MadridVilla

Heard that we are monitoring Wayne Hennessey for a backup keeper. Personally, I would be disgusted by Villa signing him, after that unforgivable salute he didn't even apologise for. What a massive contradiction this signing would be to all the brilliant work that the Club, and in particular Tyrone Mings, have done to improve diversity and inclusivity. I take a lot of pride in the fact that Villa were the first team to take the knee back in June last year, so to sign someone so stupid and immature would be a really poor step in my opinion, and could really undermine the good work already done. Please Villa don't sign idiots like him

Just the sight of a snowy Macron stadium sends shivers down my spine. I feel cold just looking at it

Group therapy perhaps? As my dad used to say to me, the lows only make the highs even higher.

I'd forgotten about that Wigan game, I was so confident we'd turn up and get our season back on track that day, only to be completely outplayed. I remember Kortney Hause coming on for his debut and looking like he'd never kicked a football in his life. Without question the worst debut I've ever seen, with Drinkwater vs City probably second. At least Kortney has improved massively since then!

Yep, the Bolton game was during the beast from the East. It was a dreadful game but the snow really put the cherry on top of an awful day I remember losing to Chelsea 7-1 under O'Neill, but to be honest the away fans were brilliant and just saw the funny side of it all, so I've never had too many painful memories from that day. The 8-0 on the other hand was utterly humiliating, especially as they missed a penalty to make it 9-0

With all this optimism around the club at the moment, it got me thinking... What are some of the worst Villa games you can remember? Games that left you feeling full of frustration, desperate, or just completely numb. Some recent ones I can think of to start off: Bolton away 17/18 - a horribly cold day that put the nail in pushing for automatic promotion, having just beaten Wolves the week before. Southampton away 14/15 - completely crumbling to a 6-1 defeat with that Mane hat-trick in 3 minutes. Stoke home 08/09 - conceding two late goals and drawing the game, effectively killed our chances of top 4 Anyone got any others that stand out?

Glad you got sorted. I'm still trying to get through after 4 hours, keep getting the same message that they can't take my call It's fine I didn't have any plans today, or tomorrow, or Wednesday...

All the preseason games are on Villa TV thankfully, according to the last FCG meeting

I'm not sure why they can't just leave people waiting on the line to be honest. If you're trying to move to a cheaper/same price zone, you can send a DM to the AVFC support account on Twitter if you have an account, and they can assist with that I believe. Otherwise you'll just have to keep waiting for the phone lines to open again

Don't underestimate how poorly run Arsenal is, and how little they care about what the fans want

If reports are to be believed then it would seem Villa are sure this is who they want. Don't forget Purslow said that the club have an 'extremely precise' plan for this summer - I don't think we will give up on signing Smith Rowe, even if Arsenal are reluctant. It does seem like a lot of money but then again, we thought the same about Mings and Watkins who are now worth a lot more than what we paid for them. Besides, it's not my money, and it's not like we need to buy that many players this summer anyway.

A tour of VP is essential if you get the chance. Really drives home what a massive club the Villa is. Also take the short walk up to Aston Hall as well, nice house and gardens. Whilst in Brum, check out the library. It's a really spectacular building and worth a quick look inside. Have a look at Brindleyplace for a visit to the famous canals as well. There are plenty of bars around the centre like the Cosy Club and the Lost and Found in really impressive Victorian buildings, but they are a bit pricey. Food wise you can't go wrong with a balti but there are plenty of chain restaurants if that's your thing too. Stratford upon Avon is a good place to visit, quite touristy and I've come across a fair few Americans there before. In London a lot of the landmarks are easy enough to do on foot like Big Ben, London Eye, St Pauls, The Globe etc. as they're quite close together. Primrose Hill and Greenwich Park are good places to see the London skyline as well. There's a lot to do there and the hardest thing will be deciding what to fit in to your time there really. There's a museum/gallery for just about anything as well. In my experience of travelling though, just go and do whatever interests you. If you're a foodie then go to a food market, if you're into art then go to the galleries, and so on. Make no mistake though that your first trip to VP will be incredible. Having gone back for the Chelsea game last May after 18 months or so, I was blown away at the size of the place and the atmosphere which definitely doesn't get picked up well on the TV. I can only imagine what it will be like for you visiting - enjoy it.

That's a fair point. Like a lot I will only trust Percy's word as gospel when it comes to Villa. While he's not often the first to a story you know that it's likely to happen once he reports on it. So far nothing on Grealish which makes it clear a deal isn't close either way.

Yep, we played Malaga before the 13/14 season. That was just after Pellegrini had left for Man City and Isco had left for Real Madrid. I think we played Parma the season after that as well.

Sometimes things don't go as expected, journalists may be reporting on genuine stories with good sources that for whatever reason doesn't happen. The Rashica story, as hilarious as it was, did represent genuine interest from Villa and while he jumped the gun and said it was going to happen it would be harsh to say he was totally wrong with the benefit of retrospect - it may have been closer than we know. When Dan James nearly joined Leeds a couple of years ago were those journalists wrong to report he was on his way, given that he was at Elland Road holding the shirt? That's quite an exaggerated example but you get the idea

The whole reason Villa will offer a new deal is to ward off interest from other clubs and make sure he can't double his money somewhere else and turn his head. So I think it's a bit simplistic to say the contract doesn't matter, though I do agree that the contract is irrelevant if there isn't a possibility of him leaving. You're entitled to your opinion on Gregg Evans and I'm not here to defend him.

I hardly think he's reporting clickbait by saying City are interested and are weighing up a bid. That's the worst kept secret in football this summer. The real problem is the likes of Jim White who claimed a deal was done last week when the clubs hadn't even spoken to one another.

Also from The Athletic: Grealish is strongly admired at the Etihad Stadium and although there has been no contact between the two clubs as yet, City are expected to formalise their interest in due course. It is believed that any suitors for Grealish will need to produce a British record transfer fee of about £100 million to stand a chance of securing the 25-year-old.

In all fairness he is right. It is too early to say whether Jack stays or goes, because as it stands he hasn’t signed a new contract nor have City submitted a bid. But they’ve made it clear they will submit a formal bid after the Euros. I get it that Gregg Evans isn’t popular on here because he doesn’t say everything is sunshine and rainbows but he is literally doing his job, the idea that he’s hoping for players to leave is utter BS. He’s not a Villa fan as far as I’m aware so he probably just sees things from a more neutral perspective.

Sevilla have been a very good side as of late, they were still in the title hunt in Spain with a couple of games to go last year. This will be a really good test for us just before the season starts and it’s good to see us attracting some of the big(ish) names to VP.

Not great, not terrible in my opinion. Quite a nice style but a few inexplicable choices - what is going on with that collar? And the inside sleeve is a bit dodgy, would’ve been better just as the claret and blue striped band. May not be the real deal of course, as shirt manufacturers tend to make a few prototypes I believe. But I think the account it’s come from is quite good at finding leaked kits in fairness.

I think Abraham and Watkins are very similar players, both like to press high and tend to play as a lone striker. I would be surprised if we played them both upfront given their similarities, so perhaps Ollie would move out wide - but then again we have Buendía, Traore, El Ghazi and Jack, if you assume Trezeguet will be out all season. I then can’t believe we would spend £40m on a squad player, or that we would move Watkins to the bench after a really impressive season. Villa could benefit from another striker but I doubt £40m on Abraham is the right move.

I don't think Villa intended these bids to be accepted. But they do signal an interest in ESR which he will now know is strong, and if Arsenal don't give him an acceptable contract he knows that Villa are a potential alternative. I think even though his preference is likely to be to stay at Arsenal, he may well be tempted by Villa in the same way that Martinez thought joining Villa was an upgrade. While Arsenal have been outside the top 6 and look to be stagnating, Villa look like they will be going places in the coming years. Of course his agent will be happy as this is a win-win scenario. It forces Arsenal's hand to offer him a better deal to keep him happy plus a large agent bonus, and if he does move for north of £30m his agent will make a huge amount from the deal. I think Villa will bid up to around £35/40m and hope they can get Arsenal to bite at what is probably the lower end of their valuation of him. Make no mistake that the Arsenal board will not like the optics of this deal at all, as selling your promising young talent to clubs who finished below you hardly shows ambition.

A deal does not become ‘as good as done’ all of a sudden. Either the negotiations have been going on a while and we haven’t heard about it, or the story is massively overexaggerating. I believe Ashley Preece had said that he was told to fully expect Jack to be at Villa next season, and that was an article published yesterday. So I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter. Also given what we know about Purslow and the owners, they are not exactly known for folding easily, so I find it hard to believe we would just accept the first offer and work so quickly to get a deal done. These major deals do not get done in a matter of days.