After around a month of no proper article, albeit we have had ones intended for polls, I thought it’s time to write a full piece again to give one something to think about on Saturday night.
In terms of transfers, it is only right to start with the big talk of the town; Morgan Rogers. Many sources imply that Arsenal are strongly interested in the England international, but Villa appear to be remaining strict on the transfer fee. I think it’s a huge kick in the teeth for the Gunners that Manchester City are paying over £100m for Elliot Anderson, because I think if that transfer didn’t happen then the overall view on the Rogers fee would be a lot lower amongst the board and fans.
Do I think Morgan Rogers would leave if he could? I personally cannot see the lad turning down a move to the reigning Premiership champions, especially since he has a good chance of getting into their Starting XI, hence why I said over a month ago that the focus must turn to obtaining the highest fee possible, it is (and wrongly so) becoming a lot more difficult for clubs to keep players who have no interest in playing for them, which is a clear breach of contract, but we know they get away with everything, it begs the question as to why contracts even exist in the first place when it comes to football?
Another player that I was disappointed to read the news of him signing for Leeds is Harry Wilson, who was supposedly a top target. It really makes you wonder how bad our financial situation is, because surely he wouldn’t have chosen Leeds over us, or would he? I don’t know. It makes me think we weren’t too interested.
Who to sign? I personally would be looking at Jonathan Rowe from Bologna. A winger with pace and the ability to take on players, and a good shot, as we saw first-hand in the Europa League Quarter Final tie against Bologna. Whether we get him, I don’t know, but I am shocked I’ve not seen any interest, because he looked like a potential candidate for Tuchel’s World Cup squad when he played against us.
World Cup did somebody say? That leads me nicely onto the topic. With England facing Panama at 10PM tonight (give or take, as I am aware of international contributors on the blog) and having pretty much guaranteed qualification, as long as we don’t witness the biggest shock since Iceland in 2016, it may be possible that we see Ollie or Morgan start, after Konsa started in the defence that kept a clean sheet on Tuesday night against Ghana.
Do I think we will win the World Cup? We certainly have a chance, but France looked good last night in parts and Spain also look good too. You also cannot write off Brazil, Argentina, Germany etc. But I will say we’ll win it, I always do! Win, loss or draw – the St. George’s Cross flies proudly and most certainly unapologetically from our house! 🏴
Finally, I thought I would address a rather unwelcoming news story that concerned a fine over a “racist banner” at the Europa League final that allegedly targeted the traveller community. As someone who attended the Europa League final, and was in and around the fan zone and the stands, I did not see anything of the sort. Furthermore, the majority of flags were taken off Villa fans and then were nowhere to be seen when Villa fans asked for them back after the game! Shame on the Villa fans, will I say? No! Shame on UEFA for being so woke! That is not racism, regardless of the contents of the banner, for heaven’s sake! It really frustrates me that we are given fines like that, whilst Fenerbahce are left untouched after trashing the City Ground. I think it has everything to do with how our fans get locked away and sprayed in Lille and then we proceed to roll out the red carpet to the French the following week! We are a weak sauce and are there to be taken advantage of after we were pressured to ban Israeli fans, which was another farce, whilst rolling out the red carpet to the people that actually cause trouble!
I think that is all I have to say on that matter, but I believe the punishment to be a £10,000 fine and a 1-year suspended away fan ban, meaning it could lead to Villa fans not being allowed to attend UEFA away matches if we are caught perpetrating the same offence again.
Well, to all watching the Three Lions tonight, enjoy the match (if you are awake for it!) – I will certainly enjoy the match, but will probably enjoy the beer more!
COYL! COY3L!
Rogers apparently set to start tonight in New Jersey, as per David Ornstein!
Surprised uefa havent shut us down for the banner the villa hating corrupt bastards
Wokery thriving as always.
Shame Japan didn’t beat Brazil. Come on Paraguay!!!
Alfie, can u do me a favour and pass this email address on to Texas Villain for me? Ta!
I’ll email it to him now.
Sorted.
Thanks!
I enjoyed last nights game apart form the utterly useless first 20 minutes!!! Belgium game was a stonker too, especially for our Youri!!!
Germany out on pens!
Right – good article as always Alfie; raised some interesting questions.
First, this allegedly racist banner aimed at ‘travellers’. I didn’t see it but it does seem that UEFA have an issue with Villa ‘upsetting the status quo’ and look for reasons to fine us (or more pertinently) the owners. A further larger fine was served on the club for nine ‘late kick offs’ which seem to offend the TV companies.
The EUFA fine was negligible really and the ban on Viila fans attending one away game is suspended for two years! Message to Villa fans – keep the amusing banners for home games! 😄
On the transfer front – Villa want £130m for Rogers (similar to the Anderson fee). Why not as he’s contracted to Villa until 2031 – we want to keep him and with 5 years left on his contract and the market comparable are at that level – so it would be negligent not to demand a fee commensurate with the evidence.
Rumoured were interested in Bowen – I say make him our top priority over Rowe, Rashford and Harry Wilson (by the way I agree with you over Wilson, Alfie; despite the media I don’t think Emery was that interested.)
Bowen has a proven record in the EPL and, I suspect, an affordable wage. If we sell Guessand and a couple of other fringe players then we can defo afford him.
Onward and upward. UTV
Cheers Hitch.
I agree, but I think we are our own worst enemy – we always pander and it makes us an easy target. I suppose being the country we are, we do have an unconscious responsibility to act more mature than the rest of the world having wrote pretty much every rule constituting fair play and decency.
All in all, the actual punishment is nothing, but it’s more the principle that concerns me.
An individual that used to run this site who I still keep close contact with actually said to me that the Andersen fee will dictate the Rogers fee, and it appears he was bang on with that one. I don’t think Rogers is going to leave, but if we got £130M for him then I’d be happy to see him go, but I cannot see Arsenal paying it as they simply won’t think he’s worth it.
I have never been ecstatic over the idea of signing Bowen, however I do agree that we need to start going for Premiership proven players, because bringing in players who have never done it in the Premiership has cost us millions of pounds we’ve never got back – such as Guessand.
Villa again having to tread carefully after being punished for squad cost ratio.
Villa have been fined €22.5m (£19.4m), of which €15m (£12.9m) is suspended pending their continued compliance over a three-year period that began with an initial fine in July last year.
In addition, Villa will face a restriction on the registration of new players for next season’s Champions League campaign, with UEFA expected to confirm details of this shortly.
UEFA are desperate to protect the TV friendly teams who attract more eyeballs. The same applies to the Premier League (corrupt as f***)
Personally, I would welcome the Super League that the big clubs are hankering for. We are never going to be able to compete long term. We are in a purple patch of our 152 year existence. Whether it’s when Emery has had enough or Sawris and Edens decide it’s not worth the effort, we will eventually fall back into mediocrity. How can we compete against teams with 60,000 plus stadiums in more desirable locations. Even when we get to 50,000, we won’t match the revenue we need to escape the SCR bullshit.
All a continuation of the Agreement signed last season.
Same registration restriction – no new players can be registered unless we make a profit on our transfer activity.
We have another year of this, meanwhile the EPL clubs now have a much softer SCR to ‘help bring equality’. Bit too f***ing late imho.
However, the good news is that Newcastle and Chelsea are under the same EUFA restrictions as us if they want to play in Europe next season (oops forgot, they didn’t qualify 😄) so in the season after next and can’t benefit from the softer EPL SCR!
An afterthought – the registration restrictions may be giving potential incoming players second thoughts if we can’t ’guarantee’ them CL football.
Might be helpful if we could increase our fanbase to the far east. Certainly Suzuki would be good. I did also like the Japanese player Daizen Maeda. He was lightening over 10 metres. Celtic have 4 Japanese players so that should produce some stats about fans.
This is pathetic from England.
Rumoured that we may be after Ilaix Moriba from Celta Vigo. A La Masia graduate, I saw him play for Barcelona when they were in dire straits and throwing all the kids in at the deep end. He played well but then seemed to have lost his way having been out on loan a lot. However, if Emery thinks that there is a player in there then I think it might be a very interesting development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilaix_Moriba
Youri was class for Belgium last night luv youri
Spuds are on a liverpool style spending spree buying average players i see
I detest the way football has gone with all its stupid rules and spending restrictions. Spurs are benefiting from the stadium they have. The revenue earned from concerts and NFL etc is bankrolling their new signings. Tonoli from Newcastle must sting for the barcodes given they have the wealthiest owners. This is despite Spurs having two terrible seasons!
So in conclusion, we need to relocate from Aston to a purpose built stadium bigger than 62,000, where football income is only part of the total revenue. 50,000 at Villa Park unfortunately will not propel us anywhere near to catching the big 6. Everton have already overtaken us with other clubs increasing their stadiums soon.
If spending on players was only based on revenue from football related income, then it might be a fairer competition.
Have you noticed that the majority of rumours are around teams after Villa players which reinforces the financial restrictions placed upon the club by UEFA.
Latest is interest from Arsenal on Konsa and Fenerbahce want Watkins.
Most of them are just rubbish but it does indicate the view that Villa are going to have sell and probably buy cheap or take free transfers.
Personally, I’m not going to crow over Newcastle being forced into selling Tonali as they are in the same, if not worse position than us – but why has he gone to a sh*t club like Spurs – simply, they must be paying him stupid money.
As an aside, the implication of Pako and Rodri leaving Emery’s coaching team and being replaced by an assistant coach is not only potentially disastrous but also reinforces the story of Villa having to continually find ways to cut costs.
How long will Emery continue to accept having to work on an impossible shoestring whilst still delivering European football? He may soon decide it’s pointless fighting the impossible restrictions from a combination of UEFA and EPL who are desperate to protect their chosen few.
Let’s face it – corruption can take many faces and football is one of them!
£270 a week for Tonali. He’ll need it the time he spends in Ladbrooke’s!!! 🙂
If Spurs have got him for 270 quid a week, they’ve done very very well! 🙂
I agree that the establishment want to keep Villa and Newcastle from the top table. But, we can do more to help ourselves.
I am sure discussions are on going regarding sponsorship, but it is time for the club to deliver on this front. Currently we do not have:
– Front of shirt sponsor. Rumours could be Audi for £25m-£30m per season
– Sleeve sponsor. Rumours ‘Visit Rewanda’ for £5m-£6m per season
– Training kit sponsor: £2m-£4m (West Ham had a deal in this range)
– Training Ground sponsor: £2m – £5m (mid upper tier clubs benchmark)
– Catergory Partners – recently signed with Coca Cola (eg airliners 4-6 openings still available) £2m to £5m
– Villa Park naming rights(estimated £12m to £18m)
Sponsorship Shortfall: £48m to £68m
I needed co-pilot for the next section in relation to impact on SCR. It means the following:
Extra allowable squad cost (70%): £33.6m to £47.6m
Transfer fee equivalent (5 year deals): £168m to £238m
Until these sorts of deals can be achieved we keep being hit with the easy option of ticket price rises or rinsed for Champions League tickets. This season I had the option on season ticket renewal of either 19 match bundle (premier league matches) for £1.7k or 23 match bundle (premier and Champions League) for £2.5k. No way in hell am I paying £200 per Champions League match.
I did the Champions League bundle mate, thought it was a good deal. I wonder if you’ll get a further discount for knockout games if you have it. I only renewed because of my away reference otherwise I’d have paused it as I am usually in the North Stand.
“Tottenham’s total revenue for 2024-25 was £565m. Under SCR rules they would be able to spend up to £480m a year on their squad” (BBC). That’s 4.8.0. A year. Whiskey, anyone?
Villa should’ve relegated them when they had the chance. But literally didn’t turn up.
If you want evidence that football is corrupt from the top down then just look at USA’s Balogans’ red card one match ban being suspended for a year before their game against Netherlands.
This has the hand of Infantino all over it, having first withdrawn it from an unmentionable orifice.
ALL fans should be rightfully offended by this quite flagrant bending of the rules – it makes a mockery of the WC – if it wasn’t already fundamentally damaged.
I see Trump is now an expert on football.
This decision by FIFA makes a mockery of football and challenges its Coe integrity (already, imho, damaged by Infantino).
So now any Head of State can challenge decisions made on or through a footballing process.
Every single nation at this WC with any card should challenge the decision just saying ‘it wasn’t a foul and the ref’s suspect!’
Over to Prince William – get in. 😄
On Emery’s coaches leaving, a comparison: when John Gregory left Brian Little to manage Wycombe in October ’96, after a brilliant 95-95 campaign, Villa began to stall. They started the 97-98 campaign with 4 straight defeats and Little threw the towel in by February, to be replaced by Gregory.
Unai won’t be replaced by either of the departing coaches, but could things take a turn for the worse? He’s replaced the assistant with a guy he worked with at Valencia so that looks OK on paper. But the ‘individual performance coach’ has not been replaced. With the shoestring budget and Smith’s players, could it be that the ‘individual performance coach’ was wringing the last few drops out of what Emery had at his disposal. With him gone, the sharp lines of those finer details will begin to blur, and we may well see those wins by the odd goal become defeats by the odd goal. Just a theory, and I hope I’m wrong.
There is also a tipping point where the age of the squad results in those finer margins going against us, as players will tire before the 100 odd minutes of matches. Another comparison: Big Ron didn’t refresh his squad in time after 93-94 season, and he was gone by November as Villa strung a run of defeats together.
An ageing squad and quality coaches departing (plus World Cup fatigue) is potentially a recipe for disaster. Could Villa be in for a very difficult winter and a January window of desperation? Again, I hope I’m wrong.
Young, hungry, and most critically Champions League quality players MUST come through the door at before the summer window closes.
Good post BFR – my concerns exactly; particularly the loss of two top class coaches as you so succinctly articulate.
Emery is World Class but he’s not a miracle worker – although sometimes he appears to be more a magician!
Onana off injured in 20 mins FFS! Even I’m getting frustrated now!!
Mr Glass Onana out for the season with a ruptured ACL. What is it with Villa’s midfielders and ACL’s?
This means we need to buy, but we can’t!! If only we wasn’t in Europe and governed by their SCR rules, like Spurs and Chelsea.
Mr glass out for the season ficking great we haven’t even kicked a ball yet between him and kamara they can’t play 5 games before breaking down
It’s so typical of our (lack of any) luck and whilst I also get frustrated over Onana I have to feel for him.
Might I hypothesise that his very long, rather spindly legs are a big weakness and he’s always going to be susceptible to injury so we’ll probably have to move him on next season, sadly for a big loss. The only upside is that Belgium and FIFA will have to pay us a substantial amount in compensation which should more than cover his wages.
Trying to find positives in negatives here chaps.
I also read that Brian Majo isn’t playing because FIFA has refused our application to register him.
It seems 16year olds can’t be transfers between countries and play for their new club until they are 17 – he’s 17 in January.
It seems Villa are taking FIFA to court as I believe Majo has British dual nationality. That will be interesting.
Onana. What another kick in the teeth. Did nobody do due diligence on his fitness before signing him ????
Update on my last two posts.
Here’s an article re: Brian Madjo
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/aston-villa-brian-madjo-fifa-cas-b3006905.html#:~:text=Aston%20Villa%20has%20taken%20its,blocked%20his%20permission%20to%20play.
Got some details slightly wrong 18 not 17 – he was born in London and plays for England U17’s but because we acquired him from Metz FIFA have blocked him from playing – madness. I say get Prince William to have a word with Infantino!
Compensation from FIFA is a maximum of £6.4m per injury per player calculated per day on the number of days and wage related up to a maximum of 365 days. If he’s out for a year Villa will get paid the maximum. I very much doubt that Onana is on more than £100k per week and ACL is normally around a year out so Villa should be well covered financially which helps massively with our SCR cost and means we could bring in a cover albeit one from the Lidl central isle 😂
Emery’s probably doing (another) loan deal for Luiz as we speak 😂😂
Mings, Buendia, Kamara twice and now Onana with ACL injuries in the last couple of seasons is either bad luck or more than just a coincidence. Are our fitness coaches doing or not doing something to prevent these type of injuries happening. Emery needs to sell Onana when fit because he’s always a few games from the next one. I assume Kamara isn’t ready for the start of the season, so do we try to keep Barkley?
Alfie, can we have that poll back up again so we can change our minds on Onana?
I don’t think Villa are creating a large risk for ACL – it’s just very bad luck.
Take the Kamara injury – a straight leg tackle at knee height with Kamara running forward. I still think it was a red card but we didn’t even get a foul for it.
Having said that, we’re not the only side suffering from major injuries – Spuds for instance last season.
There does seem to be an increase in major knee injuries though (in both the the men’s and women’s game) which needs a bit of research.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dae_NgIqHOO/
Just a little more info on Onana’s injury. I believe the source is good. Sad if true