The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[maqroll]

1 hour ago, tarjei said:

He is not allowed to smile and have a laugh when the team is playing poorly? This is clearly the paper trying to wind people up by making a non-story into something it's not. It's the same thing the English media have been doing to their footballers for as long time.

Nothing wrong with having a smile and a laugh. But after a 4-0 drubbing, in a nightclub, possibly with drugs involved, and coming months after the summertime incident, it all just makes him look like he's got bad judgement, because even if he was not drunk or high, he should know that it might get written that way and become an unneeded distraction for the rest of the team. It's careless and he needs to smarten up.

[briny_ear]

I think the law of surviving the ravages of football journalism is that the more you party, the more **** brilliant you need to be on the field so as to wipe out all the lurid press reports (see Sterling, for example).

Get wise, Jack, this season could be the top of a slippery slope for you.

[KSV]

He calls himself a villa fan........ but hours after the match hes partying? Fark him. Im a villa fan and im still distraught. Guess the loads of money the club he loves gives him is comforting. Should dock his pay. I just dont see a kid with passion for the club running out there. Even Craig Gardner had more passion playing for this club. He is a massive dissapointment for me.

He could turn out to be the best ever player.. but i cant see it unless he has a massive attitude change. He is going down the path of the Moore brothers rather than even a Gabb or Collymore.

Of course if he was performing this wouldnt even be an issue.. but he isnt performing.. and his attitude on the field stinks... so naturally questions are being asked as obviously it is affecting his performances. Theres no desire or passion in his play. He fails to get involved and doesnt work hard. Garde was right to leave him out and was wrong to bring him back in. Shouldnt be in the squad for a while.

[NurembergVillan]

Whopper.

[maqroll]

[OutByEaster?]

58 minutes ago, KSV said:

He could turn out to be the best ever player.. but i cant see it unless he has a massive attitude change. He is going down the path of the Moore brothers rather than even a Gabb or Collymore.

Just as an aside, in this example, percieved failure Luke Moore scored the same number of Villa goals as Collymore, and Gabby has scored almost six times as many as either. It's strange the way we bracket players. 

In all honesty, I think Jack still has more to learn on the field than off it, despite his liking for making a tit of himself. It's a backhanded compliment - if the papers didn't think he was good, they wouldn't give a unicorns poop what he was up to.

 

 

[Demitri_C]

Another modern day footballer. More interested in the money and the partying than his job. Might be a decent player with potential but I think he comes across as a clown. You play crap but then you rub it in the fans faces that you don't care

[pacbuddies]

2 minutes ago, BOF said: So why bring up that picture then?  It clearly implies that you think it has some bearing on what is happening.  If there was an attitude problem, he wouldn't be playing.  He's playing in a poor team at the moment.  They all need to lift their game.  Every one of them.  So bringing up that picture intimating that Grealish's problem is attitude or professionalism is a pretty distasteful leap to make IMHO.

I think it have affected his early season form, but obviously he's not as important to the team that it is THE reason we're abysmal.

Fwiw I maintain it is unprofessional as a pro athlete to get that wasted. but I know that many people in the UK doesn't see it as a big deal.

That's because many people in the UK are also wasters that think behaving like that is acceptable.

[sne]

47 minutes ago, pacbuddies said:

That's because many people in the UK are also wasters that think behaving like that is acceptable.

We have a fair few of those in Sweden as well , althou I believe the drinking culture in football has somewhat disappeared. It's just not possible to compete at the top level (even in the lowly Swedish league) if you don't stay professional. 

I've said for years that I think many of the English academy systems are somehow flawed. To much money and free time, too little responsibility and guidance possibly?

Will be interesting to see how Gardè handles this latest misstep. Hopefully it was a sanctioned night out so the players could clear their heads after a heavy loss. But that doesn't seem at all likely. That's something an old school 80's style manager like MON would allow, not Gardé.

Really hope Gardé lays down the law to Grealish, and really hope he listens and start playing like the Villa fan and talent he is, we need him to. 

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, sne said:

We have a fair few of those in Sweden as well , althou I believe the drinking culture in football has somewhat disappeared. It's just not possible to compete at the top level (even in the lowly Swedish league) if you don't stay professional. 

I've said for years that I think many of the English academy systems are somehow flawed. To much money and free time, too little responsibility and guidance possibly?

Will be interesting to see how Gardè handles this latest misstep. Hopefully it was a sanctioned night out so the players could clear their heads after a heavy loss. But that doesn't seem at all likely. That's something an old school 80's style manager like MON would allow, not Gardé.

Really hope Gardé lays down the law to Grealish, and really hope he listens and start playing like the Villa fan and talent he is, we need him to. 

If Garde authorised players to go the lash after a 4-0 loss then he is a fool. And Remi does not strike me as a fool. I dont mind players going out getting mashed but only if your putting it in on the pitch which grealish has failed miserably to do. 

[Bunnski]

Drop the little shit and put a player who would run through walls for us like kozak in the squad...

[Dr_Pangloss]

I'm pretty much done with this kid. He's young, talented and earning a lot of money, has every opportunity in the world to become a good premier league player and it looks like he is going to blow it.

Perhaps it's no surprise that to me he has looked slow, predictable and lethargic on the ball, if his off the field actions include late night partying. 

He needs urgent attention, an enormous fine and to be dropped for months, he needs to prove why he should be at this football club, he's deluded if he thinks other teams would be in for him if we go down given his poor form and off the field exploits. 

[Keyblade]

Not deluded at all, I'm sure a few teams who are doing better than us (read: every other team) would snap him up without hesitation. And then we'll be seeing an Albrighton type renaissance, except he is a much better footballer than Albrighton and so it would sting that bit more.

[Eames]

Grealish is a microcosm of what really worries me about this team and our current situation. 

In previous season we've bumbled about in the lower half without anyone really giving a shit and by and large the press have left us alone. 

 

Now we are bottom - we are the story. Next up on MOTD after the title race. There is a danger the media narrative will become "and now its time to remind you all quite how shit the Villa are" The level of scrutiny and attention this team is about to and continue to get will be nothing like any of them have experienced before and IMO they will crack and crack hard. Jack strolling about on Saturday and then getting smashed the night afterwards is the tip of the iceberg. 

 

Garde has a massive task on his hands getting something out of this talented but mentally fragile squad we have. 

[NeilS]

See this was part of the problem I had with the original story in the summer. Lot's of people said at the time it didn't matter as it was summer, and he is allowed to blow off some steam. The problem as I see it is, he now has a reputation and is a target for the press, which in turn winds the fans up as they see him as a boozer who doesn't care for the team, which tbh he may be, he may not be I don't know. That is how the press will portary the lad though, so he needs to smarten up and quickly. To add to the problem, the lad is struggling for whatever reason to replicate his breakthrough form from last season, which then brings up the question of has his summer and current behaviour affected his form?

[ReasonforRevolution]

After Garde's second game you would of thought the players would be doing all they can to impress which includes keeping a low profile and getting their heads down off the pitch. Surely... not that hard! I think a lot of us are purely frustrated with Jack. The lad is so talented. He was head and shoulders above others in the U21s and in fact a couple of games in the first team last year but that talent will only get you so far. It has to come alongside a work ethic and determination. A semi final performance doesn't make a career. He has put the wagon before the horse announcing himself for England and seems to be following a well trodden path more concerned with lifestyle than playing for Aston Villa. I believe in the lad and I like the him but he really needs to take this opportunity. He has been missing for a while and was once again against Everton was stood behind players asking for the ball when no one could of passed to him, he was hiding. We need him doing everything in his power to get on the ball and play direct with no fear. There is 1 year and 9 months between him and Barkley and it looks like a long amount of time. For what it is worth I always thought Joe Cole was one of the best things for Jack and could be a massive asset in this battle. Also, if he was out with his team mates I might of looked on this a little more positive somehow.

[Eames]

3 minutes ago, NeilS said:

See this was part of the problem I had with the original story in the summer. Lot's of people said at the time it didn't matter as it was summer, and he is allowed to blow off some steam. The problem as I see it is, he now has a reputation and is a target for the press, which in turn winds the fans up as they see him as a boozer who doesn't care for the team, which tbh he may be, he may not be I don't know. That is how the press will portary the lad though, so he needs to smarten up and quickly. To add to the problem, the lad is struggling for whatever reason to replicate his breakthrough form from last season, which then brings up the question of has his summer and current behaviour affected his form?

I was in the "he's a kid - its fine" camp in the summer and I stand by that point of view. 

 

I doubt for Jack this is an infrequent occurrence and perhaps when Sherwood was in charge we didn't get to hear about it - but now Garde is in charge and we are just awful its become a story. I had  assumed Garde will impose a Wenger style booze ban (maybe he has) and the club's response to this will be interesting. 

 

Jack's problems this season are nothing to do with the summer. They are in his head - he thinks he's made it. Garde needs to remind him otherwise. 

[NeilS]

7 minutes ago, Eames said:

I was in the "he's a kid - its fine" camp in the summer and I stand by that point of view. 

 

I doubt for Jack this is an infrequent occurrence and perhaps when Sherwood was in charge we didn't get to hear about it - but now Garde is in charge and we are just awful its become a story. I had  assumed Garde will impose a Wenger style booze ban (maybe he has) and the club's response to this will be interesting. 

 

Jack's problems this season are nothing to do with the summer. They are in his head - he thinks he's made it. Garde needs to remind him otherwise. 

You are most likely correct, although I do feel a little bit of second season syndrome has also hit. Defenders are ready for him now.

The summer behaviour has now made him a target for the press and made a rod for his back. If he had a few beers that would have been fine, but being passed out in the street is big news and a whole different level. The press will always be all over that kind of thing, and he will probably will regret that as we can see in this thread that fans are already turning on him. We need to support the lad, not bury him under loads of grief for this. He can help himself though by not getting into these situations and keeping a low profile for a while.

 

[John]

9 hours ago, lexicon said:

 

Is he really better though? He's got potential, for sure, but right now it looks like his attitude is going to mess that up.

Yes the signs of recent months have not been good. All this will he play for Ireland or England debate will come to nothing if he does not do his stuff for us. He should have kept his head down after the summer he had and just worked on his game. We need him to look like he wants to turn things around for himself and for our football club rather than like a player is going off the rails after what was a very brief time in the limelight. I hope he will now get and listen to sound advice from both the club and his family.     

[BOF]

I fear the balance will be gone from this discussion.  By all means play the Daily Mail's game.  That moral compass of a newspaper.  Grealish goes on a night out.  That much is true.  They shoe-horn laughing gas into the article (calling it hippy crack.  Much more incendiary language wouldn't you agree), but they say there's no evidence he took any.  Don't mention it then.  Stick to the facts if that's not too difficult.  What are we most upset about here?  That he went out?  That he presumably had a drink? That he has shit friends?  That he had the gall to be filmed laughing?  People probably annoyed and emotional at the Everton result then see him laughing.  LAUGHING?  "Probably at the result.  Probably at our plight."  But maybe not really.  I'll continue to watch from the sidelines.

For me he needs better friends.  What he's doing there is probably no different to what many Premier League players get up to at the weekend after a game.  What he needs to realise now is that he in particular is in the crosshairs.  He has now set more than one precedent and he's going to be followed and made an example of.  Do what you do, but do it in private, and get rid of those thick word removed mates of yours.