OxfordVillan

Is this meant as a joke?! It’s like you’ve tried to write down the opposite of reality!

I think it’s becoming clearer with every day that lockdown measures are going to be around for months rather than weeks. And when lockdown measures start to be eased it’s going to be on a priority basis, and leisure events that create mass gatherings will be at the lower end of priority.

As long as we were to get enough £s for Grealish that allowed us to buy 2 or 3 good 1st team players, then I agree. Emphasis more on 3 players.

Agreed. But two things must happen for Grealish not to be tempted away; (1) Villa must remain a Premier League club. (2) If (1) is achieved then Investment must be made in the next transfer window to bring in 2-3 very good players to compliment Grealish in the 1st team, that would likely cost £150-200m for 3 very good players. Next season we would have to be at the level that Wolves are currently at to justify players at the level of Grealish remaining at the club, we would have to become a fixture in the top 7 or 8 clubs IMO.

At Villa Park I’d fancy us against most, only 2 or 3 that bring any sense of trepidation. Sheffield Utd have had a really good season for them, but they’re hardly a bunch of galaticos waiting to unload on us. We’ll beat them at VP.

I have friends in Spain, they have said they’ve been further locked down until mid May. They are known to be two weeks ahead of us in this virus crisis, so I wouldn’t think we’ll be having restrictions lifted here much before June, at the earliest. In France, Macron has further extended bans into mid July. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/14/tour-de-france-on-hold-after-macron-extends-outdoor-sports-ban-till-july-cycling The Tour De France is pushed back, and I like that the organisers are saying it won’t go ahead without the fans being able to line the roads. Spot on.

Well, games have been played on Saturday and Sundays in this country for quite some time, certainly pre-dates the Premier League. Perhaps it’s the British mentality/psyche that makes us more competitive/adaptable, which in turn creates the faster, more exciting football on the pitch. Football that is more competitive throughout the entire league rather than one or two clubs dominating.

Let me understand what you’re implying correctly? All that the other leagues would need to do, to attract the worldwide audience that the Premier League does, would be to tweak their Kick Off times? Is that what you’re saying?

With a game in hand, and John McGinn available on the resumption of football. 10 games to go, 6 at Villa Park, where we average more points in home games than any of the other teams around us. Depending on when the football restarts, we might even have Heaton & Wesley back in contention. Players will have had a big break to shake off the clear downturn in morale when football was stopped. All positives for AVFC compared to how things were in March. The break couldn’t have come at a better time.

You’re completely wrong, but hey ho. If you think it’s down to good PR then you can’t be helped. If other leagues could replicate the Premier League PR, or even improve on it, then they can and would. It’s very easy to promote something when it’s the best. You’ve obviously got a bit of a chip on your shoulder with regard to the British football fan, for whatever reason. If you can’t see the connection between the British psyche of the fans and the resulting product on the pitch then, again, you’re beyond help.

It’s the British mentality that creates the British game, that creates the product that is the Premier League. The biggest and most watched league in the world of football. Take away the intensity of the fans, the intensity of the players, and you take away the very ingredient that sells it across the entire world. There’s a reason why it’s the most popular league, by far, throughout the world. It’s a British ingredient that no other country can replicate.

What I do know is that negative thoughts/talking, hypothetical questions on where we would expect to finish next season in a lower league, will result in relegation if the management and playing staff employ the same mindset.

When football does start making its comeback, then for me Tyrone Mings has to be made Aston Villa Captain. Team captain, club captain. Or McGinn as club captain.

We’re not going to get relegated.

Bang on. Without fans there is no product. And I’m talking about fans in stadiums, not armchairs. The British game is made on the back of the passion and fervour of the fans, the relationship between fans in the grounds and the players on the pitch. Think of it like the darts, or the theatre ......take away the spectators and what do you have? A quiet stage where you may as well play chess, or kaplunk. Utterly pointless.

I think we need to consider “precedent”. If a number of leagues throughout Europe do similar, then we could well be in trouble. The bottom line is that if there was a Premier League vote on this type of finish then you could probably bet your house on 17 clubs being in favour! The big difference between the Premier League & SPL is that only 2 clubs have played a game less in the SPL, Rangers & St Johnstone, and neither of those 2 clubs can really gain anything with a 3pt win with the game in hand. Villa, on the other hand, could win their game in hand and jump to 15th in the table and thus avoid relegation.

Vested interests from many directions over what to do with this season. What shouldn’t be allowed to happen is for any action to result in a knock-on effect that alters/disrupts other seasons. Gordon Taylors murmurings would cause disruption to the “norm” for the next 3 or so seasons. Cannot be allowed to happen. If the league can be completed by end of June(it won’t) with fans present, then crack on. Shorter summer break is ok with me. Failing that, if football can’t resume until August/September then this current season has to be voided and we start the 2020/21 season as normal. If football can’t resume until late into 2020, or into 2021, then finish this season from January 2021 onwards. Absolutely no scrapping of the FA Cup or League Cup, these are competitions that all but an elite clique of 5-6 clubs enjoy and brings in much needed income for lower league clubs. We must not allow the fabric of our game to be further cut to suit a handful of greed driven clubs in their aims.

Unfortunately for FIFA they cannot oblige any employer or employee to remain in a job that neither party wish to remain in, beyond their legally obligated contract. That very obvious fact aside, who gives a flying f**k what those corrupt pieces of shi7 at FIFA say? In the midst of this crisis that we’re mostly all living through, it’s allowed space to reflect and consider many things. And I’ve reinforced my belief that top flight football is a dirty little slag that I don’t miss at all.

Bang on. The last sentence in particular. Either this season completes by end of June, or it gets voided. The only thing that could change that is if this virus takes us towards the end of the year with still no football, in which case it becomes more feasible to finish the 2019/20 season in place of what would have been the 2020/21 season.

Great idea........who would be Dean Smiths replacement, and how would he be getting his ideas across? Would it be via Skype or Whattsapp? I assume you realise there is no training as players have been sent home? I’m not sure you’ve really thought this through

Sorry, but he did not do “very well”.

Likely to be released, and we shouldn’t start wailing if he is. We all want home grown players to make it through, of course we do. But O’Hare hasn’t pulled up trees for Coventry, he’s been a decent performer in the 3rd tier of English football, and he’s 22. If he was a teenager things might be different with a new contract. Unfortunately he should have been out playing men’s football earlier, Villa are part culpable for him not coming through as we perhaps expected.

Anyone declaring Lambert did a great job needs to be referred to a league cup 2leg semifinal against a 4th tier football team, which lambert conspired to lose. Paul Lambert is a terrible manager, as has been showcased at every club he’s been at, Norwich aside.

I think what ppl should consider is that if, at the start of the season, we were offered 17th in the league with a cup final thrown in, would you have taken that? Granted, I thought we could do better in the league, but with hindsight I can accept that I underestimated the league and overestimated the impact that our signings would make. I’m delighted that the league was halted when it was as I honestly thought at that time we were the most out of sorts team in the league and heading to the championship, without question. This break in proceedings could prove to be our saving grace. A break that gives us time to reflect, reenergise, regroup. It’s just what our team needed. I’d be more confident of us staying up now should the season restart for the final 10 games. The summer arrivals from overseas are getting a good break, if we return to the season it’ll be in warmer weather, which will suit one or two of them better. And they now have the experience of an Premier League season. Honestly, this break in proceedings only has positivities for us. If we did return to the season and look equally as poor as when it stopped, then I think we could rightly question the management.

Yes, but every other player won’t have played for months either, and so everyone’s match sharpness will be down.