dukes

4 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

So does anyone know how loan deals work?  Is there a possibility to recall players like Steer, Elphick, Clark etc or does it all depend on what was originally agreed?

It looks like there is a recall option in Clark's deal at least.

MItch Clark

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Id argue Albion are a lot stronger.

We’ve played 2 or 3 decent teams this season and the rest of have been mid table of relegation battling teams. I’d be disappointed if we wernt one of the highest scorers. 

We still need to see big improvement.  

The point is we have scored freely despite seemingly not having any organization or the feigntest whiff of tactics...up until now.

7 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

This is a myth when you break it down. 

Kodija - hasn’t looked the same since his injury. Lazy. 

Hogan - looked crap from day 1 

Bolasie - looks waaaay off the pace

Adomah - average player that had a decent spell last season. 

El Ghazi - seen nothing yet to suggest he is a good player.  Struggling with the pace.

Grealish - top player. Hardly scores goals and small number of assists. Poor form.

Abraham- Been impressed so far.

We have decent options. But hardly the embarrassment of riches that people keep making out.

You’re entitled to your opinion, but I would guess every manager in this division looks on enviously at our attacking players.

I think it's embarrassing the attacking options DS has available to him, but we'll need it as our defence and keeping options are on the whole sh1t.

3 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I want to see who our new defensive coach is. Boy will he have a job on his hands! 

All he won’t be overworked personnel wise. 

I thought this was going to be Dwight Yorke’s interview on Sky Sports where he says he wants the Villa job.

We've had 5 managers in 5 years, that can't be good for developing kids.

For all those expecting any (real or non-existnet) link with Mendes to come up trumps for Villa I say knowing our luck we're more likely to get a Dino Zoff than a Nuno Espirito Santo !

3 hours ago, One For The Road said:

He turned down a move to the Premier League. With two different clubs. 

Better?

Was he actually offered either job ? If not then he didn't turn anything down.

30 minutes ago, thejoker said:

I would hope that they now realise a change is necessary and are working hard in the background to find the best replacement. If not, we are screwed.

What’s Suliman done to deserve this ?

7 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Cross that bridge when we come to it ay, as it stands with the squad we have a talented manager might squeeze 12 points more out of a season than Bruce could anyway. It's a big handicap but I'd back us for playoffs at least if we can improve on Bruce.

We could also still do something THIS season if we bite the bullet now.

Totally agree.

If the article on the Mail website (which references a Times article) is true (and it would appear that we are going to lose too much over the 3 season spent in the championship). Then our situation is a real catch 22. We can’t afford not to sack him if we want to go up, but then again maybe we can’t afford to sack him for a  financial view unless we go up (£3M to sack him, plus whatever Calderwood and Clemence would be owed, plus whatever the next guy would earn).

I can’t see us going up with Bruce in charge, so we need to get rid, and bring someone in who can work with this team (and hope that Purslow can bring in some major sponsorship....I think the ground will absolutely be sponsored before the end of the season).

Mail article : 

”Aston Villa could face a points deduction next season if they are found in breach of financial rules.

According to a report in The Times, Villa could be docked 12 Championship points next season. 

It comes as rivals Birmingham City prepare to face a disciplinary panel on charges of breaking the EFL's profit and sustainability rules.

The Times claims Villa are also set to face chares for breaking the spending cap.

"Villa have posted an aggregate loss of £37.1 million during their two seasons in the second tier, giving them very little room to comply with rules that permit losses of £39 million over a three-year period before submitting their next results to the EFL in March," states the report in The Times.

The reduction in Villa's parachute payments this season from £33 million to £15 million and transfer proceeds smaller than last summer could also hinder Villa's cause.

If the breach is more than £15 million over three years then under new EFL guidelines Villa could face a 12 point deduction in the 2019-20 season.”

21 hours ago, hippo said:

it hasnt been replaced. dismantled, yes....replaced , not yet

This is the final submission to Bruce. He is now personally doing all scouting ad player recruitment.

Expect Karim/Barry from the kebab shop to be signed as defensive cover very soon.

1 hour ago, Stephen_Evans said:

They weren’t great, for sure, but the gap between their ambition and their failure wasn’t quite so big.

For real ? Villa's lowest ebb, Division 3 football, and bankrupt. 

For one thing these are different times and fans DEMAND instant success, what was Xia supposed to come in and say ? "We just expect to stay in the Championship as that's about our level" ? New owners come into big clubs and make big claims. I'm sure Xia regrets his wild claims of Champions League football, but I suspect he had been badly guided and believed it was possible at the time.

Nobody really knows what would have happened had we got promoted in that first season. It doesn't matter whose money it was, we spent enough for us all to rightfully expect promotion at the first attempt. If he'd got it right perhaps he'd have bet again. Xia gambled, and lost. At the end of the day whether by luck or by judgement he secured new owners (who on the face of it seem to be serious) at the right time rather than pursue the line that would have seen us bankrupt with a point deduction, and facing extinction.

I'm no fan of his, this isn't a defence of him, Xia was a fool for sure, but not our worst owner by a long way.

13 hours ago, sidcow said:

Yes, I will never forgive him. This magnificent institution lasted 144 years through good years and bad years but whatever dark days there have been through that 144 years no one ever took this club to the very brink of extinction.  Tony did within just 2 years of his tenure through catastrophic negligence.

The board of 1968 says Hi

I htink given his goal scoring record it's interesting that no championship or league 1 teams seem to have been in for him, normally towards the end of transfer window's clubs take a punt on previously successful 'problem' players. the lack of any links for him suggests there could be more to this than meets the eye (or pint glass).

1 hour ago, John said:

Or could it be: 

The fact is, we have to trim the wage bill. If there are players Bruce isn't going to play then he will be getting rid of them. 

We are desperate to save money so that we can use those wages to sign Terry. 

 

Every little helps

1 hour ago, striker said:

Towards the end of last season and in the playoff final Terry was becoming terribly exposed. A season older I would be very concerned relying upon him again for yet another arduous Championship season and I can see why the new owners wouldn’t want to fork out 70 grand per week in wages for that. 

I totally agree with this, and if the option had been to buy a young dynamic commanding centre back then I would not want Terry back, however without him we are left with Jedinak who is inferior to terry in every way (except possibly heading), and Chester who unfortunately needs a commanding vocal player next to him.

I also feel that getting terry would help Nyland to settle, as he organises the defence and it would be one less thing for Nyland to worry about.

43 minutes ago, HAL said:

And what happens if Chester or Tuanzebe get injured :I

You have to wonder about our youth and reserve teams, Rio Ferdinand made his Premier League debut aged 17, Ubi Ehiogu made his league debut aged 17, Sol Campbell made his debut aged 20, To y Adams made his debut aged 17, even  Bruce made his league debut aged 19. If we don’t blood youngsters we’ll never know how good they are and I can’t see any of our young central defenders being worse than Jedinak.

just to be clear, I’m not saying any of our youngsters are of the standard of the players I mentioned.

in any case Bruce has mismanaged our defence to an amazing extent and should be held accountable.

3 minutes ago, jim said:

Does it? Where have you seen this other than an article who’s source is Sky Italia understands....

ok, so ignoring the source, what about the photos ?

so it looks like he's in Moscow ahead of signing for Spartak.....so what now ?

Wasn’t his friendship with Bolasie key to him signing for us ? Surely if Adomah thought Bruce’s tactics were too negative he’d have told Bolasie and as an attacking player trying to rebuild his reputation he’d have been less likely to sign for us ? 

4 hours ago, paul1984 said:

The endorsements would be enough for me

If he hasn’t got an endorsement from Alex Ferguson then forget it !

While I don’t believe he’s done anything on purpose, you can’t defend the indefensible and Bruce just like our defence has no defence here ! Has to go and the quicker the better ! 

14 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

It's too late for Terry now.

Even if we signed him now it would probably be October before he's ready to play.

As much as I would have liked to see him here again this season, I don't think it's going to happen.

October is 4 weeks away, the benefit of just having him around the club would be more than worth the wait for Terry to get back to fitness. Plus we’ll be needing a new manager by then....