The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[Keyblade]

23 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

The man in the marketing department must have reported a drop off in shirt sales

City fans on Twitter seem absolutely sick of him. And they're the demographic you'd think would be buying the most merch (football-obsessed teenagers).

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, theboyangel said:

I think his time is coming to an end at Man City especially with the signing of Doku who Pep described as a ‘proper winger’ in his post-match comments.

I wonder if Pep is beginning to tire of Jack’s party boy persona? 

Grealish has never really suited their style of play and some would argue their system nullifies his natural game/talent. He won’t care though as he’s won pretty much everything at club level and been paid handsomely for it.

I think they’ll look to offload him next summer. Problem is who can afford to sign him? 

I imagine Newcast-oil could be a likely destination and let’s face it he’d love the nightlife up there. 

Chelsea, Newcastle or maybe United is probably the only real options if City let him go

Not sure the owners of Newcastle would be keen on Grealish lifestyle

[The_Steve]

5 hours ago, Pinebro said:

That Doku lad seemed to play with a lot of freedom.

I think it has more to do with Grealish being scared of messing up and being out of the team rather than being limited by the system.

I may be completely wrong but that's the way I see it.

For all his talent, I think his failure to close down that cross when they lost in the Champions League to Real Madrid so quickly probably didn’t help. He does track back yes, but his defensive work was never that strong. Pep clipped his wings sadly. It would be fascinating if Jack tested himself in Europe though. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Greal-hiss is destined for Newcastle-arabia or Chelsea for sure...

How much is he worth now? One could perhaps argue he's a better 'team' player in some respects...

[DCJonah]

Yes he's got his trophies but in 20 years no one at villa and no one at city will care about him. 

Just like Barry. 

Whereas he could have had a statue built outside here if he'd stayed as captain and led us to some glory

 

[Tomaszk]

49 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Yes he's got his trophies but in 20 years no one at villa and no one at city will care about him. 

Just like Barry. 

Whereas he could have had a statue built outside here if he'd stayed as captain and led us to some glory

Yep.

It'll be less than 20 years as well.

[Mic09]

47 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Yes he's got his trophies but in 20 years no one at villa and no one at city will care about him. 

Just like Barry. 

Whereas he could have had a statue built outside here if he'd stayed as captain and led us to some glory

 

I guess when you are a top footballer at age of 25-26 there is a few options to choose.

For Grealish, these were the options:

1. Go and most definitely win the PL multiple times, have a shot at CL which he has achieved, play against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on weekly basis, become a world superstar player invited to top football award nights in the arguably best team in the world made entirely of superstars. Oh, and make incredible money while doing so. 

OR

2. Possibly achieve some sort of success under Dean Smith, in a team that is more likely to get relegated than achieve any sort of European glory. Sure, you play for a team you support. Fans love you, unless you go out for a drink and get caught by a paparazzi following a 2-1 loss at Brentford.

It's a tough one. 

[MaVilla]

ironically, he would suit the Emery system i think.

[DCJonah]

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

I guess when you are a top footballer at age of 25-26 there is a few options to choose.

For Grealish, these were the options:

1. Go and most definitely win the PL multiple times, have a shot at CL which he has achieved, play against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on weekly basis, become a world superstar player invited to top football award nights in the arguably best team in the world made entirely of superstars. Oh, and make incredible money while doing so. 

OR

2. Possibly achieve some sort of success under Dean Smith, in a team that is more likely to get relegated than achieve any sort of European glory. Sure, you play for a team you support. Fans love you, unless you go out for a drink and get caught by a paparazzi following a 2-1 loss at Brentford.

It's a tough one. 

We just finished 11th and were on a massive upward trajectory, so I don't agree with the bit in bold. 

I fully get why he did it. But I wonder if in the future what would have meant more to him. 

[The_Steve]

We were never in danger of being relegated after Deano and the lads pulled off the great escape. Jack was engineering moves each summer - at least the United deal he pulled out of at the last minute made since given that we barely stayed up. 
 

Long term however it was best for both parties that he left. We had to move on from the circus and being too reliant on one player. Yeah, it meant the travesty of Stevie, but we are in such an incredible position now. 
 

He got his medals, but yeah just a cog in a giant sporting cheating machine. The casual fans will probably not remember too much of his on the field stuff for City and probably good and bad for what he does off of the pitch. 

[JPJCB]

The strange thing will be if the emery era results in memorable success for the club (trophies, European football/CL). Then grealish will be in this odd historical position as arguably our best player of the past couple of decades but of very limited significance to our success 

Im trying to think of a similar example with another player/club. Coutinho at Liverpool comes closest. Absolutely outstanding for a few years including under klopp but then left before Liverpool’s more recent success and so is sort of in a limbo position historically 

[Oaks]

7 minutes ago, JPJCB said:

The strange thing will be if the emery era results in memorable success for the club (trophies, European football/CL). Then grealish will be in this odd historical position as arguably our best player of the past couple of decades but of very limited significance to our success 

Im trying to think of a similar example with another player/club. Coutinho at Liverpool comes closest. Absolutely outstanding for a few years including under klopp but then left before Liverpool’s more recent success and so is sort of in a limbo position historically 

He's nowhere near our best player in the past couple of decades. He has a great 18 months in the premier league, but that's nowhere near what Benteke, Ashley Young, barry or even milner did. You could debate most gifted sure but i just cant accept that at all.

Could still change if he does come back however.

[JPJCB]

5 minutes ago, Oaks said:

He's nowhere near our best player in the past couple of decades. He has a great 18 months in the premier league, but that's nowhere near what Benteke, Ashley Young, barry or even milner did. You could debate most gifted sure but i just cant accept that at all.

Could still change if he does come back however.

We can agree to disagree but at his peak grealish was better than each of those players from my perspective. In the 20/21 season we had one of the top 5 best players in the league playing for us and I don’t think any of the above reached that level.

But I agree with you that we associate those players- or certainly young, Barry, Milner- with contributing to our success during a v positive period for the club. That’s sort of my point: grealish will have missed out on that kind of association despite the arrival of emery

[Marka Ragnos]

3 hours ago, MaVilla said:

ironically, he would suit the Emery system i think.

Yes, timing and the alignment of the stars just didn't let that happen. But I always think of the "butterfly effect," too. Had Grealish not left, would all the other ups and downs that led us to where we are now have occurred? Who knows?

[DJBOB]

In terms of raw talent - Grealish was the best I've seen in the past 20 years for Villa.

In terms of applied talent - I don't even think he even comes close to Ashley Young MK 1. Young did it for 4 years in the prem for Villa - matching and exceeding Grealish's output. Can you imagine what we could have sold him for if Young MK 1 played for us now?

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, DJBOB said:

In terms of raw talent - Grealish was the best I've seen in the past 20 years for Villa.

In terms of applied talent - I don't even think he even comes close to Ashley Young MK 1. Young did it for 4 years in the prem for Villa - matching and exceeding Grealish's output. Can you imagine what we could have sold him for if Young MK 1 played for us now?

Nah, Grealish was a far better player than Young. He absolutely dragged us through some games. Thinking back, Grealish being in the Championship was utterly absurd.

I don’t blame people (not you) for the bitterness around him, but he’s the best Villa player I’ve seen (at the age of 37). 

[Zatman]

3 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

In terms of raw talent - Grealish was the best I've seen in the past 20 years for Villa.

In terms of applied talent - I don't even think he even comes close to Ashley Young MK 1. Young did it for 4 years in the prem for Villa - matching and exceeding Grealish's output. Can you imagine what we could have sold him for if Young MK 1 played for us now?

Ashley Young won player of the month 3 times in 2008. Ronaldo won the Ballon Dor that season playing in the same league

[DJBOB]

2 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Nah, Grealish was a far better player than Young. He absolutely dragged us through some games. Thinking back, Grealish being in the Championship was utterly absurd.

I don’t blame people (not you) for the bitterness around him, but he’s the best Villa player I’ve seen (at the age of 37). 

I don't disagree, I think he's the best in talent I've seen too for Villa.

But in terms of Villa impact, Young was far more impactful for me. Grealish did have the ability to drag us through games whereas his final third was always a bit spotty and it's carried on to this City where he doesn't consistently put the ball into the back of the net.

Another thing with Grealish is that I would be very surprised if he was playing at a high level in 3 years. Maybe he will re-invent himself, but age catches up quick. Milner, Young, and Barry were exceptional pros and always took care of themselves. Grealish, I don't see it.

[Zatman]

12 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Nah, Grealish was a far better player than Young. He absolutely dragged us through some games. Thinking back, Grealish being in the Championship was utterly absurd.

I don’t blame people (not you) for the bitterness around him, but he’s the best Villa player I’ve seen (at the age of 37). 

Young did also drag wins from turgid displays under O'Neill

Grealish is probably the most talented player but still had a way to go. McGrath, Young and Barry were ahead of him. Even players he played with Emi, Ty and maybe Luiz and Ramsey will go ahead of him in terms  Villa players

That Liverpool game was probably the best individual performance in Premier League history

[Oaks]

24 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

In terms of raw talent - Grealish was the best I've seen in the past 20 years for Villa.

In terms of applied talent - I don't even think he even comes close to Ashley Young MK 1. Young did it for 4 years in the prem for Villa - matching and exceeding Grealish's output. Can you imagine what we could have sold him for if Young MK 1 played for us now?

This 100%, it winds me up when fans whos seen them both play put Jack in the team over Young. Their raw numbers are not even comparable.