For Aston Villa, the transfer window usually provides a month of pointless diversion, but this most extraordinary window proved to be the most compelling ever.

We ended up with not only a lot of defenders but a lot of everything. It opened with rumours about us signing Emmanuel Adebayor and the window closed with it remaining nothing more than a rumour.

Given it felt like the longest non transfer saga ever, patience and tolerance is now the order of the day, as we’ve got to accept when you you buy in bulk those purchases are not all going to settle in quickly or necessarily even make the grade. Jordan Amavi & Idrissa Gueye are looking good. That pair though are replacements for Kieran Richardson and Tom Cleverley – not Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph.

We’ve got Gabby, Kozak, Sinclair, Ayew, and Gestede. Did we need a striker? Well yes, and like many I was of the view we ought to have dotted the i and crossed the t and landed Charlie Austin.

Scott Sinclair’s goals, however, are no surprise. He was knocking them in pre-season and so he has lots of momentum. Kozak, Celtic bound at one stage, could yet be the pick of the bunch being the one most likely to benefit from having more creative players around him. It was surprising he was an unused sub against Sunderland as, like Sinclair, he was finding the net pre-season.

Of the sales completed on deadline day, two good lads Nathan Baker and Joe Bennett found they’ll be getting their experience elsewhere. Joe Bennett staying in the Premier League seems an endorsement both of his potential and the improved quality of our squad. His move came as a surprise given that he came on and royally took his chance against Notts County.

Can the team progress? On the basis of a solid window, surely the answer is yes, but Villa fans will need to wait and see as progress may not be immediate.

Comments 49

  1. morning Matt

    Taken in the context of the previous 5 years it was a very good window, yes it would look a whole lot better with Benteke still up top but as we are still up for sale presumably it may not of happened without his loss. We could of kept faith with the strikers we had ( except they are crap ) and added an Austin type figure and utilised Robinson or Sellars but other wise pretty good bar right back.

    For me the main thing I have seen from this window is we are no longer going to be throwing players away for nothing. This has become the norm in recent seasons as we have scrambled to lower outgoings. It would be interesting to see the wage bill at this point for comparison.

    Some potential bad news Gueye has an injury don’t know how bad yet.

    http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-injury-scare-idrissa-10009380?

  2. ASTON VILLA
    Accounts for the year to 31 May 2014

    Ownership Owned by Randy Lerner, via Reform Acquisitions LLC, a US company.

    Advertisement

    Turnover 9th highest, £117m (up from £84m in 2013)

    Gate and matchday £13m

    TV and broadcasting £73m

    Commercial £22m

    Sponsorship £9m

    Wage bill Joint 9th highest, £69m (down from £72m)

    Wages as proportion of turnover 59%

    Loss before tax £4m (following £52m loss in 2013)

    Net debt £102m

    Interest payable £1m

    Highest-paid director £265,792 to unnamed director (Paul Faulkner was the chief executive throughout the year; he resigned in July 2014.)

    State they’re in

    This was the season American MBNA credit-card scion Randy Lerner finally announced his Villa venture was over and he wanted to sell. Villa’s finances, despite a miserable season under a downbeat Paul Lambert, show the club being moulded into a state fit for sale.

    The wage bill barely increased despite a £33m increase in income, and Villa stated they spent nothing, net, on transfers last summer. Lerner wrote off £90m loans, leaving £86m still owed to him. Perhaps the new TV deals, and Tim Sherwood’s Tiggerish bounce, will attract a buyer.

  3. It is staggering that with all the £ in the game we are in debt.

    As regards to the transfer window….good we have had a high turnover of players. Squad needed it after 4 years of the worst footy i have seen.

    Bad as in gk and striker positions have to me not been sorted. Plus trying to bed in 9 or 10 foreign players is hard plus the fact no one knows how good they are.

    Time to try and show patience and hope all will be good!

  4. Hi Mark

    If we kept Benteke up top, then about 9/10 of the players that arrived wouldn’t have come because his sale funded the rebuild. Benteke was our trump card in the rebuild, we cashed in at the right time and at the right value, with the right suckers.

    Like it or not until we get to Chelsea’s height albeit with class, we will have to sell and possibly in a year or two, the big 4/6 will come knocking for Amavi for example. While, there will be groans of despair and hatred of being a selling club, it’s by unearthing these gems that we can continue to reinvest in player quality.

    If Amavi contributes enough in the next season or two to earn a move to a bigger club and we then get in two or three players off the back of that then we’ll be in a much stronger position again. It’s our current reality and I’m ok with it.

    While the jury is out and maybe another 8 games will really prove the value of the players that have come in, we can only look at the competition for places now achieved by the arrivals and hope that this translates into results and as I’ve said before the foreign influence on our younger players won’t be tangible for a few years in terms of training methods and skill levels.

    UTV

  5. DOR I think we are saying the same thing, without Benteke gone we would probably have got that £20m net spend people seem to think is important ( that would get us Gueye, Amavi and lescott). In fact it would of had to be a £40m net spend to get what we have say minus Ayew .
    If you take £20m of the new players out of the squad and add back some of the poorer players ( because we lost cleverly and vlaar anyhow) doesn’t look so great does it? shame it couldn’t of happened whilst keeping Tekkers but that’s the way the cooky crumbles 🙂

  6. Maybe we should lay off the snake for a while, he can’t last a minute on the pitch anymore. At this rate, he’s going to miss his welcome back in November

  7. Rob Lee of Sky Sports reckons Delph should not figure in Euro 2016, maybe his loyalties might extend to the national set-up as well as they did at Villa Park?
    Lee also omits Grealish but it is probably too early for him even if Hodson gets him on board during the run-in.
    Re the window, I agree with the previous comments that we are in this position due to the sale of Benteke, at least he never pledged his loyalty to the club. The fact that most of the buys occurred after the pre-season means we are never going to start off running and will be under the cosh for the first half of the season.
    We need to be safe before March when we will lose some of our squad for ACON 2017 qualifiers.

  8. Clive- watching England last night I’d say we are crying out for a player like Grealish. I couldn’t believe the amount of players we have that allow the ball to run away from them! his creativity around the box would fantastic too and just what England lacked. We are a quick fairly powerful young side but faced with a packed defence we look poor. I think Roy would blood him quickly and play him if successful in the euro’s. We’re through and all pressures off, perfect time for a lad with no nerves to shine IMO.

    I don’t see delph adding much to the England side played defensively and if he had put a £20m buyout in that contract we might have a top striker now. I think he didn’t rate himself enough to put his true worth in.

  9. Loads of time for the Grealish’s but i would like the saga to end, clearly Ireland as a small country doesn’t produce that many great players so when an option like Jack comes around we have to push for it, he’d get a hundred caps and be a star in this country, I expect and only an opinion that if Jack went to England

    1. he’d make more money through sponsorship
    2. he’d qualify for tournaments more regularly (Ireland haven’t a bad record for a small country)
    3. he’d be cajoled by other players into joining their club sides
    4. he’d have a few Roy favourites to dis-lodge first reducing his chances
    5. he’d be under the tabloid microscope even more than he’d deserve
    6. he’d be dead to me (just joking Kevin, John if you are reading this)

    UTV

  10. Its a bit soon to be thinking Grealish is going to walk into England or Irelands team. He has played about 13 first team games and not scored yet.

    I like the looks of Grealish but he has a long long long way to go yet. I think he is prob getting more love and hype than warranted.

  11. Id like Jack to play for ROI. Always had a soft spot for them growing up with god, staunton, houghton townsend in the villa team.

    plus all the bs and pressure that come from being with england. best off out of it.

  12. nah, he’d walk into the Ireland team, we have Wes Hoolahan in the ten spot and while he does bring creativity and thinks more than most of the Irish players, it’s more about picking passes than beating players with Wes.

    With Keane aging rapidly Grealish behind Shane Long would be a good partnership.

  13. sorry DOR unless Ireland produce a golden generation suddenly it would be like joining Villa and expecting to win the champs league a waist of time and talent 😉

    He has said his dream is to play for Madrid and he can do it I’ve no doubt. He is a life long, family driven, Villa fan and I think he would find it difficult unless we go down to leave for another prem club. It could happen but I doubt it.

    On England he is the right age to come through with the likes of Barkley, stones, kane, shaw, sturridge,smalling, etc he would flourish and England could have a real chance to do well in a finals for another 10 years. This group are tougher I think, less attached to the public for there courage. He would get immediate experience next summer whereas Ireland are not guaranteed to be there.

    As an England fan I would love to see him play I think he is a potential match winner and this season we will see him shine. he’ll get a few goals but he will make the Villa team tick and that’s what England need IMO having watched them huff and puff to a win last night. even better he would probably take Delphs place 🙂

  14. Both countries would benefit with him in their team, no doubt. I think you know my preference and it would be a shame for us to lose him after going through the under ages but it’s not my decision and wouldn’t really want to be in his shoes, the heart has to make the decision and I expect to be disappointed in all honesty.

  15. DOR we are none the wiser, could go either way or he would of declared by now. Heart is pulling for Ireland I suspect but he may have many friends who are England fans he’s grown up with who knows? if he was 1/4 Brazilian we’d be stuffed 🙂

  16. Thanks for the article Matt G.
    If Grealish isn’t too sure who to play for, he should perhaps just flip a coin (best of three) in front of whoever for witnesses. That way, nobody can feel sour about the outcome. It’s a hard choice he’s got, but he needs to grow up and make it. As long as he plays well for the Villa.

  17. Is it me or does proclaiming love for villa and Tim Sherwood mean you get injured when you decide to leave instead? Vlaar, Delph, Cleverly all injured you couldn’t make it up. The only major non-casualty is Tekkers who kept quiet and just left 🙂

  18. Is was a good window all in all. Sherwood did what was needed. A new starting 11 really

    Only worry is up front. We have 4 individual strikers who all have one good attribute, but neither as a individual has all the attributes is one. I was praying for a striker on deadline day like Ady or Remy but we signed two centre backs instead ????!!!! Lescott is a solid signing though

    I’m going on Sunday so can’t wait . We need to start winning

    I miss The Steamers and Kristina on here

  19. Thanks Mark. I’ve missed all of you to be fair. It’s the best blog by far.

    I see Gabby is for Sunday. Real shame . Adama and JG are still doubts. That will be a huge blow because Bacuna will moved to an attacking role and he’s useless.

    What do people make of Guzan ? Anyone else think the statue william mcgregor would be more use in goal ?

  20. Yeh, i think given the number of keepers being looked at including Button that the writing is on the wall and Bunn was a replacement for Given as opposed to a challenger to Guzan (Bunn is our Begovic probably only get cup games).

    i don’t think the funding extended to spending 8/10m on a new keeper but I expect if the strikers aren’t working by January that these two positions will be looked and an attacking right back a la Amavi in the Summer.

    In reality we aren’t too far away from have a new and complete team with challengers in every position, rebuild complete and then it becomes a tinkering exercise.

    UTV

  21. DOR
    I think you are right about the strikers and right back, get those positions working and a rebuild would be complete.

    BTW, where have the Steamers gone? Are they with Churchy up in the Lake District feeding off hallucinogenic fungi, animal droppings and wild berries? Wouldn’t surprise me.

    Hope they win for you on Sunday, Frem. Wouldn’t suprise me if a certain former Villa winger scores, though.

  22. Albri will do well. He was the only player at the time we had who could run at players, provide natural width and deliver a ball in the box. We’ve only just replaced that now with Adama who it hope is fit. What a player he looks

  23. Frem: “was a good window all in all. Sherwood did what was needed. A new starting 11 really

    Only worry is up front. We have 4 individual strikers who all have one good attribute, but neither as a individual has all the attributes is one. ”

    Absolutely concur, Frem.

    With this window we have largely, but not completely, remade the squad with genuine athleticism. This current team is by far the most athletically gifted side we’ve had in many a year; from front to back we’re younger, stronger, better “aerialists” (Gestede, Gana, Richards), and faster (including both aspects of pace — top speed and acceleration).

  24. To me it seems clear, as to Guzan, that by signing the young Dutch keeper and publicly keeping tabs on other keepers as well, that the Villa braintrust intend to impress upon Brad the paramount need to regain both his form and his consistency which he modeled two years ago when he was one of the top GK’s in the PL. I expect that they’ll look for solid improvement until the next window; if he fails to do so … he’s gone, period.

    Will being Team USA’s first-choice keeper help him, or hurt him? That’s an interesting question, and one I don’t have an answer to.

  25. Hello everyone .
    First of all thanks to the new writers Ryan and Matt G for keeping the blog gojng with articles and the posters keeping it rocking over and to John L too of course : the international break has dragged on for ages hasn’t it .
    The steamers are well , and I gather there will be a big steamers meet up for the Small Heath game – god help us:-)

    With so many new players it’s so difficult to predict what will happen – I just have a nagging doubt along the lines of Frem and Texas ie we’ve not replaced Benteke . Can’t wait for Rudy to score in front of the Holte though, just to hear Rudy , Rudy , Rudy , Rudy ringing out.

    Ade is still up for grabs isn’t he , odd situation as he’s not named in Spurs squad and even Togo have declined him. There’s talk that Spurs are gojng to pay off his contract so he’s free to go wherever . What a waste, clearly some if not all of his own making but surely playing somewhere is better than nothing . Is it too late ?

  26. very interesting chat with TS on the club site, talks about the lads who’s contracts have been extended. Was great to hear that Gardner is still considered part of the future of the club, over to you GG.

    Jen – Cant see Ade coming but you never know. TS talks about fitness levels a lot and confidence, Kosak especially has been mentioned in that context. If Ade came how far off fitness would he be? no real pre-season and no football since???

    Knew the steamers couldn’t resist the Blues game 🙂

  27. I agree with the sentiments above, I miss the steamers and Kristinas charm, and overall we are missing a striker and are short on goals, I don’t see the value in Crespo and we have too many gambles.

  28. b62- hard to judge crespo as he isn’t fit but he was a little bit left field, my guess is he can cover across the back and maybe the injury to Okore hasn’t helped, baker is injury prone, clark just back from injury, senderos ditto, shame he’s injured 🙂 .

    lots of mentions of the future by tim and I can only agree, its a squad for the future but the quality and depth have gone up 3 fold. Also lots of talk about players Tim has watched for a long time, Adama and Iloris being 2. I think the likes of Adama,sinclair maybe even Jack and Gill will bare the brunt until the strikers ignite.

  29. It will be nice when we have a fully fit and up to speed team. So bloody frustrating injuries.

    Id go spare if i was an arsenal fan.

    Guzan
    Bacuna Richards Lescott Amavi
    Westwood Sanchez Vertout
    Gabby Gestede Sinclair

    Prob team for sunday?

  30. The one thing i got massively massively wrong about ts was the fear he would just by british or ex spurs payers.

    It is the polar opposite. His knowledge of players seems to be amazing.

    I just hope we can keep our heads above water until we have a fit team that have gelled together.

    It might just have the potential to be a very exciting, young team.

  31. Like your team Andrew, would like to see Gil instead of Gabby to give us some creativity. Kosak could be a surprise starter too, thought he played well with Sinclair and Gil pre season. Leicester play 3 at the back don’t they with wing backs? I’d be tempted to play balls in behind and between the centre halves than try to batter them with crosses. Shame Grealish and Adama are not 100%.

  32. We do have an overload on centre backs don’t we ? But yet don’t have a single right back at the club worth paying

    If Gil Adama and Grealish are for it’s got to be 4231. Just let let them three roam behind the main striker who ever it may be. Probably out Gabby. Club legend

    I’d sit Sanchez and Gana in CM but Gana could be injured. But then we have Veretout and Westy as back up so it’s not to bad.

    It’s a huge 3 games for us. We have to win all 3. Imagine if we lose all 3

  33. Frem

    No doubt we need to start winning. 4 points out of poss 12 aint good considering the fixtures. It’s a tough combo of trying to have patience yet after 4 years of relegation worry that has made me scared of going down and the need for instant points!

    Guzan
    Llori Richards Lescott Amavi
    Sanchez Gana
    Adama Gill Grealish
    Ayew
    Thats my dream side when everyone fit.

  34. Lester away is honestly tough fixture right now but it’s our home form which simply has to improve.Its a miracle we are still in the league with our form at home.

    Its prob the most important improvemant i want to see this season. Which is why it’s so frustrating losing to utd and drawing with sunderland. Not a good start.

    baggies and blues at home should/have to be wins.

  35. Leicester tend to cede possession and play on the break even Sunderland had more possession against them . Wish we had Adama available would be nice sit back and invite them on . Worst case Gabby and Sinclair with Ayew central, loads of pace at least . their at home so you’d hope they’d have a go. If not we would have Gil to bring on to break them down, time for vertoute to prove his worth too.

  36. Evening all.
    Glad to see a bit more positivity around at the moment and as someone else said – the next three games are very important for everyone involved in the club. Liking what TS has done so far, I’m thinking that this team could be pretty special if all gels as we hope it will.
    Hopefully Ayew will settle better now he has had a good time with the internationals and got his personal issues resolved.
    Glad the steamers are well, it could be a very interesting evening against the knuckle draggers. I can’t wait for it, so good to be playing the unwashed again ……….
    So – here’s to three good wins followed by showing Benteke what he’s missing and then Delph fit enough to take part in his emotional homecoming with his adoring villa fans ……..

  37. Morning all
    As if international break isn’t bad enough we now have to wait until Sunday for our game
    Came across this on twitter – sounds like a must see film for any football enthusiast about Brian Clough and his ‘talents’. Amusing when we hear LVG ) has got the Manchester divas in a tiz over training and how times have changed – the “recovery aspect ” will interest you Mark – and Clough threatening to fine players if they went running on their day off . But as the saying goes , you can learn a lot from these old dogs . (Maybe not the “if having a drink before the game makes you feel better then have one ). Even expected to see St75 in the ‘Soultime: Shirley Jones” u tube clip featured !
    http://gu.com/p/4cazf/stw

Leave a Reply