If the usual rag newspapers are to be believed, it seems our move to sign Sam Johnstone permanently has been massively undermined by Middlesbrough putting a £2.5 million bid in, topped up with add-ons that might run out at £5 million.
This is obviously bad news for Villa on the face of it, as it would seem that if we want to retain the goalie’s services, we’re going to have to get involved in a bidding war; which ultimately Boro would probably win, with them having a nice fat chunk of Premier league money, even though they were relegated.
But I’m not convinced Boro will win out here.
I’d have thought we have probably already matched that sort of bid, as after all, £2.5 mill isn’t a large amount to pay upfront.
Well, yes it is, to most clubs, but it’s not beyond the Villa, even if we add FFP into it, is my point.
So my opinion says it’s more likely to come down to the package that we offer the player.
And we all know that we’re very willing to pay over the odds if we want someone.
I have to be honest and say that while I see promise in Johnstone, I can’t say he massively convinced me of anything.
I personally believe that his record for us as regards clean sheets etc, improved because the defence got better overall.
Of course, you could say that a better goalie inspired the defence to get more confident and hence perform better. But I don’t believe that to be the case and think it was very much the other way round.
Suffice to say, I’d like to keep Johnstone.
But if we can’t do it at the right money, I certainly don’t want to see us go out on a limb at the cost of say, the midfield.
We also have another plus point in our favour.
No disrespect to Boro, but as bleak as people might see Birmingham, I’d suggest it isn’t as bad as Middlesbrough, even if you throw the trendy end that is Yarm, into account.
As per usual it’s all about the money and if Johnstone prefers to go elsewhere, fair enough.
I can’t say I’ll be sorry.
He either buys the Villa story, or he doesn’t.
Bill lol…i wish! I would just like to know who he is to be honest. He must have some strong connection with the club as he has announced at least 7 new arrivals even before they have been announced on the OS. My guess is that he is something to do with the medical staff at VP, but thats just a guess. He keeps his cards very close to his chest so noone really knows his identity. People have even suggested that he’s Keith Wyness. Someone else thought that he was maybe the Chinese guy appointed to the board (cant recall his name). I just love knowing before Sky and the newspapers (lets see how long it is before they get on board with the JT news).
Good luck with your pools coupon….best wishes to you all (apart from the negative pricks on here)
UTV…..just fucking support!
Your the man Langford.😂🎩take my hat off to you.
Lang the man
great posts from langfordvilla, reason i first visited this site was to get info on villa, news before it happened. opinions from die hard fans. i can begin to understand the negativity before the season starts. we have a owner who has backed us with plenty cash. we need to back the club with our support.
forget the lottery numbers who will be our goalkeeper 🙂 i worry about this. all good teams have a decent keeper. without one we wont achieve much.
I thought u only came on this site to listen to me 😄😄
now the cat is out of the bag 🙂 damn you oohahaha
😄😄
The myoldmansaid article summed up last season. It is fair to say that SB might get us promoted, but it won’t be pretty to watch. He has a good track record of moulding a dull functional squad, inexpesively assembled, into an outfit who can grab promotion. This time the squad is expensively assembled, but that is not going to change the product created by SB, we now know.
The point about not playing to the strengths of the players you have is a good one. That is why when pro players talk about doing their coaching badges, I think they would learn more running a Sunday football team. You can guarantee you do not have 11 players out of the 14 that show up, each of whom is best in one of the 11 positions on the field. So there is the challenge, fashion a team with no centre half and no left back out of one with 3 right wingers and 2 goalies. That will teach coaches about playing the hand you are dealt, adapting the style and tactics to the players you have.
Unless we buy midfielders who can hold the ball and play it around in midfield, then we need to play as few of the poor midfielders as we can get away with. That is 2. Four forwards and lump the ball over the top where we have as many attackers as the opponents have defenders. I would rather we got better midfield players, but my second choice is play to the strengths of what we have.
OLL, didn’t RDM try lumping with a 4-2-4 setup?
It didn’t work.
Sherwood also tried to by-pass the midfield.
That didn’t work either.
it’s imperative that we sort the midfield before anything else, imo.
And that includes the goalie, who while he’s massively important, is not the major problem.
Our biggest problem is not scoring enough, as opposed to conceding too many.
Play it through the middle, preferably with a lot more width and we’ll be fine.
This is where I believe Bruce will struggle to get things right though.
I’m not convinced with any of our mids and they need to change my opinion rapidly, fwiw.
All of them create/score nothing between them and that’s not good enough at this level, when you look at the money spent.
Langford, another good shout from your contact.
The press are just beginning to realise that Terry is indeed in the bag.
excellent points badger. sherwood tried to play decent football. i made this point before and somebody said he was defensive. he definitely not that. rdm also tried to be attacking hence the mess he left. no organization no clue how to set up to win at all costs. plan a to out score the opposition worked like a treat how many games we won . 1 or 2 lasted 11 games,
i seriously doubt anybody wants to play pretty football like fulham and wednesday and be in championship season after season gradually get weaker, as you lose tv money and dr cash dries up
nobody can guarantee how we will play next season. myoldbulshit doesn’t know, we can all take educated guesses. but until the games start. we won’t know. promotion then who cares what happens to bruce. we are not asking anything from him but promotion. horses for courses and he has the form
It will work if you have four fowards who can beat one man as often as not and preferably have an eye for goal themselves. Other recent managers did not have the firepower.
But like all systems you have to accept the consequences. It leads to many chances to score for both teams, only if you are the better team will 4-2-4 get you a win, you won’t sneak a result against a better team. Also if the oppos score first they may park the bus so one player in the 4-2-4 team needs to have a good shot from 25 yards. Finally the 2 midfielders HAVE to get behind the ball every time their team loses possession.
I like it myself when played by a team which meets the above requirements, the great Man Utd team with Giggs and Scholes effectively played that system as soon as they went in front.
But on paper we ha e the best and most expensive midfield in the division
No disputing they are the most expensive midfield in the division, because of what we paid for them – Grealish excepted.
But the best? As a unit they have not shown it – in fact they were bossed by most teams’, midfields during games, even games we won. I don’t know whether that was because they don’t get on, or try to do the same job (Lampard-Gerrard effect) or whether they need time to gel. It worries me that they have not been more effective by now.
How come these sane players were good at previous clubs. You have to blame Bruce
or they need more time to gel. we expect them to sign for villa and they hit the ground running. problem solved we signed lansbury he will score from midfield.
then things go much slower than we expected, he doesn’t score the goals or create them. do we blame it on the weather, the opposition hell no its the manager.
haven’t we been here before. our managers get blame for our downfall too often. makes me realize where we have gone wrong. its embarrassing to watch the same conversations from evcry manager we have. we dont win a few games who is to blame the manager. lol wish it was so easy. damn lottery numbers didnt come in again, blame the manager of villa.
think we should shut up and get behind the club instead of making the excuses if the club send out signals off the manager failing his duties. iam sure the owners and chairman will do theirs and sack the manager
It’s the managers job to work out how the player will fit in before he signs them not after
we don’t need to be that expansive to win a games in championship. like oohahaha says we have a expensive mid and i will say forwards and defenders our squad is best in the league. we can win it without showing our underbelly. that might not be exciting to watch. but it will be good enough for promotion. and then dr can hire another manager who can take us to another level.
this is my opinion and in no way is facts
The new home & away kits look nice, unfortunately no good for me as their not designed for beer swillers UTV
Not inspired by the new sponsors but suspect it’s probably the best we can do from the Championship. What I do like is that it’s only a one season deal – that shows both strategic and positive thinking towards a return to the Prem where we would expect a much more lucrative sponsorship deal next season.
Like the new kit though
The new home kit ticks the boxes, it is Claret & Blue in the classic body and sleeves combo.
But the away kit? Oh dear. As a potential new recruit would definitely not remark “Some black **** in a black shirt under Millwall’s lights? I hope he smiles when I’m trying to find him and shuts it when the oppos are.”
Ray Grayson leaves Villa Park,
On this day in 1977, Ray Graydon left Villa to join Coventry City.
The transfer to Highfield Road brought to an end an impressive Villa career which spanned 232 games following his arrival from Bristol Rovers six years earlier.
Graydon was a free-scoring winger, whose 81 goals included the winner against Norwich City in the 1975 League Cup final and Villa’s first in European competition, against Royal Antwerp. Thanks Ray for the memories of your playing years.
Loved Graydon one if my favourite players. We had a brilliant front line them days. Little, Gray, Graydon and Deehan would score a lot also. Then Gidman and Smith on the overlap remember the 76/77 home season when we tore everyone to pieces at home and finished 4th. Beat the might Liverpool 5.1 Arsenal 5.1 Utd 3.2 those were the days. Unfortunately our away form was crap or we would of won the league that year. Best attacking Villa team ever imo.
Always remember that 5-1 demolition of Liverpool – that was the score at half time as well. Was in the Trinity Road stand with the missus – great days.
We only lost one home game as well that season to the scum of all people. Il always remember our piss poor defending for John Connaleys goal though he did finish well. I was in holte that day as a 13 year old and went home in tears. Still haunts me to this day
Happy, Happy days, this is why I feel sorry for our fans that never seen a side that was a shock to them teams of today, we should have not broken up dedicated players of them days, i got to know some of them players and Villa Park was like a family-friendly place, to wear a shirt was a privilege to most of them, our reserves was fighting to get into the first team, then the power struggle started and I think you know who was the main person, did you know that Steve Stride at one stage walked away?but asked for his job back ,it was boardroom up evil that cause Villa to change direction.let’s get back to being that family place.