jackbauer24

Mine arrived today. Trinity Road Lower. Very simple this year; the fixtures and the card! No car stickers, badges or postcards etc.

£7.1m for him? So we paid about £0.4m + wages? Good deal! He wasn't exactly a disaster but he's not worth anywhere near the money we paid for him. English football is clearly not for him which is why French teams are after him and not even newly promoted sides. Actually I'm pleased if this happens truth be told; I'd say our midfield was equally as culpable for our demise as any other area in our team. I'd like shot of most of our defence (Lescott, Bacuna and Richardson etc) and most of our midfield (Sanchez, Veretout and Gana). And seeing as the last two who have any resale value I'd happily see the back of them first. I know nothing about Tshibola but I don't think replacing Gana will be hard at all.

Di Matteo has been talking about reducing the squad now (I hope that doesn't mean he's finished buying) so who gets the chop? I think the easiest thing to do is look at having two players for each position and then seeing where we're at; GKs Gollini (& Bunn) LBs Amavi (& Bennett) CBs Okore (& Clark) and Elphick (& Baker) RBs NEW PLAYER (& Hutton) DMFs Tshibola (& Westwood) and NEW PLAYER (& Gardner) AMFs Grealish (& Traore) and NEW PLAYER (& Sinclair) STs Ayew (& Gestede) and NEW PLAYER (& Gabby) So, by my reckoning, we need four first team players with those in brackets able back ups for various formations and injuries. That's 22 players, throw in the likes of Petrov, Richards and youth players and I think we're set. So sales could be Guzan, Cissokho, Lescott, Sanchez, Bacuna, Gueye, Veretout, Gil and Kozak. The sales of these players should easily pay for the four first team players we need and reduce wages. I know there are a few names that are controversial but Richards and Sinclair will hold their own in the Championship as back up, and Gabby also might find his level. On the sales side, Gueye, Veretout and Gil might get defended but their sale values are too high to justify keeping them when they've shown so little. This is a squad for the Championship.

I'm trying to be patient, but the season starts in a month. I'd hoped we'd have had a few more faces in and out by now but I'm not exactly panicking either. Yes, I know the transfer window technically only open a week ago and there is nearly two months before it closes, but I think most would agree that we need to hit the ground running and have arguably the most to do with our squad out of any team who is serious about promotion. We need to be making somewhat of a statement to both the fans and the current squad that we are serious about promotion - this squad wouldn't make playoffs as it stands. Our fellow relegated teams were miles better than us, the teams that missed out on promotion need tweaks - we need an overhaul. On the plus side we've currently held on to a few players I suspected would have gone by now. Keep Amavi, Ayew, Grealish etc and it greatly reduces the amount of transfers we need but we still need at least another three or four first team players. However, I'd hope by the Middlesborough game that 90% of our transfer business is done so that makes the next three weeks crucial. I have patience, but I am a little worried that the season starts in a month and we've just taken a poor senior squad on a week long training camp to Austria, it doesn't mean transfers can't happen in that time, it's just that they're much less likely to. Come on RDM/ Dr Xia, show us your serious about promotion.

We should be selling quite a few midfielders before we get to Westwood. Sanchez for a start or Gana who doesn't want to be here or Veretout who's shown next to nothing. Everyone is replaceable or can be improved on but we have significantly bigger problems than Westwood. I'd prefer him as a squad player than the other midfielders mentioned, so unless we are selling them all, he should stay in my opinion. His work ethic will be far more value to us than a sulking Gana, Veretout or useless Sanchez.

Surely we'd prefer a goalie called Gollouti?!

I think keeping Amavi and/or Ayew would tell us a lot more about Dr Xia's intentions than any purchases we're likely to make. In Amavi's situation it's very easy. Dr Xia just says "give us 6 months to get your fitness back and let me prove the places we're going, if not you can leave in Jan". If we're not in promotion contention and/or Dr X hasn't shown evidence he's serious with his aspirations then Amavi leaves. But if we can't keep players who are already here then I doubt we're going to convince players to join us using the same promises. It's why I think we need a marquee signing, despite not normally advocating them, because Dr Xia needs to, rightly or wrongly, prove he's not all talk at some point.

We're currently not a team that can be considered for promotion, it is purely our name that makes us one of the favourites. It's still early, but Dr Xia has not followed any of his talk with action - Elphick is solid but fully within the realms of a Lerner type signing, especially considering we lost N'Zogbia and Richardson wages. Newcastle have strengthened significantly and quickly, but we're still in the pondering stage. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it won't happen but AS IT STANDS we would still struggle to make the playoffs. I hope after RDMs initial assessments have been completed, and the distraction of Euro2016 (although I doubt many players we could sign will be playing) that things step up a gear and we can return to this thread with a much better idea of where we are in the Championship pecking order. But if things haven't changed much in a month then I highly doubt promotion is on the cards.

It's a fair point but the problem is the 'new' money has kicked in. £25m is the new £15m. Look at Townsend, moving from a relegated club for £13m despite being bought for a million pounds less in January. Gayle really worth £10m? And Mane £36m? Everything has just jumped up due to the extra money and that will have some impact on Championship clubs, especially in sales (bring able to ask for more) but also in purchases, i.e. if x is worth this then our player must be worth the same...

If you look at the last few years in the Championship, the following players scored over 20 goals in a season; 15-16; Andre Gray (Burnley) 25 goals, Ross McCormack (Fulham) 21 goals, Abel Hernandez (Hull) and Jonathan Kodjia (Bristol) 20 goals 14-15; Daryl Murphy (Ipswich) 27 goals, Troy Deeney (Watford) and Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn) 21 goals, Rudy Gestede (Blackburn), Odion Ighalo (Watford) and Callum Wilson (Bournemouth) 20 goals 13-14; Ross McCormack (Leeds) 28 goals, Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn) 25 goals, Troy Deeney (Watford) 24 goals, Danny Ings (Burnley), Lewus Grabban (Bournemouth) and Chris Martin (Derby) 22 goals, David Nugent (Leicester) and Sam Vokes (Burnley) 20 goals. So with a number of those players now in the Premier League, it leaves a small selection of stand out names if we're looking for proven Championship performers; Ross McCormack - heavily linked, is 29 Daryl Murphy - no links, but is 33 Jonathan Kodjia - no links, is 26 Chris Martin - no links, is 27 Other than this we'd need to look at convincing players like Ings, Wilson, Austin etc that they would get more game time at Villa. It's relatively slim pickings if we're looking for the 'safe' bet.

That's all well and good but what if you're a 33, 37, 41, 45, 49 or 53 inch chest?! #UnderArmourOut

Surely that's very fake. For a start, it's littered with spelling mistakes. Then there is the fact fines would not be paid to Bond. Finally, I very much doubt considering the amounts, that staff fines would only be 10% of player fines.

If only 10% of the Leave voters have voted because of misconceptions over immigration, making a protest vote or believing promises that have already broken then a re-run would see a Remain win. However I'd guestimate it's closer to 70%+ who voted Leave based on one of those criteria and now everyone will pay for it.

I have been an ever increasing Remain supporter. My gut instinct was to remain but then did this thing called 'thinking and research' and realised it was clearly the only choice for the good of the country, europe and future generations. However, my absolute disgust at some, even a majority, of Leave supporters is not that they feel different to me (that's democracy) but that they gave zero thought to it or have such strong misconceptions about what they voted for. They have potentially ruined the future of this country and their children based on stupidity. I have no issue with contrasting views or priorities or well intentioned decisions that might not worked out, but I dispair at stupidity. If you voted Leave to curb immigration you failed - not only are places like Pakistan, India or Africa not in Europe (where the racist vote was aimed) but even the Leave campaigners have already admitted they can't curb European immigration (where the xenophobic vote was aimed) as it'll be part of trade negotiations and allowing free movement. If you voted out for this reason, you're a moron frankly. On a personal level, I also think you're quite selfish to not care about human beings just because they're not British. If you voted Leave because you wanted to show your displeasure at the government/ establishement then you're an uneducated fool. All you actually did was get one man to resign and give all the other cretins at Westminster far more power than they had before. You've basically handed them absolute power with no oversight at all. If you voted Leave so we have £350m extra on NHS etc then perhaps you're just naive, any closer look at the facts would have shown this was impossible. Farage took less than 24hrs to say this was bollocks. If you voted Leave because you felt like you were being bullied by 'scare stories' about plummeting pound (down biggest amount in 30 years), loss of value in FTSE (down immediately, banks especially) and big companies leaving UK (HSBC and Samsung strong links so far) or Scotland breaking away from UK (basically confirmed by Sturgeon) then I bet you're feeling pretty stupid right now. If you voted Leave because you think short term pain is worth it for potential long term prosperity and think we'll be better off outside the EU then I have the utmost respect for you and completely respect the decision and vote you made. Unfortunately from every Leave supporter I've spoken to so far, precious few fall in to that last category.

Won't make the slightest difference but worth a few seconds of anyone's time nethertheless; https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215/ EU Referendum Rules, 450,000 have already signed it. Personally, as I understand it, the referendum isn't legally binding anyway. So call an election where one party promises to either abort or re-run the referendum and see how the public vote a second time. I'd be supremely confident that if it was asked again today the Remain campaign would easily get to 70% - people are waking up this morning realising their protest vote backfired, that the 'scare stories' were actually facts and that Farage needed less than 24hrs to admit the cornerstone of the Leave campaign was a lie. Whilst few might admit it, I'm confident around half of those who voted out yesterday are already regretting their decision - I've spoken to a few today who have implied as much.

Great news - now all those bloody Indian and Pakistani people taking our jobs can go back to Europe where they belong... And all those 'scare mongering' talks aren't already becoming fact. The Pound and FTSE are fine, it's just a conspiracy. And we're sorry it was just a mistake about the £350m a week to the NHS, but just a little accident that wasn't a cornerstone of our campaign that we thought we'd admit to less than 24hrs after the voting has finished... And of course Europe will treat us nicely as giving us favourable terms will naturally not encourage the whole union to break up. They'd never make an example out of us. The country is just over half full of **** idiots who have just shown they hate the government so much they have given them even more power and made sure that the absolute most idiotic of politicians rule the roost. I am only 35, this will have an impact on my life, but I half want to see the country burn now. Show the idiots what they've done.

Waiting for the penny to drop with ill-educated, selfish, bigoted voters that the 'bullying scare tactics' were actually FACTS; Pound down 10%, FTSE down 20%, Scotland/ Ireland already talking of leaving UK, businesses already talking of leaving... Idiotic.

Do we even need that much change to challenge for instant promotion? I'd say the squad, if tinkered with a little by a competent management team could, even should, do well enough to get promoted. Then you buy the players to keep us in the Premier League. Most purchases now will be relatively short term as true PL quality players won't join us yet so we need a few promising players and to utilise better what we already have. A match day squad I'd be happy with would look something like Guzan (Maybe new keeper) Richards Okore Elphick Amavi Traore Westwood (New Signing) Sinclair Ayew Gestede (hopefully New Signing to replace one of these, Ayew if we have to or Gestede out of choice) Subs: Bunn, Clark, Gardner, Grealish, Petrov (please!), some youngsters... So definitely need a midfielder, would like a striker (or need if Ayew goes) and possibly a keeper. No point selling poor Premier League players to replace them with good Championship players - it's much of a muchness and invariably you spend more than you make for little, if any, improvement. Retention of the likes of Ayew, Amavi and Traore is more important than puchases, those three players alone make up a quarter of a top 10 PL team. Add in the likes of Grealish, Okore for promise, Richards, Sinclair and Westwood for experience and even Gestede is good at this level and we're not that bad. Hopefully the mindset will be thd biggest difference this year, we may be surprised now it's all change at VP and we can start getting performances out of some of these players. If we then get promoted, that's when a true overhaul would be needed.

You're probably right but makes zero sense! Shrewsbury is 40 odd miles away whereas Southend is 150 miles away and considerably further south! I'd love to know their criteria!

How do they work out North and South? I've always wanted to watch Villa play Shrewsbury, but we're in different parts of the draw! Where's the cut?! Cambridge is also in North despite being further south than Brum...

Sorry replying to you again! It applies to the general conversation but knew you'd reply as you're on here a fair bit That's fair enough, if that's your (and others) view but for me it's still not the same as the other four in the list. Dubai he was not involved in Gabby's indiscretions and was not punished by the club and as for attitude on the pitch I didn't see it as being any worse than anyone elses really. In fact I do remember him having the balls to face up to some rather (rightfully) angry fans at one game. So for me, he doesn't need a second chance. He hasn't used up his first, attitude wise. Now if we're talking quality, it might be a different argument. I personally think it's unfair to lump him with the other four. Grealish has more 'right' to belong to that group (preseason) or Okore (refusing to play) than Richards. I'm not against getting rid, but I don't think he can be fairly grouped with this lot.

I've just quoted you as you're last poster on here but you make a similar point to others and I'd like an answer; did I miss something, what did Richards do last season that makes some question his attitude? Guzan had the whole spitting thing, Bacuna Champions League, Lescott the phone and Gabby multiple but I'm not sure what Richards has done wrong. Not having a go at any one, but seeing as it seems to be a general concensus, I was wondering if I missed something? Or is he tarnished by others brush/ disliked because he's a bit of a big time Charlie?

No one on either side of the campaign will admit the truth; that some things will be better and some things will be worse which ever way you vote. It's always all good or all bad. I'd listen to politicians far more if they admitted that x and y would be slightly worse but that it's worth it for this or that. The reason large proportions of people struggle to come up with a strong view is both sides refuse to admit disadvantages and it will all only be better which is so obviously cr*p that you can't believe anything they say. Furthermore, even the same information is interpreted as good or bad depending which side of the argument they are making! And are 'scare stories' from either side just a way of dismissing a fact from the other camp? I definitely couldn't say with any confidence which way anyone should vote, or that the way I'll vote is correct. However, when you have a team of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage on one side it compelling points to stupidity (BJ), incompetence (MG) and racism (NF) in one camp. So even if I shouldn't be basing it on personalities, it's all I've really got to go on so I'll be voting REMAIN.

I'm not normally one to suggest buying for the sake of buying but I do feel it would be good to make a 'statement' signing in some department, whether that be a 'name' (Barry for example on high wages for Championship), a large fee or beating a host of other teams to a player (McCormack for example). I think such a statement would ease any worries about Dr Xia talking the talk but not having the action/ finances to back it up. It'd reinvigorate the fans to demonstrate Villa are serious about making a push for promotion immediately. Finally, it'd also send a message to the players; play well or we do actually replace you now or, to players we want to keep, stay with us - it's about to get good... If we could make such a signing, I feel the hope that is bubbling under the surface might explode and it would invigorate the whole club. I know it's very early but we need action more than talk, hopefully we'll see something along these lines before preseason. Players like Elphick, whilst possibly an inspired signing, wouldn't have the same effect a 'statement' signing would have. It's all promising at the moment, we just need to start thinking about how to add that spark to reignite Villa Park.

Of the five names highlighted, there is an odd one out. Richards. Unless I missed something, he was not involved in any controversy last year. He spoke to fans but, in my opinion, came across quite well. Now if the question is about who shoukd get a second chance based on their attitude, then I'd argue he hasn't used up his first chance to be honest. If we're talking about talent/ quality then maybe it's a different question. So, for me it'd be; Guzan - give him a chance to redeem himself. He'd be an asset if head and form in right place. Lescott - get rid. Attitude appalling, mistakes are plentiful. If he really was a Villa fan, why wait til the end of his career to join us? Bacuna - get rid. Doesn't take the job seriously ever, never puts in a shift and lacks any true quality from open play. Gabby - torn. Too many chances given really, but with his pace/ physicality and head in right place he'd do well in Championship. Richards - keep. I've never questioned his attitude, just needs to be RB not CB. But, like 99% of the squad, if they all went I wouldn't care! I just desperately want N'zogbia, Richardson, Lescott and Sanchez out. Two down, two to go.