ozvillafan Posted July 21, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted July 21, 2015 There is ambition and then there is ambition. IMO, wanting to be the best and using us as a stepping stone shows ambition..... but wanting to be the best and deciding to do it with Villa shows a greater ambition. (Are you listening, Fabian?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPower_14 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 A football career is incredibly short. Unless you were a dyed in the wool Villa fan growing up, you'd have to look at Villa as a club that you could play at for your entire career and become a Villa legend, but never win a trophy, never play in Europe, never make silly money, and face an uphill battle for a national team place. Unless we get a group of supremely talented Villa fans through at the same time, something is going to have to change with regards to ownership and investment to see that change in the next 20 years. Our best bet is to have the best **** academy in the world, pump heaps of money into it and develop some stars who are Villa through and through, and charge up the table with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I guess that's why we're hoping that Grealish and Gary Gardner come good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 What some fans fail to realise is that these players (especially from Europe) have no association with any clubs.. if anything they grew up supporting the big clubs. The other issue is.. Fans and Clubs have no loyalty either.. a player like Gabby who is now not really performing.. alot of fans would sell him in a heartbeat if they had the choice (me being one of them). Clubs equally would do the same if they are taken over by a billionaire.. players such as Westwood Gabby etc would be sold and players of higher calibre would be brought in. So why cant the players look after themselves and better themselves? He probably shouldnt of mentioned it in an interview.. he was naive thinking it wouldnt come back here as hes talking to a french paper. However, deep down.. i think we all know these players are using us as stepping stones.. im sure Benteke said something similar when he first signed. They all want to win trophies and play Champions League. If Villa were taken over by billionaires this summer.. i have no doubt that Benteke and Delph would still be here. Truth is.. we havent been.. and now they have gone (both to bigger clubs in current times). Players in the past such as Yorke Barry Milner have all gone on to win medals and trophies. Players like Delph and Downing and event to an extent Cleverley are players that leave a bad taste in my mouth as they talk shit and pledge their loyalty and as soon as a big club comes calling they are off. Just keep quiet and do your business and go quietly. Jack Grealish i remember said he would love to play for Real Madrid one day. Do you blame him? If they came in for him next summer... i have no doubts he would go. Doesnt mean he doesnt love the club anymore.. im sure he would support us from within.. but he needs to look after his future and do the best he can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosenthal Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 You want players that are hungry, those who are willing to settle for less won't take you anywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 You want players that are hungry, those who are willing to settle for less won't take you anywhere This. They might be dependable, they might be pretty good but they'll never be the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Agreed. To be honest, I'm not sure I want someone who is aiming to spend the rest of their career at a club who show such little ambition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I think what we've got to remember now, is that the generation of players who are in their early 20s (even late 20s now) have never been around without the "Premier League" behemoth. The Sky generation want everything now, now, now. There is an impatience to get to the top of the ladder, win a trophy and play in the Champions League. People forget that back in the day, you very rarely had anyone less than 24/25 year old playing for their countries, now you're getting selected if your a slightly talented 18 year old, particularly in the fight to get that player to commit his future to that country. Players don't want to wait for their big move when they're 27/28, they want it at 22/23 when they still haven't reached the pinnacle of their careers - and it's often a mistake and a case of "what if I'd have waited another 18 months and further developed my game?" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Are people being deliberately obtuse here. It is not that we want players to swear undying loyalty to the club, or that we prefer them not to have ambition, or that we do not think we are a stepping stone. Just not to say something unnecessarily stupid and show a bit of respect for their new club and its' supporters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Are people being deliberately obtuse here. It is not that we want players to swear undying loyalty to the club, or that we prefer them not to have ambition, or that we do not think we are a stepping stone. Just not to say something unnecessarily stupid and show a bit of respect for their new club and its' supporters. I was the first to get offended by grealish, and the first to slate delph, but I just do not see what the player has done wrong this time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 He's done nothing wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 He was getting murdered by Kelly Cates and Colin rocket polisher on 5Live last night. They love to give the Villa a kicking. Colin has us nailed on for relegation - well I suppose he'd know a thing or two about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-Reacho Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 The stepping stone thing is taken as a given these days. I'd be willing to bet that Sherwood and Fox are even saying it to the likes of Gueye and Amavi when they're trying to convince them to sign. Villa will put you in the shop window for a bumper move in 2/3 years time far better than anyone in Ligue 1 can. Players are sanitized to the fact that it may upset the fans hence Gueye's and Benteke's comments. The trick we need to learn is firstly identifying players that will go up in value, and secondly being smarter than them and their agents when it comes to renewing contracts/inserting release clauses etc. Lerner said as much in his recent (only?) interview when he talked about the money from the rich clubs at the top filtering down - he said it was a good thing. AS Monaco's owner Denis Rybolovlev openly admits that his strategy for building their side is signing players that they can sell for profit in two years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Are people being deliberately obtuse here. It is not that we want players to swear undying loyalty to the club, or that we prefer them not to have ambition, or that we do not think we are a stepping stone. Just not to say something unnecessarily stupid and show a bit of respect for their new club and its' supporters. This needs highlighting. It's like the Delph thing where the devil is in the detail (ie, it's not that Delph left but how he chose to go about it) and Gueye talking about moving on at his first press conference after the week we have just had is foolish to say the least. I don't actually blame the player. I don't expect him to feel the same way about Aston Villa as I do, all I ask is that he performs on the pitch. We know we need to find bargains and sell them at a profit, the fact that Spurs managed to do that successfully in relatively recent seasons (Carrick, Berbatov, Modric, Bale) is probably what afforded them to have a strong squad and we would do well to follow that model but you would think that somebody at the club would know how to play to the gallery when it comes to keeping fans happy. We've had a particularly crap week in what has been a very trying four or five years. Haven't these new guys been briefed about the English media? The club know exactly what questions get asked of new signings at this time of year and they are throwing guys whose first language isn't English out there? From a PR point of view it's idiotic. I don't get how this club can be so bad at handling social and traditional media. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 but you would think that somebody at the club would know how to play to the gallery when it comes to keeping fans happy. .... I don't get how this club can be so bad at handling social and traditional media. Press conferences, contract renewals, new signings, should all be PR 101 really. It's not rocket science. Tell the fans it's a great club, you're delighted to be here, can't wait to get started, delighted the club showed faith in me by giving me a new contract, blah blah. Be nice and generic and let the fans gobble it up. If you are asked anything difficult like, why did you let your contract run down or you have been linked to a bigger club would you like to join them just give the standard I want to concentrate on my football and if something happens in the future I'll consider it then. It's fisher price stuff really. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Whilst I generally agree with the above, the furore created by this is absurd. They even had a **** special chat on 5live about it? Come on man. Have a word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 There's one thing thinking it and another actually saying it before you've even kicked a ball. So you don't think we are a big club? We aren't a big club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcTheObsession Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 There's one thing thinking it and another actually saying it before you've even kicked a ball. So you don't think we are a big club? We aren't a big club This. If you're going to call us a big club then you have to call Leeds, Forest, Wolves big clubs too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 22, 2015 Moderator Share Posted July 22, 2015 It's showing Villa fans up a bit if anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I think what we've got to remember now, is that the generation of players who are in their early 20s (even late 20s now) have never been around without the "Premier League" behemoth. The Sky generation want everything now, now, now. There is an impatience to get to the top of the ladder, win a trophy and play in the Champions League. People forget that back in the day, you very rarely had anyone less than 24/25 year old playing for their countries, now you're getting selected if your a slightly talented 18 year old, particularly in the fight to get that player to commit his future to that country. Players don't want to wait for their big move when they're 27/28, they want it at 22/23 when they still haven't reached the pinnacle of their careers - and it's often a mistake and a case of "what if I'd have waited another 18 months and further developed my game?" These youngsters with their Playboxes and X-Stations have never known the pain of waiting for a computer game to be loaded by tape on a Spectrum. Even if it was shit you'd play the damn thing as you've waited 3 days to get this far. 17 crashes and a title screen drawn line-by-line. Yep, you needed patience back then. I blame the Commodore Amiga and it's fancy disk drive. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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