The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[MrSmirch]

Don’t feel as bad as when we lost Delph or Benteke. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by MrSmirch

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, Talldarkandransome said:

We're in a much better position now, all over the place. Everything is different this time. I'm not worried where our ship is going

Hope you’re right!

Here is one reason to worry, based on last season’s performance:

points per match where Grealish played: 1.75

points per match without Grealish: 0.93

[ChicagoVillan1983]

I posted this on Reddit. Sharing as it’s relevant…

/////

Keep It Classy, Lads

So if all the news today is true, Jack is off. 

We don’t want people at our club that don’t want to be here - plain and simple. It’s all great to chat about holding him to his contract, but if his head is out of the door let’s take the money and run.

I’m not going to say stupid things like “he wasn’t even our best player” or even wish him any bad luck at all. Good luck, Jack. Thanks for the service and thanks for signing that contract last year that allowed us to extract maximum value for you.

Now kindly hurry up and get this done so we can focus on spending the cash on your replacements.

The thing is, this club has suffered far worse hardships than losing Grealish. Do you remember how close we were to bankruptcy only a few years ago? We have some of the best owners in the league and our project is still on the way up. 

We’re going to be playing fun and exciting football next year, and there’s still 2-3 bodies to come through the door. We will finally have a SQUAD and not just a first 11, and that’s what wins things.

So let’s not act like we’re a small time club and that this is the end of the world. Let’s not troll City fans, or wish any harm to Jack. It’s juvenile at best to turn this to anger and hate.

Instead let’s focus on our new heroes. Buendia/ Bailey - you’re up, dudes. Show us the fight and what you are worth. Ollie, OG Emi, Ty, SJM, help the rest of the team through this and continue to write your story to become Villa legends!

We’re Aston Villa, European Champions, League Winners, FA Cup Winners, League Cup Winners. Our future is safe and secure and there’s more glory in our future.

UTV!

[hippo]

8 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

As soon as his brother deleted his Twitter account, I knew it was done. It went under the radar somewhat but it was probably the biggest tell tale sign he was off.

FWIW, I think the club and the player have handled this terribly. Why the f*** was he given 3 weeks off at the end of a Euro's tournament where he played a couple of matches? Why weren't we discussing his future 3 weeks ago and signing players in that period when other clubs knew we didn't have one hundred million pounds burning a hole in our pocket? Why did we feature him in a kit launch which probably resulted in thousands of kids getting 'Grealish' printed on the back of their shirts? Those kits are ruined now and they're not exactly cheap...Massive error on behalf of the club.

Onto Jack. I don't really know what to think anymore. He's given me some unbelievable memories in the last few seasons but to leave now? I have no doubt he wanted to leave last summer and by signing a contract with a release clause in it, he knew he was putting himself into a position where Villa couldn't stop him from leaving. A Villa fan? Meh. Spare me. 

£100m is a lot for a player who can't go through a season without disappearing off injured for large parts. If we can't invest this and improve as a team, we'd never break the top 4 anyway.

Dunno - we moved for Budenia at break neck speed. Which gives us options in that midfield area. We don't totally have our pants down right now.

[Blasterpocket68]

This was always going to happen . What’s frustrating is the lack of honesty integrity from Jack . He claimed last year he was here to rebuild and support the project , here we are 12 months on and his off , Good luck to him but he isn’t  legend status at Villa and I’m sure he will be berated more critically  by fans . 
Football is a business  there is NO loyalty anymore ! 

[omariqy]

1 minute ago, Chindie said:

He's not a snake, he's gone about this reasonably professionally. For that reason I'm not in the boat for him getting any more vitriol than any opposition player.

But that's just it. He's now just some other player that doesn't play for us.

It's disappointing that he's kinda thrown the goodwill away for more money (when he's already an obscenely rich man) and some bought silverware. He's had something very special, and whilst it wouldn't mean as near guaranteed medals as this does, he's still got a lot of great things from it, and he cashed in on it.

But he's sold that now. And he's gone to one of the worst places he could have, a oil soaked PR machine. Sucking Satan's piece for some silver.

But that just means he's like every other player. He's not special. He's just a talented product, a tool. He'll be marketed as their Beckham figure. He'll be marketed as a world beater now. He'll be on Pepsi cans. He'll start for England. Because he wears a pale blue rag now and will get some oil stained trinkets, and sleep on an even bigger pile of gold than he does already.

Good for him. Bye. Some nice memories, thanks.

Spot on. The only thing that does stink is the timing. He knew back in April/May he was going to City.

[QldVilla]

1 minute ago, romavillan said:

Largely agree apart from the criticism of the club, they got in Buendia and Bailey before any announcement (still none yet). They had probably been assured by the player he was going to be staying as captain. There was no offer from City until last week, it does look like his representatives have been sounded out by City before they made their move and after that he's decided to go.

Don’t know if I agree with that, the rumours where around prior to the Euros saying a deal was done, someone in the know just went off early.

IMO, it was agreed last year when Manure were  interested, he signed the new contract, but with the release clause as he wanted to go as long as someone stumped up the cash. The club has kept this quiet.

 

[Keyblade]

1 minute ago, MrSmirch said:

Don’t feel as bad as when we lost Delph or Benteke. 

We were proper shit then though. You couldn't blame them (well Delph you could, but that was his own fault). 

[Don_Simon]

1 minute ago, Chindie said:

He's not a snake, he's gone about this reasonably professionally. For that reason I'm not in the boat for him getting any more vitriol than any opposition player.

But that's just it. He's now just some other player that doesn't play for us.

It's disappointing that he's kinda thrown the goodwill away for more money (when he's already an obscenely rich man) and some bought silverware. He's had something very special, and whilst it wouldn't mean as near guaranteed medals as this does, he's still got a lot of great things from it, and he cashed in on it.

But he's sold that now. And he's gone to one of the worst places he could have, a oil soaked PR machine. Sucking Satan's piece for some silver.

But that just means he's like every other player. He's not special. He's just a talented product, a tool. He'll be marketed as their Beckham figure. He'll be marketed as a world beater now. He'll be on Pepsi cans. He'll start for England. Because he wears a pale blue rag now and will get some oil stained trinkets, and sleep on an even bigger pile of gold than he does already.

Good for him. Bye. Some nice memories, thanks.

This. One million times this.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Just now, briny_ear said:

Hope you’re right!

Here is one reason to worry, based on last season’s performance:

points per match where Grealish played: 1.75

points per match without Grealish: 0.93

Emi, Bailey and whoever else we sign should correct that. 

[rodders0223]

4 minutes ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

Practical question: How much is Grealish on a week on his current contract? Does his departure make things a little better on the FFP front (in terms of wages)?

Having a bit of wiggle room on the FFP as a club who failed FFP and has the fanbase of a women's cricket team drop £250m on 2 players.
Yay.

[Talldarkandransome]

1 minute ago, briny_ear said:

Hope you’re right!

Here is one reason to worry, based on last season’s performance:

points per match where Grealish played: 1.75

points per match without Grealish: 0.93

Yeah but look at the talent we've signed, yes they have to bed in but I'm not feeling too worried yet

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

 

DADDY WANTS TO GO SHOPPING!

[ben1505]

Hi team, just woke up again... has anything actually happened? Is he training with Villa?

[MrBlack]

Assuming move goes ahead, I suspect the media silence was to allow us to get deals for Bailey, and maybe even Buendia, completed way before the sniffs of completion came out. This prevents us being held to ransom, and potentially makes us a more attractive proposition to the signings.

Once those deals are sealed, there's probably less need to keep it secret.

I do wonder how this will impact Buendia, as I did read assurances over Grealish were used to persuade him to join us over Arsenal. How true they were I've no idea.

Assume we'll use the money to get a defensive midfield gem in. Not sure we need that much else, and might be worth holding on to the cash to see where we end up looking short.

[Harry]

7 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

If the club knew he wanted out, this is all fair criticism. 

There are a few possibilities, I think

• We knew he wanted to go, and we mishandled it enormously.
• He told us he'd stay and then backtracked, in which case he's a dickhead, but the club didn't want to hold him to ransom when we had a good offer
• He was on the fence, and we gave him some time off to make up his mind, which is...nice, but slightly ill-judged?

 

If he was in two minds I suspect his head was turned at the Euros. Nothing to stop any Man City player tapping him up.

[sidcow]

Why the hell is he STILL here and STILL training with us?

If this really is happening (lets face it, we've heard reports that a) he arrived in Manchester and b) he would be there this afternoon which are both patently wrong) then get him gone, at least out of our squad and our view.

Edited August 4, 2021 by sidcow

[Mantis]

3 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

We were proper shit then though. You couldn't blame them (well Delph you could, but that was his own fault). 

I agree. I had absolutely no animosity towards Benteke. Didn't he have a release clause as well?

[Aston_Villan4]

7 minutes ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

Practical question: How much is Grealish on a week on his current contract? Does his departure make things a little better on the FFP front (in terms of wages)?

He was at 125k or 150k a week. It will help with FFP. But I don't know exactly how, just that I've read it'll help alleviate some FFP pressure.

[philthevillan]

 

15 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

As soon as his brother deleted his Twitter account, I knew it was done. It went under the radar somewhat but it was probably the biggest tell tale sign he was off.

FWIW, I think the club and the player have handled this terribly. Why the f*** was he given 3 weeks off at the end of a Euro's tournament where he played a couple of matches? Why weren't we discussing his future 3 weeks ago and signing players in that period when other clubs knew we didn't have one hundred million pounds burning a hole in our pocket? Why did we feature him in a kit launch which probably resulted in thousands of kids getting 'Grealish' printed on the back of their shirts? Those kits are ruined now and they're not exactly cheap...Massive error on behalf of the club.

Onto Jack. I don't really know what to think anymore. He's given me some unbelievable memories in the last few seasons but to leave now? I have no doubt he wanted to leave last summer and by signing a contract with a release clause in it, he knew he was putting himself into a position where Villa couldn't stop him from leaving. A Villa fan? Meh. Spare me. 

£100m is a lot for a player who can't go through a season without disappearing off injured for large parts. If we can't invest this and improve as a team, we'd never break the top 4 anyway.

Agreed. We all wanted to believe that he planned to take Villa all the way back to the top but as I said before, he’s just a footballer. He’s not a messiah. Playing for the club he supported suited him, till a better offer came along. He is an athlete driven by success. That’s fine but in this case he’s chosen to turn down the chance of being a lifelong legend who would be written to our history books indefinitely. 
 

Instead, long term he’ll be remembered as a player who took us up from the second tier and kept us up in the top tier, got a few England caps then moved on. People will say how gifted he was but others heroes will come along in his place and do similar.  
 

Being a Villa legend came second to instant success for Jack. That’s fine and I wish him well but I expected something more and it hasn’t happened. I’m not angry, I’m disappointed. More than anything disappointed in wasting my time thinking he was the central figure in something unique that we may never see happen again. 
 

Now it’s time to revert to being a normal fan again, cheering on the players we have under contract before one day they move on too. Perhaps Louie Barry might be the true messiah or maybe he’ll be another Jack? Who knows. I’m just not sure I’ll ever get to see a true Villa legend in front of the Holte ever again, unless we become the next Man City that is. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by philthevillan