Transfer deadline day: I don’t see much happening.

Here we are then and where it might normally be a fairly exciting day for us Villa fans, I’ll be quite surprised if much happens at all.

One player we definitely won’t see coming in is Pierre-Michel Lasogga, the 25-year-old Hamburg striker, who has gone to Leeds.
I never thought there was anything in that one anyway, as I’m fairly convinced only McCormack’s leaving would enable us to get anyone else in.

And on that front, it depends which media source you read, but apparently Ross is either definitely not going to Sunderland, as Steve Bruce doesn’t want to loan him to a Championship rival, or a deal might still be on, if Sunderland offer enough of a percentage of his wages. I don’t see a loan deal happening at all to Sunderland.
The Rangers link doesn’t make any sense at all, as they don’t have a pot to do the proverbial in and are a club in financial turmoil.
That said, just as I said Sinclair would prove a hit in Scotland, just imagine how McCormack might do?
I still don’t see it happening.

Tommy Elphick won’t be leaving either, after Sunderland offered to loan him from us, a deal we refused. Sunderland then offered £1 million and I guess we quite rightly told them to eff off.
I believe Sunderland have the best part of a £100 million parachute payment to come, so I don’t quite understand why they’re being so tight?
It seems to me that no-one wants to go to the Mackems though, so they might have to raise the ante and things could change.

And nothing has been said (as far as I can see) about Gardner.
He’s apparently got a few clubs interested, but none are big enough to be able to cough up the required poke to make a deal worth it, it would seem.

It appears Villa are digging their heels in somewhat and we’re not willing to let other clubs walk all over us, as they have done previously.
Good.

It could all come down to a last-minute battle of nerves, especially on Sunderland’s part, which still leaves us with some interest, I suppose.
but I’m not convinced we’ll see anything happen.

I won’t even mention the likes of Micah Richards.

49 Comments

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  1. Andrew
    Andrew August 31, 2017 at 8:19 pm . Reply

    It’s been a relatively boring deadline day overall. We weren’t going to sign anyone unless it was a striker and as you said, McCormack would’ve had to leave.

    Are we good enough though? Remains to be seen how Kodjia comes back and see if he can make save Bruce’s Villa career again. Like he did in February. We sit 18th after 5 in which you’d assume wasn’t the hardest start we could’ve gotten. We’ve already conceded 9 goals, which one would’ve assumed Whelan and Terry were brought in to shore up. Hopefully Grealish and Kodjia come back firing, because we know we need it.

  2. Villain1
    Villain1 August 31, 2017 at 8:25 pm . Reply

    Its an impossible job shifting the likes of Richards, Elphick or Mccormack permanently. Nobody in this league can pay them the money we do and because of that they will be reluctant to move.

    Nevertheless we’ve not helped ourselves by wasting more money on the likes of Terry, Whelan and Samba, all past their best. Imagine even if we scraped promotion via the play offs somehow (hypothetically as I can confidently say there is 0% chance with Bruce), we’d need an entire new squad virtually to even have half a chance of competing. This is why Bruce is such a shocking manager, no thought has gone into the long term planning at all.

    The most concerning bit is how quickly the money is trickling down the PL now though. Watching small bottom half teams like Bournemouth bidding 30m for players like Demarai Gray, who isnt even a regular at Leicester. Its frightening how wide that gap between those with the PL money and those who don’t could grow. A long term stint in this league will end all hope regardless of what Dr Tony tweets.

  3. Andrew
    Andrew August 31, 2017 at 9:31 pm . Reply

    Another one no one will buy off us permanently. Likely one of the lower waged players we have, but goes to show how fast his hype died.

    1. jvillan
      jvillan August 31, 2017 at 10:01 pm . Reply

      bruce gave gardner new contract last december taking him from 5 thous a week to 25 thousand then went out and signed 7 more midfielders,how stupid is the doc

  4. Andrew
    Andrew August 31, 2017 at 10:07 pm . Reply

    Leicester had a bid of 30m for Gray, and they rejected it. Drinkwater is going to Chelsea for 35-40m… Yeah.. Neither of them would get into a top 6 team in any of the other 4 big leagues and those price tags would be about a quarter of what they are.

    Why oh why do teams insist on signing English players for so much when they produce so little?

    1. jvillan
      jvillan August 31, 2017 at 10:15 pm . Reply

      thats just an average price for average players now andrew

  5. Owen
    Owen August 31, 2017 at 10:44 pm . Reply

    I think the squad is adequate. Not sure Bruce is though. Terry, Chester, Jedinak, Onomah, Hourihane and Kodjia all good players. Not a bad core. If not top 6 in 5 games time though maybe get Allardyce in?

    1. Andrew
      Andrew September 1, 2017 at 12:14 am . Reply

      So you go from what horrid British manager to another. What does going from Bruce to Allardyce do exactly? They’re basically the same manager, maybe Allardyce is slightly better. Haven’t you had enough of the same old same old yet of British managers or should we just go down the list of every one of them and then letting them go as they fail one by one, because that’s about the extend of the British manager. Bar currently Rodgers and he’s doing it in literally a 1 team league, not one of them is an actual success. Unless you count managing in the top two leagues of England.

  6. Owen
    Owen August 31, 2017 at 10:46 pm . Reply

    And Neil Taylor and Snodgrass are both good players.

    1. jvillan
      jvillan August 31, 2017 at 10:49 pm . Reply

      taylor
      3 swansea manager didnt rate him last season and i tend to agree on this season showing
      snodgrass blamed bilic for his poor showing last season maybe he should look in mirror

  7. Deferenz
    Deferenz August 31, 2017 at 10:57 pm . Reply

    The transfer money has gone mental in the prem. £30 million and upwards for average players is just ludicrous. Good players now around £100 million. What is going on?? Meanwhile, due to rules being “fair” we cannot even spend 50p or we will get our wrists slapped by the man.

    I am actually close to despair with the state of football. It breaks my heart to see how our Villa has been systematically destroyed over the last number of years until we were a slithering mess and a laughing stock. It still makes my blood boil when I recall Jeff Steling and the rest of the sky pundits openly laughing at our plight during the season we went down.

    I just hope Bruce can get this team working together and get us towards the top six so we have a chance at promotion. But this is a tough league. I started taking an interest in the championship the year I realised we were getting relegated and I saw what a fight it was between the top 12 or so teams. Oh crap I thought; this is what we have to battle through! It is a long hard slog in this league and all to easy for it to become a permanent home.

    UTV.

  8. Andrew
    Andrew September 1, 2017 at 12:17 am . Reply

    It was a poor window overall, but it could be worse, could be Sunderland who signed Marc Wilson, Callum McManaman and Jonny Williams. So I guess we can be thankful we’re not Sunderland fans.

  9. ifiruledtheworld
    ifiruledtheworld September 1, 2017 at 11:13 am . Reply

    Right then! I know it’s been a bit doom and gloom on here recently, but out of general curiosity who do we reckon was our signing of the window? For me it’s Snodgrass. I know some feel we have more than enough on the right, but Snodgrass is real quality. Could still be playing in the prem, I think. Buzzing with him!

  10. Villain1
    Villain1 September 1, 2017 at 11:37 am . Reply

    My views on the ins and outs:

    Onomah.- Pick of the bunch. His movement creates space, which is what we don’t get from the rest of the team. 7/10
    Terry – Stupidly expensive wages, will be torn apart pace wise and his constant visits to Chelsea show a lack of commitment -we should not be a retirement home 1/10
    Whelan – can’t last more than 1 half so will be a pointless signing. 2/10
    Elmohamady – Decent crosser but overall doesnt offer enough at both end of the pitch to justify a starting role. Okay as backup /squad player 6/10
    Samba – usless greedy mercenary and unbelievably slow. Absolute madness from Bruce letting Baker go for this lump. 0/10
    Johnstone – I rate Steer higher, but he has done okay so far. Would rather we developed our own player, not Man Utd’s – 5/10
    Snodgrass…. will wait and see. As a so called “proven” player at this level, he has to hit the ground running.

    Blues signing Jota has eclipsed all of our deals though, he destroyed us last season at Brentford. Stunned they managed to pull that one off

    1. jvillan
      jvillan September 1, 2017 at 12:57 pm . Reply

      fair assessment and agree on ratings

  11. Owen
    Owen September 1, 2017 at 1:11 pm . Reply

    I think we’ve got a good team. Johnstone is a good keeper. Elmo, Bree and Hutton can all do a job at Rb. Terry and Chester have been fine apart from Cardiff. Now they will get protection from Jedinak and Whelan. Taylor is a good left back for me. Across the front you’ve got Snodgrass Onomah/ Hourihane and Green supporting Davis and then Kodjia will be back. Maybe Ross McCormack will get a chance now. He is a class player at this level.
    Brentford haven’t got any players left so we’ll beat them. Beat Boro at Home, draw at Barnsley. We’ll then have 12 Pts from 8 games and be jostling for a playoff place. Not saying we are brilliant but we can scrape the playoffs. Winning at Wembley would be great way to go up 😀😀😀

  12. Adam
    Adam September 1, 2017 at 2:28 pm . Reply

    Agree Onomah has been stand out so far. Im excited by snodgrass really hoping he does hit the ground running. Elmo i dont really rate, in my opinion starting him is like starting with 10.5 players just like when we start with gabby. His crossing was woeful agaisnt Bristol. For me id have Bree (rb) Terry, Chester (cb) Clark(lb)…Green (left) Hourihane, Onomah and Jedinak (middle) Snodgrass (right) and kodjia up top.

  13. Owen
    Owen September 1, 2017 at 3:12 pm . Reply

    Either line up shows we’ve got a decent first XI. Snodgrass is a very good player. Onward and upwards.

    1. Adam
      Adam September 1, 2017 at 3:49 pm . Reply

      100% very decent. Just need the players to ‘click’ get that understanding. But for that to happen we need to be injury free and have the same starting 11 as often as possible. Both of those have been an issue so far this season.

  14. originallondonlion
    originallondonlion September 2, 2017 at 1:20 am . Reply

    We have more than enough players, we need to get them playing to a system. Actually the gaping hole may just have been filled with Snodgrass at right winger. We have had a gap and a weeping sore caused by it in the shape of Hutton. Having developed a right winger called Albrighton we decided he wasn’t good enough and flogged him – wonder where he went and how he got on?! Ever since managers have kidded themselves that a slow and poor right back defensively might be worth keeping in the team because he can get forward and sling in a cross. Then he can’t get back and defend. Two errors for the price of one. Even worse since the strikers we have are much better at converting proper crosses from the right – but not Huttons lofted diagonals. Instead we have given them service from Gabby and Amavi on the left.

    I think that there is one thing standing between us recently and becoming a good team. It is getting our midfield to dominate that area.

  15. Dave.C
    Dave.C September 2, 2017 at 11:01 am . Reply

    I see that Four Four Two magazine have rated John Terry as the worst signing of the transfer window, a little bit harsh in my opinion, surely it should be Samba. Selling Baker to make room for Samba alone should be a sackable offence, an idiotic decision.
    As for Steve Bruce’s love child Elmo, I remember listening to a Hull City match on radio 5 a couple of seasons ago, the co-commentator said if he could learn to cross the ball he wouldn’t be a bad player, looks like he’s still not had those lessons!

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath September 5, 2017 at 11:32 pm . Reply

      Terry on 70k a week could of got 2 decent plays and kept baker for that. Signing Terry has Gibbs one of the most pointless signings in our history we don’t need him he’s just a vanity project for Dr X and Bruce

      1. Andrew
        Andrew September 7, 2017 at 12:52 am . Reply

        Of course he was. Xia did it for business reasons. Instead of getting two good players on 30k wages he got Terry who will sell shirts abroad as well as get love in England. It’ll make people in America and Asia want to watch Villa, because he’s that big name. It could ruin our chances of getting promoted, as well as the awful signing of Samba, but Xia was never going to pass up the option of signing Terry and obviously Bruce wasn’t.

        1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
          OohAhPaulMcGrath September 7, 2017 at 8:13 pm . Reply

          But why risk promotion signing him as Dr X would get more money from promotion. He would have to sell a lot of bloody shirts to get anywhere near that.

  16. Benno
    Benno September 3, 2017 at 10:01 pm . Reply

    Overall, I think a decent window for us. Think selling Baker was madness though. We will be in trouble if Chester gets injured.

    Hopefully we will play something like this against Brentford:

    Johnstone

    Bree Chester Terry Taylor

    Onomah Whelan

    Snodgrass Hourihane Green

    Davis (or Hogan)

    Pretty solid line up if you think we have Jedinak, Grealish and Kodjia still to come in and all the youngsters coming up….

    1. villaawayindiv3
      villaawayindiv3 September 6, 2017 at 10:41 am . Reply

      60k Villa Park ?….will look daft half full.

      1. Andrew
        Andrew September 7, 2017 at 12:54 am . Reply

        We haven’t done much that makes sense in a while.

        1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
          OohAhPaulMcGrath September 7, 2017 at 8:13 pm . Reply

          Very true

      2. OohAhPaulMcGrath
        OohAhPaulMcGrath September 7, 2017 at 8:15 pm . Reply

        5k will get away fans and we can get 40 plus with a decent team even now. So looking to attach another 15k e.g. Armchair supporter who won’t go any more because team is shite and football is boring

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