Well, the final day might well end up as a bit of an anti-climax, but it’s difficult to argue that we’ve done very good deals and the vast majority of fans are very happy.
I’m inclined to say the board have done a superb job in backing Steven Gerrard, but the reality is we haven’t spent that much money considering the calibre of players we have got in.
Obviously the biggest signing was Philippe Coutinho on loan. We’re no doubt paying him a fortune in wages, but he was one of the finest players in the world not very long back. If we can get him playing to the best of his ability, he’ll prove a great signing. We have the option to buy him for £33 million at the end of the season and while I’m not a big fan of loans, I quite like this deal.
He’s only got four months to prove himself either way and being realistic it could prove to be a not particularly good deal.
But it just demonstrates the manager’s pulling power and the whole thing massively raised our profile for a short while, which can’t be bad.
Next was Lucas Digne and I think this one shocked everybody and mainly the Everton fans. This was a weird one to my mind, as by many accounts he was actually their best player. Everton fans were fumming over this deal and it would seem we probably got him quite cheap.
The perplexing thing about this one is Rafa Benitez was sacked a week after the club sold him.
I have to be honest and say this concerned me.
Why would you sell your best player at what seemed a very reasonable price of £27 million, yet sack the manager just a week after? The hierarchy must have had an inkling his dismissal was a distinct possibility and the only reason I can think is that Digne had burnt bridges with someone who mattered and I’m talking higher than the manager.
The fact that the player and the manager both had shockingly terse goodbye notes from the club seems to suggest my theory might be correct.
The fact is Digne seems to have moved on and has made an encouraging start. He isn’t going to be dropped for us, so he’ll have no need to throw any strop for a good while at least.
He’s a definite upgrade over Targett in his attack play although we haven’t seen enough of his defensive side as yet.
The Everton fans thought that was the weaker side to his game, but I don’t think that will concern Stevie G too much.
Put simply, we have a very highly rated Left back at a not extortionate fee and this deal was excellent business, I think.
Next in was Robin Olsen and I’m not sure what there is to be said here, as I don’t know much about him at all. Obviously someone must have been tracking him, but to be honest I’m not sure I thought there was much wrong with Jed Steer as our back up goalkeeper. Someone sees him as an improvement, so that has to be good enough for me. Was Jed complaining that he wasn’t getting any game time? Probably.
Olsen is only here on loan, so any cost will be fairly minimal and there’s nothing for us fans to complain about here.
And then finally, we got Calum Chambers from Arsenal on another loan. I’m not so sure about this deal. He’s hardly played over a few years, so who knows what he’s like? In fact, Wiki says he’s played 55 games since the 2016-17 season. If he can still motivate himself he’s doing well, to say the least. Mikel Arteta didn’t want to take up a year’s option for him, even though it could have made the player worth a fee. You have to wonder why he didn’t, but we’ve got backup at Centre back and he can cover right back too and again he hasn’t cost much.
We were apparently interested in Bentancur, but the club denied making an offer because of a big chunk of his fee going to his previous club. I think the hierarchy were right not to be held over a barrel on this deal. I’ve read reports that he wasn’t very well rated by Juventus fans and frankly Spurs, who have announced his signing, are welcome to him.
Bissouma is a different matter. He’s a very good player and proven in the Premier league. I do feel his signing would have been a step too far at this stage though, when he has sexual assault charges hanging over him. From what I’ve read, I suspect he’s probably innocent and it’s more likely his friend who’s the guilty party (in my opinion).
I suspect the idea was that we’d take him if Brighton took a really low offer, but it wasn’t to be.
He’ll fetch big money in the summer, so we’ve probably given up on that one.
And then there’s the players who have gone out.
Keinan Davis to Nottingham Forest. A good move for him, I feel. It’s about his level and he’s already got two in 2, I believe. You never know, he might now learn something from his appearances and manage to step up a level.
Wesley to Internacional. Probably means we say goodbye to him and I wish him well.
Aaron Ramsey to Cheltenham Town is dead handy for a young lad, as it’s only a short distance, meaning he’ll probably travel back every day.
Caleb Chukwuemeka to Livingston. I’m surprised Caleb took this move, but fair play to him.
Anwar El Ghazi to Everton. Totally perplexing when Rafa’s been sacked and you have to wonder who sanctioned this one. He has no future at the Villa under Gerrard and I hope he does well and gets the permanent move.
Jaden Philogene-Bidace to Stoke City. This is a great move and was frankly much needed as he’s one of those who are just too good to not be playing footy at a decent level. He’s well past the kids level and we all know it.
Cameron Archer to Preston North End. As for Bidace, he needed this too.
Louie Barry to Swindon Town and they’ve promised to play him as a 10. Another good move for the player.
Kaine Kesler Hayden to MK Dons. Everyone likes this kid and now we’ve got Chambers we could afford to let him go for a while.
Matt Targett to Newcastle United. This is the one I don’t quite understand.
Did he throw a strop and tell Gerrard that he won’t play second fiddle? I doubt it. He doesn’t strike me as that sort.
I think it’s much more likely that the manager has told him he doesn’t see much of a future for him at the club, which is frankly brutal.
Why else would you want to go and put yourself in a relegation battle?
For someone who was being touted for England last season, this is a massive backwards move.
Then again, it’s probably the case that if he didn’t take Newcastle, he would be stuck on the bench. In which case, fair play to him for wanting to play.
You have to think he won’t be at all happy and will no doubt be looking for a permanent move in the summer, in which case the barcodes have plenty of money and they can cough up a good fee.
And Trezeguet has supposedly gone to some Turkish club, although I haven’t seen any official confirmation of the deal.
I like the player and his workrate makes him a Gerrard type of player, but the reality is he’s last generation. I wish him well too.
So overall I think we’ve done well to very well.
Yes, Bissouma or some other highly rated defensive midfielder would have been nice, but I think the club have decided they simply won’t be taken for a ride.
It’s odd that the likes of Trezeguet, Targett and El Ghazi have only gone out on loan. Maybe the thinking is that we can get better prices for them in the summer? If so, I can’t argue.
Let’s face it, if we’d only got Coutinho in, we’d probably have been pretty happy, as he’s without doubt the biggest signing since…. er probably ever.
Comments
85 responses to “Weighing up Villa’s winter window business”
Did I miss anyone?
So many players gone out on loan.
It’s almost like we’re a top 6 club.
Kerr Smith – 17 year old defender from Dundee United for undisclosed fee – gone into the academy.
Not sure which position he plays but supposed to be a really hot prospect.
Central defender I believe.
Tyreik Wright has gone to Colchester United in a late move.
And it seems we’ve turned down a third bid for Luiz.
Probably clubs chancing their luck and hoping to get him on the cheap.
If we’re going to keep him, we could really do with getting a deal done.
I have the feeling that while we did the important business early in this window, a lot of the stories linking us with various players in the last 2 weeks or so have just been click-bait, without any real substance at all.
Have to say I’m glad we didn’t go for Bissouma at this time; wait until the summer ( & his legal issues have been resolved) if SG really wants him.
Overall, a good ‘window’ – although I still believe that too much activity in January smacks of desperation!
Bissouma in the summer? Maybe, although he’ll cost at least £50 mill.
I’d guess we might have got him for about £35 mill plus add-ons. You’re probably right though. Best to wait and see,
I don’t think it’s too much activity here.
It’s more a “new manager” thing.
And the reality is we still haven’t spent much. Yes, the Grealish money and the Digne fee, but that’s about it. All the players out must have saved a good few quid.
It would seem we’re keeping our powder dry.
I wonder how much or even if Gerrard has been promised anything?
If we don’t make any type of Europe, including that lesser competition, do we back off for a while or push on even more?
Interesting times.
I think our push on is not aimed at a European place this year but a real crack at the top 6 next year with the rest of this year seen as a pre-season.
Strange seeing all these supposed £30m offers for Luiz when most of us have slight reservations. I guess SG is right in saying he needs to step up if he wants to reach the heights.
Looking forward to the next few games though!!!
Agree. It will be hard to get Europe out of this season so sit tight, consolidate and fix stuff in the summer. Bissouma can do better than us though (champs league or at least Europe next season). No disrespect but just the reality of where we are now.
We may need to find our own Bissouma like Brighton did rather than waiting until they have proved themselves and quadrupled their fee. Pleased with where we are now though. Doing early business kind of makes you get carried away so need to be a bit level headed about it all.
Excellent points, DS. We have found our own Bissouma but he’s injured. Marvelous, he is.
Ardent, apart from the Coutinho deal which Gerrard accepted was opportunistic we’ve only done what was necessary in this window. A decent versatile defender to replace Tuanzebe (and an upgrade in my book) and a new left back – again an upgrade – although we probably switched target(t)s from Aaron Hickey when Digne became available. Wouldn’t be surprised to see us go back for Hickey in the summer.
I agree with Badger about Steer but he’s earned the reward of playing football on a weekly basis after being our number two for years.
The defensive mid remains a challenge but we can hope that Nakamba, when fit, can still fill that role effectively.
I wasn’t saying that we’d done too many deals; in fact I think that 2-3 ‘big’ moves (Couthinho, Digne, Chambers) in was about right.
As for the all of the loan moves out, to me they’re simply part & parcel of either youth development or letting people go who are simply not in the long-term picture – although I will admit to being surprised that Targett went so quickly; either he really was pissed-off by the Digne signing or someone’s told him pretty bluntly that he had no future at Villa whatever he did in training!
I was really just commenting on the frantic reports on (for example -) the BBC Sport web pages, where Newcastle & Everton were being linked to dozens of last-minute big-money buys, and the likes of ManUre & Spurs seeming to desperately try to get rid of some unwanted names…
Ah – that wasn’t what I was trying to say but apologies as I can see it might have come across like that.
I just meant to add my support for the way we approached the window.
Spurs, on the other hand, seemed to have had a bit of a panic attack – it’s been reported they even made a last minute bid to buy Luiz – after nicking Bentancur I can imagine how that conversation went. 🙂
All of those rumours about Luiz intrigue me.
I’ve been a big fan of his since almost the day he joined (- albeit that his occasional mistakes really still wind me up!) and believe he could turn out to be one of the most gifted players we’ve had at VP in a very long tme.
And it seems that there are plenty of people here and across Europe who seem to have their eyes on him as well.
But Villa appear to be a bit ‘casual’ about tying him down with the sort of extended contracts that have been offered to the likes of McGinn; I can’t quite work out why that is. Is it that they’re not sure about him, or just that perhaps he’s got an agent who’s making daft demands and the club are trying to make a point by stalling?
I agree with you Ardent – he does have the most sublime touch and great technical ability. Villa, it seems, don’t see him as a natural number 6 but playing alongside a six with freedom to play further upfield.
Birmingham Live (OK with big health warning) are saying that Villa want to tie him down to a long term contract hence the reason they turned down the offers.
If Brum Live are correct then I suspect the problem might be with Luiz rather than Villa and it might ultimately come down to how we do to the end of the season and who we bring in. I think he has 18 months to go on his contract so summer will be critical.
I’ve seen the stuff on B’ham Live.
I’m also pretty sure that it was on there that I read some comment attributed to SG a week or so back where it seemed like a ‘casual’, ‘throw-away’ line about the club not having ‘gotten around’ to discussing a new contract yet…
My own opinion is that Luiz isn’t a DM (we all agree on that) but, good footballer that he is I don’t think he is good enough in advance of that position. No real goal threat, not over blessed with pace and no Buendia/Coutinho in terms of incisive passing. Sounds a bit negative but it’s not that i don’t rate him. Just not sure how we would integrate him as an essential team player if we had a Bissouma behind.
DS, I think Dougie IS a goal threat but isn’t used correctly. He’s proven that he’s capable of scoring from distance – something all good midfielders should do, AND get into the box and score. He hasn’t done it for about 18 months, but that’s because he’s played as a holding man, which limits him. Exactly the same problem with McGinn. I see both Doug and McGinn as ‘complete’ midfielders of yesteryear – see Robson, Keane, Scholes. Not as good as those, but that type of midfielder. I hope Gerrard can get more out of them; it seems it’s Ramsay who’s benefiting more at this stage. Interesting.
Callum Chambers is not a loan deal Badger. Free transfer (although I think there might be some small add ons) on 2.5 year contract. Very good bit of business that.
Yep, you are of course correct Hitch. I don’t know why I wrote that.
In other news, “since the first window of the season, Villa have spent around £116million on transfers and have taken in £114million in player sales, totalling a net spend of around £2million.”
Blimey, that’s way lower than even I thought and surely means we should see a big spend in the summer?
I’ll always be eternally grateful to Sir Jack Grealish for signing that contract. He knew what he was doing and that it would bring us a windfall.
God Bless the lad.
You are of course correct Hitch. It was getting late 😃
“Since the first window of the season, Villa have spent around £116million on transfers and have taken in £114million in player sales, totalling a net spend of around £2million.”
Surely that means a big spend in the summer?
Argh, a duplicate post, sorry.
🙂 even better for FFP as we can write down the expenditure over the players length of contract and incoming fees go straight to the bottom line.
Agree big summer coming up.
Happy Days
If there isn’t a big summer, I’ll be worried that it’s Lerner all over again.
Bloody hell Ron, it’s nothing like the Lerner days.
And as far as I know our current owners aren’t being taken to the cleaners by the divorce courts!
Thank f*** for that, Bum Bum! 🙂
And the 2008 financial crash that almost did for the World’s banking system. Lerner must have lost a shed load on top of the divorce.
Amortisation. I love that word!
🙂 🙂
While the January window for most Villa fans seems like a good one. We are working on the basis that our signings meet their potential. If Coutinho is as disappointing for us as he was for Barcelona, then we might not take up the option to buy. Both he and Digne are in the latter stages of their careers so it might prove like Ings, that it isn’t necessarily a certainty they will improve us. The comments made by Targett suggests that Villa had accepted a loan deal with Newcastle rather than the player forcing a move. If that’s the case then I think it’s a bad decision. Why strengthen Newcastle’s hopes of survival to leave us with one injury to Digne, to relying on a 36 year old to play regularly?
If the owners have sacrificed the remainder of this season for a huge summer of transfer activity and have scaled back the squad numbers / wage bill to accommodate new signings, then fair enough. We are in little danger of relegation and little hope of breaking into Europe, so I guess we can risk playing Chukwuemeka to hopefully tie him down to a long term deal.
So for me with the amount of incomings v outgoings, I will reserve judgment with a feel of meh! Apologies if this is against the general consensus. It’s just my opinion! 😉
One thing I meant to post but forgot, was how much of a joke that premier league players get a winter break for playing 90 minutes once or twice a week in a team game when on Sunday in blistering heat, two tennis players fought hard for over 5 hours after already playing games prior to that. It just shows what a bunch of pansies we have at the top level now. In some ways I miss the Championship with extra games and less prima donnas. And without the FA cup this weekend, we still have to wait another week for a game. 😡
I made the point that Coutinho might not cut the mustard Holte and it is a valid one.
It’s still heightened our profile, so even if it doesn’t work, there was value in the move, imo. And the upside if we do get him firing is immense.
Digne is 28. He’s not quite pension age yet and should have at least 4, maybe 5 seasons in him.
I can’t argue about our break though.
Surely this fortnight would have been the ideal time to at least play the games that had previously been postponed because of Covid?
I honestly don’t get it.
Would clubs really prefer to cram games in before the end of the season instead of missing out on a mid winter holiday?
Oh, er …..hang on a minute……
lol.
They never used to get this break, so yep, bunch of pansies.
(It sounds like you don’t like my choice of words, fair enough).
As for an opinion, Amen Brother 🙂
You know full well as long as it’s respectful, you’re fully entitled to it.
It’s a shame that Villa Park is still only just over 42,000 capacity. I tried to get two tickets for Watford game yesterday morning as my work colleague has a season ticket and can get tickets BEFORE they go out on general sale. Unfortunately there were only 80 seats available but none with two together. With the delay in expanding the North stand there seems to be a huge amount of lost revenue from ticket sales, food, drink and merchandise. Young fans who can’t get to see Villa play could possibly switch to an alternative club if it means getting to watch another club play.
Agree with you on the stadium.
Like you, I occasionally look for 2/3 seats together at short notice, but these days it’s getting almost impossible to find them.
The “North Stand” (-or as I still think of it, the Witton End) is long overdue for a complete knockdown/rebuild; I understood that Lerner was about to do it around 2008/2009 just before the banking crisis (& his divorce) put it all on hold
I am still a bit surprised to see us selling-out every game though; there was a time not very long ago that unless we were sitting somewhere near the top-6 in the league, and/or playing ManUre (& maybe Liverpool, Arsenal, etc.) that we rarely managed to fill VP as it is!
It seems at the moment that we could easily fill 55,000+ for every home game, despite so many games being shown live on one channel or another.
Ardent, in the inaugural PL season, we were playing champagne football and challenging for the title. Yet gates were UNDER 20,000, and that’s with a standing Holte End. It seems that football is an ever-growing behemoth and despite our cynicism, demand is outstripping supply. I, too, would love to go to a game, but have found slim-pickings on tickets. Surely, redeveloping the Witton end has to be a top priority. Personally, I’d level it and build another 15,000 capacity mirror of the Holte End.
BFR, I scrolled through the 92/93 season and was shocked to see so many low attendances. Our average gate was just under 30,000 which was mainly due to our challenge for the title which meant gates improved as the season progressed. At Old Trafford there was only 36,000 to see that Stan Staunton goal. Only 25,000 at VP to see Deano score that 35 yard cracker against Ipswich! Was it purely down to finances or had the game in general gone stale? I was a season ticket holder back then and wasn’t on a good wage so I wouldn’t have thought pricing was an issue. Imagine that team playing this season? They were worthy of sell out crowds with the quality of football they produced. Happy days indeed.
What a season it was, Holte; you were very lucky to have a season ticket! This was the season that got me 100% addicted to footy and the Villa. I managed to get to the Leeds game (first home game of the season) and the Chelsea game ( a 3-1 defeat), before we signed Deano. I was only 11 and my uncle was good enough to take me. A season ticket was my dream back then!
I think the economic climate wasn’t great, from what I’ve read. Doug Ellis, if I remember rightly, came up with ‘get in for a fiver’ to boost the crowds, so poor they were, even with the title challenge. I could talk about that season for hours!
There were some other reasons why attendances were low at that time.
Holte correctly mentions only 36,000 at OT: if I remebemer correctly that was the limit there at that time, as they had major re-building/extension work going on then.
I also remember that it was around 92/93 that the Witton Lane stand was was being re-built to become the “Doug Ellis”, and in 94/95 the current Holte End was being re-opened in stages, which also reduced capacity during that season.
A lot of grounds at that time had severe capacity restrictions in the wake of the Taylor Report (following the Hillsborough disaster) – I recall that capacity at Highbury was permanently reduced to around 36,000, for example. That was why many clubs like Derby, Bolton, Middlesborough, Sunderland, etc., all built new stadia in the 1990’s, while others like Newcastle or ManU went on to re-build and expand theirs’.
Ardent, you’re right about OT, but the Doug Ellis stand was around ’94. The old Witton Lane stand was in full working order for 92-93.
That rules me out then Holte, my two grandkids who are both Villa freaks and I’ve promised to take to the Watford game wont happen. Both play the game ,one for Leicester ladies the other for two local teams . Too think i used to run that ground and knew every inch of it , all my contacts have gone over the years and your right the grounds not big enough for hosting big games like we did years gone bye. Back to streaming then and miss the enthusiasm of Villa Park atmosphere. Happy Days.
But it’s not just the big games.
It was always difficult to get 2/3 seats together for those, so I usually only managed to take my boys to the less-attractive Premier league or Championship fixtures – the likes of Fulham, Leicester, Derby, occasionally even Spurs or Leeds…
Today it’s almost impossible to that, even when we’re looking at the likes of Burnley or Watford coming to visit.
The demand is there, and the club are missing-out on it!
The other thing AV is the odd situation that season ticket holder’s get first pick of seats for friends and family before they go on general sale. When the Watford game gets to the date for general sale, there won’t be any tickets left. If there are 30,000 season ticket holders that means approximately 10,000 are available. Unfortunately they never get to general sale under current regulations. In fact, even if you know a season ticket holder, you have to be quick and lucky to get seats together.
Bill, I will have to try and watch it on TV too. Someone told me that the plan for the north stand is to add a tier in the same way Liverpool did so the capacity isn’t affected by demolition and rebuilding.
I was working for a scouser a while back when he asked me if I wanted a ticket for our game against Pool.
I of course said yes, thinking he was doing me a right favour, but it turned out I was sat with him in the Anny road and he charged me. Typical scouser 🙂
It was worth it because it was the game where we took a 2-0 lead early on. The scouse moaning was a joy to hear 🙂
Anyway, it transpires that between him and the rest of his family they have six seats between them, have had them for donkey’s and just will not let them go because they’re too valuable.
The demand for Prem footy is just nuts, even with the stupid cost.
If there is a rumoured 20,000 waiting list for season tickets, surely we need to get up to 60,000 as quickly as possible. By the time we do reach that capacity we could have even more demand if we continue to improve. If they get to 60,000 which I believe is the target, then they should cap season tickets at 40,000 and allow 20,000 for general sale only. Unfortunately the stumbling block for increasing our capacity is the congestion caused by more people getting to and away from Villa Park. Enough car park spaces, trains and buses to accommodate the extra fans will prove a logistic nightmare.
The thing about switching to an alternative club, to be honest you have a point, kids are kids. I’m still young and didn’t go to many games a few years ago as opposed to me now and I stuck with us of course but there are some very naive minds that might tempt people away of supporting the best club in the world, which then decreases our revenue for future Villans, just an opinion and most likely won’t happen but either way we need this expansion because the North Stand concourse is beyond a joke…
If you even consider moving to another club I’ll have to introduce you to uncle stick! 😉
I’ve no doubt you’ll see big improvements, no worries.
It’s just a matter of time.
But in fairness, there are now too many clubs with bigger grounds.
We’ve always been amongst the biggest grounds in the British game and it’s about time we caught back up.
We are getting close to the stage where we need to move though.
Hopefully, when we do, it won’t be too far.
Move from Villa Park, Hitch??? Never in a million years!
BFR – posted a response but it slipped to the bottom of the string.
Check out Coutinho against Paraguay and a trade mark 25 yard worldie in the second half. Happy days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBf2YRnwuE
Hope I got the link right – not my strongest suit!
Blimey, he put himself about in that game.
If we can get him fully firing and get his happy head on (and apparently our dressing room is pretty good) he could prove a real asset.
I was encouraged Badger – he’s still clearly a top class player. Don’t think he’ll get quite as much space in the EPL but who knows?
I should have said (just in case it wasn’t realised) that this was in the WC Qualifiers this last week – not some old footage.
Bruce to the West Brom . ….
I’m very tempted to say “not if they’ve got any sense” Bill.
But he might actually be a decent bet to get them up. And that’s it.
A couple of million incentive and give him until the end of the season, I’d suggest.
Albion could do much worse.
Bruce is a ‘solid’ Championship manager – as with say, Warnock.
If he’d managed to get us through that play-off against Fulham in 2018 he’d have become a hero at Villa too – at least for a while.
His limitatations really only become a handicap in the Premier League, and to be fair to him, he’s rarely had much time in the PL with a club which is either financially ‘secure’ or where there isn’t a huge issue between fans and owners.
You’re absolutely right Ardent. For all the moaning about Bruce, he actually did pretty well at Newcastle given all the problems.
I think Bruce gets a hard time wherever he goes, because he’s usually brought in to either keep a team in the Prem, or get one promoted out of the Championship.
He’s quite good at the latter, but we’ve all seen how poisonous the atmosphere can be when clubs are struggling at the bottom of the Prem – or just fail to get promoted by a very narrow margin.
I can only imagine what it’ll be like at the Barcodes if Eddie Howe still has them in the bottom 3 after the next 5-6 games – the fans and new owners will have him out before the end of the season…
Howe or Gerrard? I can’t believe there was ever a doubt!
He steadied the ship here post Lerner too. Will always be thankful for that.
Bruce appointed West Brom manager. He follows Sir Ron in managing Villa, Blues and West Brom although not necessarily in the right order.
Sort of reminds me of an Eric Morecambe joke 🙂
Well the Baggies are not short of Cabbages in the Black country.
I’m absolutely gutted for Kiddy.
Great performance and they were so, so unlucky to not win.
West Ham actually looked really sorry for them, such was their effort.
Wow.
Carney Chukwuwemeka came on for Livingston and was then subbed off after 7 minutes.
And was then apparently criticised for having the hump, by the fans.
He’s had one start, but was subbed off at half time.
I never saw the sense in this loan and this doesn’t bode well.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/02/05/struggling-aston-villa-loanee-subbed-just-seven-minutes-after-coming-on/
BFR – Case of mistaken identity methinks 🙂
Villa Park is an iconic stadium and should remain but we do need to increase capacity but I suspect that might also require the club investing in transport infrastructure – both road and rail.
Surely it would be less expensive to invest in a park and ride solution that could also be used during the week rather than relocating the ground – just a thought.
Park and Ride at Star City. Easy.
That’s ‘my bad’ chaps. Mistaken identity also on the Chukuemeka story. It’s Caleb, not the superior Carney who’s the (non) story in Scotland.
Oops, sorry for that.
The truth is I don’t know the first name of loads of our players.
Mistaken identity indeed. It was me who raised a move, BFR.
I’m just being realistic. I think it’s a long time away, but the likes of Alfie will probably see it happen.
In other news, Cameron Archer scored a lovely striker’s take to win the game against Hull yesterday. He also hit the post.
He’s going really well, works hard and is pretty tough too;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON799-CfK6o
6:00 and 8:30 mins
I’ve liked Archer from day 1 – looks the real deal and I think he should be ahead of Barry now, and dare I say he’ll be jockeying for Ings’ position before long.
No debate from me, BFR.
He looks the real deal in being instinctive.
£22 mill for Wesley or play this kid?
I’d like to be on a 10% bonus for saving money, put it that way 🙂
Could be the next big player at VP from the Academy – let’s hope so.
So the UK FAs and FAI have decided against bidding for the 2030 WC and are going to bid for the vastly inferior 2028 Euros.
The WC bid was portrayed as a “giant, expensive vanity project” by Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee chair Julian Knight.
A statement said
“Hosting a Uefa Euro offers a similar return on investment, with the European tournament carrying a far lower delivery cost and the potential of the benefits being realised sooner.”
It’s all about the money, basically and the prestige, added to the fact that seeing as we’re by far the most advanced footballing nation in the world when you add everything up, we’re well overdue a WC has nothing to do with it.
If we get the Euros, we won’t get a WC for donkey’s years.
I’m gutted.
I also suspect that statement is a smokescreen for ‘we won’t get the votes so why spend a huge amount trying to’.
We all know why we won’t secure them as well!
Gerrard has confirmed that Trezeguet is going out on loan to an Egyptian club before their transfer window closes.
I have to agree with you Hitch. The chances of the UK winning a WC tournament is as much chance as us winning the Eurovision Song Contest, so why bother bidding?Too many rigged votes with little to no support for ourselves. We are hated by most nations for quite a number of reasons. Whether it’s the drunken Brits abroad acting like dicks or Brexit. Also I reckon there is a certain amount of jealousy, that in footballing terms we are superior to all other countries in every way.
Would agree with most of what you say, but I have doubts wether we’ve any chance of getting the Euro’28 at all.
The simple reason being that the scenes at Wembley during last year’s Euro2020 final were disgusting – and will likely be remembered by UEFA (and FIFA) for years.
As far as European observers were concerned they showed not only that English football fans haven’t learned anything about behaviour in the last 20-30 years, but that the FA (not to mention the police) can’t be trusted to ensure security at ane of the world’s bigger football occasions.