I’m keeping it short, as I’m still on my phone.
First, thoughts on the “no bank loan’ statement.
I think this is strictly speaking, a true statement.
While it’s true that we’ve taken money from Macquarie, I think it’s more of a forward sell, as opposed to a typical bank loan. The difference is subtle, but I believe it’s there.
Next is the statement that Xia has converted his loans to equity.
I don’t understand this one.
Yes, we’ve see a share allotment, but there’s been no value attached to them. It’s purely to improve the balance sheet, to suit FFP requirements,imo, which is good.
So if we’ve taken £40 odd million off the books, how much FFP trouble are we still in?
This is not made clear at all and it troubles me.
Do we really still need to sell Grealish?
I’m now not convinced, although it seems to me the Birmingham Mail are more than telling us that he actually wants to go, which is disappointing.
My stance would be that he’s going nowhere unless we get the right price.
There’s no doubt, we have to cut costs though.
Another one I have doubts about is the fact that any other shareholding won’t make a difference to FFP.
As has been explained, new owners would be given another chance to improve things.
The big impression I get is that the club isn’t in as bad a state as was implied by the media.
Or at least it’s not going bust.
But we are of course being set up for a period of severe austerity, which means playing more kids.
Given that we can expect no more than mid table at best, imo, I wonder if Bruce is now the right manager for us?
I predict that if we’re struggling, his contract will be allowed to expire.
Good luck England!
Comments
128 responses to “What to think of Xia’s statement?”
Very decent first half.
Will I need to change my mind about Southgate?
I hope so.
Come on England!
Heartbreak hotel – AGAIN
But the team and Southgate did us proud
England had no plan, Croatia moved the ball quicker and found there player’s,
Don’t change your mind Badger we are still in the dark age.
Think that’s a bit harsh Bill. Croatia were the better team – simples with more experience and better players – there’s no disgrace in losing to better opponents. Let’s see where this team is in two years time.
Not in my eyes Hitch, their team are a lot older and they run rings around us. This passing back for the goalkeeper to clear all ended up back at us.no we was poor.
Just have to agree to differ on that one Bill. Of course it was disappointing to lose but remember we had the youngest and least experienced squad in the tournament. As one old timer to another, age and experience can beat youthful exuberance!
england missed out oh so close. they should have won that game, we missed our chances in the first half, croatia were the better team i think overall, it was a nice surprise this world cup i enjoyed it and england being competitive was the nice surprise,
hindsight grealish would have been the finishing touch to this england team. we missed a player who can open up opposition ali i thought was poor all tournament. defence was missing a solid defender, overall thou i am happy
frogs will win 3 1 final
Agreed Nath; we had two gilt edge chances in the first half to take a two goal lead. We didn’t take them and the rest becomes history.
Pointless criticising Southgate or the team given that, before the tournament started, most people thought we’d be lucky to get out of the group stages!
Poor second half and I thought the defence let us down more than anything.
Still, we did ok, but I just have the feeling that that was our best chance in donkey’s years.
Disappointed, but as our local barman just said, we did better than Spain.
To cap it all, we come home tomorrow 🙁
Got to stay and play for third place against Belgium! Never quite could work out why – I suspect neither team really want to play a completely futile game and would rather get back home. Games for 3rd / 4th place are normally sterile bores.
Totally agree Hitch. My wife, who has no interest in football, said “at least they can come home now”. When I explained the 3rd/4th place game she said “what’s the point in that?”. It’s a total waste of time for all of them.
Disappointing way to go out. That game was there for us. Still, exceeded my expectations getting as far as we did so not the time for recriminations.
Gutted deja vu. A missed opportunity definitely. Croatia were on the ropes first half hour. At least England have gained the fans appreciation again and helped taken our minds off the idiots at VP.
Interestingly (well, for me, anyway), England set a new record for the most set piece goals since 1966.
Which is similar to what I see in the game generally.
And is nearly as boring as penalties/kicks in Rugby.
Roll on the time when goals in open play come back into fashion.
Meanwhile, Villa’s new home shirt is probably the worst I’ve ever seen, and being 53 I’ve seen a few, calling it second rate would be kind.
Not worried about the shirt but who’s going to be in it this coming season.
Back to what seems to be the default and dreading the new season.
I’ve just realised, by the time the next the world cup comes I’ll be almost getting a letter from the queen, that might be why I was so pissed off. Hitch, we could have won but I still maintain 3 of our players didn’t turn up on the day, ok I’m cruel ,but even the comments from the panel said the same, why does Tottenham want Grealish? same reason to take the ball on and not side to side, Young, he left the door open time after time, Kane running around ,not his fault never got into the game. Then I know nothing about football, OLL I’ve always thought you know the game what’s your take enlighten me.
Bill, I agree with you on the three players – or was it four? For me Young was a liability but Henderson had a poor game and I’m still not sold on Stirling. The fourth for me is Deli Ali who goes ‘missing’ far too often. What I really didn’t agree with was that we hadn’t moved forward as a team. I think there was ample evidence of a more positive and aggressive approach throughout this tournament. If we can find one or two more gems we’ll have a very decent team.
Hitch, I’m in agreement that ,yes an improvement with Southgate but I just dont like the idea of not dribbling and going forwards, how many times was the ball lost in trying to create openings, how many times was the ball passed back to the goalkeeper, when he kicked it nobody got it, and it went to the opposition, all a waist of time, as for Stirling fast but not part of yesterday’s game in the way we played.42 games 2 goals ?not a player I’d have picked.
Ho, Ho, Ho – no, not the VP guy but me laughing. Off topic but I’ve now heard it all. Fiat workers have gone on strike over Juventas signing Ronaldo. Apparently the same family owns Juventas and Fiat and the union has decided that the decision to buy Ronaldo means reduced investment in the car maker. The world and football in general has truly gone mad!
Shit thats a good idea, we’ll get Land Rover to buy Villa. What possibly go wrong.
LOL – Indian chicken farmers and Blackburn Rovers springs to mind!
i believe young was targeted in the second half both wing back were. croatia tried to make the wing backs play as fullbacks, so our 352 became 532. then we got overrun in the midfield and the rest was history.
i agree with mr pearson we lacked a ball carrier. a player like grealish would have brought what england was lacking, but for all our passing of the ball,our movement, all our pace throughout the team, we lacked the cutting edge and direct running which scares the shit out of defenders and draws defenders around him making more space for others.
i don’t think we score or created that manyy from open play. i was very surprised we caused some much danger from our set pieces. was refreshing to have a englishman be the manager of the national team and one who carried himself in such a nice mannered way.
we did more things right than wrong and i was pleased with what they showed us. we need to keep the style but introduce some more running from deep with the ball, like the good old days england was a wash with wingers that beat players with ball skills, every team had two wingers skilful and exciting to watch. grealish certainly has that special skills and its worth more than 15 mill spuds. ali never dribbled anyway or passed to create any goal chances i think he scored one goal but he was invisible.
ali in your team or grealish
You seen what I seen Nath, it stuck out a mile, they played on Young and cross balls to open up our defence, if we had had a midfield player like Modric we would have control the game, you only have to look at the second half they controlled the game.that’s why Southgate slipped up he look as if he knew but he didn’t change the game. They was allacking our two backs.
Or he didn’t have a player at his disposal that could solve the problem?
Attacking
Young was awful from the start. Strangely, Croatia swapped the guy who was up against him (Rebic??) to the other wing in the second half. He was a dirty player as well, and made at least 3 bookable tackles before finally getting a yellow for a foul on Walker.
Midfield was lightweight with only Henderson in a disciplined role. Croatia dominated that area in the second half. We could have done with Loftus-Cheek being brought on in the centre of midfield to help make life more difficult for Modric (class act) as he had too much time on the ball.
We looked to play long from the start and got results in the first half hour, but once Croatia sussed that out we had nothing different to offer.
Two defensive lapses but two good finishes from their players.
Alli was useless. Grealish would have given so much more.
Nice to have a distraction for a while from Villa problems though.
Another off topic rant.
FIFA fine us £50k for wearing the wrong socks – I encountered these ridiculous restructions on non approved advertising at the cricket World Cup in Barbados where fans were screened for non approved logos on shirts / hats etc. The level of stupidity was unbelievable – money and snouts in the trough.
Now it appears the FA are under investigation over chants of ‘no surrender’ by the fans. Whilst I don’t condone outright racism this extreme politically correct approach is beginning to sound rather like dictatorship. On the other hand perhaps I’m just an old bloke out of my time?
Perhaps these authorities would be better served first sorting out the problems we have all seen on the pitch like outright and blatant cheating by players.
I must say Hitch that if you’re Irish the chant ‘No surrender’ has a very dark and troubling history. It’s of course the motto of Ulster Unionists some of which are very right wing indeed and quite beloved by neo-Nazis..
I’m wondering what they meant when they chanted it and why they couldn’t have chanted something else?
I didn’t know that Pat and apologise if my comment was out of order. I don’t know how many fans were involved but if it was large numbers then possibly there were as many as ignorant as me.
My opinion, Hitch, is that “No surrender” is a very strong song from UK loyalists against the IRA.
It’s pretty profound, politically, regardless of any views any of us might have.
Possibly Rangers fans, who align with England fans at times.
Whatever, any mention of it again will we struck out.
Not a bollocking, it’s just that we don’t want to be siding, mate.
Already apologised Badger – my ignorance I’m afraid
What this VILLA sign a winger Tyreik Wright, never heard of him but highly thought of by clubs. He’s Irish I believe.
Only 16 so can’t sign a pro contract for another year. One for the future possibly.
Jedinak, even with all his injury issues and age, would be a big loss for next season – especially with the back line so thin.
Originally I was hoping the club would keep the following spine in the team for this season – Chester, Jedinak, Hourihane, Kodjia
But if Jedinak goes (and lets say Kodjia goes) I would hope the club could at least hold on to Bjarnasson – Chester, Bjarnasson, Hourihane, Davis
I suspect you’ve been reading the “Jedinak leaving” links, Marvin.
Now tell me which “non top six Europe league” that’s not America, club is going to pay his wages?
Total and utter bollocks.
That said, as much as I like him, I’d sell him at the drop of a hat to save his wages.
In the same vein, Bjarnason would be gone too.
The wages are too high, as much as it would be a loss to the side.
Tis true! The report I read was a bit like a “come get me” piece, but nevertheless I wouldn’t blame Jedinak, or Bjarnasson, if he told his agent to see what interest he could get. Overall though I think the club needs to have at least one of the two players to cover that back line. Given the money restrictions no way can Bruce replace either.
Ultimately I would curious to know what others think the spine of the team should be next season, given the players who should be staying.
I would like Bjarnasson to stay but I think after World Cup he will be gone soon. In reality we are stuck with Whelan as no one will be coming in for him. I hope Chester stays but again if a premier league club comes knocking then he will be gone too. So with luck our team could be Steer Bree Hutton Chester Elphick Lansbury Whelan Hourihane Green Hepburn Murphy Hogan. I think Adomah would feature if he stays but like Grealish, Kodja, Jedinak and Bjarnasson it looks like he will be gone before season starts. We also need Doyle Hayes and O’Hare pushing for starts although Bruce will probably bring on another clubs youngsters at their expense by way of loans, which is my biggest gripe about him.
Latest story to emerge is that Milan Mandaric wants to buy AV and has an offer refused. He was involved at Leicester, Portsmouth and Wednesday when they were in a similar mess to us and, according to reports, put them all on a sound financial footing. He’s reckoned to be very experienced and is quoted as saying ‘the real owner of a football club is the fans’ but has clashed with managers as he likes to build sustainable models based on youth.
No idea what to make of this?
One more thing he doesn’t see his ownership as long term but aims to leave the club debt free and financially sound.
Goal Hourhane.