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.
