meme

In a bit of seriousness, it would be amazing if Mr Xia himself actually joined VillaTalk. Not such a deluded idea either, considering his love of Weibo and social media in general. As long as he kept it under wraps, it would probably be at least one of the first cases of an owner fully interacting with fans of the club.

I'm questioning the options for redundancies here. The people we need have been sacked yet the deluded, illiterate media team are still here. Hurry up, Xia, we want more sackings! Back on topic, I'm sort of sad to see Hollis go. The takeover, without him, would have either gone to an equally-deluded American or not have happened at all. Things sped up ten fold after his financial prowess came to the club.

Very interesting bit. Whom we thought was the villain, the dark man, turned out to be the man behind the takeover after all.

Agreed. I think he simply realises that most chairmen never interact with fans, and this can sometimes strain relations a bit. Besides, being active on Weibo also proves he is modern and not Old Man Ellis...

We sure have won big.

I'm sure Xia has some Russian friends who would 'eliminate' Samuelson...

Oh well. At least it means more money for us!

Seems the old website is still on. Who is this Jamie Banfield lad anyway? Quick google search only really reveals an interior design company.

Agreed. Winning a Player of The Season at the age of 20, even if it was at Walsall is a massive feat and proves potential exists in bags. Also still only 24, so plenty of time to still develop, especially with our new set of coaches/manager.

OS would be more than just a regular update, they wouldn't need to disable the servers (hence the unrecognised host error) for something minor. 90% chance it will be the new website.

Yeah, it is. Probably for the reason what @Daweii says.

His LinkedIn shows that he is still at the club. Will probably leave once the takeover is ratified. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/charlie-wijeratna-b31ab917

Yes, and we love the theory.

Eh. I tried.

This match, along with previous tournaments, proves that we need a HUGE change in the English system if we are going to even have any chance at succeeding at international tournaments. ISSUE 1 - MANAGER: Now, we all love Woy, but he is even more stone-age than Pulis, and he is now choosing very questionable choices for his lineup and tactics. If he were the Spain or Germany manager, he would have been fired at least two years ago. ISSUE 2 - OVERRATED PLAYERS: English fans love their players, and try to rank them beside the best in the world. This isn't true at all. Kane, probably our best English striker at the moment, would score far less goals in Liga BBVA than actual world-class players such as Suarez, Ronaldo etc. This leads onto my third issue... ISSUE 3 - NOBODY PLAYING FOREIGN: Transfers happen every day, many in, many out. In the Premier League, most of our top players now make up of either South American countries or Spain/Belgium. It isn't unusual to find someone foreign in our leagues. But how many top English players are in the likes of Liga BBVA and likewise? I can't think of any, other than Gary Lineker for Barcelona a very long time ago. They realise we are overpaid and overrated, and our players are obviously not as good as theirs. ISSUE 4 - YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM/PREMIER LEAGUE: The Premier League is the richest league in the world. However, it is English. How many top English players are in it? Only about 30/40. How many in Liga BBVA? A lot. Our youth systems can attract the best in the world, they just can't get near enough games to be good. The moment they go elsewhere, they suddenly boom in value thanks to first team experience. The Premier League also has a very interesting game, one that is fast and physical for all we know. Trimming this down a bit and making teams more technical will prevent the injuries that plague our English team so much. So what are the solutions? ISSUE 1: Get a world-class manager who gets the best out of his attacking players. Just not Di Matteo, please, he is ours. ISSUE 2: Really can't be solved for a long time. ISSUE 3: See issue 4 for answers. ISSUE 4: This is the long one. First of all, I believe a rule should be established in the Premier League that many other divisions use: a maximum amount of foreign players in your entire first eleven/subs. This will allow English players to get the PROPER game-time that will allow them to flourish. Next, we should take a similar path that Germany did after 2000, an entire restructure of the development system, if you will. This can't be achieved at the moment, because the FA are absolute boll*cks. Come on, we all know they have a terrible setup. Maybe try appointing some foreigners who are more experienced, for petes sake, us Englishmen are very bad at our jobs! https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/23/germany-bust-boom-talent TL;DR - We are dooooooooomed!

I'm not sorry for that.

Better for us!

Of course not. We'll be spending £250m when we get back in the Premier League!

I don't know. I think it was because he was a bit injury-prone, and therefore struggled to adjust to the Premier League. He's proven in the Championship, though, and certainly has potential.

How about Choupou-Moting? Excellent winger who can also play as a striker if required. Huge work-rate and runs his socks off every game. Huge similarities to Young back when he played for us. And another unrealistic signing, but doesn't Timo Horn have a really cheap release clause or something? Thinking it was only about £6m, a steal for someone who should really be at a top-half Prem club at the least.

Even if he only makes bench appearances, he is like a flamethrower to a bunch of low morale trees, revitalising the players and the fans at the club. He could even coach the U18s again, a model professional that all young players should look to follow.

Bye, N'Zogbia, we will NEVER miss you!

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-preparing-recruit-top-11457278? The pull of the takeover appears to be working. BM very vague, but regardless spelling the end for Paddy.

Wait, so the takeover presumably goes through next Monday... My birthday is also next Monday... Good God... (or Good Bacuna)