The Rebuild

[DCJonah]

16 minutes ago, lexicon said:

I'd look to build a team with a spine of Chester, Grealish and Kodjia. Try to bring through more youth players, giving Green and Bree starting XI status and utilising O'Hare, Doyle-Hayes, Davis and RHM as necessary. GK and CB vital signings. 

Yep. If we can get axel on loan him and chester should be decent. I'd move RHM up the pecking order. Think he could have a break out season if given the chance. 

[DaveAV1]

Apparently according to press reports, Sunderland are looking to recruit Tony Coton, our chief scout. Surely this is an indication of change afoot if we’re prepared to let our chief scout go?

Edited June 3, 2018 by DaveAV1

[macandally]

4 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

Apparently according to press reports, Sunderland are looking to recruit Tony Coton, our chief scout. Surely this is an indication of change afoot if we’re prepared to let our chief scout go?

Or he has not found us anyone to justify his position?

[DaveAV1]

2 minutes ago, macandally said:

Or he has not found us anyone to justify his position?

Could be. 

[a m ole]

18 hours ago, lexicon said:

I'd look to build a team with a spine of Chester, Grealish and Kodjia. Try to bring through more youth players, giving Green and Bree starting XI status and utilising O'Hare, Doyle-Hayes, Davis and RHM as necessary. GK and CB vital signings. 

Think this is what we have to do, both if Grealish can stay or if he has to leave for the finances.

We’re all going to need a reality check and not expect us to be challenging for the top spots next season, get the young lads in and back them regardless of results.

[cyrusr]

[There’s a TL;DR summary towards the end] 

Our biggest problem with FFP I think will be wages. We haven’t spent a vast amount on players under Bruce (Hogan excluded) transfer fee wise but we have given players big wages; Terry the key example. If players were willing for less then great more than happy to keep them; but I suspect, and what was shown this season is that you don’t have to spend top money to get promoted. We definitely need to be smarter and I would hope that there was 2 lists being made up prior to the end of season... 

Changes:
Gollini - almost certainly gone. Not seen anything formal yet but seems likely.
Johnstone - shock if returns. Could play Premier League next season. Would keep in heartbeat if could work out, somehow...
Bunn - out of contract - would he stay for less money? OK back up.
De Laet - would leave if not 1st team (likely)
Hutton - out of contract
Terry - gone 
Samba - out of contract? Could stay though - not bad as back up?
Tuanzebe - loan finished but maybe again?
Elphick - may want 1st team?
Richards - hopefully will go but I who will take?
Onomah – probably would want to try and get into Spurs team. Hasn’t played the best for us anyway.
Tishbola - possibly?
Snodgrass- seems unlikely able to pay wages?
Gil - gone already?
Grabban - loan ended
McCormack - IF anyone takes him... I suspect a lot of teams would, just his wage demands (still) will be too high...
Gabby - gone (finally)

That leaves as worse case scenario:
GK: Steer
RB: Elmohamady/Bree
LB: Taylor
CB: Chester
DM: Jedinak/Whelan
CM: Hourihane/Lansbury/Bjarnason 
RW: Adomah
LW: Green
AM: Grealish
ST: Kodjia/Hogan/Davis

Certainly I would say some of those that may go may not - at both ends. We may get Grabban/Tuanzebe back on loan. With Richards and McCormack no one will seemingly buy so we are likely to still be despite not being wanted. When you look at these lists, what you realise is how bloated the squad still is. You can easily take out arguably 9 players and actually not miss out at all. And of course it’s another window of clearing out the deadwood.

Goalkeeper is a big problem. Steer has been good when playing but let’s not forget a lot of the time he has been here he has been injured. How often has Bunn made the bench and not Steer? I only recall the cup games he has played. Otherwise he hasn’t. I suspect Bruce will be going for another keeper. I noticed a few people mentioning Henderson - saw him during playoffs and know he’s getting good reviews for this season. Is he ready to make the step to Championship promotion battle? He’s definitely not been offered a new contract at Man Utd, right? Could be a good acquisition... Then going to the other extreme, what about Hart? Clearly unwanted by Man City, struggled with form at West Ham, 1 year left on his contract - could be possible that City want him out of his squad at any cost? Could be very low loan fee in that situation and the drop down a league could suite him better? We know he had talent once before - maybe a chance to work with Agnew could really bolster? Or do we go with experience in Championship- someone like Kieran Westwood from Wednesday, though how much would he cost? Wayne Hennessey is available for free as well - another option? 

Left Back - I know there’s talk of Taylor being sold as not good enough, but who will play there? Hutton has done an excellent job deputising but he’s another year older. Given his effort I would absolutely give him another year (subject to wage, of course) but I can’t see him playing another year week in week out. I would hope he remains in the squad though. I wonder how much Rico Henry would cost to take from Brentford? Had a knee injury which cut down playing time but could be willing for move, though noticed on Wikipedia page it says he’s a SHA fan... I’ve also seen Max Clark being mentioned though profess not noticed him before - any good? If the fees quoted are correct and he is good, feels like this is a no brainer! Notice Luke Shaw is also out of contract - if not staying at Man Utd then not saying Shaw would come to Villa but likely to go to a premier league team. This would cause a shift in the Left Back area and possible make someone else available for us? 

CBs - Samba could be given another 1 year deal and remain 4th choice - not got an issue with that per say, so long as 4th choice. Also, unless Elphick is playing first team then I think he’s gone too, leaving a very big gap! I am not sure I would trust Elphick - seems to have too many mistakes in him and we were vulnerable when him and Chester played 2 seasons ago. I am not so worried about Chester going, he came in knowing we were in the championship when he could have gone to a premier league team. I think he will stay. Trickier though is to find the right player to replace Terry. Tuanzebe should be a good shout though and definitely gettable with another loan deal. Give him the opportunity to play properly. I see that Huth is becoming free from Leicester who does have a good amount of experience. Possible? Otherwise open to other ideas; I am somewhat struggling on this one; but it could be a good loan of an experienced player. Can’t see who else this would be though.

The middle of the park we are OK for once; but I don’t think we should shy away from improving if we can. Think though we have other priorities.

Wingers - Jordan Graham I’ve seen mentioned. I’ve noticed he’s on the retain list of Wolves though so it seems he will be a purchase - though noticed he was returned by Fulham in January- does anyone know why? Didn’t appear to play a lot last year for 2 promoted teams... is he good enough for us? In fact he has only played 25 league games over his career? Knew he was a prospect here but has he moved on? I can see Snodgrass being picked up by a Premier League team. Adomah moves back to right wing and Green is finally given his chance? We definitely lack depth though and could do with some flourish. I notice Bayliss and Shipley started on the wings for Coventry for the play off final, could they be what we are looking for or are they more like Grealish in that they can play wide, but better in the centre? Of course it look likes Holiett could leave Cardiff on a free; perfect fit for the Left Wing and did alright this season! Can play on the right as well and with Elmohamady able to play; might be enough?)

O’Hare seems to be the perfect back up for Grealish but I do wonder if he will go and get someone else? I suspect we can still challenge without selling Grealish but I think it might depend on what he wants to do. If a “big club” comes in for him and he wants to go, then so be it, I don’t think we could stop him. £40million being touted seems about right - the league is ridiculous for money and would set us up nice for a little bit but hopefully we can get a bidding war going to up it a bit more... if we do this will be a position that needs prioritising. 

Striker - a fully fit Kodjia should do the trick and I think his injury was the only reason we got Grabban in January. Hogan hasn’t worked so far and struggling to see it from a long term perspective either. Think he would stick around. If Bruce intends to play one up top, then I cannot see him getting another striker but I think if Grabban is available I think Bruce will come back in for him. He might also go for Hernandez which wouldn’t be against per say, I just hope he would give Davis & RHM a try or let go on loan to play.

[TL;DR start here]
From a realistic point of view, I can see us signing (in bold likeliest IMO):
New GK (Henderson/Hart/Westwood/Hennessey)
New LB (Henry/Clark/another)
2 New CBs (Tuanzebe/Huth/someone else)
New RW (Bayliss/another)
New LW (Shipley/Hoilett)
New ST (Grabban/Hernandez)

GK: New GK/Steer/(Sarkic)/(Bunn)
RB: Elmohamady/Bree/(Hutton)
LB: Taylor/(New LB)
CB: Chester/New CB/New CB/(Samba)
DM: Jedinak/Whelan
CM: Hourihane/Lansbury/Bjarnason 
RW: Adomah/(New RW)
LW: Green/(New LW)
AM: Grealish/(O’Hare)
ST: Kodjia/Hogan/Davis/(New ST)/(RHM)

And of course, McCormack and Richards will still be around but I don’t think they will be used and quite rightly so. Attitude of the pair of them (from what it seems) doesn’t give me any hope they can play a positive role in the squad. We also don’t know the mindset of a lot of other players and whether they will stay or not. Some I have no doubts (Hourihane; Whelan; Elmohamady); others I am not so sure about (Grealish; Steer; Hogan).

We can do quite well IMO from frees/loans and cheap deals and still compete again for promotion. Just need Bruce to be a bit smarter when picking team - and scout the opposition more - if they are quick attackers, it’s no good having Jedinak run half a mile behind them! There is also the option of using the youngsters as well, and it’s clear some of them are ready to make the step up. Can easily plug the gaps with them also.

[Dante_Lockhart]

So.... could potentially go into the season looking like;

(Sales/Releases of Grealish, Chester, Kodjia, McCormack, Samba, DeLaet)

GK: Steer, Bunn, Sarkic

DL: Hutton, Taylor

DC: Elphick, Richards, Mitchell Clark, Suliman

DR: Bree, Elmo

MC: Jedinak, Lansbury, Hourihane, Gardner, O'Hare, Whelan, BB, Lyden

MW: Green, Adomah, Gil

ST: Hogan, Davis, RHM

[sne]

No rebuild scheduled, just demolition.

[Jareth]

Didn't realise this thread existed - better to post here than in the promotion thread as realistically promotion is beyond a dream. So to repeat from that thread I see it as -

Major most painful outs in order to balance books and meet FFP -

Snodgrass - replace with cheeky loan for decent premier league youngster

Terry - Huth

Grealish - COH (yeah I know they ain't the same)

Chester - Elphick back in the fold

Kodjia - Didn't play anyway so as we were

We won't have squad depth, but there's a team in there.

[Nigel]

The big problem here is no one knows who will be left come the start of the season. How can any preparation be made under this cloud? 

[Jareth]

4 minutes ago, Nigel said:

The big problem here is no one knows who will be left come the start of the season. How can any preparation be made under this cloud? 

As sole decision maker on player sales Bruce probably knows, he has a FFP target to meet and going on recent interviews knows which players will help him make that target - wouldn't be surprised if most fees aren't some way to being agreed. The ONLY ray of light is that he also mentions the possibility of players actually coming in - we'd be lucky to get Simon Dawkins but yer never know.

[Nigel]

21 minutes ago, Jareth said:

As sole decision maker on player sales Bruce probably knows, he has a FFP target to meet and going on recent interviews knows which players will help him make that target - wouldn't be surprised if most fees aren't some way to being agreed. The ONLY ray of light is that he also mentions the possibility of players actually coming in - we'd be lucky to get Simon Dawkins but yer never know.

True to an extent but the reality is we don't know who will actually move.

We will know of interest, and who we expect to sell, but the simple fact is because we need money everyone is for sale, and last minute shocks will likely happen. 

[KHV]

I think Chester, Adomah, Hogan, Kodjia and Grealish will go. 

Maybe Whelan , Jedi and McCormack too if there are any takers. Which I doubt.

 

[Jareth]

18 minutes ago, Nigel said:

last minute shocks will likely happen. 

It's going to be one long unwanted arse plunging soothed only by the toll of midnight on deadline day. 

[bobzy]

37 minutes ago, KHV said:

I think Chester, Adomah, Hogan, Kodjia and Grealish will go. 

Maybe Whelan , Jedi and McCormack too if there are any takers. Which I doubt.

I'm not convinced anyone is coming in for Hogan or maybe Kodjia.  Far too many doubts for the sort of money we'd want for them - I think that's part of the problem and why Grealish looks to be a certainty to leave.

[Zatman]

7/1 for relegation. not long odds at all, blues are 9/1

[VILLAMARV]

1 hour ago, Jareth said:

Didn't realise this thread existed

You should come in here and argue with A.N.Other about Steve Bruce and/or Xia n that now you know about it

Full House and all that

 

You should not actually do this thing I said.

[Villan_of_oz]

Couldn't decide which thread to post this in...... this thread was the best candidate.

A year ago when we finished 13th (or wherever the heck it was) I thought being an Aston Villa fan couldn't get more depressing. 

The club I love never fail to prove me wrong. 

By the time we have sold everyone worth anything we will be left with old (maybe still useful), the overpaid and the young and untested.

So I have set my dreams for next season accordingly.

If we can avoid relegation and discover that some of our youth are up to the championship level, then the rebuild can begin and maybe we can strive to be strong again.

Everyone will have their differing opinions but if anyone thinks that we are safe next season, because we are AVFC, you are deluded. 

If you offered me 21st place and 3 or 4 youngsters blooded with a full season I would take it in a heartbeat. 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Villan_of_oz

[Jareth]

56 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

You should come in here and argue with A.N.Other about Steve Bruce and/or Xia n that now you know about it

Full House and all that

 

You should not actually do this thing I said.

I just looked at page 1 where I commented on what a good idea this thread was, I may have early onset dementia.

[VILLAMARV]

1 hour ago, Jareth said:

I just looked at page 1 where I commented on what a good idea this thread was, I may have early onset dementia.

Just stuck in a loop