wishywashy

This might be the most embarrassingly incompetent managerial appointment process since Tottenham Hotspur in 2021

Bring back this beaut, which could tenuously be considered a former badge after making an appearance in official promotional material on the 24th January 2018 for a game against Yorkshire Whites

I assume that's partially because we have no left wingers, after a certain ex-manager decided that we didn't need any

No way he goes for £50m if Leicester get relegated (which is pretty likely at this point) tbf: something which Delaney seems to emphasise a lot, although he never states a fee

Wonder what Emery could do with him.

This board (that Purslow as CEO is going to have a big role in!) have a really good record when it comes to making swift managerial changes: Smith was appointed in 8 days, Gerrard appointed in 4 days, and Emery in 3 days (4 if you include the 10pm sacking). It's clear that the reason why Villa seemingly tend to keep managers around for a few games after they're clearly toast is to ensure that the new manager is 100% done and that there's no long period of uncertainty with caretaker managers. Compare this process to some Premier League clubs this season alone: looking at Chelsea, Spurs, Leicester and Wolves just off the top of my head. All of these clubs have quite evidently suffered because the way they approached their managerial changes wasn't right.

This just isn't realistic though, is it? Gerrard was sacked on the 20th (at 11pm), Emery (and 7 additional members of staff) were announced on the 24th (a day after Emery had to coach a Villareal game). Realistically, Emery was being tapped up and the deal being arranged for weeks beforehand (because we are quite clearly a professionally run club, unlike some in the Prem), especially considering the clearly complex discussions about the long-term vision and how it would revolve around Emery's own structure. As for why Gerrard was kept on during this process, see Wolves for what could have happened: they sacked Bruno Lage because Lopetegui was kind of close to completion, but clearly it was too early: circumstances changed, Lopetegui had to reject Wolves, and they were in a managerial limbo for more than a month with a caretaker whose managerial experience was a stint with Crewe (and so they won 1/7). They eventually got Lopetegui, but the process was clearly rocky and chaotic.

Too old. Wouldn't get in the team over Bert.

The UEFA rules are really lax and a complete copout: afaik we wouldn't fall foul of them as we only have a minority stake anyway. Even if we had a majority stake, arguing that the day to day running of the club is led by different people would probably be fine with UEFA too. RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig can play in the same competition and are considered to be under different ownership (????) by UEFA for this reason.

As aforementioned, winning the 2018 playoff could have genuinely been the worst thing to ever happen to Villa. Xia et al. could barely build a functioning Championship with a budget miles ahead of competitors (with non existent funding). They'd have likely have hedged all their bets on staying up, finished 20th with a woefully built squad, and Villa would have gone into the Championship again in a likely irrecoverable, or at least jaw droppingly awful financial state. No more NSWE or lottery owner at that point, so I assume we'd either go under and/or death spiral down the Football League. Getting promoted could quite feasibly have killed Aston Villa. In a similarish vein, the 2019 playoff final was a sliding doors moment, but for Derby rather than us: losing that playoff final screwed up their financial position and they almost went bust.

The changes to Vitoria's board of directors (and the constitution changes per the vote earlier) have now been ratified. Curiously, rather than appointing representatives to fill the 2 seats V Sports now have on a board of 5 directors (as Vitoria fans expected), they've been taken directly by Sawiris and Edens, which suggests they'll be quite actively involved with the club.

Heaton just ever so slightly landing awkwardly during a routine save and tearing his ACL led to Argentina winning the Copa America and World Cup

Yes, as V Sports only owns 46% of Vitoria: the rule permits minority stakes. Even then, the rule is incredibly lax (RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg aren't under the same ownership, per UEFA.)

Drop the minibus part and you're probably right tbh

Why is it not Sunday yet

Can *any* of the Midlands clubs go without drama for 5 minutes? (the answer is no)

Smarterscout seems to think he largely played DM under Emery, but their way of judging what positions players are in is weird at the best of times. They're still relatively indicative of his general qualities, though (but they've been adjusted differently, given how DMs are naturally expected to defend better and attack less than CMs)

I'm definitely leaning towards him saying 'Grealish' (although the buffering reallly doesn't help), but I can definitely hear both. There're enough of those videos out there where you can hear about 8 different words from a sound depending on what word is on the screen to know how hard it can be to know exactly what's being said!

I'd take FBref profiles of players from clubs such as Madrid with a pinch of salt: they're not possession adjusted so they do tend to get quite inflated when playing for a club with more possession & on the front foot, so they're not as reflective of a player's quality. His Smarterscout profile suggests a midfielder who is very, very good at defending and link-up play, who shouldn't be relied on for creating too many chances himself: which seems to be exactly how he's used at Madrid.

Agree that the right-hand side is definitely the one part of the attack that could be quite easily strengthened. Not a disservice to Lehmann, mind you, but the surrounding players in attack (Hanson, Dali, Nobbs, Daly) are all pretty visibly a level or two above her. I really hope we keep Hanson, just really have to hope that United can't guarantee her a spot in their starting 11. I think she signed a new long-term contract just before joining us on loan, though, so I think they do highly value her: luckily it's not the end of the world if she goes. As for that Leicester news, that really sucks for everyone involved. I know Leicester have clearly become a badly run club at all levels, but that's just farcical, especially when there's more than enough funding lying around to build a £100m training complex (but none to run a proper girls academy?)...

I think your suggestions may be correct: it's sound logic and it is clear that the remit of the footballing department has been given to Emery. The real reason for that: whether it's down to distrust in Purslow or a demand from Emery to have complete control that was accepted (seeing how he was clearly hard to please, rejecting a very lucrative Newcastle project), I'm not so certain of. I'm largely just peeved at how this thread has spent the last 20 or so pages just debating Purslow's direct influence in footballing decisions that have been unpopular. It's way easier with players/managers because you see what they're doing on a football pitch, but there's been extensive debate over decisions made in private meetings that none of us have been in, and kinda just making crap up depending on how we see Purslow (and ultimately some of the resulting insinuations make little sense). Evidently, it's gone around and around in circles (because none of us are close to knowing what's actually happened) and it's now culminating in, as seen above, personal mudslinging between some. Pointing out stuff like how the ethics of the clubs marketing has gone downhill during his tenure is reasonable, I feel: the situation isn't as murky as the chain of command and decision makers are far more certain. But the debate has largely just gone in circles about the footballing decisions that have happened around the club, and assigning blame accordingly, and now increasingly contradictory as more extreme stances are being taken.

Quite bold to insinuate that NSWE are absolute idiots who are willing to continually employ a CEO that they don't trust to manage the club. Makes zero logical sense considering their prior acumen: perhaps that's just not what's been happening?

Odd club for what is such a highly rated sporting director to join, especially considering the calibre of clubs he was linked to. Olabe seems to have been our first choice given the links were said to be accurate in January, but he's since extended his contract at Sociedad. Wonder who we'll go after now.

Another 10 pages of arguing in circles about the extent to which Purslow should be held responsible over the misgivings at Villa, given how our success means we can't have one about a player/manager at the moment? Means everything is going well, so sign me up.