Perhaps it was a little to much to expect for Sherwood to undo the last 5 shambolic years at Villa over the course of a week, infact I know it was too much, but like almost every Villan I got the to game on Saturday expecting to see a change in fortune, a new revitalised Villa team!
Naive I know.
I expected a 442, but what I didn’t expect was the team selection, Gabby and Richardson being the two that stood out for most concern. However every manager see’s things differently, they see the players close up day in day out so I gave Sherwood the benefit of doubt on that.
The more I watched the disjointed affair the more I started to see the problem with Villa, the problem is deep rooted and has nothing to do with the tactics and formations of a manager.
We are too soft, sure we talk a good game, we run around lots but it’s too easy to kick us to the floor. There is very little fight left, heads drops, work rate decreases, the team goes quiet. Self Belief and Confidence have hit the floor, its a self perpetuating problem, a vicious circle of decline.
We took the lead on Saturday which should have been enough to kick start the Sherwood revolution, but that goal just before half time saw players walking off, heads down, thoroughly dejected, not one of them gave me the confidence to suggest that the second half was going to be a show of blood and guts to go out ans score another.
On paper this squad looks a decent one, on the pitch the story is very different.
I’m worried about our Villa, desperately so. I’m positive that the problem doesn’t lie within the ability of their feet, but within their heads. They might be full of bravado off the pitch but on the pitch they look like little boys… you can see it in their faces, each one looking to the next to make something happen…
It’s Newcastle next, a team stung for 5 by Man City, but I can see us being able to rub salt in to their wounds, I can’t see us being able to take advantage of the low ebb they’ll be on from that.
Do we have a sports psychologist on the books? They have Chris Bradley, Head of Performance Analysis, who has a MSc but do we have anyone who can get in to the players heads?
I’m going to leave you with a snippet from a blog I read.
The difference in body language between the spurs and villa players at Villa’s at this game was staggering. When the teams came out of the tunnel it was surprising to see how many Villa players came out swigging from drink bottles (five) nervously and their look of discomfort. It could be that they were thirsty of course . However, it looked to me like a nervous gesture which is commonly used by people when they feel self conscious. It is termed as ”avoidance behaviour” in psychology. Certain gestures will be picked up subconsciously by opponents and at that point the Spurs players may have been getting their first smell of blood. The villa players did not look energised or in the “arousal state” that sportsmen strive to be in and should be achieving at the start of the game. This is so important.
Most professional sportsmen will develop a pre-match routine or ritual. This helps by introducing the security of familiarity on match/competition days and is the forerunner to getting into the ‘arousal state’.
In marked contrast the Spurs players strode out like champions. They were jumping up and down, exuding confidence like thoroughbreds at a race track. This is not only the best state to get in for them personally but it also intimidates the opposition. How would you feel if you turned up for an interview and there were 11 outwardly super confident and accomplished Amazonian candidates for the job. Only the very mentally strong would not have a sinking feeling. It is the same in sports. Seasoned professionals will be able to ignore this. Olympic gold medallist John Regis never watched other athletes warm up for this reason. English players have admitted that when they lined up in the tunnel they suffered intense anxiety, “will they get booed for making a mistake” “what will they be rated in the papers” etc etc.
In the seconds before kick off , Defoe, Adabeyor and Lennon are again jumping up and down like boxers about to start the next round of a fight. Their facial expressions and body language emanating self belief and superiority. In the group huddle before the game you can see Adebeyor psyching the team up. From the villa group you can see a worried looking Brad Guzan issuing some last minute instructions. Spurs used it as a show of strength, unity and inspiration whereas Aston Villa just seemed to be going through the motions.
So just how important or relevant are these observations and how much will an athlete’s pre game/match state of mind affect his performance? The answer is massively and they will not fulfil their potential if they do not get into the right mental state. The mental side of preparation is as important as the physical and in ‘modern day football’ there is more pressure than ever before coming from the media, publicity, relationship with supporters and of course financial. That is why clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City are turning to mind and performance coaches and why sports psychology now plays such an important role.
The Author
Graham O'Gara
Follow me on @WorldClassAV A Football and Villa addict, opinionated and argumentative, I say what i see and you may or may not agree. I currently hold a FA Level 2 coaching badge, but have held the Uefa B License. I look forward to sharing some opinions and banter with you all....Comments 153
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Very good points made that had me thinking, how many medals have been won by the players currently at VP ? very few i would say, all about winners and losers.
Does anyone know why Agbonlahor was laughing at the end of Saturdays game ?
This situation is similar to when Vic Crowe replaced Tommy Doc when it looked like all was lost. Crowe, unfortunately ran out of games despite a valiant effort, but at least he had a few battlers like Rioch, George The Pig, Lochead, Tiler etc, players who never hid.
All very true, we are weak minded, soft and have no balls.
TS should of started the game against stoke with the 11 which saw off lester but cant blame him too much for chaging things.
Plus its par the course having a novice manager, going to have mistakes/strange decisions.
gabby was laughing because he was thinking oh well thats another 50k in the bank for doing nowt.mind blowing,,put him on the bench ,.think helenius could still do a job for us given a chance.
G.O G
l said saturday the problems deep rooted at VP and l think we will run out of games , steamer as you put it Crowe had some battlers who were prepared to try and win , these lot are just happy at picking up their wages , and as l was saying to Mick O,D saturday l dont enjoy the premiership anymore and dont even watch MOTD , l find the lower leagues better entertainment , l watch the league show sunday mornings , and to watch some of the teams who get about 9/10,000 gates really support their team and the little kids who still follow THEIR home team , to be honest the prem is all about the top6 , listen to any commentator especially in the cup and if the underdog is doing better , you can hear them willing the top team to score , l cant see a win saturday , l have to agree with Andrews sentiments again ,
anyway l got to polish my Bass up , steamer that video you sent 4 chords !!! fucking 4 chords , how long have you had that ornament ???? the only chords you got are them 10 button ones in your wardrobe ,
Good morning all. Great article Graham – and spot on.
I was reading the article and I thought “OMG I recognise those words as the extract you quote is taken from my article written under the heading “The Curse of the Contest” and it was written after the Spurs game and following our 8-0 defeat to Chelsea. From memory I think we had lost to Wigan 3-0 as well. I wrote it for the Villa fan site (no longer exists ) Proud to be a Villan and I know that A Villa Fan reproduced it also. I would be interested to know where you got it from as it was written some time ago – I didn’t think it was still out there 🙂
Your article demonstrates perfectly that we haven’t progressed and that the same problem exists now as it did 3 years ago as that extract could have been reporting on the Stoke game following their goal.
The heads down abject deflation following a goal has been a big problem for us for years. Our preference to playing big teams is also testament to the “don’t want to make fools of ourselves ” thinking permeating the team as is our appalling home form.
When I looked on the AV personnel when I wrote the article, there was no sports psychologist mentioned.
In the article I mention the pre match warm up and rituals – so important for the players and for sending out signals to the opposition. We continue to look defeated before we begin – with the ineffective group huddle – going through the motions.
I hoped that RK would put some fire in them, that his fearless winning mentality might rub off on some of them. But it had the opposite effect sadly.
Tim Sherwood has said “I am going to build their confidence and get the self belief back” – we all know what the problem is – but do they know how to do solve this. Of course , the best way to get confidence back is simply to win games and the strikers to score goals. When this is not happening you have to dig deeper and that is where the sports psychologists come in. It works with some better than others.
Tim Sherwood was amazingly confident going into Saturday’s game – I really think he had no doubts that we would get the three points. However, following the game, his body language and press interview showed that he had had a huge, painful and unexpected knock back. I hope that he has got his outwardly confident exuberance back as this is the last thing the players want to see. It was good to see how deeply disappointed he was as that shows he really cares and – he is clearly a man who wears his heart on his sleeve – but this needs to be expressed wisely IMO.
If Matt is short of articles – I have stilll got the article the extract is from – it is interesting to see how little progress we have made – I can either post it here or I can send it you Matt. Sorry if I am stealing your thunder Graham – it’s not meant that way !!
from the last post , here’s a little tale
as you know in the 70s Kung Fu took over and everywhere you walked kids were trying to copy it loads ending up in casualty ,
well lt was a saturday game and we met up in the old Joe lyons caff in new street , me steamer boots JB miffy(percy) carless, jolly roger , thommo and rosco . well off we went on the train , now l think it was barnesley and on getting there early we went for a walk around and came upon about 20 of their lot and no joke they all took a Kung-Fu stance , l remember looking at boots and saying “fucking hell whats this” and all l remember was this lad getting it in the nuts and all followed through with the same and them doing a hasty retreat and all of a sudden it went deathly quite followed by boots howling with laughter asking what the fuck was that all about , Happy Days
Good points St75 and Steamer – it comes back to the fact we have no leaders on the pitch. When Clive Woodward was coaching the england rugby team he nominated leaders for different sections of the pitch – so he had a defensive – mid and attacking leader. This worked and kept the team knitted tightly together. I don’t see why you can’t do the same with a football team. Another thing he brought in was they changed into clean rugby shirts at half time . He was laughed at by the players at first – but the connection with putting on a clean shirt – starting a fresh – anchoring feelings of “raring to go” was eventually accepted and they all said it did make them feel better. Pavlovs dogs and all that – connecting feelings to cues.
🙂 I take it you mean the blouse for “their lot”
Don’t worry – the toons are as confidence shot as we are – and their fans will be on their backs if we score first .
When we gone down id take it on the chin for the following conditions.
Clean sweep of the team.
Round badge back
A decent new owner
A mate said id hate it if we go down….then i thought can it be possibly worse than going through months and years of struggling to score, not winning games and being in relegation fight!
At the end of the day im happy when villa win, if thats in the championship so be it, because this is crap
Just lifted this off another blog, mentioned this bloke before –
I’m angry that Lambert was such a truly God-awful, dreadful, dreadful, “manager”. I’m angry he wasted all our time. I don’t hold with this “lack of money” – the man was a depress-fest of unintelligible drivel and a self-deluded miserable, sterile drone. Can you imagine being inspired by him? No? Nor me, nor anyone by the looks of it.
Hello Jen,
I don’t know about putting your article on here, Villa Park should be its destination, someone may read it to Agbonlahor but you’d have to put a fewpictures on to get his interest.
Andrew,
How many of the current players would you like to be at VP next season ? or indeedy, how many deserve to stay ?
Lerners finished, no matter what he does he can’t redeem himself.
A Claret and Blue kit as well. Do you remember when Herbert got a job lot of pink paint and desecrated VP with it ?
Desecrated and decorated.
Hello Steamer
I did and it fell on deaf ears . Not surprising when you think that Lambert’s idea of motivating ppl was to make grown men and international players put on “the worst trainers yellow bib ” after training sessions . (Reported by Neil Moxley) the dunce’s cap was abandoned in schools in the fifties wasn’t it ? They reap what they sew and all that .
Steamer
Out for starters,
Vlaar
Cissokho
Cleverly
Gabby
Weimann
Nzog
cole
Id say to tekkers, delph and co you got us in this mess now get us out.
It could be a master stroke by lamabert, sending gardner and bennett out on loan, ready to give us championship experience.
How is garner doing?
Kozac will take the championship by storm i reckon. Top scorer.
Have we been sold — apperently this guys is always on the money
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gossip-aston-villa-sold-secret-8708220?ICID=FB-Birm-avfc
nice article Graham
does psychology matter in sports? I give you Mario Barotelli
enough said.
Our last set of leaders were carew, dunne and petrov. since then we had to draft Robbie keane in to save us before Lambert arrived. This season sendeross had shown how its done. Vlaar isn’t a leader for me, determined but very much a lead by example type but not vocal.
I’ve been beating the no leaders on the pitch drum so long I could join steamers band. Frankly as much as I know what’s happening to them is very real I can’t help but feel pissed off with the whole namby pamby lot of them. Take some personal responsibility!!!!!! stop looking to everyone else!!! if villa don’t have a sports psychologist go and find one!!!! your millionaires FFS!!!!!!
andrew
http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/02/24/aston-villa-owned-gary-gardner-on-playing-as-a-defensive-midfiel/?
We’re over-reacting…!
Yes, GOG, a good article and if we had already played 3 matches under Sherwood and the same situation occurred I would totally agree with you and I would immediately write an epitaph on the Villa!
But he’s only had ONE game in charge. YES he does have a massive task to get them sorted and IT IS a moot point whether he can prevent relegation.
But let’s PLEASE wait a bit longer before we consign Villa to the dustbin.. After all, the match should have finished a draw and would have but for a rush of blood to Vlaar’s head – of all people – and we would not be in the bottom 3 if we’d gained that point.
Mr. Mainwaring needs to keep a bit more calm … please. 😉
GOG good write up – some food for thought there
Personally i still think we have a decent squad and the reason we are in this mess is down to poor guidence — this is something that will be difficult for anyone to change quickly and reckon SAF would have trouble getting our lads going
It didnt help that the manager was always saying we were great and we will be fine as he was clearly wrong on both counts
there is a massive rutt we need to dig ourselves out of but i think we will do it , just —- this is because i believe leicester , hull , barnsley Qpr and slumberland are really poor sides to but have had better coaching until now
Andrew,
I like your to-do list but the “round badge” also needs to accommodate a lion that looks like one.
In fact maybe that Lerner-Lion is the root cause of our problem… It looks insipid and hardly a motivation to the players to behave like lions!
Jenny,
I’ve said it before that your contribution would surely have a deep impact on the players’ thinking.
Why not try re-submitting your article to TS and see what gives?
cheers mark….sounds positive.
Glad he is getting constant game time.
That’s very kind of you John . Nothing ventured and all that so I will 🙂
Interestingly , Tim Sherwood was captain at Blackburn and they were (I don’t know if still are ) ahead of many other clubs on the sports psychology front – employing sports psychologists twenty years ago . Another fact that may surprise is that Sam Allerdyce was also a champion and user of the most up to date sports scientific methods long before other managers.
So TS is a positive change in this respect . I remember Fox saying we were getting more up to date sports science personnel before Lambert was sacked – was TS already making contributions then ?
For me, Graham Taylor’s remarks last week (and which I put up on AVL) sum up the situation at VP. He said (to the effect) that “Villa are run by nice people who have no real understanding of football” and “I don’t know who sits on the board or how it is run.”.
In fact, I don’t quite believe they are such “nice people” but behave in a certain “nice” and sociable way on the surface to cause people to accept them. It was only much later (well after raising our eyebrows at Lerner’s Lion) that we came to see the truth.
The direction a sports club goes in relies very much on it leadership. If that post is wrongly filled then all hell can be let loose. In Lerner’s case he’s appointed Tom Fox to run the show for him but even Fox is not really a football man (and he’s American) – but he might have more ‘savvy’ about him.
Anyhow, Fox has recruited TS and if this had been an appointment some months ago I’d bet that TS would have got the team ship-shape by now, but we know that this appointment could well have come too late.
As Steamer has said … we have to now give TS and the team our best support.
jen it doesn’t surprise me I think he would of been a better England manager than the Roy. has always got the best whatever the situe although called long ball etc which when you watch wt spam he’s clearly not, he’s a thinker.
JL- we all know its early days but they don’t really inspire anything else, even TS looked shell shocked. Stoke created better chances and looked the better side second half and this was a depleted team. meanwhile the other weak teams are getting points from seemingly hopeless positions matches which we are banking on them to lose. Benteke makes my blood boil to watch at the moment whereas stokes man won them the match and busted a gut all match
jen fox has been updating backroom staff since appointment
this seems the plan regardless who’s manager
http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/24/who-is-the-wonderkid-teenage-striker-din-sula-lined-up-for-aston-villa-transfer-5076782/?
anyone else read this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/11409797/Paul-Lambert-twice-told-Aston-Villa-chairman-Randy-Lerner-to-sack-him.html
Mark,
Yes – but I think TS was more shell-shocked that *skipper* Vlaar should have committed what he did at the very end of the match.
The match itself was not worth much but it was heading for a draw and one point is better than zilch.
However, I think TS’s attitude now will be to say “Now look ‘ere lads, that Stoke match really ended in a draw. We need to think that we gained a point and should have beaten them if we’d had more spunk in our play! Now get out there and show those Geordies (er, the mercenary ones) what you’re made of!!”
The point is, Mark (and we need to get our heads around this instead of just complaining), we are only ONE match into TS’s tenure, and a point was lost because of Vlaar’s antics. We now have four League games that give us the opportunity to turn around the team’s attitude.
TS will urge them to get out there and play as though they play for one of the country’s greatest clubs. If they don’t then they won’t have a future at VP.
Play up, Villa!
Mark,
That thing about Lambert “telling” Lerner to sack him was going the rounds last week.
Of course, Lerner didn’t want to sack him so early that he would lose £10m. Only when Villa dropped into the bottom-3 did they press the eject button by the looks of it.
It just shows that Lerner’s view is to simply look after his cash in the short-term and say “****” to football logic.
We can’t move on until learner has gone. Whether we are in the prem or relegated he needs to go.
I am in a zen like place. I have accepted relegation and am ready for the championship, and fairly looking forward to it….hopeing we can win most of the games and challenge near the top.
I can fully get behind ts even though he is a novice at management….he is one of those types of chaps, i think he will do ok.
It’s a relief to feel like this and not be worrying about up coming games.
JL the article also mentioned he offered to go in the summer pre contract.
now, as for complaining! I’ve bigged this bunch up for a long time only to discover they don’t have a sack between them to put a single nut in if they found one.
By the way how did delph stay on the pitch after his first half? he’s supposed to be the midfield runner he looked like a schoolboy next to nzonzie. I say this because TS was going for the win when it was quite plain the half time team talk had done sod all, they were worse. shouldn’t cleverly of came on to secure the points at least? this is one worrying aspect of his viewpoint when a point was a minimum ask.
re the MMA chat last night check out some basic wing chun blocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv8jmVtZGOg
Andrew,
Read a bit of negativity about GG when he was at Brighton but none from when he joined Forest, i think he’s got another year on his contract and KMac will know about his capabilities so hopefully …….
Mark,
This has to be the biggest pile of tripe ever, they DO actually think we’re idiots.
Fox stated: “Randy Lerner just wants to come here as a fan and enjoy the experience and know that the club is generating pride for the people to whom it matters.
Mark: the article also mentioned he offered to go in the summer pre contract
Does that make a difference? There would still have been compensation to pay and I suspect also that Lerner at that time just didn’t want to let go of PL on principle as he had already lost a couple of dozen managers since he arrived in 2006.
His disappointment was reflected in his statement issued by the League Managers’ Association, which pointedly did not mention Fox, and it is believed Lambert felt he deserved more respect for the job he had done under difficult circumstances.
Repect for what exactly ?
“It was our hope, and belief, that Aston Villa would find its footing and strengthen during Paul’s tenure with the club.
“Adding players and investing in the squad over the last three years has strengthened Villa, and it is our hope that given the quality, leadership and team spirit at Bodymoor Heath that we can rise to the occasion for the remainder of the season.
More evidence that Lerner is crackers.
Jen & Mark,
Agree about Sam, their was something on TV about his methods at Bolton, a real eye opener, he signed some real quality for them, wrongly maligned IMO.
Is that the Phoenix Group that finished Longbridge ?
Steamer: This has to be the biggest pile of tripe ever, they DO actually think we’re idiots. …
Probably written by General Krulak.
It’s exactly the same kind of pseudo-psychology as used by Lambert in his weekly “we were brilliant” diatribe!
Steamer i am no expert on this twitter thingy but one of my colleagues claims that the guy that tweeted the news has been bang on with his in the know tweets thus far
Afternoon lifers, G’OG good article mate, and I’m glad the current crest is taking a pasting, it is a terrible incarnation, and looks like what have become, a cheaper, inferior product. I saw a campaign( I think on Twitter) called avoid the crest, it’s a call not to buy any merchandise or products with the Lerner AVFC crest embossed on it. It says by all means buy retro kits, and merchandise but nothing with the current crappy crest on as a dig at Lerner and hit his pockets.
There is a big geezer that sits a couple of rows in front of me, he is part of the Black Country Villa lot( if you go to away games you can’t fail to see their flag), he has his own merchandise like hats, hoodies etc with the old round crest on, and the Black Country Villa lettering on, it’s quite nice gear( except for the yam yam shit), I’ve seen others knock out some decent stuff if you want to buy Villa related products, rather than buy the macron shitty range. Let’s hope Fox can get us proper shirt manufacturor in the near future., one that makes shirts in claret with a proper crest!!!
The trouble is the new seats in the new dug outs have the badge on it.
Saying that the previous badge to that was not great. Had gold and claret stripes in the badge?
The toffees soon put a stop to there badge change.
The annual budget is on the villa site, cant make head nor tail of it but apparently we are beter off!
Andrew
I agree a change is extremely unlikely due to the amount of livery around the ground, the crest is everywhere it would cost a fortune to change it, he got away with the change as he was seen as a great white hope who would take us to the promised land, building an expensive team of stars, how that quickly changed, it is now the emblem for mediocrity and lack of ambition, I’d love the round crest back and can’t wait until the macron deal is over, the stuff they have made for us terrible, compared to the decent gear they have made for Lazio and Napoli
Better off???
Does it take into account the £100m we will lose per season out of the top flight, we are at best 50/50 to stay up, in all probability we are 40/60 with every game we seem to drift closer to relegation, we simply aren’t winning, drawing enough games, we need 5/6 wins from our last 12, can anyone honestly see us getting those wins??? I don’t blame TS, he came in at least one month too late.
JL the point is Lambert knew it wasn’t working and offered to go previous to the sacking is all. you offered up lerner didn’t want to pay £10 mil as the reason but he didn’t have to pay that in the summer.
a bottom 3 clause would be what 1st 10 games?1st 20? after xmas when he’s already brought players in? sounds like a plausible but very iffy guess. I think an agreement of x amount in the 1st year was more like it. I think Fox saw Lambert was losing the plot, the dressing room and our place in the league. Before that? they were smug enough to think we would stay up I’m guessing.
runtingz- good stuff, Lau Gar kung fu was based more on shaolin techniques and included weapons. our teacher in banbury was a brummie called steve (cant remember his sir name) we had a world heavyweight champ called Alvin Mighty (good name) who bounced locally and a European champ Mark Aston another bouncer (but not a villan), crazy for such a small town.
JL or simply this 😉
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2015/02/24/the-new-epl-television-deal-led-to-aston-villas-sacking-of-paul-lambert/?tid=hpModule_a4df998e-86a7-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394
Mark
I agree, I don’t buy into the bottom 3 clause, and your right they didn’t need to give him a 4 year deal when they did. Basically they realised( far too late) the golden nest egg was going south, before that they were happy to scrape survival, but once it became apparent under Lambert we were plummeting without a whimper they acted. The problem is I think it might be too late, TS needs to work miracles to save us, and we need help from the other sides around us.
A lot of fans have even said they are happy with this as if we go down it will hit Lerner’s pocket, which it will, unfortunately it could destroy AVFC, he would pocket the parachute money, sell off anyone worth anything and off load the club to anyone stupid enough to pay cash for it. The types he could attract are chancers hoping to pocket the TV money once promoted, they won’t be billionaires , they won’t invest in the team either, it will be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. At least if we somehow stay up we are a more saleable asset. Our crowds are dropping at an alarming rate, we don’t need to increase the capacity at VP, but decrease it, I can’t remember the last time we sold out, prob haven’t since the M’ON era.
from the mail
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-still-made-loss-8711554?
I can’t see us making a loss in the next set of accounts ie up to May 2015. £3.9m isn’t much of a loss in premier league football terms, but it shows that the idiots are definitely running the Asylum
Mark,
Of course. But could you stay in such a job if it wasn’t working? He should have just walked, of course.
I haven’t really got anything else to say about the matter except that it just underlines what kind of set up we have had at VP.
B62
My take on it was that they wanted to try to give Lambert a carrot but at the same time wanted to re-define his terms to make it easier to eject him. And I believe a bottom-3 clause was part of that. The statement that Fox gave in January about spinning coins was just a delaying cover for that eventuality.
Mark,
That Washington Post article was not well-written anyway. And are we to take note of USA speculation?
JL It certainly does mate, I think he wanted some compo and had had enough poor bloke must of felt like a klinker on a dogs bum, nobody like to see you there but nobody wanted to get the scissors and cut it off 😉
JL yes I demand it 😉 of course not John but hadn’t seen anything with those figures here yet thought it might be of interest
B62: Our crowds are dropping at an alarming rate…
No, that’s not quite right actually. The last few weeks has seen a slight resurgence to take the league home average to over 33k. Helped by visits of Chelsea and Liverpool of course, but lesser visitors still bring in over 31k.
B62 – we had over 39k for Liverpool visit. Not a sell-out but not that far down on 42k.
B62
my mate has got one of these sewing machines (cost him £9000) and it does some brilliant stuff, only thing is l asked him to put SOTC onto a hoodie for me as it was for a mate , l convinced him it stood for” Sailing On The Canals ” so he done it . it was only when l went to pick it up l told him what it was , he’s a nose as well ,so l’d have to creep to him lol, also l have a Hot foil press, also a hotplate press(T-shirts) a mug press,and a cap press , and a pad printer this can put anything on a walnut and there would be no blemishes , thats how good they are , l did say to steamer l need to get this lot up and running this summer , but that bmachine my mate has would be able to knock the old round badge out in mins , l will have a word with him , in future take some pics of that black country stuff , l got a place that would do me some vinyl stuff to print onto clothing , its just in bloody Yarmouth , l am dropping over easter to see the outlaws so will have a word ,
Runtingz,
Lets hope so,Lerner and his puppets have done so much damage to AVFC.
Did you notice that Lambert said he ASKED Lerner to sack him twice, not OFFERED to resign, didn’t care how much damage he did a long a he got his compo.
I know the sack me twice story has been doing the rounds but for feck sake, sack me and you have to pay me off, walk and I don’t get a penny. Lambert showing his colours in terms of loyalty to his bank manager and his wife who carries his balls in her purse.
He should have walked when he realised he wasn’t getting anything from the players. The players were playing to get him sacked and achieved it albeit they surprisingly weren’t crap enough until after the transfer window was closed.
I hope God is right in his backing of TS, this run in will beat all previous run ins for squeaky bum time. Certain games are there for the taking and if we do better than a couple of teams above us then we can survive and despite writing about relegation before and accepting it’s possibility. I’d surprisingly like to see what TS could do in a full season and transfer windows even if it’s just because his post match interviews wouldn’t be dour jibberish.
UTV
Jen,
If you want to submit an article, please feel free – the more, the merrier!
To be fair, if Lambert wanted to get compensation, unless he’s defined some specific contract explicitly saying otherwise he could probably go the same route as Martin O’Neill and get constructive dismissal. That said, MON had a change in the parameters – Lambert has always had to toil under the same deal so maybe that’s why.
Either you feel you can’t perform under the terms offered or you don’t, so it seems strange as to why he would want to request sacking as the LMA can normally get managers money if they have a case against the relevant chairman…
interesting matt, I don’t know why people think Lambert should be honourable and the players, chairman etc not?
Faced with never getting a high paid prem job again what would you do for your family? walk from that juicy pay off?
go on love you tell that Mr Scrooge to piss off, me and tiny Tim will be fine on 500 calories a week
article on tom fox
http://www.myoldmansaid.com/tom-fox-qa-avst-aston-villa-supporters-discussion/?
Matt: …it seems strange as to why he would want to request sacking as the LMA can normally get managers money if they have a case against the relevant chairman
From what Lambert was continuously saying, his relationship with his chairman was A+, so he could hardly have had a case against him. It’s been alleged that some of the management actions such as the creation of the bomb squad were as a result of Lambert and not the other way round.
No, it must surely be as Mark said, that PL felt he was not able to do a job at Villa, but RL on the other hand thought he could simply keep Villa in the Premier League while the sale process is going on (if it is).
great Qatar world cup nov-dec because of the heat who’d of thought going to be a weird season that year
JL- poor old green party leader had a terrible interview unfortunately on camera
Report on the AVST Q & A with Fox
There were a couple of early slip-ups by Fox – he said “crimson” before correcting himself to claret, and he also referred to Villa being ’14/15th in the league’ (when they were 18th), but more importantly the Villa supporters in attendance were overall very impressed by the Villa CEO’s drive, confidence and how he perceived the club in terms of ambition and status.
Well, those were 2 awful slips i.m.o. – very basic. But he seems to have carried everyone with these statements:
He stated, commercial partnerships shouldn’t be made because we are simply a Premier League club, but because we are Aston Villa. He seemed to indicate the club had under-valued the name in the past and been shy in building ‘Aston Villa’ as a top-level brand in the game.
…
Tom Fox didn’t shirk the issue and pretend to be anything he’s not. He emphasized that football had become a very different business in the past eight years. Stressing that it had already changed at the time Lerner had bought the club, but they hadn’t moved with the times.
The question is … just what was Paul Faulkner doing in those 4+ years of his?
Mark,
Where did you see the Green’s interview? On the BBC News?
… and here’s a beautiful statement from Fox that Jenny will like…
Fox seemed to be most impressed by Sherwood’s immediate interest in the psychology of players. When they first met, Sherwood was asking Fox for a breakdown of the players: who the ring leaders were, who the quiet players were, identifying who he needed to put an arm around, who needed a kick up the butt, who needed encouragement/dressing down in public or private etc.
Fox saw this grasp of player psychology as being essential to Villa’s immediate struggle. Fox said he was always after someone for the long-term as well, and Sherwood fit the bill on the basis of his work with the Spurs youth system.
itv john poor blanked
poor woman blanked 🙂
Thanks, Mark … I’ll look out for that.
JL to be honest its painful she made a few gaffs then froze, she’s saying she’s got a virus/cold felt sorry for her
Mark,
I’ve not been too keen about her really … Much prefer the deputy chairman Shahrar Ali, who I have communicated with. Quite a bright and interesting feller though (without trying to be nasty) still a bit wet behind the ears perhaps.
matt
though i read somewhere lamberts deal was no money for first 2 years get rid of big earners and then randy would release money,and if lambert had walked end of last season he stood a chance of get decent job again the media mates where all behind him praising him they only turned last 3 weeks
That reference to Fox stating: “… He seemed to indicate the club had under-valued the name in the past and been shy in building ‘Aston Villa’ as a top-level brand in the game.”
That was definitely my experience at Villa. When I tried to push Villa as a great name they (particularly Faulkner & his gang) looked at me with almost disinterest.
John,
My understanding on the bomb squad was it was an enforced way of trying to getting players unloaded.
Whoever was responsible, the whole situation is puzzling. If Lambert felt he needed to be sacked, are we suggesting that he just got fed up and wanted out?
If so, can you blame him for wanting compensation? Players can wait their entire contracts out despite not wanting to leave, so I don’t see any difference with the manager. Yes, the manager has more impact given he is picking the team, but Lerner has been playing the game that survival is acceptable, so I can see why he would have been happy to keep him had he not ended up in the bottom three.
I hate to be cynical but unless we see some top level change in strategy, part of me says that the “use the kids and develop the academy” option is just another flavour of “spend as little as you can” but with an increased level of PR…
Re: Lambert,
I think he will get another job – it isn’t like he is a terrible manager as a whole, despite what the table may say at present.
Some managers just don’t work out at certain clubs. You can, for example, be excellent in the lower leagues – Lambert and Nigel Adkins are two that spring to mind – but have issues in the top flight. I was a fervent supporter of Gus Poyet getting a job in the Premier League, but Sunderland fans would probably say otherwise now.
This black and white belief that a manager is awful despite their career clearly stating otherwise away from a particular club is a bit puzzling. Lambert came with a plan that worked initially, but I get the feeling that Villa were going to have issues post-MON anyway as a result of a combination of FFP and the struggles that ensued thereafter.
That, of course, doesn’t mean that the team can’t get better, but it would be ultimately galling if we manage to finally balance the books and then end up sucker-punched into the Championship where it will be exactly the same cycle…
matt- hence the top managers lining up to get in not
Exactamundo Mark.
Any club that employs Lambert deserves everything they get, he’s not only incompetent he has massive integrity issues, i wouldn’t employ him as the bus driver. I have to say that Lambert is easily the worst manager in the history of AVFC and the evidence is obvious.
This club never had a chance, Lerner, Lambert & Faulkner. Heaven above.
For Villa, yes, he’s turned out to be a bad manager over the course of his time here.
At Norwich, he was excellent but clearly the timing/job/situation wasn’t right and we couldn’t kick on.
I just hope we stay up or else we are going to be having a serious case of deja vu…
Gen Krulak was specific in his public statement that PL had been left decent players like Bent , Zog and Hutton – to use , but it was Lambert who wanted to replace them and start the bomb squad . This was said following Lambert’s post dismissal claim that he had had to work on a shoestring .
Matt – I will send you article .
Jen,
To be honest, I’m not sure I’d take what the General says at face value – his allegiance is clearly to Lerner so he’s not going to come out and paint his own friend in a negative light.
Whatever is the case, it is far from straight forward and it was not an easy job coming into Villa at the time.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that we can stay up or, as I said earlier, it will be a similar cycle if the club can’t bounce straight back.
any thoughts on the winter world cup i think we should pull out as the bid was for the summer how bent is blatter
When they first met, Sherwood was asking Fox for a breakdown of the players
With all due respect, I wonder what answers Sherwood got from that? If he asked a man who thought we wore Crimson and were 14th in the league when we were actually 4 places bellow that, then I wonder how he could remember 25 different players and there personality.
I’m probably over thinking it, but that is shocking that our CEO though we were 14th/15th. There and 18th makes a huge difference. It’s not a small matter is it.
Oh and the World Cup in November is crap. Will feck up the prem schedule for years. I guess if that’s if they cancel the prem whilst the World Cup is going on
A lot of peculiar things happening regarding Villa, Lerner turns up with strangers at BH after that weeks fixture had been played, the promising financial results come through today which coincide with stories about a takeover. Lerner seem to be ever so slightly more hands on recently, i said weeks ago i thought we may be sold and in my opinion we are close. ( if we stay up ).
Matt,
Agreed with you that Lambert could turn out to be a good manager elsewhere. Maybe with the Culverhouse mob he was able to at Norwich and may succeed at another championship club.
But he was not tuned into Villa. Of course he had to take his m.o. cues from Lerner, who (as infrerred by Fox) also hasn’t been properly tuned into Villa.
As to Krulak (and Jenny’s reminder of what he said about Lambert’s actions), I’m inclined to accept something of his statement as being true. It may not be 100% kosher, of course, but it may well be close to it as illustrated by the way Bent has been treated. How was it that Hutton was rehabilitated and found to be more like the full-back we always needed!
But, Matt, you said that Lambert was successful early on. When was that exactly?! 😉 I can recall that in early 2012-13 he was in trouble in getting his methods working, then Vlaar got injured and we went through those three games conceding 15 (8 vs Chelsea) and none scored. In the latter half of the season, Benteke got his mojo working and that is what primarily saved us. Since then, apart from a glimmer at start of 2013-14, it’s been mostly downhill.
The Lambert (and Lerner) era has been *the* saddest in Villa’s history.
A lot of take over talk in the papers this morning
Why would someone want yo buy a team who are going down? And to be honest, I don’t know if I want an owner who would be willing to buy a potentially relegated club. They couldn’t have to much ambition could they ?
Mark,
On the matter of the Green Party charlady (sorry, chairlady! 😉 It seems that he she had a genuine mental freeze-up having been ill. Very sad that it occurred and a bit damaging for them, but it’s early enough for them to recover from it.
Newsnight covered that matter in some detail with Baroness Jones (Green Party) and I think they’ve been able to skate over the issue fairly well.
JD,
The Qatar WC is an absolute farce isn’t it? Never mind, this world will have much more to be concerned about before we get that far…
I haven’t watched a single second of the last three WC’s, international football is worse than watching cricket or snooker, i’d cancel the entire farce.
Almost 90% of the BM survey said Aggy was a waste of space.
RE the rumoured take over. I’m fairly optimistic because –
1 – Delph seemed overly excited about our future when he signed his contract.
2 – Despite what Fox says its obvious that Lerner doesn’t give a monkeys.
3 – He’s dropped the asking price by 50m.
4 – Came over last week, but not to watch a game, and was seen watchng the players train while with strangers.
5 – The change in tack regarding Lambert.
6 – Apparently the source has a very good record of being correct.
7- The announcement and timing of it of improved financial figures.
8 – The TV deal makes us a good buy if we stay up.
Its a big ass If Steamer.
One thing that must happen on Sat is Bacuna must start on the wing and Gil behind Benteke. Hes not a winger. Gabby and WIEMANN aren’t footballers so no need for them.
4231 please Sherwood
Can’t wait for the game. Just dreading the drive home, especally if we move down to 20th.
The next 3 games are everything. w=2 wins in the cup and a trip to Wembley please Villa
Go along with Steamer regarding WC, never watch the sham and lets be honest if you are English out team never takes part anyway, England players will exit early as usual and will have a lovely winter break in Dubai.
I still cannot get this image out of my head of ST75 knitting us all cardigans with AVL scrawled over the back.
IN SHERWOOD WE RUST.
The trouble with a takeover is that we are down, relegated, finished.
New owners must accept this and plan for it.
As soon as learner is gone the better so hope it happens asap.
Wonder what Gabbys goal to game ratio is over the last 5 seasons ? Must be 1 goal or assist every 10 games or something. For a forward who’s played a lot of games over the last 5 years, he must have some of the worst stats in world football
Frem
Its just like our Midfield, delph, westwood, weimann, gabby, cleverly have 1 assist between them in a year…it is just staggering.
Our midfield has been a problem since milner and barry left and this bunch is the worst i have ever seen in my life.
They cant score goals, assist or protect the defence. They are all too small and weak to impose themselves on a game and just get battered.
And to have only one proper striker in benteke is just staggering. It’s common knowlege to do anything you need at least 4 good strikers.
Frem,
As I said the other day Gabby has very recently provided the great Benteke with two very good chances that a year or two ago he would have snapped up. Gabby can’t qualify for assists if the received doesn’t put ’em away! 😉
Much prefer to see Gabby than Benteke in as striker in Benteke’s current mood…
On Gabby’s last 2 years stats…
2013-14 Starts: 30, Sub: 1, Goals: 4, Assists:? but at least 3 or 4.
2012-13 Starts: 28, Sub: 5, Goals: 12
So where’s this goal/assist every 10 games?
Tekkers is a class act but it’s impossible to rely on him all the time. Especially after a big injury.
His deep in form just highlights we have no one else.
John- Just look at the 2013-2014 stats. 30 games 4 goals. Thats an insult to football players in lower leagues who could have better for us for a quater of the wage hes on. what is it, 60 grand a week at least?
12 goals in 12/13 season.I’ll have to look at that.
his best record is 15 goals in a season. 14 the one before. he had Barry, Milner, Young, downing and carew all supplying him in those two seasons.
No way should he be starting ahead of Benteke. Bacuna, Grealish, Robbinson etc should all be starting ahead of him. Whats he done this season?
The identified new owners are UK based and may account for Lerner’s presence in BMH, unfortunately if it is Phoenix (and I promise if you will, no puns about Villa rising from the ashes) then we are going to part of an asset portfolio where the emphasis is a return on investment for it’s shareholders.
I’m fearful that we will continue to be run by people with no interest in football and achieving in it, sure there will be platitudes to the same but you can guarantee that the priority will be the financial mgmt of the AVFC business.
It could be argued a single person who showed no ambition for the club in the last 4 years then what would the problem be if we were owned by a commerical entity but regardless of our experience with Lerner, I much prefer the model of immensely rich individual with private revenue generating concerns that precludes having to worry about AVFC being a drain on their resources, Lerner didn’t fall into this category as his money was made by his father.
I welcome the comments from Tom Fox about brand Aston Villa but it is 43/4 years too late as we are one of the forgotten winners of the European Cup when everyone knew/knows about Man U and 68, but if times were different and the focus wasn’t that commerical, then what happened more recently in the 90s when we were consistently in Europe. To try now and sell brand Aston Villa, it can only be based on history and what twenty something in Singapore is going to have a connection with any of that because the current ‘product’ is far from saleable.
I want Villa to succeed, I want Villa to be more than a particpant in the league but the soul has been ripped out of the club I love and the game I follow. WC’s in winter just because it’s Qatar, everyone bending over backwards for Sky money and TV scheduling. I can’t change my team and it would be false of me to go and watch Bray Wanderers on a Friday night but I’ve become more and more apathetic to relegation and the serious consequences to my team.
Come on TS, drop the deadwood, get some life into the team and play for the fans, for professional pride and our premier league status
UTV
http://www.sportinastorm.com/Premier-League/Aston-Villa/Villa-nab-City-scout-for-Balkan-area/X1Y2Z1894931
New scout at least things are changing.
AVFC
Frem,
I was simply responding to the claim that Gabby only provided 1 goal/assist in 10.
Clearly that’s far from the case, though I agree his record has not been very good the last couple of seasons (*since 2013*).
Darren,
Funny you should talk about Singapore 20-somethings…
http://www.thevillatimes.com/index.php/other-services/design-print/81-lions-news/140-jason-quek
They found one! 😉
Darren,
In all seriousness I share your overall concerns. Football is now a pretty sorry outlet i.m.o. and it makes you wonder where it will be in 2050 if it’s in this state now.
But I’m more concerned about world issues and the future for all.
Frem, John, Gabby’s Premier League record:
49 league goals in his first 4 seasons for us (under MON).
24 league goals in 4 seasons and 26 games since – decent return for a centre half but for a striker?
Much prefer a qatari consortium to take over.
we dont need stats. We have eyes.
Gabbys shite.
As much as we want learner out (need learner out) we must realise anyone wanting to take over is only in it for £££.
The chances of us finding the perfect owners are non existent.
Anyone who cares/shows interest in us/attends games will do.
Gabby had a much better record under MON since:
a) He was young and hungry
b) He had better players around him assisting (Young, Barry, Milner, Petrov etc)
c) He played up front in a partnership with Carew
All those things are not true now. I remember the Young/Gabby linkup being lethal on the counters. Gabby would run the channels for days. Now he doesnt do that.
Also recall him being on fire for 1/3 of a season under Mcleish, that probably was backlash from the end of the Houllier era when he didnt play. That soon dried up and then he’s been largely anonymous since. He has had good periods of a few good games here and there but nowhere near consistent. Course it doesnt help being out of position but the reality was we only had 1 spot for 1 striker, and he wasnt the best for that position.
I think a large part of his decline is that he is just too comfortable, he’s part of the furniture and just aint hungry anymore. Sad to see because his pace, power and finishing (yeh he does have good finishing, look back at some of his goals) he could be a much better player.
Imo its time the club and Gabby parted company, would be best for all concerned.
hi all
it seems the preston fans are pinching themselves at the fact they have daniel johnson for a mere 50k and by all accounts he isnt just scoring midfield goals but is generally running games and they have shot up to 2nd – thanks lambert
re gabby as i stated before he will never score a lot of goals in a million years but if you want to get the best out of him put him wide right/left and ping the ball for him to run onto – whatever we think of him he will cause havoc for defences when used in that way
steamer agree we what the qatar lot as they seem very much like the citeh lot doug told to sling there hook and usa has been less than kind to our club
Ree: He has had good periods of a few good games here and there but nowhere near consistent.
Since MON he’s also been out a fair amount with injuries – and that can affect a player’s performance.
I will say again, I was a bit encouraged by his first game under TS, but whether he will return to even those stats under MON is highly debateable. Unless he becomes rejuvenated as a playmaker (and I believe he can do that under the right manager) he’s not likely to remain a first-team choice in the Premiership, I agree.
Re the sale of the club, whoever it is that takes over will have to do it in a sustainable way, FFp has seen to that. No more spending vast amounts of money as Chelski and City have done before. But right now we are pretty much at break even after years of heavy losses, which means that we can finally afford to spend a little. No more crap talk about how we cant compete with Stoke financially. Im all for sustainability, I dont believe you should outspend your means, but our means should be a lot more than what it has been the last few years. And I dont buy the crap that Lambert was given a lot of money compared to previous managers, you can only judge him relative to his peers at the time. And in that time Stoke and West Borm were outspending the Villa.
Ree,
Looking at Gabby he’s solved the hunger issue.
Andrew: The chances of us finding the perfect owners are non existent.
Too true. And I get the impression that most of Lerner’s talks are with USA potential, which I’m not keen about in principle. But which non-UK owner would be totally acceptable, I wonder.
It ‘s funny that we hear about all these UK tax evaders – surely they must have some pocket money to throw in Villa’s direction? 😉
Hey John, you good?
He has had a lot of niggly little injuries but I dont really remember anything too serious? Granted it can affect performances, its the same for any footballer. I still think the major think lacking in his game is his hunger. He has lost that edge, as has Benteke lately. Benteke is a far superior player tho.
I think we have different view on the game, I saw a player that went hiding too much, did not make enough runs and did not contribute as much as he should. Im struggling to think of anything good he did all match besides win a free kick or two. He needs to get back to running the channels, getting in behind and getting onto flick ons from the big man. Personally I would rather start Weimann up front with Benteke, and have Gabby come on for the final 25, Weimann physically tires each match at that point and so do opposition defenders, Im sure they would hate to see Gabby coming on with that pace.
Daniel Johnson – 50,000, Just what are Lamberts assets as a manager ? definitely not player recognition.
I think its fairly easy to get round FFP, stadium renaming, same with training ground could bring in a few hundred million.
Jokes Steamer,
When I say hungry I dont mean it in a Snickers ‘get some nuts’ way. He needs to lay off the chocolate and get on that explosive sprint training.
Runtz,
Preston currently fourth but are on a very good run aided by Johnson and Robinson, Grayson doing a decent job oop north and certainly can spot a youngster that might benefit his team unlike Lambert, I know league one and the premier are miles apart but lets be fair we have never seen any of these kids given a chance.
AVFC
Yes, i’d have Weimann over Gabby anytime.
Even at school the managers told the second striker to operate off the bigger striker, you haven’t seen this at VP for a few years, the Withe/Shaw, Gray/Little, Atkinson/Saunders combinations, perhaps we should employ teachers as opposed to Scottish idiots.
Yeh there are ways around FFP, personally I wouldnt like Villa Park being renamed but I wouldnt have any issue with any of the stands (apart from the Holte).
Ree,
Thanks – I’m as fine as any Villa supporter, I guess! 😉
Injuries have not been huge it would seem except I think in 2010-11 was it, or 2011-12 – when he was out for a few weeks I seem to recall.
As to his hunger, I understand where you sit on this one, but I saw it come back a bit last week under TS. Obviously others didn’t, so maybe I was seeing a mirage! 😉
But we’ve all seen how he sometimes chases over to retrieve a situation from time to time. That’s not *attacking* hunger we’re talking about, but it does indicate some concern for his team. I’m wondering if the various managers we’ve had these last few years have been trying to make a part-time full-back out of him. If that’s the case, it’s really not his fault.
But when Gabby played up front in Tekkers’ absence a few weeks ago he looked a lot more lively than CB. He was just too isolated though.
Tekers – when he’s on song – is clearly a far better player than Gabby, but he’s not on song and looks a shadow of what we saw 2 years ago.
John,
A few weeks ago PP mentioned that at one of the games someone (ex player ?) told him that Herbert had rebuffed the mob who own Man City, we all wondered at the time why they chose City rather than possibly Villa, now they’d have been ok, good old Herby, total waste of space.
I remember watching Daniel Johnson in a couple games alongside Gary Gardner and he looked a decent prospect. Shame he didnt make it / wasnt given a chance. Im hoping GG can resurrect his career but honestly I think his injuries have taken their toil and its close to his last opportunity with Villa.
Ree – interesting comments
on FFP it’s a bit of a farce – Chelski have over spent in the past but like real madrid and barca they have some of the most expensive players in the world so they can sell squad players for huge sums which then generates the cash for them to buy big name replacements and stay within the ruling — very few other clubs are in this position
Citeh are trying to reach this same level but due to the new rules they will have to be broken to allow themselves to be in the same position as your chelski’s munich’s ect
while in principal fair play is a good idea if you don’t break the rules as an up and coming club that is trying to become one of the elite you will be so resistricted that it will be impossible to be on the same level as the clubs already there
so in citeh’s case it is worth all the fine’s point deducted ect of risk of in the long term if they are really seeking to become a new elite member — in my view of it all anyway
Steamer, if thats true then good ol Herb needs a slap. Imagine Yaya Toure, Silva and Aguero at Villa Park…..
John, the dilemma is how does Sherwood play it? Does he drop Benteke for being off form or does he back him to rediscover his form and keep him in there? I prefer the second option because I think its better for us in the long run. He is only a goal or so away from catching fire. But he needs better service from his team mates. Crosses that actually give him a chance, balls into him that he has the ability to turn into a goal scoring opportunity. You could make the same case for Gabby but again I dont think Gabby is the player you want to hang your hat on if you had a choice to make. Leaving him out for a game or two is more likely to get him fired up rather than Benteke.
Wassup Runtings,
I see what you’re getting at, break the rules in order to get to a good situation then deal with it however you can. Part of me wonders when this football money train is gonna run out of cash and explode and what will be the consequences when it does. I mean it cant go on forever right? But it has lasted a long time and does not look like stopping anytime soon. I cant remember exactly where we finished in the football money list but I think it was top 25, along with half the premiership. With the new deal pretty much all the premiership clubs will be top 25. So you have more money/turnover, but also a lot more expenses. Wages will probably rise again, probably more % wise than the new deal as clubs fight for the best players to stay afloat. Average English players will be sold for 20m. So the fans wont see better value, in fact the cost to the fans will probably increase. Money wise the game has gone crazy. We’re all scared of the drop because of financial implications.
Part of me even thinks that it may even be better for us to go down. Even with the parachute payments we would lose something like £50m. We’d have to sell all our best players then try to get promoted from a tough Championship league. That wont be easy, theres a lot of big(ish) teams down there (not as big as the Villa!) and a lot of investors are throwing money at the Championship in order to get to that holy grail of the premiership. The club would be massively devalued and we would have to start again. The only good thing about that scenario is we might have a serious shot at having some sort of fan ownership in place. Hell I wouldnt even mind dropping into League 1 if it meant we could own our own club!
But then the rest of me is proud possibly vain, as is our club. One of the founding members, introduced the league format, European Champions, whole lot of trophies (a couple even in my lifetime!), 1 of 7 never relegated members of the PL. We do have a proud history and relegation would be tough to take.
Ree,
Agreed about Tekkers, but don’t altogether agree about Gabby with the possible exception of Sinclair being picked over Gabby. I think Sinclair has it in him to do more than Gabby and having both on is maybe even a liability.
However, I can’t see Gabby being dropped and wouldn’t be surprised if he produces a stormer at Newcastle.
The situation reminds me of a situation more than 50 years ago when The Argus interviewed a fan who had something major to say about Villa – that they couldn’t score: “second division attack” he said of Villa’s forward line. The beauty was that the day that interview was printed, Villa had earlier won 5-4 at Arsenal followed by 3 more in the next match and 2 weeks later scored 13 goals in two games over Easter!
In other words, I’m saying “Hang fast Mr. Mainwaring, the 7th Cavalry is coming!” 😉
Thank for that Ree, that really improved my mood.
Will anyone buy our best players ?
Ree,
One game in under TS and the “R” word is being bandied about with some certainty?
Oh ye of little faith! 😉
It might well go the wire but Tekkers will score an 89th minute winner against Burnley to keep us up.
Mind you, a fans’ ownership of the club would be good … maybe I might re-consider what I’ve said!!
John
I am 100% ready to go down/believe we are down. And im calm about it.
I like the fact that TS is a hands on manager and is on the training ground. In time we should see a better style of play.
For years we have just been counter attacking and defending for our lifes.
Pool fan at work says pool under brodgers, a hands on coach, have only lost 3 times after jan. It takes a while for his methods to get across but given time it works.
Hope ts is of the same ilk!
Steamer, there would def be takers for Benteke and Delph. Besides that we would have to let go of the higher earners for a pittance, ie Hutton, Nzog, Given. Vlaar would go, Weimann would want out, maybe Sissoko/Gil? Leaves us with a bare bones squad looking to compete.
John, I like the idea of a 4312 with Gil behind Sinclair and Benteke. The formation would have to be fluid and overlapping full backs to provide width, but everyone barring Benteke would have to come back on defence.
Dont know if you or anybody else saw the City Barca match yesterday, but it was great to see Barca back to somewhere near their best under Guardiola, and the reason for that was they pressed on the front foot and as a team like they used to. They have always had great players esp Messi which meant they could get away with not doing it, but at their best they press quickly and intelligently causing the ball to be turned over do they could get on the attack or keep possession. Wish Villa could do that, but they have neither the intelligence or organisational skills to be able to do that.
FWIW I dont think we will go down, but it will be very tight. We absolutely have to get something out of the Geordies. I think we need bare minumum 5 points from Newcastle, West Brom and Sunderland to give ourselves a decent chance. Less than 3 points and its close to needing miracles.
I mean were in the bottom 3 thanks to -5 GD from QPR, 3 points from Sunderland in 16th, and 6 from Everton in 12th. If we beat the Geordies we’re only 7 points from them and theyre comforatble in 11th. So its not dire right now, but we have to turn around our horrible form quick otherwise nothing can save us.
Andrew, I like Rodgers as a coach. He plays a good style of football, is a great coach and isnt afraid to change things when they aint working. The shift to 3 at the back and dropping Balotelli has revived their season. I expect them to finish top 4 now.
I dont think Sherwood is the same type of coach. He will get hands on, but will put more emphasis on desire and commitment than tactics and technical issues. Which is probably better in a relegation fight but possibly not long run (if we stay up).
Steamer’
You were right as to what I said, and have no reason to doubt it. For those who missed it, Herbie turned them down as “They may know about money, but they know nothing about football!”…………They soon learned…!!!
Thanks for the Tom Fox piece on MOMS, have now joined the AVST, to see how much more I can gain, learn and input.
Hope that Jen is successful with her approach to Sherwood, and that he takes her seriously, as I am sure she is capable of making a difference.
I`m with Andrw in that I am quite relaxed about going down,after the so called easier fixtures at home Palace and S`land it was clear to me we were on the slide.TS might give us a chance though,I hope so.
Look,we have got worse season by season,it`s hardly a suprise if we do get relegated is it.Come on ,a club that has played-at times-(a limited list) Helenius,Holman,Bowery,Luna,Lichal,Weimann,Holt,Gabby,Banann,Bennet,Fonz,Tonev,Albrighton(a fave on AVL,sorry if this offfends) can not be expected to remain in the Premier League can it?Is there a player amongst those that could get on the bench of the clubs between 4th and 14 th?Yet they have been playing for us at various times over the past 5 years,,I am disappointed,or will be if we go,but not suprised.
Can understand that sentiment mate, my thoughts are that it wont take anywhere near 40 points for safety, theres so many diabolical teams at the bottom that we only have to beat QPR, Slumberland, Olbyon and Burnley and we’ll be ok, now whether or not we will is another matter, i wouldn’t put any faith in this team. Saturday should give us some idea if TS’s influence is having an effect, whether it be in terms of effort or contructive football, by that i’m not going to run the bloke down, given the right circumstances i think he can do a decent job.
Agree Steamer
You mentoned character the other day.We don`t have a single stubborn,gutsy barsteward who just not be beat,.Only Clark looks and plays as if the club and result means everything to him.A George Curtis,a Lochead,A Chris Nicholl,this is my main worry,and the fitness of course.If the QF went into ET I think we would fold.
Sherwood obviously has no window to work with and is stuck with what he has inherited,not enough fighters there IMO,
JL what is it with you mate and gabby open your eyes he is 2 stone overweight at least thats the reason he cannot play any more he just aint fit he has the worst first touch of any player i have ever seen he is a fraud and a con man and that it he has coned every manager we have ever had and it looks like he has coned sherwood as well it is not his goals to games you have to look at but hid=s goals to shots which is 1 every 17 worst in all football leagues where players are paid
thats whats wrong with him plus he can only last 30 mins at most
People, changing subject slightly: has any one eaten at any of the Caribbean restaurants in and around Brum? I really fancy some curry goat and rice and peas. I know there’s a place in the jewellery quarter and another on John Bright Street. Anyone tried them or others? Any suggestions please.
JD – My eyes *are* open – it’s you that closed yours about 3 games ago! 😉
Ree – Agree with you on various points, especially that it is essential that we get a win very quickly to start getting things back on track.
Andrew/B6 – if Villa *are* relegated then I will also simply accept it. But given an early win this week or next week I believe we will survive, especially as we will probably only need 15 or 16 points out of 36 potentially available.
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