Roberto Di Matteo

[StanBalaban]

47 minutes ago, Grasshopper said:

As a "Small business owner" if I were in the situation that 4/5 of my workers out of 25 were harming my business, there would definately come to a point where I would act to cut my losses.

I'd start with the worst and how many would depend on my capcity.

worst case senario would be the shiesters left back at basecamp while the 20 or so who "want it" would be on contract duty.

yes stealing a living but not harming future contracted work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unless of course someone budgets me an extra 60g's a week and requests Gabby regardless of jobquality.

I'm also a business owner and I can categorically say that paying up to 3 years salary per person to get rid of these "bad eggs" would be VERY far down the list of options I would consider.

So, I don't know what your staff earn, but would you pay £500k to get rid of these 4/5 staff today, with 6 weeks to go until your options are exhausted, or would you use that 6 weeks to try and find another solution? 

[Reivax_Villa]

I feel very optimistic and assured with RDM in charge.

Why is it hard to accept that some of these bad eggs are going to stick with us. I don't know what to expect from this squad but whoever is in the starting 11 i will be supporting them 100% if they show required commitment.

 

[terrytini]

1 hour ago, Junxs said:

Why is it (in your view), that the only 2 options to either "cancel their contracts" or keep them?

How about what happens in 99.9% of situations where the unwanted players are sold on or loaned out... we are only 18 days into the transfer window!

How many player contracts have been cancelled ever? Adrian Mutu comes to mind for drug abuse.. I'm struggling to think of another after that.

Sorry I thought you had read the debate over the last few pages.

Nobody has ruled any of that out.  We are all aware that there are other options which may come to pass. The point was they need to go, and if they cant be sold or loaned or locked in your attic, what would you do ?  Never mind though.

[terrytini]

56 minutes ago, StanBalaban said:

I'm also a business owner and I can categorically say that paying up to 3 years salary per person to get rid of these "bad eggs" would be VERY far down the list of options I would consider.

So, I don't know what your staff earn, but would you pay £500k to get rid of these 4/5 staff today, with 6 weeks to go until your options are exhausted, or would you use that 6 weeks to try and find another solution? 

Again, nobody has dismissed the idea that there may be other ways the players go.  But if they aren't sold (because other Clubs haven't forgotten their contributions last season, for example ) and not loaned out ,then what ?  What should our very very wealthy owners do then ? Just keep them ?  Why not, they weren't all that bad, and all those other Clubs are mad not to have them ?

[mikeyp102]

9 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Again, nobody has dismissed the idea that there may be other ways the players go.  But if they aren't sold (because other Clubs haven't forgotten their contributions last season, for example ) and not loaned out ,then what ?  What should our very very wealthy owners do then ? Just keep them ?  Why not, they weren't all that bad, and all those other Clubs are mad not to have them ?

Rich don't get rich by throwing money around hastily

[StanBalaban]

12 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Again, nobody has dismissed the idea that there may be other ways the players go.  But if they aren't sold (because other Clubs haven't forgotten their contributions last season, for example ) and not loaned out ,then what ?  What should our very very wealthy owners do then ? Just keep them ?  Why not, they weren't all that bad, and all those other Clubs are mad not to have them ?

I'm just advocating a bit more patience whilst the club, the agents and players themselves are all trying to sort out their options a mere 18 days into the window. Now is not the time to think that throwing £30m away is the best option with over 45 more days left.

I don't understand why this has even been mooted at this early stage?

[HolteExile]

I don't think we'll need to spend anywhere near £30 million to see the back of them, thankfully.

Out of the Fetid Five, Richards is probably the most saleable asset. Some mug might pay £4-5 million for him based on his age and his previous reputation. 

A Big Sam (if he stays at Slumberland)  or Bruce might be deluded enough to think they can get a tune out of him. I can't see it at all if he insists on playing centre half, he just doesn't have the positional sense or nous. But let them work that out for themselves. 

Bacuna might generate interest back home, can't see many top flight sides here going for him. Ditto Guzan.  

There was interest in Lescott from US sides last summer or Jan, so hopefully the appeal of an ex England international might still make that a goer. 

Out of all of them, Gabby will be the hardest to move on.  Truth is, none of that lot will be towards the top of anyone's wish list so we will probably have to wait until well into August before we see the back of them. 

That might even mean punting some of them out on loan, paying some (or even most) of their wages).   Gabby as it is won't be an attractive option for most sides, but if we're paying say £30K per week of the reported £50K per week he's on, Hull or similar might bite at 20k. At that price, he might be OK as a back up option.  It's shit, but even at that figure I would probably do it, just to get shot. 

Edited July 19, 2016 by HolteExile

[dn1982]

7 hours ago, HolteExile said:

I don't think we'll need to spend anywhere near £30 million to see the back of them, thankfully.

Out of the Fetid Five, Richards is probably the most saleable asset. Some mug might pay £4-5 million for him based on his age and his previous reputation. 

A Big Sam (if he stays at Slumberland)  or Bruce might be deluded enough to think they can get a tune out of him. I can't see it at all if he insists on playing centre half, he just doesn't have the positional sense or nous. But let them work that out for themselves. 

Bacuna might generate interest back home, can't see many top flight sides here going for him. Ditto Guzan.  

There was interest in Lescott from US sides last summer or Jan, so hopefully the appeal of an ex England international might still make that a goer. 

Out of all of them, Gabby will be the hardest to move on.  Truth is, none of that lot will be towards the top of anyone's wish list so we will probably have to wait until well into August before we see the back of them. 

That might even mean punting some of them out on loan, paying some (or even most) of their wages).   Gabby as it is won't be an attractive option for most sides, but if we're paying say £30K per week of the reported £50K per week he's on, Hull or similar might bite at 20k. At that price, he might be OK as a back up option.  It's shit, but even at that figure I would probably do it, just to get shot. 

The £30m figure came from someone saying we should just pay up their contracts. Most people would go down your route. Whoever makes up our squad this season will get my full support and I trust RDM and his experienced back up team to sort out any issues that arise. 

[PieFacE]

No football club in the history of football clubs has had a mass exodus with paying up contracts as far as I know.  Wouldn't expect it here.  

[Richard]

10 hours ago, terrytini said:

Again, nobody has dismissed the idea that there may be other ways the players go.  But if they aren't sold (because other Clubs haven't forgotten their contributions last season, for example ) and not loaned out ,then what ?  What should our very very wealthy owners do then ? Just keep them ?  Why not, they weren't all that bad, and all those other Clubs are mad not to have them ?

Seems straightforward to me.  We have a group of players so shockingly bad in skill,  application, professionalism, motivation or personality or a combination of any of those,  that they are poisonous and more detrimental staying at this club than going.  I think that is an opinion shared by a majority on here.

So we would like them to be gone. It is generally accepted that the club needs to move on from the past and have a fresh start and removing these lot helps that. Another opinion I think shared by a majority

We of course would like them to be gone with no monetary impact on the club first of all.  But if that is not possible what then? It seems to me that those players are so bad that we would be doing well to shift them all to other clubs and we will be left with some very much playing the next Charles Nzogbia role.  I think what is being said is that in those circumstances it would be vastly better to remove them from the club.

[AVFC44]

I personally think that a minimal clear-out would be better for the club this season, especially at this stage.

We can't start having a massive clear-out now, 3 weeks before the season. If it was going to happen (or start happening) then it would have done weeks ago.

To me, last season was the culmination a group of demotivated, poorly managed individuals. There was no team spirit, nobody was putting themselves on the line for each other.

I don't think that we need to get rid of all of last seasons players just based on one poor season. We have some good individual players, even if they did not show it last season. With the correct guidance and some confidence then we could definitely see some big changes in some of the players the performed so badly - especially now that we are at a lower level and don't have to deal with getting beaten by one of the top clubs every few weeks.

[markavfc40]

I think most are singing off the same hymn sheet here. I don’t think anyone would suggest paying players off now and letting them go with 6 weeks of the window to go.

I agree with Richard though if we get to the stage where it is not possible to sell them then I think we should at least encourage them out the door by coming to an agreement to pay up part of their contracts.

This club was rotten from top to bottom under Lerner. Xia has come in and until proven otherwise we have to trust that he will be prove to be a good owner. Di Matteo has come in and again until proven otherwise we have to trust that he will prove to be a good manager for this football club. There are a lot of players here though that don’t deserve any grace. We know what they are about. They showed us last season and in some cases have been showing us for a number of seasons.

This club has the chance of a new start. That will never get off the ground though if we don’t remove the bad eggs from this squad. Many believed last season that the foreign lads we bought in were all of a decent standard but were dragged down by the poor attitude of half a dozen other players. We can’t allow that to happen again and if it costs us a few million to ensure it doesn’t then it will be the best money we spend this summer.

[Michael118]

17 hours ago, Zatman said:

im sorry that is bollocks. managers werent great but players attitude was rotten and performances were some of the worst ever in a Villa jersey

If we appointed Allardyce when he was available we would still be in the premier league.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

6 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

I think most are singing off the same hymn sheet here. I don’t think anyone would suggest paying players off now and letting them go with 6 weeks of the window to go.

I agree with Richard though if we get to the stage where it is not possible to sell them then I think we should at least encourage them out the door by coming to an agreement to pay up part of their contracts.

In a couple of cases that's fine, yes. Maybe. It's the managers call ultimately, if he thinks he can get Gabby for example fit and playing again then I would begrudgingly trust his judgement. Though he clearly wants to move players on and if we have to swallow a bit of cash in order to do that then yes, I'm in full agreement. 

Paying £30m to do so and calling for Xia out at this stage though is utterly mental and I want no part of it!  

[Richard]

Who is calling for Xia out at this stage?

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I'm not playing. 

[Richard]

Neither am I.  I'm asking a question related to your post as I've not seen anyone call for him to go and if I did I'd like to respond to that opinion

[sexbelowsound]

I just bit my tongue. How is that even possible?

[dont_do_it_doug.]

1 minute ago, Richard said:

Neither am I.  I'm asking a question related to your post as I've not seen anyone call for him to go and if I did I'd like to respond to that opinion

Feel free to respond then, you know what I'm referencing. We don't need to do this back and forth he said she said stuff, we've known each other too long!

[dont_do_it_doug.]

1 minute ago, sexbelowsound said:

I just bit my tongue. How is that even possible?

Well I for one am worried about you.