Mic09

On 20/05/2024 at 22:53, tonyh29 said:

Amsterdam most over rated for me (***)… and the beer is shite as well 

The city might be not to your liking, fair enough, but they know how to make a good beer. Lagers, Ales, IPAs, they have the lot. 

And if you don't like Dutch beers, most places also have a great selection from Belgium. 

It's a country for beer lovers. 

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

The report that our owner has sympathy for city. I dont believe that for a second tbh

I believe clubs/businesses have no friends/sympathies . They have interests.

And it is entirely conceivable our interest is to introduce more freedom in financial regulation. Just like it is Man Cities. 

16 minutes ago, MarkLillis said:

£50M seems like a huge amount and if we spend that much I would be expecting a world class player to land at VP which I'm not sure he is or will ever be.

£50m does not get you world class - world class in Mbappe, Haaland, ViniJR, Camavinga, Rodri, DeBruyne etc.

For comparison, Szoboshlai went for £70m to plop. 

£50m gets you a 'Diaby'. And I believe Gallagher would be a more effective addition is short and long term. 

I'd take him for 50m. I really think he can be as influential (maybe less likable) as McGinn over the next 6 years or so. 

The main reason for me is his ball retention and passing ability. He starts everything for Chelsea, and when I think of him getting a move started to release Bailey or Watkins, I get excited. 

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

Looking at both owners history, I honestly don’t see that being the case.  It just looks like they are setting us up to compete with the bigger boys in the league so they make us lean because the revenues aren’t there yet, try and make available as much to the team, while increasing commercial revenue and then we can look at the more costly activities in later years.

Hope you are right - I think it might be a case of either/or! 

It seems to me like the Heck appointment, the scaled down plans for VP and the scaled down new shop are cheaper options to maximise revenue and club value while taking as little out of their pockets as possible. 

If I was a betting man, I'd say this is a solution designed to sell the club in a few years and make good money on their original investment.

5 minutes ago, imavillan said:

Surely the club would not post this just 15 mins ago if he was leaving?

 

 

It's not "the club". It's a marketing person who knows as much as you and I. 

We are not letting our starter go without a replacement in a CL season. So if he goes, so be it. I hope he doesn't, but we will have a solid replacement incoming. 

30 minutes ago, pas5898 said:

Give it 2 years - he will start playing up - hinting he will leave to the next highest bidder.

Paris is his hometown club and he constantly sold them down the river until he ended up on effectively 1,000,000 per week + power over coaching decisions. 

Sure. But this is the first instance in his career where the club is bigger than him. And if a team knows how to deal with stars, it's Madrid. 

5 minutes ago, Genie said:

I replaced my mk2 Kuga with a mk2.5 and kind of regretting it.

My original car was 2014 and I really liked it. Top spec and surprisingly refined for a Ford. Handled really well too. I thought that going the same, but newer would be the same, but better.

The facelift model got some tweaks to the outside and inside but main changes were the new touchscreen infotainment system with apple carplay and the engine which is basically the same but updated to be Euro 6 emissions compliant, rather than Euro 5 on the old one. 

Having driven it for a few months now it’s starting to annoy me that Ford seem to have wound back a lot of the refinement of the original car I had. The engine noticeably vibrates more, and despite supposedly having 20bhp more feels slower. The car rolls more around corners too. I guess they have stripped back some of the sound deadening pads and things like mass dampers on the chassis to make it smoother.

So although I thought it was the same but better, it hasn’t worked out that way. 

 

 

I always wanted a Ford. I had a 2003 Fusion (loved it) as my first car and I always look for fords as the next possible car.

But what annoys me is that for the same price, you can get a much better spec in a Seat or some Japanese/Korean brand. 

And the plastics on a Focus are annoying.

I still remember my dad buying a Focus estate in 2002. What a great car that was. 

20 minutes ago, villa89 said:

Totally agree. Its beyond stupid the game has to stop for a substitution.

Technically, the play does not stop for a substitution. 

It stops for a throw in, a corner, a goal kick, or whatever else reason.

The substitution happens during that break. 

2 hours ago, CarryOnVilla said:

Fiddling around with the colour way and It's basically 5 options, that could have their own minor tweaks, such as E/F 

A. What we got
B. The logical fix
C. The other logical fix
D. Another Logical fix
E. People liked the Gold mono colour in the vid, so just wanted to see it on claret 
F. Blue mono colour to make it 6

For me,

C is in the bin for the wiff of wet Spam it has.
F is in the bin for being invisible
D is less invisible, but it might as well be.. in the bin 
E does look great and it really pops off the claret, but it really is a massive detour on our tradition colours, so in the bin... sorry
Now it's A or B
Hummmm has to be B, it doesn't pop as much a A, but it ties up nicely with our colour scheme and contrasts well



 

I like B, but some might say the lion is "missing". It almost looks like a void space where a lion should be. 

34 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

I already mentioned Rogers.

McGinn, Grealish pretty much count as a 'long time ago' don't they or do you want to start throwing Dwight Yorke into the mix as profitable transfers?

Philogene's 5 mil - not really going to cover Kamaras wages for even one year - Archer is coming back isn't he so until sold permanently doesn't quite fit your argument- yes we made some money on Chuk and Ramey but not big bucks. 

Luiz wasn't a cheap signing at the time.

Ramsey was the last player who came through the youth team set up to play regularly .

Free signings on mammoth wages don't count in my book, even if they are good business overall.

But yeah you can cherry pick what you like and change the criteria of the argument to suit yours if that makes you feel better but our scouting and youth system isn't yet up to par yet, but is improving every year. We are doing a lot of things right, just love us to bring in some more leftfield signings - which we are getting linked to already so think Monchi will work that magic.

 

We got the young keeper and the RB. We had Duran. Rogers is here.  

We need 2-3 a year. That's it. We are on track. 

10 minutes ago, Stephen_Evans said:

The club crest section of the website makes an interesting read.  Apparently the badge will soon be round.

It's an old article, not updated (unless you saw something else). "On brand" needs to do some house cleaning. 

Discounts on Ben and Jerry/ haagen daz. I refuse to pay £5.75 for Ice cream, and always but it for £3.75/3.50. But it's a lottery of what will be discounted.

They can stick their phish food up where sun don't shine, give me a salted caramel or pralines. 

8 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I seriously cannot believe red bull are popular.  That drink is so bad for you

Tell me what's good for you and popular. 

Reading? Walking? Regular exercise?

Just now, fightoffyour said:

And we’d still need a striker

Well there’s an answer at least. I’m guessing he’d be a drop off in quality (who wouldn’t, that’s the point) but might be a net plus thanks to the other signings.

I don't know if he would be a drop in quality. Maybe for the first few months. He is an established CL striker. He is younger than Ollie.

He is a little like a fully developed Duran. Strong, aggressive, brilliant striker. 

And outside of Mbappe/Haaland and such, you can't get a more elite striker. 

57 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Sell Watkins for £200m, who are we buying as a replacement?

I’ll wait.

Osimhen (85m) 

New RB (35m)

New DM (50m)

Keep the rest for wages. 

1 hour ago, fightoffyour said:

How many other badges have the main element appear as a smudge?

 

Man United, Newcastle, Liverpool, Burnley, Everton, Man City. 

You say they don't look like a smudge because you know the badges and are not yet used to the new Villa badge.

But, according to most "badge specialists", most of the above do not tick the box of commercial branding success. 

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Maybe I'm wrong but I think it's been fairly well established that the North Stand Pillars support the whole stand, not the roof.

They are of course free to ignore my thoughts and take the worlds biggest angle grinder to them.  I'm sure it will be fine.

There is a way to engineer everything. There will be a solution that allows for the NS pillars to be taken out and replaced with something else.

I don't know what that is. But it's a matter of cost vs reward, nothing else. Maybe we can build some sort of an outside frame to support the stand while making it bigger. Who knows. But it's certainly possible.  

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Nah, it will be packed with Chinese in half and half shirts buying gourmet burgers and Madri deciding if they're going to support Villa or Palace today. 

You laugh, but that's what I experienced in the hospitality end at Fulham last season! 

10 hours ago, sidcow said:

I still think there is going to be a ceiling for the number of people willing to pay for GA+ tickets. 

I'm a man with a reasonable amount of disposable income. I'm a Villa fanatic, but if I didn't have a season ticket and GA+ price level was the only way I'd get tickets I'd be thinking very carefully about if it was worth it. 

I just don't think Birmingham is awash with enough people to spend £120 per game to fill endless lounges. 

I am on the waiting list, but £120 a game is a twice a season type of a treat. Add transport, beers, a burger. I think we might see some empty seats at some point, because if we loses few and have to play Crystal Palace on a cold Feb Sunday morning, I doubt it will be a full house.