It’s obviously to early to answer that question, after all most thought Randy seemed the right man in his first few years. We all know how painfully his reign turned out to be. Xia at first had some great things to say, like the small matter of making us one of the top three clubs in the world. Does he really mean it though, or is it just all talk?
There is a lot of doubt around Xia still. People still aren’t convinced he’s genuine and I suppose that’s because it’s hard to find too much about him that is publicly avaialable. People would like to know how much he is worth. Do we have a millionaire, or a billionaire? There were questions if he actually went to Harvard University. Steeve Hollis said he built the Bird’s Nest stadium which turned out to not be as simple as it was made out to be. Xia also also said he was in the process of buying a US company for 2 billion dollars, but appointing Chris Samulelson raised the most eye brows. He had bad reviews from Reading fans, and there was talk amongst a few Villa fans that he was actually the man funding the takeover with Xia being the front man. As of yesterday though, he has been removed from the Villa board.
That said, the past is the past, and we might not ever know most those things, so let’s look at what has happened since Xia took charge.
• He’s appointed a manager who’s won the Champions League, FA cup and, perhaps most importantly for us, won promotion with West Bromwich Albion in his first season. No doubt the Championship has improved in quality no end since he was last there though.
• That’s why his assistant Steve Clarke is, for me, probably the best signing so far. He will be up to date with his time at Reading. Clarke is known for being one of the best assistants around, but I do worry how long he will be the second man. I’m sure plenty of teams wouldn’t mind him as the main man. Xia has also brought in Steve Bond as well as Massimo Battara ( ormer Goalkeeping coach at Man City) and Marchesi our fitness coach who was at Inter Milan.
• Xia has spent around 12 million on 3 new signings who no doubt will improve us. A young goalkeeper who was wanted by Juve, Bournemouth’s captain who knows what it takes to get promoted, and a tall, powerful DM in Tshibola who will impose on our weak midfield.
All in all, you can’t argue with the coaching staff and players we have required already. What is a concern though is what hasn’t happened. We have so many dire players it’s scary. Guzan, Hutton, Sissy, Lescott, Richards, Sanchez, Sinclair, Rudy, Gabby and Kozak. You wouldn’t want them in your in a Sunday 11 side pub league team, let alone in the Championship. It’s no surprise they are still here though – high wages and poor ability means we are probably stuck with them.
Going by what Xia has said on twitter, it might well be a case of sell to buy, and so that might have to mean Gana, Ayew and Amavi although he has said the latter two aren’t going. In my opinion, we can’t lose the latter two as we won’t find better. Gana on the other hand I’m really not bothered about.
When it comes to strikers and wingers though, we still haven’t signed any. For me that’s worrying. This team finished on 17 points last season for a reason.
That said, there is still plenty of time to sell and buy, but it would have been nice to have a big signing in for the opening day. Green and Murphy have been positives in pre-season though as they are both very quick, powerful youngsters – I’d hope both will start against Sheffield Wednesday.
So, if we were to have to play the season with the squad we have now, where would we finish ? With our awful quality at right back and very few good ones in the forward areas, I’d have to say mid-table. Over the next five weeks or so though, if we can sell the poor players, keep two stars and add a few attacking players, there is no doubt we can go up first time. Xia has done fine so far. He’s made good appointments and he’s talking to fans on twitter (although I imagine that won’t last long) – now we just need him to splash a bit more cash.
After all this man bought the club off the worst owner it’s ever had, along with the worst quality squad it’s ever had so, for that, he deserves time and respect. People abusing him on Twitter need to be taken away never to be seen again, especially the ones who mock his English – I wonder how good their Chinese is?
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Frem
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Frem – good post mate; an excellent analysis of our squad potential/deficiencies. We need to include some more players with Championship experience in my opinion. Foreigners, with respect, will never have had to face the hectic pace of the England’s second tier.
For that reason I was pleased to see the home-coming of a couple of our players who have been on loan in the Championship.
I agree with your mid-table forecast – we must remember Rome wasn’t built in a day and you would have to be the eternal optimist to think Villa will bounce straight back. The best possibility would be to perform like Burnley and bounce back and fall down a couple of times until the promotion is permanent (or as permanent as promotion can be).
So a new dawn? So long as it lasts until sunset and beyond.
Didnt expect to find you on newsnow Frem and a top leader it is too
One down as Guzan confirms for Boro
Villa fans are wounded animals as the previous setup dragged the club from one humiliation to another
The movement of players in and out is slow and i am not sure we will be able to change the squad as much as needed with overloading during this window
The one thing i have regained for the club though is hope and hopefully we will continue to improve in all aspects
very impressed with the new backroom setup
Morning
Good post Frem, good to see you headlining!
Agree with it all, hard to be patient though! Time to worry if things stay he same once the window shuts.
I am done with hoping though and words, just want action. The dr saying he is going to live here and put up to 50 mill in and overhaul the squad is all good but with 9 days to go to ko not a lot has happened….can understand some villand upset. fingers crossed though!
Good leader Frem,
I have to say that I don’t think we need a huge number of changes, but it is irritating that we have someone like Gestede in the team and nobody (still) to provide any decent crosses to him. I somewhat doubt his ability at the top level, but he’s a proven championship striker, so why not play to his strengths, or at least have it as an option for games where a plan b is needed.
Shifting dead wood is difficult enough at the best of times, but in classic Lerner fashion, we decided to pay them huge wages and nobody wants to take them off us, so we may be stuck with them for a while yet. On the flip side, you might argue that some of those players will find their level in the championship and that they’ll perform ably enough to earn a move to another championship team at the end of the season? That’s quite optimistic really, isn’t it?
Frem,
Well done mate … I always knew you had a ‘spark’ in you! 🙂
Guzan – as of today – has of course gone, but in general you make good points.
But – overall – the situation is much brighter than that if Lerner was still in place. In my view there is a better sense of optimism around.
UTV
Well done Frem, excellent, the last paragraph says a lot.
I still think we need 4/5 players in, if we went up with this team we’d be humiliated again, having said that, i can’t see this lot getting promotion.
I don’t think you’ll enjoy the Championship mate, pathetic standard.
Another nail in footballs coffin –
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premier-league/2015-2016/paul-pogba-s-agent-mino-raiola-is-king-of-football-united-fans-victims-of-game-s-rotten-rev
Totally sickened by football now, it can’t last much longer. 110m, thats more than the cost of Villa + the new signings.
ayew is staying and has no release clause 🙂
guzan has gone.
If Carlsberg did Fridays…
obv need a striker still as I think ayew is better in one of the 3 positions behind but he could still get 15-20 goals.
Blimey, Tom Fox slipped up there, could have been another 10m down the gurgler.
Ghana appears to be def. on his way out…
Gabby being given another chance (and I say “why not”?!). My guess is that RdiM is the sort of manager who will not play him unless there’s good reason.
Don’t you mean ‘YET’ another chance John ?
Afraid the day that the lazy, fat, KFC munching slacker of a p-taker soils the VP pitch will be the end of my interest, if RdM selects him then he’s shown the support a massive lack of respect.
Don’t care if the fat twats morphed into Lionel Messi, how many times does he have to wipe his arse with a Villa shirt.
Thanks for the kind words guys and not picking up on the spelling mistakes
Just one thing,
“won promotion with West Bromwich Albion in his first season”
I seem to remember saying he won promotion with the bar codes, not WBA but I think Matt changed that 🙂
Gabby to get a second chance ? 7th chance I think they mean ?!?!?!
Well done article, Frem! Like others, I too feel like we’re a mid-table club unless we bring in the 4-5 upgrades and/or replacements that we all agree we need.
To be perfectly honest, though I certainly want us to push for promotion, even a mid-table finish in the Championship would be a welcome relief after five consecutive seasons of desperately worrying about relegation — which just shows the pathetically dilapidated state of affairs around the Claret and Blue.
Cheers for the leader frem, top drawer.
So the start of the EFL season is 7 days away, and we look like going into it with the unflushables still here( bar Guzan and Nzog), we have only bought in 3 players( 2 unproven at this level ), and we are reliant on the absolute dross that dragged us down to this level. IMHO we need 4 more players or we can rule out promotion. Dr Xia has made some bold statements on Twitter , it’s now time to back these up with some quality statements ASAP
Texas: “I too feel like we’re a mid-table club unless we bring in the 4-5 upgrades and/or replacements that we all agree we need.”
I know what you means, but I think we may be overlooking one key factor … the ability of the manager/coach and his staff in changing the attitudes of certain players.
And by that I mean players like Bacuna (who I have noted seems to be upping his play of late) and even Gabby, who (maybe it’s own fault) has been getting too many injuries and needs to put all that behind him.
Let’s give ’em a chance at least. They also know they have to get 2 or 3 other players in (I can’t quite see as many as 4 or 5 as I think some youngsters seem ready to make their mark), but that may take time.
Steamer: ” if RdM selects him then he’s shown the support a massive lack of respect.”
I’d agree if he’s played and shows no or little improvement.
If he’s played and shows a far better attitude then he will surely deserve further chances. If not then if the boss doesn’t demote him then I’d question the boss, of course.
JL,
Hope they do the new shirt in an XXXXL size. Its hardly difficult to improve on his last four years is it ? Russian should see him off this season.
Talk of Bacuna as Pogba’s replacement.
B62,
Apparently Nbog played well for Slumberland but as soon as he gets his contract he’ll down tools like he did at Villa. RdM talking up Clark, i’d play him in MF alongside GG with Baker alongside Tom in defence. Should be a lot tighter but a wide MF and a striker are essential in my opinion.
Like the look of Boro’s signings – 0 – 4 on Saturday, with dissent starting in the ranks already it could be a bitter pill for the Doc to take.
Matt
Another idea is to do regular polls were people that are to signed up to avl can give a yes or no
Perhaps Frem could do a write up on the away games.
Fancy working on a Saturday. Should be going to Villa today, but nope
Steamer- I won’t be going to as many games this season now I’m on shift which won’t be easy. Work every other weekend.I’m going to the first home game though which is nice, iv’e booked my tickets for derby away though and I want to go to Reading away. Grounds I haven’t ever been to. Not bothered about missing the likes of Bburn and Fulham at home though, seen them many times before
Hopefully I can catch the game on AVTV at work if it’s a bit of down time
Frem,
Shifts are crepe, after a long night game away your up at six and only the thought of taking the p out of the vermin keeps you going, by 11pm though you’re drained, god knows what its like having to watch a team of idiots under these conditions because at least we were a reasonable team.
Most of the grounds i went to have been knocked down and replaced by piles of plastic and glass, the worst were Bradford City and Fellows Park Walsall, the best was Barcelona. British grounds are rubbish, The Theatre of BS is an ugly mass of steel with no warmth or character.
Luckily Villa park is one of the best though. Glad it doesn’t look like the dire modern stadiums. No atmosphere.
I might be going to Barca next month when I go to Spain if we can get tickets. They are playing Atletico though so won’t be easy. I love Atleti and get to see Barca to. win win.
The shift pattern isn’t so bad, just annoying when I miss football. We do 1 hour shifts, one day is a 5 day week, but the other is only a two day week. Then we go on nights which fucks me over. Not use to it
Hi Matt ,
Just to add my tuppence worth , I remember when you first launched and there was only a handful of people commenting , but there was such a difference in atmosphere from TVB where i had hung out previously. The site was a breath of fresh air and it was a real pleasure to spend time reading the comments that were a world away from the poison that was being spewed by keyboard warriors elsewhere( i remember two posters exchanging seat numbers so they could physically settle their discussion the following weekend ,FFS)
I’ve never met you but its clear from the respectful way you engage with people that you’re a sound lad and alot of people could take a leaf from your book in how to conduct themselves online . I’m genuinely saddened to learn of your health issues and i will echo the sentiments of everyone else in saying to look after yourself first , everything else will follow. There is a good community on here and i’ve no doubt that everything will spark up again when we start the new season .
I’m taking my lads (11 & 13) to see celtic and barca today in Dublin and to my great delight both of them insist on wearing their villa shirts ! We’ll get back to the top , I’ve no doubt , but more importantly Matt , mind yourself well .
Good stuff From.
A good round up of happenings so far. Like you say, there still a bit to be done, but there is still a bit of time.
I’m hoping today’s line up is more about rotation , than fielding what he believes is his strongest 11!!
Frem
I also work shifts mate, it fucks with your football, Iv renewed and already I’m chalking games off to being stuck at work or not being able to book them off or our opener against Rotherham although I might sneak out early as I’m on a 7-3 and go straight to VP.
I’d like to see Amavi get some decent time today to build his match fitness, still think we are 4 players short of being contenders and they need to be quality( the best we can get at this level), it seems to have gone very quiet on the transfer front, only exits. McCormack will go for around 10-12m why we aren’t in for him I don’t know , goals get u promoted, look at Burnley, yes pretty solid at the back but they had a goalscorer where as others like Brighton and Shef weds just didn’t have that bloke who wins games, there goals were spread out. We need to keep them out at one end and bang them in at the other in this division, no need for pretty passing tikka taka all the time, we need variation, lets just win and go up,.
Again get we’ll soon matt UTV
Barcelona charge a lot more for the attractive fixtures mate, see if they’re playing the vermin they’ll let you in for free. Visit the museum, tremendous. If you really want to see a game Espanyol have a brand new stadium out by the airport, strange how the blue and white clubs are vastly inferior to the burgundy and blues innit ?
As bad as last year, get 4 new players in or lose the crowd, should have got Pearson.
Derby winning at Karlsruhe 2-0, ok its a friendly but these games show you how your going to stand up, its ok knocking over Cambridge & Worcester but you don’t play these in the league.
Fold like a deck of cards.
Villa winning 1-0 at h-t and showing promise with Boro not able to get through to shoot.
Second half a completely different story with the return of sloppy play that presented them with 3 goals.
Oh dear!
yes steamer the game really exposed our lack of firepower —-we need 2 players that can get 35 goals between them to have any chance of going up
What was particularly worrying is the lack of ideas up front, with Ayew far too deep and giving the ball away too often.
Runtingz,
To be honest i can’t see this lot beating last years total of 17. RdM had better get his finger out.
a couple on players that are of a standard that makes us more dangerous could lift the mood a bit for me , but i agree lots of work to do sorting this squad out
i see we are playing hardball with everton over gueye – don’t mind him going but 7ml is a bit cheap by today’s prices
Doom and gloom already
But when you think of mess the good doctor bought into [what was it about 100m in contracts exstensions for gabby hutton baker clark bacuna westwood plus richards lescott rudy vetrout traore] its going to take time to sort this mess out
di matteo needs to use his contacts to get us a
right back
2 centre midfielders
winger traore looks injury prone
2 strikers rudy waste of space,kozak is he injured again
last years squad were relegated by xmas so how can anyone think that same players can actually be good enough to win 10 times as many matches this season , our squad has been built by mcleish lambert sherwood fox and paddy riley at poundstretchers, even the moneyball idea by fox by low sell high they screwed that up,
agree with steamer we needed pearson
Similarities here with Villa and the Labour Party, neither listens to the folk that have to put up with the crepe. Why waste money on yet another crepe GK ? spend it on two strikers, bung Clark in MF instead of that weakling Wastewood, sign a RB and get some width in the team. Listening to folk and they’re already on the Docs case. Said before that the slimeball Lerners done a job on us.
Great to read your first leader Frem. Well done!
Wish I could say the same about the match on AVTV, unfortunately saw more footy in the highlights at Wembley…..
How really dire can we be….I really hope this is not what we have to look forward to this season.
Glad that I spent my time at home today.
Will be at the first home game, and just hope that RDM gives us a team that has some desire and skill to perform on our hallowed turf.
http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/yakou-meite-how-reading-fc-11683488
Roberto Di Matteo may have got one over on Reading when he landed Aaron Tshibola – but Villa missed out to Royals for Meite.
The Midlands club were desperate to land the frontman and chased him hard throughout the summer.
Even after Meite had completed his medical with Royals on Thursday, Villa were calling him and his agent in a bid to get him to change his mind.
But the 20-year-old brushed off their advances and signed his contract at Madejski Stadium less than 24 hours later.
Still looking in the bargain bins then.
James: “…its going to take time to sort this mess out”
Words of wisdom, James. Today has highlighted that we have quite a way to go yet.
Mind you, until half-time I was building up some hopes!
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Whoops! Matt has published another article!!
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