brummie

Fucking hell, if there's any truth in it, I feel sorry for you. He's not a dislikable man but his methods are utterly archaic - MON levels of archaic. The contrast between him and Smith (though Smith had his rocky patch) for us this season was monumental. The impact was too - as soon as Bruce and his horrific football had been fucked off, attendances went up sharply and so did the feeling of optimism. This would be an utterly insane appointment - a preparation for the championship.

I would be devastated if we spent even 5 million on him. Football really is fucked if he's going for that. You obviously aren't aware of the transformative effect he had on us. He was phenomenal for us last year. In fact, his arrival was just as influential as grealish returning on us winning ten in a row and getting promoted. He's brilliant on the ball, brings it out of defence superbly, never resorts to hoofing it, almost always completes his pass (and I am not talking about to someone stood five yards from him), commanding in the air, and it was his leadership that changed our defence from being a mid table comedic mess to one that barely conceded for a large chunk of the season. You will not find a villa fan who disagrees with that. During one game, the guy who sits next to me turned to me and said "I know this sounds nuts but he reminds me of Paul McGrath". Obviously, comparing a mere mortal to a deity is not acceptable, but I understand why he said that. I CGAF if he cost 20m (20m being the new 5m), I am extremely relieved we've signed him. And that folks, is how we should all equate a player’s value as a footballer rather than ££££. Yes fees are insane, but if this lad is a good player for Villa and having him makes them a better team, whether he cost 1m or 50m, that’s all that matters. We should know. Rondon for 30m would be worth it. 16m is a steal. There is always the flip side of that of course when the likes of Joselu cost 5m. Regardless, Villa are investing in their squad and showing ambition and a desire to pay whatever they can afford for players they rate. If that means 20m + for Mings when you get 5 times that just by being in the league, it’s all relative anyway! John P's point above is very valid, too - that was in the championship, the premier league is a different thing altogether, but that's the case for a lot of our players. Mings deserves the chance, though, based on what he did for us. Another point, the fans absolutely love him. He's a cult figure, not getting him on a permanent would have been a massive blow to morale, it's good to see the club acting on it (and I accept, knowing that, Bournemouth were in a strong bargaining position). One reason the fans love him: this is him at Bournemouth station the day after the play offs win. He'd travelled down on the train in full kit, medal round his neck.

I would be devastated if we spent even 5 million on him. Football really is fucked if he's going for that. You obviously aren't aware of the transformative effect he had on us. He was phenomenal for us last year. In fact, his arrival was just as influential as grealish returning on us winning ten in a row and getting promoted. He's brilliant on the ball, brings it out of defence superbly, never resorts to hoofing it, almost always completes his pass (and I am not talking about to someone stood five yards from him), commanding in the air, and it was his leadership that changed our defence from being a mid table comedic mess to one that barely conceded for a large chunk of the season. You will not find a villa fan who disagrees with that. During one game, the guy who sits next to me turned to me and said "I know this sounds nuts but he reminds me of Paul McGrath". Obviously, comparing a mere mortal to a deity is not acceptable, but I understand why he said that. I CGAF if he cost 20m (20m being the new 5m), I am extremely relieved we've signed him.

From the outside looking in, this is all sorts of batshit mental. I am used to this sort of sudden disengagement, from when Lerner dropped us, but even he wouldn't have been so stupid as to have driven away a clearly world class manager - one who had stayed with the club in the Championship - like this. I don't know what it is with Ashley? Is it some form of spite? Is it self-harm, or a cry for help? It isn't actually sudden disengagement, it is prolonged, arrogant not-giving-a-fuck. What an absolute circus.

Ha ha ha fuck off, Leeds. Derby suits me fine.

Have a fucking piece of that, you Pulis-loving Yam Yam fucking tramps.

Why reward him?

Although pre-rebrand, we got 48,000 at home to Bournemouth in the Third Division (in about 1972).

We've scored 17 in our last 5 matches. We've also been away at Derby and Boro in that spell and won both 3-0. In the three days from last Sunday to Wednesday, I saw us at home twice and we scored 9 goals (and for extra excitement, conceded 7). It is fun again. We were excellent today at Boro. I can not believe how much Dean Smith has changed this side in 9 matches, it's just remarkable. It reflects really badly on Bruce, but we are playing great possession based football, attacking with real verve, and although we look occasionally iffy at the back, that can be addressed in January. Smith in his post matches talks about things like compiling videos to show the players where they are going wrong at half time, and having systems in place to cope with the opponents on the day, all stuff which you can't imagine someone like Bruce even saying, let alone thinking up.

Well, that was a fucking insane match. 10 goals, 2 down after six minutes, two all after 14, two more goals disallowed, a red card, and a player scoring four goals. Some brilliant attacking play on offer but some iffy defending. I love the Smith era so far. After the mind numbing dullness of Bruce, we're brilliant to watch going forward at times. If we could only manage defending (need a keeper and a centre half). It's not boring any more.

Worth mentioning as he was a man who contributed greatly to the managerial merry go round over the decades, but Doug Ellis has died, I see.

Terry will be a disaster. He’ll be plotting and waiting for his opportunity to stab the manager in the back, he’ll even get the players who’ll already be his friend to back him in a power struggle. When we signed him as a player, I was very much of the opinion that he was a bad egg looking for a last pay day. I couldn't have been more wrong - he was utterly inspirational the whole season, and gave 100 percent in every way, playing a big, big role in geeing up the other players. He was excellent for us.

Dean Smith and John Terry, plus a Sporting Director who worked at Valencia and Atletico Madrid. Finally, some proper sensible thinking. Smith gets teams playing good football, and is a Villa fan and Brummie. Terry knows the club and we need some serious fucking help in defence right now. Pitarch a sign that we have finally, finally understood that you need switched on people overseeing this stuff, no matter how much money you've got - something Lerner totally failed to get. Henry smacked of starfucking, Faria would have been a decent appointment, but this one looks to me a case of serious, grown up thinking. At the very least we will start to play actual football rather than the eye-bleedingly shit dross we played under Bruce.

Thank God for that.

'kin hell https://twitter.com/WittonRoad/status/1043519792089587714 I was at the match, it was surreal. It went in and there was that split second when everyone just looks at each other WTF style. I've been going down the Villa for over 40 years now, and that is probably the best goal I've seen there, at least in terms of technique.

I don't understand why footballers are so into threesomes (or, if you want to be more precise, 'spitroasts') If I drew up a list of 'things I'd want in the room while I am getting my end away', 'a work colleague with an erection' would be right down there between 'hungry wild boar' and 'bottle of novichok (leaking)'. What is wrong with them?

I couldn't give a fuck what Guzan says so long as he's not in goal for us while he's saying it.

From the outside looking in (from another basket case club), having someone who is clearly one of the best managers around, and who could - and I mean no offence here - walk into a top job in pretty much any league he fancies, and then behaving in such a way that it looks like you're actively provoking him to leave, well, it's fucking insane.

Bruce staying. Henry would be a daft appointment.

Although having a billionaire owner isn't a guarantee of good times (later period Lerner, Ashley, Ellis Short). It is much better than not being able to pay the PAYE bill at the end of the month, though. They are apparently both getting showed around the ground and the training facilities today, and are meeting with fan groups this afternoon. They've already written to some groups, too, which was good of them. Here's hoping they don't get bored the first time we lose a few matches, pull the plug, let it rot for a few years then get taken in by a chancer like Lerner did.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44901531 Salvation!

Tuanzebe was with us last year on loan. He was fucking useless.

Hello! Been off dealing with real life for a bit, few challenges. Looks like another takeover. Xia turned out to be an utter chancer. Lerner's last act of cluelessness, to sell to an utter charlatan. Wembley final was mega draining but not really surprising. Can't expect anything if you only play for 45 minutes. Fuck knows what is going to happen, but I've renewed my season ticket in any case. I have a feeling it won't be boring. Hope you are all well.

We have apparently done a deal with a brand popular with the kids - 'Luke77' or something - the owner of which is a Villa fan, and Fanatics who make kits for shit loads of American sports kits. They told us this would be 'revolutionary' and it is in that it's a different business model to the norm, but the revolutionary bit for the fans is they cost 50 quid not 55 or 60 or whatever they cost last year. FWIW I like the home kit, but it's not a proper Villa kit. There's a small blue bit down the side. It reminds me of 83-85 or so (they told us it would be reminiscent of a fondly remembered shirt for us, but all that period reminds me of is getting turned into a second flight side rather than European Champions in five years by that shithouse Ellis). Fond memories my arse. I notice none of the 'buy this shit' photos include any of the players, for reasons one can deduce fairly easily. Personally I'd have preferred us to play in t-shirts bearing the photos of the severed head of the chairman, but I guess that's not yet an option. height=500https://www.thekitman.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/img_5932.jpg[/img] height=500https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DhpuzNKXcAApCRY.jpg[/img]

I know you lot quite rightly won't care but there are more then a few of our fans looking at Sunderland, thinking about what happened when Lerner lost interest as Short has, and thinking that could very easily have been us. Rich men getting bored - bad.