rjenkins

2 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

Actually, where is everyone on this this transfer? Particularly on the 3 components to this, Doug, PSR and the deal

im not overly fussed if Doug wants to leave. He’s served us well and I’m not one to stop him wanting a new challenge. 

the PSR issues, it’s annoying and frustrating that rules need to be broken to get in with the big boys. But the club agreed with them and probably voted for them initially. so it’s hard to fully complain, when many other clubs put up and comply 

the deal reeks bad to me. Until we get a better idea of the numbers I can’t confirm if we got an undervalued deal for Doug or an over valued deal of their players. But it seems like a mix of both, what’s worse.

as of the players coming in, McKennie really needs to impress to win me over, but I’ll give him a chance. Iling-Junior does seem like a great prospect, just a bit iffy to how we position and use him. 

The PSR element is the worst bit, and related to that the specifics of the deal. Losing a player is one thing but feeling you've been fleeced for them is another.

Book value is one thing but honestly is anyone excited about the players involved in the deal? The only silver lining is we won't be strengthening a Premier League rival.

37 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Sacrifices have to be made to progress. Fans are emotionally attached to a lot of these players, but they’re all gonna leave at some point. Some sooner than others. 

Yes I agree broadly - but in not achieving maximum value we could limit the progress made down the road is the fear. 

Not sure it counts for anything but Transfermarkt have Dougie's market value at £70m.

The idea of Dougie being sold is hard to swallow for a number of a reasons.

There's a good core of this squad that have been with us for a number of years now, and it would be tough to let any of those players go.

The squad have delivered on a massive achievement in qualifying for the Champions League, and to see a key contributor in the squad leave without playing in that competition with us is really disappointing too.

It particularly rankles that PSR should be the reason, and I understand the sentiment in the thread above about preferring to take the hit if it's 4 or 5 points. 

Lastly, with the fees being talked about, it doesn't seem that we are getting the best value for the player, so we're not even getting the balance sheet improvement that the Grealish sale delivered if the reports are true.

Sometimes you sign a player and it doesn't work out and you make a loss, but there's no way the development of Luiz over these seasons should result in only a very modest profit. The accounting period not lining up with the transfer windows really hurts in this regard.

I don't disagree that it would make more sense to sell Luiz as opposed to Kamara or Ramsey should it come to it, but the circumstances around it stink.

8 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

 

Dido Harding would have wanted millions for that

6 minutes ago, bickster said:

Another one? There’s already loads of them, enough for 100 remakes of Life of Brian with no repeats. Even just the Trotskyite’s have about 6 and spend their entire lives dedicated to the mental gymnastics of how Ice Pick man's speech in 1917 to the 47th district Soviet of frozen bollocks translates to modern society

Some of these imbeciles even band together and stand in elections until they fall out about whose turn it is to shag Vanessa this month and in 1962 Ted Grant said it was their turn but Gerry Healy didnt keep his word…

They’d argue about the thickness of ciggie papers and how Lenin said they should be 3 microns but that bastard Stalin insisted on them being 2 microns which is how they ended up as 5 because of the bourgeois infilt(er)ators

Which great sociopath is going to lead this party and how long before they split over the price of the red flag they donated to the peoples tombola at the socialist summer fayre 

I think cigarette papers are thicker than 5 micron? Could be wrong

For those who have watched Gallagher more than me - if we are assuming he is a Luiz replacement how does he compare in terms of controlling the tempo in games and also his range of passing? 

At this stage, if Emery wants a player then I hope we can make it happen. However, I don't see incredible value in signing Gallagher personally.

If we have limited room to maneouvre due to PSR then using what budget we do have helping a rival out of their own PSR issues doesn't seem ideal.

1 hour ago, CarryOnVilla said:

8% for reform?!?

what kind of person under 50 is voting reform?

 

49 year olds

Edit - only joking

2 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Personally I think someone who holds the views that Roma, Travellers and Jews doesn't face discrimination and racism, and experience more like what redheads face in regards to bullying shouldn't be a MP. But that's just me.

I can't disagree with that sentiment, but the fallout from that article could have been handled a lot better. 

Bissouma? £3m plus Coutinho ought to do it.

I always saw Farage as an opportunist, basically looking for a niche he could carve out to ultimately benefit his own agenda - basically a George Galloway for the right.

Seems to me that his real ideology was towards low-tax, low-regulation system and it would be consumer protections and standardisation from the EU that he really had a problem with. Watching it unfold as a teenager i always thought he simply built upon the BNP surge under Nick Griffin (and the foolish immigration targets from the Tories that followed) to mop up the racists.

That's before we get into courting Murdoch after the phone-hacking scandal etc. 

Kovacic is a weird one in fairness. He's played for some of the biggest clubs in the world but I've also seen him unable to cope with Ethan Ampadu and Jordan James. 

I was really gutted when I saw the the two options we had to choose between last time. Didn't like the drunk lion facing the wrong way mainly.

The new badge is slightly better than that in my opinion, and better than the Lerner badge. It's not brilliant, but it's fine. Best design I've seen from anyone was the diamond made out of A and V that was in this thread I think. Was really modern and inventive I thought, but just seemed very Villa at the same time.

Some really nice concept kits on the last page or two. The blue, black and white one that reminds me of the old away kit from the Acorns era is particularly interesting to me. That kit just reminds me of Martin Laursen.

As much as I like Duran as a player, if he has his heart set on a move away then I'm more comfortable with him leaving than I would be other options that have been mentioned like JJ or Luiz.

He has loads of potential but being difficult to coach (allegedly) could just lead to more problems down the road.

Can't see how it matters who we get drawn against. Villa will play a minimum of 8 games in Europe next season, and each of them will be an occasion. Don't play Real Madrid in October? Who cares! We might meet them in the knockouts.

What a bloody season! What a phenomenal effort from all the players, staff and ownership. Amazing watching the scenes from the Awards Dinner, and no less than we deserved over the season.

It is what it is. The good thing is we've got European football again next season. 

Not sure we have three goals in us for the rest of the season, never mind in the next 45 minutes. We'd started ok but would need a miracle now.

4 hours ago, useless said:

Jordan James, only nineteen but already has ninety-five Championship appearances, and ten caps for Wales, box-to-box midfielder, good all rounder, been consistently linked with Palace for those that like their recruitment, also nearly joined Atalanta in January who I think also have a good rep for recruitment, wouldn't be too expensive either, as is moving into the last year of his contract, and they will probably have to settle for less being a League One team now

I had a season ticket for the Wales qualifiers and he's been very impressive, even when up against Modric and Kovacic. International football isn't the same I know but think someone is going to get a good deal by picking him up.

I'm trying to remember that we've already achieved something which I would have considered a very good season before a ball was kicked. Furthermore, we've done it without Mings and Buendia (and Kamara for a decent stretch).

It's a shame we couldn't put the race to bed against Brighton - part of me thinks if the Olympiacos game had gone differently we would have - but Spurs are running out of games to close the gap and Man City are chasing down the title.

In terms of how important a Top 4 finish would be compared to winning a trophy, for me the main thing about the Conference League was that it gave us another potential route to the Europa League. Now we've achieved that objective at the least then I think that makes the league finish more of a priority, but I understand why others think otherwise.

I was 6 when we last won the League Cup, although winning the playoffs kind of felt like a trophy win to me in its own way. At the end of the day we don't get to choose, but I find myself thinking about Champions League qualification more than potentially winning the Conference League.

136 km as the crow flies.

173 km by road.

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

There is a 0.0000000000001 percent chance that kit leak from Turkey is accurate

That's still more of a chance than I'm comfortable with 

As more time has passed, the badge with the textured lion has grown on me. That will just make it more disappointing when we get the first effort on the kits if that leak from Turkey is accurate.

Was shocked to see how many dormant chats I have to clean up whilst checking through this, but main ones that are active are:

WARSLUG - name changes frequently based on chat, contains old school/hometown friends and not as NSFW as it used to be.

Bets, FPL and Quizzes - splinter group for those of us who like football. Occasionally NSFW. 

Modern Neutrals - Band chat and the most SFW of the lot

GAFFNEY 2024 - Group of us who tend to go on a holiday each year. God knows where Dean Gaffney comes into it.