I think I might be a few days late with this story, but it doesn’t really matter, as it’s the issues behind it that are more important to me.
To clarify, apparently COH has been offered various deals, but has knocked them back and we’re at last chance saloon before he actually leaves on a free transfer.
If you consider this kid is our next Jack Grealish, our next big thing or whatever you want to call it, this is just ridiculous.
Just what is the point of running an academy, if you have young players this highly regarded, yet you give them away?
And make no mistake, clubs will be queuing up for a player who looked a class above Coventry, who have just been crowned champions of league 1, especially on a free.
Okay, we’ll probably get somewhere in the region of just short of a million quid in compensation for our training costs, but I still think “what’s the point?”
You can see Callum’s point.
He has no hope of getting a game and it’s exactly the same with Sarkic, who won’t counternance another deal at the Villa at any price, after he was called back from a successful loan at Liverstone, only to be 3rd in line at best and more likely fourth as our goalie.
You can understand why these lads get frustrated.
Meanwhile, it seems we’re all over Keinan Davies, who to my mind is an up and coming striker who looks like he might have the makings. Yet up to now looks massively injury prone, which makes him a big risk.
I just don’t get our strategy and to be honest haven’t done for a good while, as I’ve often said.
I appreciate that we’ve been struggling over the last few seasons and it’s not been a good time to introduce kids.
But if you’ve got real faith in them, you quite simply give them playing time or move them on.
I can totally understand that 39 out of 40 won’t make it and they do indeed get moved on.
But if you have what everyone calls a “class act” not getting a game, it’s no surprise that they don’t want to stay.
Our “top” rated academy is a total waste of time, unless it’s aim is to just supply fodder to the lower leagues, imo.
Of course, if that’s exactly what it’s designed to do, we’re doing a great job.
Don’t know what to think Badger. Too many variables in the reasons why he’s turned down contracts.
If he leaves and goes to another Prem Club he’ll be polishing the bench at best (would that be about money I wonder) So if it’s about game time then best he can hope for is a Championship club.
If he rates himself then he should stay and demonstrate why he’s good enough to be playing.
Or maybe he thinks Villa will be relegated and we’re round full circle to money and a Prem Club?
Who knows?
Badger in hindsight he’s been poorly treated, he’s shown promises skills that Villa ignored, I for one took interest when he was playing and often wondered why we haven’t used him. I know that Smith didn’t think at the time to take a chance with him and I wouldn’t blame O’hare for digging his heels in .Villa coaching in my mind needs to wake up on players we have or had in the academy . We’re years behind in finding skilled players, other clubs are clapping their hands in taking players from Villa Park, just look around the football teams and see players that had played for us , it makes you think where’s the brains in our club.
Is Dean Smith really a Villa fan or a Blues supporter sabotaging Villa he buys rubbish and let’s our good players, leave and doesn’t give our young academy stars a chance to prove themselves
We might as well scrap our youth academy. The cost of running it must outweigh any players it produces. Let’s face facts, Dean Smith and all previous managers are under pressure for instant success. None of them them will risk results by giving youngsters a chance to blood in and develop. However it’s a different story when millions are spent, such as Wesley who has been dire for most of the season but still gets plenty of time to make the grade! O’Hare like Hepburn Murphy and many others are cast aside to sink or swim because we will never give them an opportunity.
Totally agree Holte, and that’s why we struggle , it’s like running two business with both not reproducing. Villa has always been behind in going forwards, and it’s playing safe that holds us up. It’s simple, your a manager then manage your a footballers . I’m fed up of people that just do enough and not wanting to go forwards. We need a manager with get up and go. ..
And if the / our manager takes a risk with kids and he / we fail – if we’re honest with ourselves – we’ll be on his back for that!
The reality is we all want instant success and none of us are good at coping with failure – although being a Villa fan we’re probably better than most 🙂
The reality is we missed the boat when Deadly was in charge and now we’re playing catch up – or trying to – In a completely different (footballing) world where the rich clubs get richer; all of which has been compounded by two disastrous owners, a litany of useless managers and financial incompetence that beggars belief!
So, I’m going to look at the positives – we now have the fifth richest owners in the UK who are committed (and can afford) to fund the development needed to return us to the top and when we beat Sheffield on Wednesday we’ll be out of the bottom three and heading up to safety.
So, if Callum O’Hare doesn’t want to sign for our great club ………
UTV
Hitch, you totally had me onside then.
I’ve often made the point that if the kid fails, the manager will take the flack.
And Smith is getting enough while playing his best side, as it is.
Yep, we definitely missed the boat under Doug, who refused to game and push on.
But then you lost me.
Sheffield, I’ll comment on closer to the game.
And the inference about COH, well, when I hear his name, I always hear “Albrighton” ringing in my head. But then, I’ve not seen enough of him in the first eleven.
I suspect it probably is about money in COH’s case.
But why shouldn’t he aim for the best sort of pay, when he’s so highly rated?
When Albrighton left, it was rumoured that it was because we wouldn’t give him £30k a week.
His recent interview says that we didn’t offer him anything at all. A ridiculous decision to my mind, but in fairness, finances were bad.
I suspect because of our finances being equally as bad now, we’ve made COH a really poor offer.
Which is frankly very shortsighted.
It’s as I said, you either believe in the kid, or you don’t.
It would seem someone doesn’t.
And COH will ply his trade where he’s wanted.
And I have a nasty feeling it’ll be our loss, not his.
We’re either going to give our very best kids extended runs or we might as well scrap the whole thing, imo.
True Hitch, but we have a manager with little or nothing experience going nowhere, if he hasn’t the balls to play or help a up and coming player then we won’t see football down Villa Park. I’ve seen enough now to see that Smith is a lucky man. 5 or 6 richest club should by now have mapped out their goal for our club, I don’t see it yet for Villa , if by the Grace of God we stay up it won’t be for his knowledge of the game , other teams saving us.
I agree with you Smith hasn’t got a clue I’ve been a Villan since 1970 and this season has been the worst I’ve seen them back row leeks more than the misses cullender
Actually Norman, you have a point there.
I honestly can’t think of a worse defence in a similar timeframe, than the one we have this season.
Whatever your thoughts, that’s a massive indictment when you consider Smith was a defender and we have JT as a coach.
Horrendous players or horrendous coaching?
I genuinely haven’t made my mind up yet.
It won’t take long Badger believe me, I supported Smith when he arrived at Villa Park and followed him up to a few months ago, Times up for me I’ve wanted Terry and Smith to do well but we all can see the writing on the wall. We can only hope that West Ham lose to Wolves and Chelsea and we win against Sheffield to give us hope , a question I’ve been asking myself, is Smith really in charge or listening to other so called football directors in Villa Park. It’s a heartbreak to me seeing us struggle year after year and me putting in 75 years of wanting us to be a top club in football.
It’s been a painful experience for us all with the lockdown and no football. The break for Villa might have been a good thing because we were in freefall before the lockdown. It’s a bit like a new season again although we still have the same shite players!
When we talk about missed opportunities in our past, Deadly Doug certainly failed to back up managers when going for that final push. More recently however we had Randy Lerner who tore up what was a strong team, forcing O’Neill to walk out with Milner, Barry and Young to name a few. We also could feel hard done by when we made top 4 before the invention of the champions league!
Can anyone tell me why Dean Smith puts so much faith in that has been goalkeeper Reina when we have recalled that young keeper Sachi who has had a blinding loan spell up in Scotland or are we going to lose him as well as COH
Norman, Sarkic is going, as he’s rightly pissed off after being called back for absoutely no reason.
I did mention it in the headline post, fwiw.
I can’t for the life of me see why his loan couldn’t have been ammended, so that he stays at Livingstone, actually plays, but can be recalled at any time.
Of course, it’s all a bit academic at the moment.
hello everybody hope you are all well and ready to get behind the villa for the conclusion of the season. i predicted we would stay up and i have a stronger feeling now, much stronger than i originally did . that we will retain our premiership position.
the money men who are demanding a finish to season, whether it safe to do so or not. i think this situation will favor us. villa like norwich and sheff utd are all used to playing games with only three days rest. championship is a struggle for premiership teams that fall into it. because they are not able to meet the physical demands.
i think before the season was suspended we were heading down. on a bad run and future bleak. we take the first game against sheff utd and win that. we are in for a really strong finish. no crowds means no home advantages this has to favor the lesser teams.
slap a tenner on us staying up. i will bookmakers already owe me about that. so i will slap it on us surviving.
Villa Till I Die
Hi Nath – nice to see you back; hope all OK with you and yours.
Love your optimism – too much negativity around at the moment. Hope you’re right.
UTV
cheers hitch hope you & family are well.
i am really fully charged up. i was worried how we ended, chances we were conceding and the mistakes were littering our game left me flat. the break was needed and like i said yesterday the way the fixtures are piled up and they are rushing to finish. will favor the teams like villa who were used to playing games with little time between them to recover and prepare.
another way to look on this ending. we have nothing to lose, we were already down, body and soul were down. we were like a prize fighter stunned and dazed just needing one more body blow. then to the canvas.
Hitch hope that’s not aimed at my comment, it’s the way I look at it and I won’t be far wrong .
No Bill, my comment wasn’t aimed at anyone on here – my apologies if anyone thought otherwise.
It’s how I feel about events generally at the moment; not everyone copes well with uncertainty and disruption in their lives so any form of positivity is helpful – and I’ll leave it at that.
Thanks Hitch , Wednesday will brighten my day if we get them 3 points and get me back to living in hope.I lost my son 6 months ago and he was a Villa supporter to the core, number plate read Villaa his man cave was Villa through the years, I don’t want this year telling me the year of us going down and loss of my lad. I understand where you are coming from on Smith but I lost Faith in the man , Terry what ever the problems are is not working, we shouldn’t be in this position Hitch , we are about to lose a player that gave his heart to the club now players not happy and refusing to sign and play for the club. What’s going on management or coaches.
Sorry to hear of your loss Bill; like Bum Bum I remember you posting about him being unwell. it puts other things into perspective and reminds us to care about others. Let’s hope and pray Villa can do it for you and in his memory.
Hi Hitch are the rumours true Sarkic and CoH are off to our rivals Wolves and we are buying a 17 year old Caolan McBride on a 3yr deal why Dean Smith doesn’t play young guns we have plenty of our own VTID
Hi Norman, haven’t read that but Badger has said that Sarkic is definitely leaving. I can only think Smith is under so much pressure to get results that he sees playing the young guns as too much of a risk!
Trouble is there are so many rumours flying around that it’s probably best to disbelieve them all until an official statement.
Many thanks for your reply I’m very much looking forward to Wednesday and I pray for a win and Dean Smith and JT choose a winning team. VTID I am a very proud VILLAN
If we are to stay up then a win on Wednesday is a must! I was hoping Heaton would be available to replace Reina but I’ve read that’s not the case. Our defence is our downfall so far so we need a settled back 4 for final 10 games. Nyland should start IMO because Reina makes too many mistakes, plus he’s not the future so doesn’t have same desire. I’m guessing Guilbert, Engels, Mings and Targett as the back 4. Nakamba will be our holding midfielder with McGinn and either Hourihane or Luiz. Smith will stick with Grealish (wrongly) as a winger with probably El Ghazi and Samatta up front. Whatever happens I hope we don’t see Drinkwater or Baston anywhere near the named squads. UTV!
A man who thinks like me except leave Mings and Reina Drinkwater Baston at home and only play people who are proud to put the Villa shirt on their backs blood the Academy u 23 who try every time I am so proud to wear my villa shirt I can only go to a few home games because I live a distance away (Wiltshire) and I buy a new shirt every season and it’s a long way home when we lose I really don’t know who picks the squad I have lost all.faith in Smith and JT but I pray we stay up. VTID 50 years a Villan
Norman just asking why Mings? could it be he’s uncertain at times but needed to control the wing backs. we don’t have anyone at this time in the game to replace his abilities to Marshall our defence. I agree about Reina and Drinkwater.
Hi Bill in my opinion he is overrated he wasn’t wanted by Bournemouth and when we had him on loan he played his socks off he showed us all what he could do and when we bought him he knew that he was joining one of the best clubs in the Premiership and we paid a lot of good money for him and paid him a good wage and since then he hasn’t delivered he talks a good game and then blames everyone for his mistakes when we lose. I also blame Dean Smith for buying him but he pulled the wool over his eyes as well no other Premiership club wanted him (to my knowledge) bring back Gary Cahill like I said this is only my opinion as always VTID Norman
I agree that Mings this season has become error prone. The biggest problem is we don’t have a decent replacement. He is vocal which is important and hopefully he will be 100% fit after playing through injuries earlier on. I think that Konsa could be a top defender with time and experience. He is athletic and is quicker than Engels. I’m unsure as to what JT is bringing to the defence at the moment! Maybe he isn’t a very good coach.
Hi HOLTE66. We do have a replacement for Mings his name Mungo Bridge,. VTID
Bill, very sorry to hear about your loss. I remember you first posting about him being unwell.
Perhaps the footballing Gods can smile upon us all for a while. Stay well chap.
Thanks Bum Bum, he loved the Villa and spent a lot of money supporting them,