been the only big man we have in the squad this season, so has had to tow a line that noone else has been able to. as to him playing better in the last three or four games, i suspect that has more to do with him being asked to play up front, rather than in the holding midfield role that our illustrious management decided in their eternal wisdom would be ideal for him, as a 34 year old with no pace, to play in, earlier in the season. perhaps i view things with more of a positive outlook than most, but he's going, and i would prefer to remember the positive contribution that he made to the club in his time here. calling him a useless sack of shit is kind of pointless now... cheers, big man...

frustrating thing is that he has proved that he can do it at other clubs... if he doesn't want to wear the claret and blue, lets put us all out of our misery and move the guy on, regardless of how good he could possibly be...

agreed with this.... i don't really care what it took to fire him up, but it appears to have worked. workrate has increased massively in last few games he has played and has looked amongst our more creative players... feeding through to some forwards that believe they can score and we should start seeing some real reward for his workrate.

Have thought this for the last several weeks. More than any other player on the pitch, I have gotten the sense from his play that he has been entirely disinterested over the last several weeks. has really appeared to be someone who doesn't want to be here, which is a great shame, because he has also looked like someone who could turn a match when he's fired up. his demeanour was in stark contrast to every other villa player on the pitch last night, at least in my humble opinion.

did look slow a couple of times last night, but showed yet again the importance of having a bag guy up front who can hold play up from the front and play in the other players moving forward. like carlos, a model professional, who regardless of his playing ability has been exemplary in how he has carried himself during his time at the club. Was an absolute pleasure in Hong Kong last year, and for a man who has achieved what he has during a long career, can look back on his career with pride. Thank you, Emile.

a model professional, who has always appeared to be fully committed to Villa, irrespective of whether he has been in or out of the team. All the very best.

still think that we want a manager who sees villa as a step up from where they are playing, and who are going to give their all and more for the villa cause. In fairness to Eck, I think he has given it his all, its just that the football he advocates with the players we have isn't good enough. the last thing you want is to get in a big name, who will use the villa infrastructure as an excuse when they fail... for people like rafa, or capello, they are not coming into a club that has the infrastructure or can attract or afford players of the calibre / profile that they are used to working with. For the next couple of seasons, we are looking to find someone who can get a barebones squad outperforming by playing an attractive system with confidence. if we look at the good bits that we have (and by good, i mean, have shown themselves to be great at some point in the last three seasons and are still young enough to be improving): DB9 Gabby Ireland N'Zogbia Holman Shay Then if you look at the kids that have held their own in the premiership in their first real season this year: Clark Baker Weimann Lichaj Herd Albrighton Bannan Delfouneso Carruthers Then if you look at the seasoned heads that can still do a job premier league standard job, if handled properly: Dunne Collins Warnock Hutton Plus those who we pay but haven't really seen this season: Makoun Delph Plus the salaries being freed up by those out of contract: Heskey Cuellar Guzan This is what our squad looks like, with whatever we buy in over the offseason. This to me looks more like a martinez / lambert / rodgers / moyes squad, than a rafa / capello squad... Would love martinez or moyes...

but thats the point i think - villa spent 20m, and yet, we (or maybe its just me) get the sense that we weren't spending money, as we'd seen 4 big signings leave for good money, and ten leave for no money, and not seen another marquee player, save for perhaps zoggy come back in...

was just wondering what our squad looks like and who in it is out of contract at the end of the season. by a rough estimate, players getting regular playing time look something like this: GK - Given LB / RB - Hutton, Warnock, Lichaj CB - Collins, Dunne, Cuellar, Baker MF - Nzogbia, Ireland, Herd, Albrighton, Clark, Bannan, Gardner STR - Bent, Agbonlahor, Weimann, Heskey Out of contract players at the end of the season are: Cuellar Heskey Jenas and Guzan Players under contracts with substantial wages that are regularly playing in the first team are: Dunne (2013) Collins (2013) Warnock (2013) Ireland (2014) Bent (2015) Agbonlahor (2015) Hutton (2015) Given (2016) N'Zogbia (2016) Players that we have bought who are still under contract with substantial wages, but not playing for Villa regularly are: Makoun (2014) Delph (2015) Kids that have come through our academy, but who have played often this season and are therefore still on sensible contracts, are: albrighton bannan clark herd baker lichaj gardner weimann Young players that have played several games, but appear to be squad fillers at this stage include: Delfouneso Carruthers Stevens Brett Holman has also signed a pre-contract to join us on a free. I think looking at this, we have a small squad, no question and one lacking in experience, and to a degree premier league quality. What we have managed to get rid of are players on substantial contracts that are not contributing to the first team. i don't think our squad at the end of the season (particularly with the four people out of contract) will be anywhere near one of the most expensive in the league. I also think that for the first time in three years, we have what looks like a reasonable base from which the club can build a squad within reasonable financial constraints. First team players should command the lion's share of wages available, with the remainder of the squad commanding salaries in line with the contribution that they will make to the first team.

martinez. ive decided that randy is actually an evil genius. this year was always about cutting all spending while we get rid of the last of the MON contracts. By appointing the least popular manager he could find anywhere in the universe, he distracted away from the fact that there has effectively been a signing freeze since db9 came in, and the manager has had to play with one of the smallest and least experienced squads in the league. the manager has born the brunt of the shit season we have had, which means when he leaves at the end of the season, all the badwill will leave with him. RL can then look at exactly what we have left as assets, and have a view on who will contribute positively to the squad at a salary level that is realistic relative to the annual revenue that we generate. He will only have one or two star players commanding big salaries, and his squad fillers will now be kids on small salaries, who have all played 10+ games in the premier league. Bringing in a progressive coach that plays attractive football, and giving him, say 40 - 50m pounds to bring in new players will get him a lot of goodwill back, and will buy some patience for the new manager. Putting in money before the wages were under control would have simply sustained a poor situation over a longer period. Hopefully now, the difficult surgery has been done, and we have a new slate on which to rebuild our squad... By the end of the summer, we will have a radically different squad, younger, and with far more potential at a financially sustainable wage bill.... I think Martinez would be the perfect guy to do that. I think he would get our existing players playing with the confidence to look to go forward as a first instinct, rather than make a safe pass backwards. I can see us by the end of this year, being a team playing exciting football with pride and challenging in the top half of the table. The fans and the players have suffered through the austerity measures that we need... time for a rainbow and some light at the end of the tunnel... Thanks, randy.

No......... he wants a fixed term contract - in the region of 2 years. That's why nobody has touched him. Man City can afford to piss 2 years wages up the wall and not miss it. are they offering him a fixed term contract? my understanding was it was a pay for play contract???

actually, i would imagine that he would join them for free... i get the sense that he rates himself good enough to play in any team and therefore he is interested to play in the best team that will take him... if he can force his way into the starting XI at citeh, he'll have proved every single one of his doubters wrong... good luck to the lad, although i would have really liked to see him here... i just think he has so much to prove that here would have been a fantastic place to prove it...

Chelsea were also smart enough to hand out 5,000 blue and white checked flags outside the stadium to anyone going in... the locals here will wave anything as long as its free... having said that, as far as marketable clubs in Asia go, Villa are way behind the big clubs - man u, arsenal, chelsea and liverpool. Liverpool had 30,000 fans turn up in malaysia the other day to watch training and filled an 80,000 seater for a friendly against the national team... The HK lions is somewhat more modest in nature, although i must admit it was much much better than the fanclub for the venky's boys - blackburn had 2 fans turn up to greet them when they arrived at the airport in Hong Kong...

the biggest issue at the moment is that there are no standout candidates for either captain or to boss the centre of midfield... for captain, the only real candidates to lead a team, to me are stan, dunne and collins, and i don't think any of them are guaranteed first team starters... having seen them in hong kong both playing and training, all three are leaders on the pitch and i think any of them would do a good job as captain... as far as stan's value as a player, i suspect, limited or not, he is going to play more this season than last, because i simply fail to see a credible alternative in our squad... all of our other midfield appear lightweight to me... the young guys can do well when surrounded by senior players, not when wholly surounded by youngsters, which is what we saw in the early part of last season when we had injury problems... people like collins, stan, dunne, heskey have a valid role in the team providing the experience that allows the young players to blossom... i think he's a yes to play most games and if so, i think he's as good a captain as we have at the moment...

yes, but he is still contracted to the club, isn't he? as opposed to having been released? if so, i would have thought offering them two of our players that would fill holes left by two departees would help both sides... and if that helped push the deal through, then so much the better...