Only2McInallys

Your encyclopaedic knowledge is very impressive.

I maybe erased those relegation battles.

But I do remember 2 genuine title challenges something I don't expect to see again in my lifetime

My main point is that when people call for change and that change doesn't work out accept some responsibility for the aftermath.

We were promoted the next season and had 2 years soon after where we were genuine title challengers twice.5 years later we finishe 4th won league cup twice and were never in danger of relegation when he was in control 

Not bad record to me

Some good may come out of all this.We made huge losses under Lerner and under Xia wages and transfer fees have been too high.I think Villa fans must accept some responsibility for this.Doug Ellis for all his faults kept a tight control on wages and transfers.He managed to keep spending in line with our income.I remember fans demanding he spend more money and  fans rejoiced when he sold.

Since then we have had 2 owners who did exactly what the fans wanted and what happened?

Relegation and bankruptcy.

We need to follow a very simple policy,our out goings must not be greater than our income.

The hardest part for us is we  are going to have to adjust our expectations accordingly

I am still not sure about Xia

Is he a complete crook or was he somebody who gambled and lost.

Does he want to get a return on his investment or is he going to bankrupt the club?.

Others here seem very certain Bertrand Russell said if you certain about anything you almost certainly wrong.

I  think the statement is preparing us for some major sales  next week.

I expect the transfer of Grealish to Tottenham to be announced on Monday.

Or Tuesday

How could sacking Bruce have improved our financial position?

Changing managers and employing new coaching staff and recruiting new players is going to be expensive

The majority of people who now state we overspent and blame Xia for this mismanagement.    I hope these  are not the same people who   Wanted Bruce sacked a few months ago

We are obviously in severe financial trouble.

Everybody now agrees we overspent in transfers especially under RDM although at the time I don't remember anybody questioning this policy.Xia is taking the blame for this overspend and rightly so.

But many people who are blaming Xia for this mismanagement  were calling for Bruce to be sacked not long ago.

How much money would have spent compensating Bruce and his coaches paying a release clause for a new manager new manager wages new players required etc.So not sacking Bruce would seem to be a good financial decision by Xia.

WWe have just had severe cash flow issues.I know we asked for Westwood transfer money early what about the other transfers?Our wage bill will drop next month by 15 million I just don't see any mention of money coming in only going out.The sums may not be huge individually but our losses per month would seem be 1 - 1.5 million

The reported losses of 4-5 million a month are obviously an exaggeration .Why is there no mention about our income?The money we are probably owed on transfers at beginning of Xias first season ,Gollinis recent transfer4.5 million,parachute payment 18 million,Efl money ,shirt sponsorship money,money from Wembley play off finals and season ticket sales.

I think it is too early to judge Tony. The team that got relegated in 2016 was a disgrace if that team hadn't been rebuilt we would be where Sunderland are.Did we spend too much rebuilding ?Probably but if we were mid table this season everyone would be saying the owner should be doing more .Very few people at the time had a good word to say about Doug Ellis because he kept a tight control of transfer spending.When he sold everyone was rejoicing about having a new owner .That has turned into nightmare.Becareful about what you wish for.

We have huge cash flow issues at the moment.When a club makes a bid of 10-15 million for Jack we will not be in a position to refuse.

The team that played against Fulham if it was allowed to stay together would get promoted next season.Unfortuneately that can't happen due to FFP .

We narrowly missed out on promotion .Bruce effectively constructed a brand new team which at times played some extremely effective football .Is this the time to scrap the good things of this season and start again?

Been an Aston Villa fan for 40 years.First game versus Stoke City 0-0 didn't put me off but probably prepared me for the future.First season ticket 1979-80 and unbelievably witnessed remarkable success of next few years.Missed European Cup final due to my O level exams now realise that was a big mistake exams can be retaken but European cup finals are not going to happen in my lifetime again.Moved to London in 1984 so attendance at games has been irregular since.I have been looking at posts on this site for last few years and would like to contribute to discussions.Looking forwarding to hearing back from you.