DamsonwoodVillan

Green looks a tricky player indeed. Hepburn-Murphy certainly looks like he knows where the back of the net is as well. Great run out for them. Learnt nothing much more from that really. Quite a poor performance defensively I felt. They should have had at least one goal. Gollini looks like he has a presence at least. I don't think Toner can really threaten the first 11 and for me Baker is better suited to the Championship than Okore.

It's probably an issue of wages at the moment. People like Guzan, Richards, Lescott and Sinclair will be rinsing us and our bill must be huge for a Championship club. When those 4 go it will open up some funds.

I think you'd find it would be the case that they would go and get RDM's choices. I suspect the numbers though will be about 4 out, 4 in, so I fully expect that will be achieved. At the moment it looks like being Guzan, Richards, Lescott and Sinclair out. Possibly Veretout as well. If it was me I'd be tempted to keep Sinclair but if Green can step up and play his part this season then it would be good business to sell Scotty.

Gollini Hutton Elphick Baker Amavi Gana Tshibola Green Ayew Grealish Gestede Someone like Kodija could come in and I think would go straight into the side. If Morrison was to sign I think he would have to bide his time to make the 11.

Officially, according to Gregg Evans, yes Traore is injured. I can't help but think there's more to it than that though. There's something going on with that lad and the club. Whether he fell out with someone early on, or there's some rising fee per appearances issue the club are worried about. I'd like to think new owner, new manager, new slate, but until we see him back in the fold I will still suspect something's not right. And he still seems miles from the first team at the moment.

I heard he was having a medical at Man City??

Bacuna will probably move on to a Champions League side....

Very good appointment in my view. You're never going to please everyone but I think Di Matteo and Clarke is as good as we could have hoped for given our current situation. I certainly expect a more attacking team with more goals scored, if nothing else. Wishing the new management team all the best, and hope they get good backing by the new board.

I can already vision Lerner's statement on the official website on Monday. In an attempt to be funny he'll start with the phrase "Hello again to all that"

The official website has updated the Sale Confirmed news page to say that Recon owns 'shares, both directly and indirectly, in several companies'. I think it's more an oversight by the club than deliberately pulling the wool over eyes. In reality I would think Recon own a great deal of stakes in these firms but shouldn't be claiming that they legally own them. I hardly think the bloke is dodgy. They just worded it wrong. The only niggle I would have is Xia's personal wealth is probably lower than predicted. Funds will come from his businesses, so he will need the ok from other investors/shareholders to an extent

Only problem being Sushi, Ninjas and the Samurai are all Japanese not Chinese. Focus more on Kung Fu, Tsingtao and Bruce Lee films...

Total hypocrisy from a lot of fans so nostalgic for the Gregory era! We had darn good players in those days. Yes his first run when he took over was amazing, but I think it went sour for him quickly when we went from top at Christmas to finishing 6th. Villa fans of the time moaned constantly of the dour football Gregory served up, and his ridiculous public spats with Ellis and some of the players. In those days we did truly have a squad that should have done better. He was a big disappointment in the most part for me, but stole the hearts of the fans for being a 'Villa man'.

I honestly would have given it to Amavi as sad as that is.

My hunch says Bruce at the moment. Or possibly Hughton.

Yes at the moment I'm looking forward to it. How many would you interview if you were the board? A great many, or whittle it down to a select few? There must be up to 10 names that have been consistently mentioned now. I think there will be some movement this week.

Our Lerner Who art in New York Randy be thy name Maybe Moyes will come A new manager be done At Villa Park as it is at Bodymoor Heath Give us this day our daily rumour And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive O'Neill, Houllier, McLeish and Lambert who have trespassed against us And lead us not into a Southgate And deliver us from McCarthy For thine is the club, the stadium, and the training ground Hopefully not for ever and ever Amen

The Mirror has reported Bruce again. I know it depends what happens with Hull this month but I think he's a strong shout. I don't 'like' Pearson as much as Dyche, Moyes or Bruce but he definitely has some of the credentials we should be looking for.

I have this belief Gestede and Ayew would be really strong in the Championship with Adama and Grealish supplying. Ayew has a bit about him as well as his poor attitude.

I've said before on this forum that Lambert, although dreary and painful to watch at times, fulfilled his remit here. He cut the wage bill right back so we could recover a bit financially, and kept us in the Premier League. I do accept he'd lost it in the end but he managed to do it for 2 seasons keeping us in there. Naively I thought that Sherwood would be able to benefit from the work that Lambert did and push us on with a bit of backing again. When I was down in Bournemouth on the opening day this season: myself, mates I was with, Villa fans in general, were all saying Sherwood had used the Benteke and Delph money well and expected us to be more comfortable this season. No one could truly foresee the situation we've had between then and now with managers. I don't really know what we need this time around. I've said Dyche on the vote purely because he's fresh and positive. I think he's the type of character we'll need for the Championship campaign. But is he out of reach? Would swapping Turf Moor for Villa Park actually be a step down? I'd happily take Moyes or Pearson but no direction is guaranteed. I do trust that we have better people on the board now so will trust in that.

Maybe this thread is 2 months or so premature. No one can realistically know what's going to happen at this point. A lot will depend on Garde, my gut feeling as of right now is he won't be here come June, that will be significant either way. My hunch is there will be many players brought in and a great deal will leave. I don't go with this trail of thought that not much will happen. Garde or any other prospective manager will not want to continue with a poorly assembled second rate squad who have lost the majority of their games over a 5 year period. I think Clark, Amavi, Adama and Gestede will all be important players for us next year but other than those I really couldn't say. I almost hope it is a 100% different group regardless of the threat of struggling in the second tier, at least it would feel like something new. All I can say for certain is I will be backing our boys and I will be renewing my season ticket yet again for the Villa.

Too early to judge Garde. I actually think he's switched on, and in time he may do well. I do think his style may eventually work out with the hierarchy we have. But he wasn't the appointment we needed at that particular time. My feeling is that he's too cautious, a must not lose manager. I think he realises he can't go on the attack like some fans crave because we just don't have the players. His challenge really is how he moulds a squad that suits him. We won't survive this season not because he's inept but because we just don't have the quality. How he assembles a squad to come back from this will be his biggest challenge.

In the event of going down I still think Walters and Naismith would be good signings. Good experienced pros who would be useful for a tough Championship campaign. Signing them would be no brainers for me if Gabby and Kozak's Villa careers are indeed over. We badly need a quality addition in the middle of the park. Badly badly need. I know it may sound more hope than substance but a good player in that area could make such a difference. I would still play Richards Clark Okore Lescott as a back 4 and be tempted to replace Guzan if possible.

Berbatov not dropping wage demands for Premier League football?

Great signing. Welcome Joleon. UTV

Yeah I wouldn't write us off in those fixtures highlighted there. Leicester and WBA have had solid starts but we have to believe in ourselves that we can beat both of those two. I wouldn't expect Stoke, Tottenham or even Liverpool to just turn us over either. Like Mike just said we are more than capable of picking up some shock wins once everyone's in and firing.