The NSWE Board

[sne]

This squad but with Grealish, then I think a push for Europe would have been possible. Not without him I sure the club knew this.

[maqroll]

First the Grealish/Southgate drama, then the Grealish-City saga, now the Smith/Gerrard developments...I've never seen Villa dominate the headlines like this. 

[Villa_Vids]

I think NSWE would have wanted us to push for Europa League and aim high this season, but they would have been realistic too and accepted progression on last season - which IMO is to finish in the top 10. 5 Losses in a row is not acceptable, nor is the excuse/losing culture that was emerging at the club.  A fresh change was needed. 

[MWARLEY2]

17 minutes ago, Villa_Vids said:

I think NSWE would have wanted us to push for Europa League and aim high this season, but they would have been realistic too and accepted progression on last season - which IMO is to finish in the top 10. 5 Losses in a row is not acceptable, nor is the excuse/losing culture that was emerging at the club.  A fresh change was needed. 

I think that they were expecting us to be the ones to threaten the top 4 not West Ham as the season before last they had finished one point above us.  They had backed the manager, backed the culture of being relentless and were now seeing regression and a lack of intensity replacing it  . The togetherness had disappeared with dissent and arguments replacing it. Not what these serious guys are going to put up with and they decided to pull the plug imo 

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

 

[greyvillan]

Great picture..But who is Purslow giving the finger to?

[ender4]

1 hour ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

 

They come to more games than I realised!

[ferguson1]

1 hour ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

 

What’s Purslow doing? Giving a couple of fingers with a **** off to the Brighton fans. 

[Zatman]

10 minutes ago, ender4 said:

They come to more games than I realised!

Think Sawaris goes to nearly all of them as based in London 

[lexicon]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the last couple of weeks and wanted to put my thoughts into words, so here goes.

My first reaction to Smith’s sacking was one of sadness. He was possibly the best manager I’ve seen us have and oversaw us turning into a team that could actually play technically for a change. Good Villa sides of the last 25-ish years had always been teams that were hard to break down and could counter well - not the sort of team that would unlock defences with great passes or wizardly ball control. 

When he went, I thought he was hard-done-by and would have been able to turn us around given enough time and I still think it was a possibility. However, there was a lot of talk about him taking us as far he could, that is to the mid-table position we’d finished in the season before. Smith had always wanted to learn and improve, but in order for us to move forward as a unit, we were perhaps a little beholden on waiting around for him to do so. Not such a bad thing but not ideal either. 

So onto Gerrard. 

Obviously, I was aghast at the thought of us tearing up what we had and starting afresh with a new manager who had little relevant experience to speak of IMO, because I don’t rate the Scottish league at all. However, that wasn’t the plan and I can see that now.

The whole point of going for someone who had success with a system very similar to us was not to replace but to refine. I’ve read a lot of people talk about how we’ve got a different system now and I can’t say that I agree with it, certainly not as things stand. The difference I see is that with a fresh perspective has come new ideas and perspectives for the players. They’re not playing drastically differently from under Smith (when things were going well) but they are trying new things which have been brought by the new team. There’s also a reason that we haven’t changed our coaching staff entirely and kept on several of them. 

This appointment is basically continuing the work that NSWE started when they took over and developing the playing style and philosophy accordingly. Purslow felt it was time to take the plunge and get some fresh ideas in, and I almost certainly think that it’s proving to be the right decision.

In any case, Smith deserves a huge amount of respect and gratitude for helping us to develop to the point that we did. We had some great times under his leadership and the players and style came on immensely when you consider the standard of football and professionalism we’d seen prior to his tenure. It was, however, time to take the next step. 

All in all, I  think that we’re incredibly lucky to have the owners we do and I do trust Purslow’s judgement, despite having reservations at the time. Onwards and upwards.
 

[punkiller1981]

33 minutes ago, lexicon said:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the last couple of weeks and wanted to put my thoughts into words, so here goes.

My first reaction to Smith’s sacking was one of sadness. He was possibly the best manager I’ve seen us have and oversaw us turning into a team that could actually play technically for a change. Good Villa sides of the last 25-ish years had always been teams that were hard to break down and could counter well - not the sort of team that would unlock defences with great passes or wizardly ball control. 

When he went, I thought he was hard-done-by and would have been able to turn us around given enough time and I still think it was a possibility. However, there was a lot of talk about him taking us as far he could, that is to the mid-table position we’d finished in the season before. Smith had always wanted to learn and improve, but in order for us to move forward as a unit, we were perhaps a little beholden on waiting around for him to do so. Not such a bad thing but not ideal either. 

So onto Gerrard. 

Obviously, I was aghast at the thought of us tearing up what we had and starting afresh with a new manager who had little relevant experience to speak of IMO, because I don’t rate the Scottish league at all. However, that wasn’t the plan and I can see that now.

The whole point of going for someone who had success with a system very similar to us was not to replace but to refine. I’ve read a lot of people talk about how we’ve got a different system now and I can’t say that I agree with it, certainly not as things stand. The difference I see is that with a fresh perspective has come new ideas and perspectives for the players. They’re not playing drastically differently from under Smith (when things were going well) but they are trying new things which have been brought by the new team. There’s also a reason that we haven’t changed our coaching staff entirely and kept on several of them. 

This appointment is basically continuing the work that NSWE started when they took over and developing the playing style and philosophy accordingly. Purslow felt it was time to take the plunge and get some fresh ideas in, and I almost certainly think that it’s proving to be the right decision.

In any case, Smith deserves a huge amount of respect and gratitude for helping us to develop to the point that we did. We had some great times under his leadership and the players and style came on immensely when you consider the standard of football and professionalism we’d seen prior to his tenure. It was, however, time to take the next step. 

All in all, I  think that we’re incredibly lucky to have the owners we do and I do trust Purslow’s judgement, despite having reservations at the time. Onwards and upwards.
 

Good post in my view. I think Dean deserves and has the respect of the support base but I think it had got a bit to friendly around the group and the intensity had gone a bit. SG and Co seem to have the work rate upped and I think credit to the board for taking the jump to get fresh perspective in. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 hours ago, lexicon said:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the last couple of weeks and wanted to put my thoughts into words, so here goes.

My first reaction to Smith’s sacking was one of sadness. He was possibly the best manager I’ve seen us have and oversaw us turning into a team that could actually play technically for a change. Good Villa sides of the last 25-ish years had always been teams that were hard to break down and could counter well - not the sort of team that would unlock defences with great passes or wizardly ball control. 

When he went, I thought he was hard-done-by and would have been able to turn us around given enough time and I still think it was a possibility. However, there was a lot of talk about him taking us as far he could, that is to the mid-table position we’d finished in the season before. Smith had always wanted to learn and improve, but in order for us to move forward as a unit, we were perhaps a little beholden on waiting around for him to do so. Not such a bad thing but not ideal either. 

So onto Gerrard. 

Obviously, I was aghast at the thought of us tearing up what we had and starting afresh with a new manager who had little relevant experience to speak of IMO, because I don’t rate the Scottish league at all. However, that wasn’t the plan and I can see that now.

The whole point of going for someone who had success with a system very similar to us was not to replace but to refine. I’ve read a lot of people talk about how we’ve got a different system now and I can’t say that I agree with it, certainly not as things stand. The difference I see is that with a fresh perspective has come new ideas and perspectives for the players. They’re not playing drastically differently from under Smith (when things were going well) but they are trying new things which have been brought by the new team. There’s also a reason that we haven’t changed our coaching staff entirely and kept on several of them. 

This appointment is basically continuing the work that NSWE started when they took over and developing the playing style and philosophy accordingly. Purslow felt it was time to take the plunge and get some fresh ideas in, and I almost certainly think that it’s proving to be the right decision.

In any case, Smith deserves a huge amount of respect and gratitude for helping us to develop to the point that we did. We had some great times under his leadership and the players and style came on immensely when you consider the standard of football and professionalism we’d seen prior to his tenure. It was, however, time to take the next step. 

All in all, I  think that we’re incredibly lucky to have the owners we do and I do trust Purslow’s judgement, despite having reservations at the time. Onwards and upwards.
 

Not necessarily directly related.

However, when McGinn scored that cracker, as well as his recent performances, it made me think " You know, each phase has carried positives, but needed improvement and natural evolution to reach the next level ". So, Bruce also deserves some credit for his part as well, McGinn has been a huge part of this.

Konsa, Ollie, 2 of our most important players, all Smith.

Dear I say, with some of the players coming good, Pitarch deserves credit too?

And if/when Gerrard leaves, a new man with continue the work.

Unless Gerrard falls in love with Villa and relinquishes all things Liverpool that is.

Anyway, sentimental attachments are hard to get over, but as shrewd and successful business men, sometimes you've got to have a cold view.

They have a plan, and won't waiver from it, it seems.

Edited November 29, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[lexicon]

5 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Not necessarily directly related.

However, when McGinn scored that cracker, as well as his recent performances, it made me think " You know, each phase has carried positives, but needed improvement and natural evolution to reach the next level ". So, Bruce also deserves some credit for his part as well, McGinn has been a huge part of this.

Konsa, Ollie, 2 of our most important players, all Smith.

Dear I say, with some of the players coming good, Pitarch deserves credit too?

And if/when Gerrard leaves, a new man with continue the work.

Unless Gerrard falls in love with Villa and relinquishes all things Liverpool that is.

Anyway, sentimental attachments are hard to get over, but as shrewd and successful business men, sometimes you've got to have a cold view.

They have a plan, and won't waiver from it, it seems.

This is the most important part for me. The talk of club philosophy has very much been implemented - regardless of head coach, we know what we're doing and everything is cohesively moving in the right direction. This shows that we're a modern club and doing things the right way IMO - I definitely feel like we're in safe hands.

[Risso]

On 20/11/2021 at 19:43, Zatman said:

Think Sawaris goes to nearly all of them as based in London 

Last season I reckon he was at about a quarter of them. More than Edens though, only saw him once or twice.

[The Fun Factory]

The Swiss Ramble says in the last 10 years Villa have lost £455 million to go from being a mid table premier league side- to a mid table premier league side.

[theboyangel]

 

interesting development. 
 

I imagine we’ll have first dibs on any decent prospects too!

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

 

interesting development. 
 

I imagine we’ll have first dibs on any decent prospects too!

Very loose arrangement. Probably the equivalent of xias Indian academy project.

[DaveAV1]

53 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

 

interesting development. 
 

I imagine we’ll have first dibs on any decent prospects too!

It’s another investment in youth development. There’s a huge amount of joined up writing going on by the board and upper management. Strategic and infrastructure developments being continually invested in both financially and most importantly intelligently. 

As mentioned in earlier posts in this thread, we have spent huge amounts of money over the years and essentially seen very little return. Since the arrival of NSWE the spending has continued but is finally being invested wisely both for the near and long term future. These are very exciting times to be a Villa fan. Quietly we are going places, the vast majority of the press and other fans are yet to cotton on, but hopefully in the not to distant future we will see the press fawning all over the place to get into our good books and other fans hating us. Which is the true measure of success. We can start by being everyone’s favourite second team because we win the odd trophy instead of the usual suspects, but once the trophy cabinet starts getting full, we can enjoy being the bastards in claret and blue. 

[Made In Aston]

2 hours ago, theboyangel said:

 

interesting development. 
 

I imagine we’ll have first dibs on any decent prospects too!

Considering it's Nas's nephew, I would have expected that to happen regardless of an official agreement. 

[limpid]

14 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

Considering it's Nas's nephew, I would have expected that to happen regardless of an official agreement. 

In these post-Brexit days, it's likely that there has to be a legal agreement in order to get work visas. They can't professionally train while on a visitor visa.