So I’m over my massive disappointment after yesterday’s poor showing.
Actually I’m very sanguine, probably because I saw what was coming and wasn’t at all convinced that we’d win the game.
It still annoys me that we did exactly what we shouldn’t have done, but oh well; it’s in the past.
Which leaves me asking the same question everybody has been asking, in do we keep Bruce or sack him?
I haven’t looked around any other Villa sites yet, but it seems the consensus on here is that he should stay.
I believe that’s sensible.
I know that a few of you won’t agree with that, but as much as I believe he cost us the game yesterday, so it’s undeniable that we’re in a much better position than when he first came to the club.
You might well say that “we bloody well ought to be, after the money we’ve spent”, but if we look at it from a wider angle, has Bruce actually spent much?
I’d have to re-trace exactly who he’s bought, to be honest, to answer that one.
The important part here, is that Bruce has called out the players with a bad attitude (think McCormack) or dropped those that needed dropping (Gabby), where it seemed previous managers couldn’t.
There’s one bloke in charge of the team now and that’s quite rightly the manager, himself.
He needs a chance just for that.
The Birmingham Mail has made a point about how Bruce has gone a long way to restoring the unity between the players and the fans.
I think that’s a very valid point. I’d never known such a bad player/fan relationship in all my years.
But that’s not enough in itself.
I still have major issues with how Bruce sets the side up.
He was way too defensive early on in his tenure, with the personnel he had available, but I’m of the opinion that he saw this was needed, if only to help create stability. I can’t argue with that, if that’s how he saw it.
Lately though, I think his defensive approach has cost us.
Certainly I thought so against Boro and thought so yesterday.
Which really makes we wonder if he has what it takes to push us on.
I’m not convinced.
Yet, even with all my doubts, I think Bruce deserves another crack next season.
We’re going to lose some very decent players, like Snodgrass and Hutton.
(Regardless of any speculation, we will NOT lose Grealish. Xia will not let it happen and I’m willing to take bets).
And we’re going to have to introduce some of the kids on a more regular basis.
Who knows these kids better than Bruce?
And while he might have been reluctant to play them this season, so I think with the constraints we’re under, he will give them more of a chance.
So we go with Bruce on another rolling one year contract.
And he gets until somewhere around November to prove that we can seriously challenge for the Championship title.
We will need to be top two though and that’s where I believe we might have a problem.
Look at the sides that have just been relegated from the Prem;
Swansea, Stoke and West Brom.
You may well think they’re all rubbish teams in the Prem
But they probably have way better squads than ours, when it comes to the championship.
And that’s where I struggle to see how we can go up next season, regardless of who the manager is.
But that’s for next season.
Well Badger123, you certainly got us talking about Bruce and the future and a good topic, think a pole should be available to the site, and I think he has the edge on holding on till its obvious to us all. B6 your right thanks to the site owner Badger well done, I have my own thoughts on our other part owner about his computers down, I’ve enjoyed Naths, Sid , ifiruledtheworld, Hitch and John imput, Villian1, question, right from the onset you stuck by your beliefs on Bruce you also maintain that we wouldn’t be at the play offs, we did get there but failed, Mark you would have been different if a 1 eyed Prat of a ref had been honest.
Cheers chaps 🙂
I’ll keep it going, no worries
You’re right Bill. I should have added a poll, but it’s a bit late now.
Perhaps it’ll be a good idea to do it after we’ve got players in and out, in the form of “how are we going to do?”?
And yes, I echo the thanks to everyone who has contributed to the debates over the season, regardless of the viewpoint.
You chaps are the ones that make the site what it is.
As for Oohah, I’m sure if he really was a secret nose, he’d have been here gloating in a back-handed way.
He hasn’t.
Strange how we haven’t heard anything at all from him though, even in mails to me.
i suppose he just has more important stuff to do.
Just as I did, when having very young kids in the early/mid 80’s, where I was too busy trying to earn a quid in desperate times, trying to support my family.
Supporting the Villa is a lifetime thing for me, but lapses are allowed.
Hopefully he’ll be back, even with his constant bitching and whining 🙂
Another Villa ex midfielder Neale Cooper dies aged 54, we have been losing too many past players for my liking.
been reading stuff on the finances and villa seem to be in the brown smelly stuff. us fans don’t really understand the level of trouble we are now in. i predicted grealish would leave if we failed, i am reading this is going to happen.
the thing is the club have wages they cant afford. they need to remove players on high wages,players like hogan and mccormack just two to mention. trouble is nobody is going to want to pay villa for these players. so your better players may have to be scarified to bankroll the club.
even if grealish wanted to stay, with villa unable to shift the high wages, he will have to leave, because villa will need the money. i believe he will not want to play in championship anyways, as southgate won’t pick him in this league.
carlos gil seems like he will be the first to leave as the spanish club say they have to sign him if he wants to join as they agreed last summer
Nath, with the utmost respect.
Shut up you tart!
Grealish is not going anywhere, at least in the upcoming season.
Bruce has guided him to where he is now and I think he appreciates it.
He will not leave the Villa for some piss-pot club like Leicester, trust me.
And the Man U link is pathetic lt’s just another “maybe” at some time in the future..
Xia will NOT allow Grealish to leave.
If he did, it would be an admision of defeat.
And that’s not how Xia plays, simple.
As for the finances, I’m still not convinced.
Serious money can always be shuffled to suit the books.
And I’m not 100% sure we’ve hit our limits just yet.
Thank you Gabby for the early memories…
Just want to add my thanks Badger to all those above. I know how much time and commitment running anything for the benefit of others can take. Well done mate.
Saturdays Final first half was so disappointing,
Not only on the basis that Villa never showed up but the refereeing has to be questioned.
Ryan Fredericks assault on Jack Grealish was there for all to see and a Myopic ref and his team couldnt see it!
Yes Stamping on another Player is ASSAULT!!!
Fredericks should have gone after 30 mins which
Could have turned the tie so easily over a large Wembley pitch thats energy sapping.
You rely on decisions to be made fairly but when you have 11 men and and a Ref that either doesnt see whsts going on or has been sent out with an agenda not to ruin the TV spectacle.
This wasnt a questionable hand ball decision
But serious foul play.
Grealish was being battered from Pillar to post and no wonder he reacted later on he was simply
Getting no protection.
That aside Fulham were the better side but i cannot forgive such poor Officiating.
I wonder if this will even be looked at by the FA?!
So Fredericks gets away Scot Free. They all go on their hols and this blantant act gets forgotten about. So much for Fair play!!
Fredericks resumes next season starting on day one without missing a game!!
Oh well FA watch this space!
This isnt over yet!
Also on the value of this game why no VAR?
You didnt even need it.
A ref watching Sky could have seen what went on!
Unbelievable really.
But this is football and it shows that theres a kind of stitch up going on where if it Man U in this position what would have happened then??
I just want to add one more point on the Bruce debate or, more specifically, last season and that is whilst, rightly, posters have pointed to the Bolton (which arguably should have been postponed and might have been but for Sky?) / QPR results as being a key turning point we shouldn’t forget the poor start (worse than Fulham) when we only won one of the first seven (think that’s right).
It’s also easy to overlook the fact that we lost Kodjia for (in reality) all the season and critically Grealish for the first half and then Adomah / Grealish and Terry were all injured for the away game at Fulham.
Their have been comments that Bruce is a ‘lucky’ manager – I’m not sure that’s entirely true.
ManU sniffing around Grealish according to The Sun. Great.
Comments still delayed Badger.
I found that out last night Bum bum I was programming my mobile for the internet and read this post,went onto my computer and could see some post was delayed from posters, they popped up at a later time.Hey ho.
Sorry Badger, but I think Grealish will go. He is our outstanding talent and can play at a much higher level. Pretty much any player at any club leaves if they want to. That applies to Man U, Liverpool etc so it applies to us.
I don’t think that says anything about Xia, just about the power players have and the influence of agents.
Like every other Villa fan I will be gutted if it happens, but I’m pretty much resigned to it.
DS , money talks I think he will be persuaded by his agent and the need to further his career, I don’t want him to go but its all down to him. I’d like to think there’s a Gerrard in him. Nath your not a Tart mate time will tell.
And so it’s begun, tuttomercatto with a story that some ex Inter Milan and Sparta Prague coach has held discussions about the Villa job. While they don’t seem the most reliable and the story is probably bull, I’d expect more stories like this while Bruce’s future is up in the air. And with the player rebuild we’ll already need, surely we deserve a definitive answer on Bruce’s position sooner, rather than later.
On the flip side, Bruce being linked with Leeds and Swansea in other articles. Make what you will of the reports, but I would hope this is all sorted ASAP.
Can’t blame Jack if he goes. Who could possibly hold it against him? Just hope we get an absolute wad for him. Terry’s influence on him has been massive. Obviously got him to sort his priorities out. How many Billy Big Bollocks have we seen throw early promise away ‘cus of a big head? Probably put an extra £15m on his value the way he’s played this season. And feeling a bit Langfordesque, we WILL go up next season. Bruce hasn’t just steadied the ship, he stopped it from sinking altogether!
Sad if he goes, but I would rather see him reach his potential somewhere else rather than be wasted in the Championship.
According to the Birmingham Mail, the club “needs to find around £40m-£45m from player sales and wage cuts to fall in line with Financial Fair Play” next season. Time for some creative accounting…
Overall, I think it really depends on if the club can offload the likes of Richards and McCormack off the books to see what assets we can keep, ie Grealish.
So far the club has freed up wages from Gil, Gabby, Terry, Hutton, Samba, Bunn, plus all our other loans – Johnstone, Snodgrass, Grabban, Onomah, Tuanzebe.
I’m assuming there are some other players who will be looking to leave the club, ie Birkir, Lansbury, or Hogan, due to lack of match time. So who knows, I would be curious to know what sort of dent this makes on the FFP amount. I also would be interested to know if Gollini is welcomed back – he’s still 2 years younger than Johnstone and showed just as much promise. Not sure the club can afford anyone better as things stand.
I guess not… reports now saying Gollini is being sold to Atlaanta for 3.5m
your kidding that would be a loss, but its brilliant news if true. that was another mistake off the books. we need to stop making long big mistakes offer shorter contracts on less wages.
Financial fallout
Aston Villa will need to find around £40m-£45m from player sales and wage cuts to fall in line with Financial Fair Play, Birmingham Live understands.
A football finance expert has explained how Villa’s failure to win promotion back to the Premier League this term has left them seriously counting the cost this summer.
The claret and blues may have to sell prized asset Jack Grealish to cover costs and there’s no chance of turning any of the loan signings into permanent deals.
“The FFP black hole is between £40m and £45m,” a source told us.
“Villa have gambled with expensive players on big wages but there will need to be a reality check this summer.”
Boss Steve Bruce admitted that cuts will need to be made.
When asked if players would be sold, Bruce replied:
“Yes.
“This season has been difficult, financially.
“We understand, or I have understood, about Financial Fair Play.
“But the discussions will need to be held above me to say what we have or haven’t got.”
The powers-that-be are in the process of holding those talks.
Saturday’s defeat against Fulham in the play-off final is still very raw but the club are starting to moving forward.
These things take time, of course, and more will be revealed in the times ahead as Villa come to terms with another season in the Championship.
Elsewhere, a report was also published today by Swiss Ramble – a business & football blog- which highlighted some of the problems Villa are facing up to.
We need to hear quickly from the board regarding Bruce’s position so we can nip in the bud all the rumours surrounding him. FWIW I will be surprised if he moves on, because apart from money incentives we don’t have any competition for his services, and I think Wyness will want him to stay on. Hopefully we can offload McCormack and Richards, even if they are free transfers to reduce wage bill. I hope we can keep Bjarnsson over Whelan or Jedinak. I also have a gut feeling a new contract for Hutton with reduced wages will see him staying. Next few weeks should hopefully see a clearer picture of what is in store for next season. Bringing through the talented youth has to happen next season for FFP reasons alone. One consolation for staying in championship is that we will be on TV more. Trying hard to cheer myself up still. 😔 ps. Thank you badger for offering us the chance to vent our frustrations and opinions. Much appreciated.
i don’t have the clubs finances to hand. but i have seen a few experts assessment of the state of play. marvin has posted one of them quoting 40 million that we will have to find. now i do know the villa squad and i cant see any player, other than grealish that could fetch anything like them figures.
grealish is by far the best player and most coveted player on our books. the only hope we have is other clubs come in and bid for our junk like richards mccormack etc i just don’t see that happening.
so taking fair play into account, we need to sell don’t we? plus their is a small matter of reducing wages. the gamble has backfired in a grand way. players bought on high transfers like hogan mccormack and kodjia plus on their high wages. means no other club will touch them with a barge pole
we are fooked, in short we are in need of a miracle. maybe its not all that bad and i am being melodramatic. never been called a tart before that did tickle me somewhat
i did not see gollini being sold, since he was never starting for them. so carlos gil and gollini gone if 40 mill is correct figure, still leaves us with 30 plus mill.
the thing my =mates were saying about it earlier once other clubs know your in this situation. nobody will pay you the going rates for your players. they will wait until your really desperate and offer just enough on the last days of window, so selling two really early helps loads.