To be honest, I don’t even know what the internationals are for and couldn’t care less what England are up to, unless we’re in some serious finals.
Apparently we’re in some Uefa group called A2?
Whatever.
All I know is that it detracts from the proper footy and hacks me right off.
So this is just a bit of a reflection on the last week or so.
The big news just coming out is that Blues might be deducted 12 points after the EFL came to an agreement on their case this week, with the club said to have committed a serious breach of sustainability rules.
The Telegraph are saying that the club signing Kristian Pedersen for £2million has caused other Championship clubs to raise complaints.
In some ways it’s nice to see this, after the way some of their fans have taken the proverbial during the summer.
But it’s really not funny.
You’d have to suspect that a 12 point deduction, coupled with a heavy fine (yes, great, make the situation worse by actually fining them. The mind boggles) will see them at serious risk of relegation.
This could so easily have been us, although I suspect we’re not in so much danger now, given that our owners have pumped in another £11 million this week. Even so, I’d say we’re still skating on thin ice.
It says a lot though, when half the league are under the microscope and this is only going one way.
It’s just a matter of time before a club or clubs go bust.
There’s something inherently wrong when the only way a club can possibly compete, even if only to survive relegation, means it has to put itself at risk of going bust.
Next up is Tommy Elphick, who’s gone out of his way to slate Bruce in the most professional way that he can.
He’s quite rightly complained that he did a reasonable job in a couple of games, yet was still immediately dropped.
Now I think he did pretty well overall for us, apart from one dodgy patch, but also accept that he’s not some Villa fans’ cup of tea.
I’d just ask did it really make sense to loan him out before getting replacements in?
It’s quite simply a scandalous lack of planning, especially looking at how things have panned out.
Er, Jedinak or Elphick?
Enough said, except that Bruce having favourites is starting to get seriously out of hand and will be his undoing.
Even if we get John Terry in, as much as I like him for what he brings to the club, we’ll still be weak at the back, particularly if Chester gets injured.
You can play Bree or De laet at CB, but this is an experiment you should be trying when you’re expected to be mid-table, not when you’re supposed to be challenging for promotion.
You just can’t be messing about like this if you want to be taken seriously.
Our recent goals conceded record says it all.
And finally there’s the Talksport computer prediction table.
I wouldn’t normally give them the time of day, but from memory they called Wolves correctly last season.
Suffice to say, we’re predicted to finish 11th, I think
I don’t think that’s far off the mark, as things stand.
Not that I think things won’t change this season.
10 games, I said, didn’t I?
Given the way it seems Bruce has lost the plot, I’d say we’re sadly still on course.
Why is the date wrong?
chester was in reverse against reading, last minute foul in the box. he had 5 yards on the attacker, with only 5 yards to the ball. yet he managed to get beaten to the ball and dived in conceding a penalty.
seems like the whole team needs to improve, not just one player who we might not like. ti think grealish has been poor this year, if you compare him to his last years showing. individually they all need to improve, but most importantly they need to improve as a team working without the ball. knowing when to press or when to drop deeper and protect the back four.
Now it’s being reported that Terry is unlikely to join Spartak Moscow. Does anyone know what is really going on!
I’ve seen that as well Hitch, it seem he’s backed off not them.
Seems so Bill – some reports saying he got concerned over negatives re Britain / Russia relationships.
That wouldn’t surprise me Hitch, all this cloak and Dagger stuff mate I’d think twice.
The Russian publication claim the 37-year-old is wary about uprooting his family to the country.
Terry has been out of contract since leaving Aston Villa at the end of last season.
The Championship club’s hopes of re-signing him could be boosted by his reluctance to move to Russia.
Steve Bruce has been using defensive midfielder Mile Jedinak as James Chester’s partner and they have endured a difficult start to the campaign.
BRUCE OUT
Massive change of subject, but here’s an excellent article that 100% sums up ny views of Doug Ellis;
http://www.avillafan.com/28964/deadly-doug-ellis-applause/
I suspect this might raise a bit of debate 🙂
Thanks for the link Badger; enjoyed the read. They say to ‘err is human, to forgive divine’ so I’d probably join in for a couple of seconds!
There is, in my mind, absolutely no doubt that Ellis was, ultimately, only interested in one thing – Doug Ellis. What I found particularly galling in the article is that it appears the sale of the club was him deserting a listing ship for his own gain both financially and for personal aggrandisement. Add that to the way he behaved towards the club’s finest achievement in winning the European Cup and his behaviour has been nothing short of disgraceful.
I’m still hoping, once he’s left us, that they will rename the Witton stand – either after Ron Saunders or Dennis Mortimer – now that’s something the fans should really get behind.
Most likely the applause will reach a peak in the 36th minute! I’m of the Hitchens and Bill vintage, so I spent a few hours on planes around Europe, and even to Tokyo via Alaska chatting with Deadly.
Time warp was a good description – but any sane person of his age would have looked at the escalation in transfer fees and player’s wages compared with gate receipts and said this must end in tears. It hasn’t yet – but it still might. Chairmen who thought they could ride the spending wave and survive were in a minority.
I remember particularly Doug saying “We could have ended up like Chelsea!” ‘Yes please’ you are probably thinking. But this was at the time of Ken Bates in charge at the Bridge, who had sold the ground for redevelopment, gambled on the Premier League agreeing the club move to a new ground at White City and
lost. Bates was facing ruin and Chelsea facing eviction until Abramovich stepped in. At that point the buyer did not matter – Pablo Escobar would have had his hand bitten off.
Deadly then found – in the numbers of the time – a straight businessman who seemed to have enough money to take the club forward. And so Randy Lerner did – until the Arabs arrived and added a zero to all spending. Epitaph “Too mean, and not mad enough.” But those are hard traits to get right.
Very good points OLL and you clearly met the man if you didn’t actually ‘know’ him and, yes, fair point about Lerner – what subsequently happened cannot be laid at Doug’s door.
I was having dinner with a number of senior businessmen in Birmingham a few years ago and talk turned to Villa and Mr. Ellis. A very well known and respected figure (who shall remain nameless) commented that Doug “knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing” – that sums the man up for me.
I still think he held Villa back at a time and there is still the matter of the lack of respect shown towards the club and players for winning the European Cup.
I bear him no ill will though.
Yes, fair comment about Bates, although I always thought him to be a dubious character at best.
I always compare us to Arsenal at the time, where we were on a very equal footing.
That’s what sticks in my craw; the way they moved on and we didn’t.
So so true Badger, I could write a book on Deadly Doug and his ego, pictures of him on every wall in side villa park , i even got some myself of him and me and senior stewards from then the club photographer Terry Weir. He had many arguments with the likes of Ron Saunders, if you didn’t agree with him it was curtains for you or them.
I see JT has confirmed that he won’t be going to Spartak.
As soon as the “best for his family” got mentioned, I knew that was rubbish.
It seems Derby are now favourites to sign him, with us second and QPR third.
No doubt it all depends on the home/ work commute and whether he’s prepared to keep travelling.
The Lampard thing might count for Derby, whereas Terry seemed genuinely happy at the Villa.
A London club must appeal, but if you can get an extra £10-20k a week, I’d certainly be willing to travel for a year.
Especially if it was my last.
I see De Laet has gone out on loan. I wonder if he was asked to play goalkeeper and refused?
I am now firmly in the Bruce out brigade. How long do people think he’s got left?
But ‘he knows what he’s doing’ allegedly! Just that nobody else has a clue what it is.
Sadly, I’m also of the view that Bruce has lost the plot.
Don’t,be to hard on him, I think he has senile dementia and forgot what he’s doing.
Football has changed so much over the last few years and Bruce’s tactics (if he has any ,haven’t) its simple he is old fashioned and out of date… If we don’t get rid ASAP we will not be close to going up this season.
Saddened, he make it hard to himself by treating fans as idiots, he knows the fans are calling for his head yet he doesn’t tell them if or not Bruce is coming, if he thinks its his way of confusing the opposition he’s wrong. Why hasn’t he tried to make it easy for himself getting the paying fan on his side. He has to go because in business like his its to get close to the fans. He’s gambling again with his job by thinking what he has is good enough.
Put it like this he not coming.
Steve Bruce has revealed he would love to bring John Terry back to Aston Villa, but has admitted they may not be able to afford him.
The former England skipper was a key figure for Villa last season, impressing with his performances on the pitch and influence off it, as the West Midlands side reached the play-off final.
However, the financial troubles that followed defeat to Fulham were well-known, meaning Terry was released as his deal was up.
But, the 37-year-old is still a free agent and after rejecting a move to Spartak Moscow, many thought he could return to Villa who have struggled defensively this season.
Yet, Bruce told the Express & Star that whilst he would welcome a return for Terry, the £60k-a-week he was believed to be on last season is now out of their price range:
“If all was right and we could afford John we would have him back in a heartbeat. We are not in a position to offer him the level of salary we could last year.
“Last year we had parachute payments and things like that. I don’t think it is all down to money. It is all down to what John requires.
Offer him £30k a week, a coaching position and a bonus for getting us promoted – we not only need a CB, we need a defensive coach! We could always pay for it by sacking one of the other coaches – given our performances thus far he couldn’t do any worse!