Villa – Brighton; I can’t see us getting anything from this.

Or to be more accurate, I don’t believe we stand a cat in hell’s chance of getting a point from this game.
I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t think like that, but it’s just how I see it.
Brighton will be well up for this, whereas we’ve already shown that the flip-flops are on and the suitcases are packed.
After all, if we couldn’t raise our game against a struggling Blackburn, why should we expect anything different against a far better team challenging for the league title?

Which worries me a bit, to be honest.
Okay, we don’t have anything to play for and depending how results go, we’ll finish somewhere between 11th and 14th, I think.
Given that there’s no financial incentive because there’s no extra money for position finished, you have to wonder what the point is.

But surely we should be playing purely for pride?
Any decent team always goes all out for the win, regardless of the opposition, doesn’t it?
So why did it seem the players really weren’t that bothered last week?

Steve Bruce has said that the players need to get their heads around what it means to play for Aston Villa and I personally think he’s on the right track with that comment.
Theoretically, we know we have very good players. They’ve proven that they can perform at their previous clubs. Yet it just hasn’t happened for us yet.
Indeed, I’m struggling to think of a single good performance from any of Bruce’s signings, maybe Sam Johnstone apart.
As I said, worrying, given we talking about six players, the goalie apart.
Hopefully it is just some mental thing and it can be sorted over the summer.
Hmm, I suspect that’s the optimist in me coming out again.

Squad-wise, we know Hutton has somehow broken two ribs, so he won’t be playing.
Mile Jedinak hasn’t got over his groin problem, so isn’t playing.
And Gabby went over on his ankle so he won’t be playing for the Villa ever again
Oops, Freudian slip there, apologies.

Add in Kodjia and that’s probably our best three players crocked (ignore Gabby).
Which begs the questions of a) where are the goals coming from? and b) who’s going to help the defence?

So I can’t see anything other than a defeat, although I hope I’m wrong.
Then again, I’d much rather Brighton won the title than Newcastle, as although I don’t have anything against the Barcodes, the constant, obsessive bitching and sniping about the Villa, from a certain Newcastle website has got right on my wick this season.

Whatever, may the best team win the league, but I suspect many of the Villa fans attending won’t be that bothered either way and it’ll just be carnival time.
In which case I hope the weather’s nice.

Brighton to win 2-0.


Comments

100 responses to “Villa – Brighton; I can’t see us getting anything from this.”

  1. Steve Bruce has been asked to plot Aston Villa’s Premier League promotion push this summer – on a £1million budget.

    Boss Bruce was stunned to learn the details of his summer transfer kitty at a meeting the club’s hierarchy on Thursday.

    It appears that this is the money that has been set aside for loan fees, as Villa could be in huge trouble with the new Financial Fair Play regulations that govern the Championship.

    Bruce will otherwise have to raise cash from selling players before he can buy.

    Problems have arisen because of regulations set down by the Football League

  2. Jack Grealish told to start fulfilling his potential at Aston Villa by Steve Bruce
    According to the new rules, Villa can lose up to £83m in three seasons without being penalised. But their last accounts show a deficit of £81.3m alone and unless spending is reduced drastically, the club could be hit hard.

    Villa had to make a submission to the Football League in March and are now bringing their house in order. But that action has had a knock-on effect for Bruce who looks set to be relying on loans from Premier League clubs and abroad.

    The Football League has been criticised in the past for failing to take appropriate action against the likes of QPR and Leicester who were both caught out by Financial Fair Play after incurring heavy losses.

  3. I really don’t get this FFP man city’s outgoings are huge compared to their income I thought this is part of FFP. I’m sure other clubs have got away with it but as usual being villa we’ll get stiffed.

  4. Ps I thought villa’s net spend was quite low over the past couple of windows players did leave the club

    1. Andrew avatar

      That’s the thing Giddy, is players did leave, but they left for far less than what we paid for, or free. Other than Benteke we haven’t made a profit since the four of Barry, Milner, Downing and Young left. Not too mention the wages we paid all of those players.

  5. Giddy, very confusing to me, this smacks as if Villa is targeted for something we don’t know, your right, how is it that having that Yank giving away 11 million on managers walking away ,sacking, dropping a league get kicked up the arse for mismanagement ends up capped.

    1. Hitchens 60 avatar
      Hitchens 60

      I don’t understand the FFP rules insofar as how they calculate permissible losses taking into consideration how transfer fees are accounted for so difficult to comment but, on the face of it, they seem illogical to me particularly as they seem to ignore balance sheet strength. I am concerned that Wyness recently stated that Villa are OK on FFP as long as promotion occurs next season but more difficult after that.

      Notwithstanding Villa cannot keep making the level of losses seen over the last few years and really do have to reduce their wage bill.

      Johnstone staying on a further years loan is, imho, a good move.

      If reports are accurate then Bruce will really have to earn his money next season with the players we already have.

      1. That’s my take Hitch, its all having to be now loan deals, how the hell do they exspect a club to compete? sorry seems all wrong to me, football is on the pitch, not in the office. Sod the FA we want to see talent and not to be sold to us in wrapping paper.

        1. Hitchens 60 avatar
          Hitchens 60

          Right on Bill. Can you imagine the stock exchange bringing in rules to cap investment in companies – because that is what FFP effectively does. There are plenty of laws in place around trading insolvently without the FA sticking their noses in – if a club goes into administration it’s the directors responsibility not the FA’s.

          My final point is that liquidity (the amount of available cash to meet debt) is the important factor not merely profit and loss. I’ve known ‘profitable’ companies go bust because they don’t have sufficient cash to run the company.

  6. i just watched motd reply. i noticed how 352 or 532 or 1 10 formations lol are being used with great results. its not a dig at those who bashed the formations we tried over years. or those that saying that formation was negative. chelsea have played the system for years and their italian manager changed to the system after defeats at arsenal.

    i think all systems depend greatly on players wanting to play that system. if all players buy into the system what ever that system. it has a good chance of succeeding. all system need the players to work on shapes with and without the ball. the players make systems reason we failed playing the system 352 was down to the players not liking and fans believing it to be negative. well chelsea don’t look negative or arsenal.

    i think this summer will be about generating cash to spend.we can not keep spending and not selling. the squad is almost their. tweak here and there. i see lots of players being sold if there are buyers out there. smaller squad will mean a tighter unit, more likely all will pull their weights. players probably look at gabby kozak richards last season and think how they are not putting in a shift for 50k

  7. i watched this brighton game, plus more games this season under bruce, i listen to bruce barking out orders. i don’t hear him ordering the players to stay back don’t go forwards. because the team plays negative doesn’t mean they are under orders to play that way. this game against brighton bruce could be clearly heard barking aloud to get the F ing ball in. while the players where over playing over and over around their box, sometimes turning around to hit backpasses into our own half. you can see the frustrations across his face.

    i also believe the last game he did get a more higher quality performance. the midfield were finally thinking more forward, the youngster davis who is different to the other forwards we have. i can play without the ball, hold the ball and he gives everything,unselfish player that worked hard to get villa back into game and almost winning it.. i have seen him a few times and he reminds me of a kanu but is more mobile and less gifted lol but he has plenty time ahead.

  8. Makes me laff FIFA making all these fairplay rules when they breach fuck knows how many rules themselves

  9. Andrew avatar

    Well, we’ll finally see what Bruce is actually made of as a manager, won’t we? He got a huge pass from our fans after failing for 35 games and spending a lot in January, so we’ll see what he can do on a budget of 1m + sales. Not too mention he’ll probably have ample opportunity too loan players in that won’t affect his budget much.

    1. DSVilla avatar
      DSVilla

      Maybe that’s part of his problem. Is he better a getting a team spirit and performance from an unrated set of players, rather than getting the keys to the sweet shop? A few managers are like that.

      1. Andrew avatar

        We’ve had a lot of managers like that. McLeish, Lambert, now Bruce.We seem to be getting managers who come in, thinking whoa, this is a giant club and the biggest job I’ve ever had/ever going to get, and that sticks with them. The fans get on their back because these managers are over-protective because they want to obviously keep the best job they’ll get and that puts an end to them. If we could find a manager who doesn’t look at us as the biggest job he can get, I think that one could do really well. Because he’d likely show what he can do rather than defend his position after every game, every loss like those three did. All 3 who never took blame, and always came out in public bashing the players. Can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to play for them. Especially Bruce this season, all he’s done is bash the players in public. Why the hell would anyone want to play?

        1. jvillan avatar
          jvillan

          spot on andrew
          play the blame game,

  10. don’t get all this panic. villa were always going have to sell lots of players. the squad currently has alot of talent, its tweaking this summer. players being named as possible sales are players that haven’t been important last season and been out on loan, amavi we apparently we turned 25million (mad) sell him for that,you could fund the summer and winter. sanchez has been sold 2.5 theres another player you could fund. tishbola hardly featured and as i said when he wasnt being picked, he wasnt ready to play 30 games plus and it turned out to be right, failed to even get in forests starting lineup. 5mill we won’t get that back doubt he will be sold for 1 million

  11. So it appears we will have £1m, plus sales to buy new players. In a perverse way, as long as we secure promotion this could be good for Villa.

    It means we will have a season without splurging the cash on players. It means some of the U23 will have game time and a chance to develop, such as Green, Hepburn-Murphy, Toner, Lyden and any other promising player I have missed. I much prefer this than the expensive purchase policy for mediocre players – right through to total flops. I believe we have one of these at the moment who plays up front when his house gates work!

    With some judicious loans and replacing sold players with 2 good Championship / Premier quality players the future could be good. I do believe SB has the nous to help us achieve Premiership football again. There would be the heart of a team to fight to stay up in the Premier in the first year.

    However, if we don’t achieve promotion next year, then I believe we will be in real financial trouble. There are too many players on too much money for no input into the team or resale value. These are the financial millstones around putting our future in jeopardy (if we don’t achieve promotion next year):

    * Agbonlahor contract to 17/18
    * Cissokho to 17/18
    * Elphick to 18/19
    * Richards to 18/19
    * Gil to 18/19
    * McCormack to 19/20
    * Bacuna to 19/20
    * Tshibola to 19/20
    * Vertout to 19/20
    * Amavi to 19/20
    * Gollini to 19/20

    What’s worse is other teams know our financial constraints and will look to drive down the transfer fee due to our likely desperation to stop the cash flow haemorrhage. How much could we get for these players?

    I value your thoughts.

    UTV

  12. Sidforever, not many of us can argue them stats , but I’m wondering if it interfere with incoming wages on players? It’s pretty obvious now loan deals are on the cards but agents will kill most moves over their money. I welcome the chance of youngsters getting a chance at long last, it stands common sense that an up and coming player will show more enthusiasm than a player who thinks he’s safe in the club. Again Sidforever we will understand more in a few months.

  13. originallondonlion avatar
    originallondonlion

    Even if we were to sell some of those players for nothing, we will have rid ourselves of their wages.

    I think only 2, Vertout and Gil, have been playing elsewhere and might be better players than when I last saw them – there is still a question of whether they want to return to VP.. I would be happy to keep Elphick if he can remain fit because I don’t rate Baker, and Macormack if his mental issues are over.

    The others IMO are waste of money and they are just staying to take the money for nothing.

  14. Does all this mean we’ll have a transfer embargo slapped on us?????

    1. Hitchens 60 avatar
      Hitchens 60

      Not unless we breach these ffp rules Giddy and then that is only one sanction available alongside fines and dicking points! We have to stay within them next season otherwise sanctions would apply the following season. If reports are to be believed it means we have to stop making losses – something we haven’t done for eons!

      Apart from the cost of wages, what concerns me is how transfers are accounted for – if I understand it correctly, in the accounts the cost of buying players is spread over several years (depreciating value) whereas income from sales is taken in total in the year of the sale – that would accord with normal accounting practice. If that’s correct it means we will still be accounting for significant purchase costs in next season’s accounts which means any substantive income from sales is unlikely to be available for buying new players.

      No embargo from the FA but a self imposed embargo on transfers?

      1. Hitchens 60 avatar
        Hitchens 60

        Dicking 🙂 meant docking!

        1. Dicking sounds better 😁

          1. Hitchens 60 avatar
            Hitchens 60

            I did think that when I read it 🙂

          2. That answers my question Hitch, in other words we’ve knackered.

        2. We’re Hitch.😂

          1. Hitchens 60 avatar
            Hitchens 60

            Reckon so Bill – will have to rely broadly on the squad we’ve got plus Mr. Bruce’s legendary promotion skills!

  15. Rocky1 avatar

    There are 2 key people that can make or break next season and they are Calderwood and Clements. These 2 for me with their experience did not bring enough to the coaching table last season,

    1. I certainly question calderwoods appointment because as soon as he arrived our form dipped, Brighton away imo was our stand out overall performance of the season the next match was calderwoods first game we were shite coincidence?? maybe

  16. Villain1 avatar
    Villain1

    No surprise that spending needs to be curbed. The wage bill is already too high when you’ve got wasters like Richards picking up 40k plus a week with no intention of contributing to the squad.
    As the effect of the parachute payments way off and the teams coming down get more inflated TV money, the task of promotion will grow ever harder.
    We simply have to get next season right, unfortunately though I couldn’t have less confidence in the manager to execute the correct decisions as he is simply out of touch with the modern game and fixated by a ‘cautious at all costs’ approach which will lead to his and the clubs downfall.