Christian Purslow

[Nicho]

On 28/04/2022 at 10:52, omariqy said:

I trust him to drive the club forward commercially but I don’t trust his footballing decisions at all. 

I find him very slimey but comparing to say Man United Id rather have his arrogance in his own ability to drive the club forward rather than have an executive yes man. 

We havnt seen the positives of the Lange/Gerrard appointments yet but as much as the owners I give him credit for the Stadium Plans, Aston Academy plans, General Academy developments and appointments. 

Doing a good job so far. 

[briny_ear]

12 hours ago, Condimentalist said:

Yeah you're right, he should have sacked him after we finished on 55 points in our second season back in the Prem, seven points off Europe. That would have been great leadership. 

Or maybe after signing a load of unfit players late in the window, having no preseason and selling the best player a week before the season, give him the boot soon after that yeah? 

That's basically what happened and as a result we have the Gerrard experiment which so far isn't convincing, despite now having a full squad, plenty of training opportunities, several breaks in the season, and a transfer window.

Big summer for Purslow and Stevie ahead to make us look back on that call as the right one. Here's hoping. 

Fine, so it was the height of wisdom to wait until we had 10 points from 11 games and were 2 points above the relegation zone with almost a third of the season gone - which was exactly the level of performance he had been achieving previous season whenever Jack wasn’t playing.

I stand corrected.

(Mind you, I’m glad they did act when they did)

[Condimentalist]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

Fine, so it was the height of wisdom to wait until we had 10 points from 11 games and were 2 points above the relegation zone with almost a third of the season gone - which was exactly the level of performance he had been achieving previous season whenever Jack wasn’t playing.

I stand corrected.

(Mind you, I’m glad they did act when they did)

Do you not think Grealish in his pomp (something the great Guardiola hasn't got close to summoning) would be a big miss for any mid table side? 

And was it not reasonable for us to us to play to our strengths and use him? And is it therefore not a surprise that we weren't as good when he wasn't there?

Dean deserved a chance to embed the new players and get some time to train the squad into a new way of playing. It's a shame he didn't get it, I think Purslow has got a lot right but for me that was the wrong call and Gerrard may not have been a good one either - but it's too early to make that judgement. 

[IrishVilla10]

26 minutes ago, Condimentalist said:

Do you not think Grealish in his pomp (something the great Guardiola hasn't got close to summoning) would be a big miss for any mid table side? 

And was it not reasonable for us to us to play to our strengths and use him? And is it therefore not a surprise that we weren't as good when he wasn't there?

Dean deserved a chance to embed the new players and get some time to train the squad into a new way of playing. It's a shame he didn't get it, I think Purslow has got a lot right but for me that was the wrong call and Gerrard may not have been a good one either - but it's too early to make that judgement. 

Look at where we were after the 5 losses on the spin and the fixtures we had until Christmas. We’d have been bottom 3 in January. 
Edit. Purslow etc had to pull the plug. If you look at the table now I’d be confident smith would have turned it around, but only because there’s 4 terrible teams at the bottom this season. But you couldn’t predict that in November 

Edited April 29, 2022 by IrishVilla10

[Condimentalist]

27 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Look at where we were after the 5 losses on the spin and the fixtures we had until Christmas. We’d have been bottom 3 in January. 
Edit. Purslow etc had to pull the plug. If you look at the table now I’d be confident smith would have turned it around, but only because there’s 4 terrible teams at the bottom this season. But you couldn’t predict that in November 

That's your opinion and I respect that and understand it. I just disagree.

Before the season even really started I looked at the fixtures and our pre season and thought we would be comfortably bottom half until at least December, and I said I hoped no-one would shit themselves if we were. 

Sadly Purslow shat himself. For me that was a mistake, albeit the five losses was a really poor run. 

Anyway we are where we are and I am hoping that we can finish the season well and head with optimism into the summer. Too early to judge Gerrard, but I'm yet to be convinced. 

[IrishVilla10]

40 minutes ago, Condimentalist said:

That's your opinion and I respect that and understand it. I just disagree.

Before the season even really started I looked at the fixtures and our pre season and thought we would be comfortably bottom half until at least December, and I said I hoped no-one would shit themselves if we were. 

Sadly Purslow shat himself. For me that was a mistake, albeit the five losses was a really poor run. 

Anyway we are where we are and I am hoping that we can finish the season well and head with optimism into the summer. Too early to judge Gerrard, but I'm yet to be convinced. 

Were we comfortably bottom half though? We were 2 points off 18th I’m sure and had 5 really difficult fixtures up next. That’s why I can see why they pulled the plug. 
I think a lot of us are on the fence tbh, some of the things he says aren’t matching what we see on the pitch. Better things to come hopefully 

[TRO]

I believe Christian Purslow, knew when he was contemplating a change of manager, that he had to get a man who could attract better players....players today, have to respect who you are.

I do hope we get this summer right, after spending so much money over the last 10 years or so.

[Phil Silvers]

CP getting Deano's new number? You know, just incase.

 

[May-Z]

Smith's card was marked after we failed to build on the excellent start last season. Although it was actually a very decent second season, I'm sure we can all say we came away at the end feeling disappointed overall. The start to this season was the confirmation Purslow needed to change manager. 

I have the most faith in Purslow out of anybody who has been involved with the club since I started supporting in the 90s. 

I trust him.

[USA_Villa]

On 30/04/2022 at 01:53, TRO said:

I believe Christian Purslow, knew when he was contemplating a change of manager, that he had to get a man who could attract better players....players today, have to respect who you are.

I do hope we get this summer right, after spending so much money over the last 10 years or so.

I think you saw the respect the current players had for Dean at the end of the game. I don't believe it was a respect thing, it's a profile thing. Purslow wanted a name and Gerrard fitted the profile perfectly, however inexperienced he may have been.

[maqroll]

On 28/04/2022 at 05:52, omariqy said:

I trust him to drive the club forward commercially but I don’t trust his footballing decisions at all. 

100%. The summer recruitment was a carnival of reactive, desperate amateurishness. 

Alarm bells rang for me then and they still jingle a bit now.

[WallisFrizz]

4 minutes ago, maqroll said:

100%. The summer recruitment was a carnival of reactive, desperate amateurishness. 

Alarm bells rang for me then and they still jingle a bit now.

I felt for them a bit because I think they went into the summer looking to improve the squad with Grealish in it and had to readjust their plans massively which must have been hard so late in the day. It was all played out in such a weird way though, remember Grealish and Lange being filmed in the hotel grounds presumably chatting about his departure? How was that ever allowed to happen? Then there was the underwhelming pre season fixtures and the fiasco of being played by the agents of ESR and JWP. I think Lange has to take some responsibility too and it’s him I remain least convinced by.

Last summer was a mess, but in Ings and Buendia we have two excellent players so it definitely wasn’t all bad. Hopefully we have more control and planning this year.

[TRO]

7 hours ago, USA_Villa said:

I think you saw the respect the current players had for Dean at the end of the game. I don't believe it was a respect thing, it's a profile thing. Purslow wanted a name and Gerrard fitted the profile perfectly, however inexperienced he may have been.

You say Purslow wanted a name......I suggest purslow is just reacting to what prospective new players look for.

[May-Z]

6 hours ago, maqroll said:

100%. The summer recruitment was a carnival of reactive, desperate amateurishness. 

Alarm bells rang for me then and they still jingle a bit now.

I know where you're coming from, but the 'reactieve element' will have come from the fact we thought Grealish was staying. 

If you track back' over our transfers, they were all pretty well reasoned at the time and looked like sensible moves.

No creativity with Grealish out -got Buendia in.

Striker options included Davis, Wesley, Samatta- got Ings in.

Needed CB back up, got a previously successful and known quantity in Tuanzebe in.

Wanted to raise profile of signings, got one of the biggest prospects from the Bundesliga in with Bailey. 

Needed left back cover, got Young in.

None of that is amateurish at all, actually more like the opposite.

The problem is, Grealish left and none of our signings have had a good, injury free period in a constant system to bed in well, so it looks like a shambles.

Also, we really needed a DCM and missed the opportunity...but even with that we've seen that we're actively trying to sign one. 

[sidcow]

On 28/04/2022 at 23:04, briny_ear said:

You’re not wrong there - Ings is one of the shortest surnames it’s possible to have. 

 

 

[Dale]

On 02/05/2022 at 09:14, TRO said:

You say Purslow wanted a name......I suggest purslow is just reacting to what prospective new players look for.

Soon falls apart if it becomes clear the name isn't very good at the job. 

Purslow clearly rates the character of Gerrard, not sure if it's name based or otherwise. If the decision was based on attracting players it may well be a foolish ones. Players need to be signing for Aston Villa whoever the coach... As bon chance anytime anywhere the coach will be gone in the six months following your arrival. 

Say we sign Coutinho, by Chrimbo Stevie's gone (it's not entirely farfetched) - will he maintain the desire to be here? Will he put in the hard yards for someone that isn't a good friend at a club he may well see himself as better than. That's the balance that Purslow has to maintain! 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Dale

[Didiersix]

On 02/05/2022 at 05:08, maqroll said:

100%. The summer recruitment was a carnival of reactive, desperate amateurishness. 

Alarm bells rang for me then and they still jingle a bit now.

This is it for me also. He is great at the commercial side no doubt, but as soon as he starts talking about footballing matters it leaves me cringing. I wonder now if he still feels the same about buying Grealish in the 'aggregate'. Sounded great, but hasn't really delivered much yet has it? 

[HalfTimePost]

On 29/04/2022 at 13:46, Zatman said:

apparently he signed Joe Cole for Liverpool and Hodgson didnt know much about it

Which matches the fear some fans have about Purslow pushing the signing of Ings

[jim]

1 hour ago, HalfTimePost said:

Which matches the fear some fans have about Purslow pushing the signing of Ings

 But he didn’t, this idea has already been debunked. 

[TRO]

21 hours ago, sidcow said:

 

 

"Rapping" at its best.....

Edited May 3, 2022 by TRO