Blimey, it looks like I’ve called it right again.
It doesn’t happen very often, so please allow me to gloat a little bit and say “I told you so” again.
The important stuff then and following the Dresden game, Bruce gave an interview, in which he basically says we aren’t selling anyone we don’t want to;
To be honest, that last line sounds a bit ominous.
From that comment I’d be inclined to think that Jack Grealish may have had his head turned and does want to leave to go Spurs.
Perish the thought, but if he does, he’ll have gone down in my estimation of him.
Reading between the lines, I’m guessing that if Levy offers stupid money (£40 million would probably do), we’ll probably let him leave.
And if that was to happen, I doubt I could complain too much.
The club is more important than any one player.
But the good news is that Levy won’t go to that money.
Spurs have enough on their plate with building the new ground.
So basically, Grealish is going nowhere.
Don’t worry Jack, have another good season for us and they’ll be back in again next year.
You’ll be a better player and more likely to meet your European ambitions.
Heh, Happy days!
I’ve just watched Dresden’s goal and think it was quite unlucky on Steer’s part.
Watch the way the ball bounced and then just stopped dead.
Yes, maybe Steer should have been out quicker, but that sort of thing is hard to read, imo.
should try being a goalie playing on cow fields we had too. balls had a habit of dying worst than this today. i do feel for the lad, but it was his mistake, he misjudged the roll. but next time he will put his size 10’s through it.
any other position players can make mistakes and mostly they can get away with them. but goalies make a slight error and more times than not it ends in a goal. its a lonely role, but like i said before he pulled off a great diving save from a fiercely stroke shot. he never allowed the mistake to beat him.
If this comes to pass, it is fantastic news. If we can keep Jack Grealish our chances of success will be much improved.
I am also starting to become excited by André Green’s performances. Are we on the verge of having two match winners in the team, who are both of our own? Is this the start of a Phoenix from the ashes. A team with an identity with us fans.
Moreover, there are players who love being sat Villa. Chester is from this mould. And who would have thought years later we would hold Hutton in high regard for his commitment to the Villa.
Does this stance by our owners mean they have built in FFP fines into their business model? Looking at QPR £17m fine, EFL costs £3m and £21m loans converted into shares. Based on this approach this would be a small cost to pay if promotion is secured and we do not sell players we want to keep.
You’re right Sid.
Players seem happy at the Villa, which is a first in a long time.
Chester is happy to stay and I really believe Snodgrass wanted to.
Bruce has united the team to the fans.
And it’s why I’m firmly in the camp that says Bruce should stay, at least for now.
As for FPP, it would seem the more you fight, the more you get nailed.
That was a very hefty hit to QPR, yet Bournemouth got away lightly.
I’m going for 3 correct calls in a row and I say there is a way around FPP, given the new owners.
More than that Badger, I believe Snodgrass’ comments after the WHU friendly was a ‘please come and get me plea’. For all Bruce’s ‘faults’ he really does seem to command the respect of the players.
Chester said he would stay if Bruce did, Snodgrass’ effusive comments etc.
Happier days?
Interesting twitter by Alan Nixon. Apparently Villa’s new owners are looking to adopt the use of favoured super agent to secure loan to buy players, as used by Wolves.
It means we could have access to highly talented players, not currently in their clubs 1st team, who would be focused on putting in a shift to secure regular playing time. If this means us moving away from SB’s experienced older players on high wages, then I am for it.
The upside of this model is no more McCormack’s. Overweight and broken house gates meant no longer able to play for Villa but still pick up a large salary. New model means loan deal terminated and club no longer pay £ms for 3 /4 more years.
I also believe we will be moving to a coach rather than manager model. In future the coach will be told these are your players, now get the best out of them. No longer will we have the O’Neil and Bruce buy a player and put on good money and then not fancy them after a handful of matches, resulting in them rotting away from the 1st team.
Our 1st loan signing this summer Moreira fits the above criteria of young, hungry and looking for an opportunity to make breakout. Even more interesting is that this loan has come through the super agent Wolves work with. When you think that we lodged a complain against Wolves last year for this approach, it is a massive change of approach. I would go as far as believing our new owners see this as the new football model. Let’s get in early and make it a success.
Just read that piece in 7500 to Holte – my only concern is that Bruce (coach / manager) should have a say on whether to proceed with the loan. Understand with Moreira, the goalkeeping coach checked him out before we proceeded – although he still hasn’t actually signed for us. I suspect the approach being adopted now reflects the way in which business is done in the NBL – anyone know?
The difference on the Wolves story is that Wolves owners also own a sizeable piece of Mendes agency and Mendes is an ‘advisor’ to the club. EFL rules state that an agent cannot have an undue influence on a club. The complaining clubs felt that the relationship between Wolves owners and Mendes breached this rule and gave them an ‘unfair’ advantage.
According to reports Bruce wants to bring Snodgrass back on loan – good move? I think so as it would allow Green to play in his natural position on left wing with Adomah on the bench. Also gives options up front as Green looked capable of playing in a central striking role.
Hitch I’d love to see Snoddy back. He has genuine quality and some guile too, scored some great goals for us.
The best thing about him for me is that he always gives 100%. We need him back and a few more that will be just as committed to the cause.
I was actually thinking of not renewing my Sky Sports subscription and was trying to find something else to do when we played Hull in the first game on Monday week as I thought we’d get stuffed. Now looking forward to it.
UTV
Just read that we have been under a transfer embargo. WTF. That’s news to me. Apparently it’s just been lifted but Blues are under one. Is this true?
Yeah – I just read that. Kept that quiet – bl**dy mushroom principle applied to fans! Still been lifted which is good news
I know Bruce may have to wheel and deal but i’ve just read that he may be trying to get a liverpool kid (a winger) on loan.
I do get a bit frustrated with this. We will be giving other clubs youth players game time at the expense of ours. As a winger he could be ahead of green.
I’m minded to agree Steve.
But I wonder if the staff look at things more from a stamina pov?
Green’s a great player, but he gets injured easily, for example.
Transfer embargo, my arse.
If there has been one, it’s totally self-inflicted purely because of the situation we were in.
We have yet to break any FPP rules, so this would have been advice from the EFL and no more, imo.
It isn’t worth discussion.
Sorry Badger; on this one I think it’s probably accurate and incidental to FFP. EFL were ‘investigating’ Villa’s financial situation and seeking assurances as to Villa’s ability to meet its financial obligations and may well have said that they would not ‘approve’ any incoming transfers by the club until they were satisfied that Villa were trading on a sustainable financial position. As I understand it the EFL has the power to do this and as all transfers have to be approved by the EFL then a transfer embargo exists – it is not directly related to FFP.
That is almost certainly the case Hitch. Fair enough I suppose. That’s maybe why it didn’t come out – just a short window
The other reason for an embargo is automatic. In the Times report on Villa it said other imminent payments due included instalments on transfer payments for players we have already. Any club which misses the payment of a transfer fee instalment is automatically embargoed for all further transfers. It makes sense.
It now appears we were under a “soft” embargo, whatever that means.
Probably, we were advised not to sign anyone without certain guarantees, which have been sorted, as we’re officially not under an embargo according to the EFL.
Bruce seeking to sign Ben Woodburn. He’s young but already an excellent prospect. The thought of him and Jack playing together is mouthwatering.
Also hope we get Snoddy back on loan. Can’t wait for the Hull game now!
if we can sign ben woodburn this would be a good signing and also a risk, just like our youngsters. he will be a gamble, nobody knows if he can handle 1st team. by this i don’t mean skill wise, he will have all that, i am sure and i also heard he does. but fitness and durability to play mens football and not get injured.
our young forwards have failed to impress, the window to shine and prove to the boss was preseason and all our forwards youngsters have pick up injuries. you can’t build a squad of players with these types. murphy will have to go on loan and prove himself for me.
being and staying full fitness and being durable are also skills, our youngsters will need to acquire them to get in the villa squad. we cant go into the season with one striker and he has been injury prone lately, woodburn is more attacking mid and if we are playing the same formation as preseason we will need more attacking mids that can see the forward passes.
I watched the full Dresden game on the official site. Two smartly taken goals ensured the correct result. Ref was far too lenient with Dresden for the frequent fouling of Grealish. Kodja pulled back from a scoring opportunity by an offside flag that was laughably wrong.
Goalkeeping error of judgement that was in Guzan class, and judged by the expressions on the faces in the dugout, it is pretty sure to cost Steer his place if a loan can be arranged.
He must have had a long arm. kodja was in england getting treatment.
Good guess that Badger. I think we all knew it would have to be big money to pull him away. I’m away on holiday at minute and having to pick up wifi in pubs,
nice win in Germany things looking bright for us let’s get that confidence to win in the league.
If we are signing players again on loan like Ben Woodburn, I really hope there are no conditions included such as game time action. Any loan player has to justify playing through training and in matches. Woodburn is highly rated by Liverpool and if he came will ultimately be beneficial to himself and Liverpool. Hepburn Murphy needs to start proving himself alongside O’Hare, Davis and Doyle Hayes. All of these have the ability but lack experience of first team football. My only complaint with Bruce will be how little these will be picked. A week or so ago when we had zero money, a lot of us were hopeful that the youngsters would come into contention and now only Green looks as if he will be featuring in match day squads. They might get a few minutes in Caraboa cup again if they are lucky. Then they will be slaughtered by the critics if we lose because they didn’t take their chance. Doyle Hayes showed when integrated into first team against West Ham that he looked comfortable in his role. It doesn’t work if too many are picked all at once. Suddenly we have gone from survival this season to pushing hard for promotion. The pressure on Bruce has become intense now that we don’t have to sell our best players, meaning the same philosophy as last season where he will choose experience over promising young talent.
100% agree
i am sick of hearing our youth should play and how bruce won’t pick um. i am betting you most of our great youth side will not make it. i have a few exceptions. dolyes hayes will make it and bruce will pick him this season.reason is because he is good enough. the only doubt about him is will he be able to handle the roughness of the league.but he will get his chance and on merit its down to the kid to show he can mix up the beautiful game he has with the rough and tumble of championship.
other youth team members will have to earn the bosses faith, when they get in they have to stand out to keep their shirts. davis has earned his place amongst the first team,with last season form where he lead the line well. another player who will jump ahead of injury prone murhpy is knibbs. who showed in preseason he can step up too. corey taylor also showed he has the physically and skill to step up and he can cross a mean ball.
should have read all the hate mail on different sites about steer. he made a wrong decision and its a tough call. he thought he could pick the ball up and judged it wrong.he didn’t have ages to make the call, it happens in split seconds he learnt a lesson. but same fans calling for these youth players to get games,all know most are not ready and they will make mistakes like this its the learning curve we go through. but they are over the top critical when it goes wrong.
liverpool inserted clauses into loans last season. so clubs loaning their young stars had to play um a certain amount of time or face fines. its a good idea for pool and all they will care about is their player and gaining experience.
now thats not a bad idea. look at villa we sent suliman and sarkic out and both made zero appearances and wasted their time there.we should send the kids out with the same clauses and then the kids we loan will get the time on the pitch.
if you don’t want to play the youth stars of tomorrow then you don’t loan them or you should be made to pay
I know it’s a game of opinions, but it’s amusing to see Bruce constantly slated for not playing the kids. He and his team watch these guys in training day in day out, they know what the Championship needs and so far they haven’t proved themselves ready. On the other hand so many keyboard warriors claim this player and that player should be given a chance when the truth is that most of them won’t have seen any of these kids play regularly, or ever and probably wouldn’t know them if they walked into the room – just names they have heard about from fellow internet experts.