Everything has come to a standstill at the club, it seems.
We’re officially managerless, our ownership is in limbo and even the players don’t have a clue as to what’s going on.
Which all sounds fairly similar to how the last season went, if you ask me.
So nothing’s changed and we shouldn’t get too wound up about things, in my opinion. Well, not for a while yet, anyway.
And as impatient as we all are, nothing is going to change until Xia has been given the green light to buy the club, which is where I’d expect to see rapid movement.
But that’s days down the line.
Anyway, rumours/news on any of these fronts are pure conjecture and are treated with utter disdain on my part.
I’d suggest you do the same, but I know some of you thrive on the stories and that’s fair enough.
They do at least keep the interest levels up.
And while I think these stories are rubbish, the Grealish question is actually a reasonable one.
It makes sense that Premier league clubs might come in for him, as he’s obviously naturally talented.
But would it make sense for him to leave the Villa, to go to one of these other clubs?
Well, the supposed Spurs link is interesting.
Pochettino’s not averse to putting younger players in, but does Jack think he’s good enough to get regular starts in that good a side? Particularly one that doesn’t lack in the attacking area?
I’d say not. But he hasn’t been able to get games in a poor Villa side either, so what would he have to lose?
The bright lights of London might certainly appeal, judging by some of the situations he’s been caught in lately and there might well be more money.
Everton might be a better bet for him, as they might have a few quid to spend and probably offer a much more realistic proposition.
He’d be much more likely to get regular starts and the brighter than Birmingham’s lights in Liverpool and Manchester could well appeal to him.
Which means Stoke have no chance of getting him.
Although he would quite handily be pretty much in the middle of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, which would mean a win-win on the supping front, where he could nip home to have a drink with his old mates.
If that’s all it’s about for him, well, we might do better getting rid at the right price, as while we might want the style and flair he can provide on the pitch, so we don’t want that sort of publicity chasing ego in a squad that will struggle to be promoted from the Championship.
Except I don’t think that’s quite what he’s about at all.
I see him as a typical young kid who goes out on the lash, after a good or bad day at the office.
It’s certainly what I did at his age and if I’d had his money, I’d have no doubt have done it a lot more than I did.
But at the same time, I do find myself wondering who is advising him?
Which might be the worrying part. What sort of advisor would let him get caught in a Manchester club on the night of a heavy defeat just a few months after him being pictured spark out on a Tenerife pavement?
Maybe the sort of advisor who would tell him to go for the money?
Not that it’s a matter of immediate urgency.
Jack’s contracted to the Villa for another two years.
Where I fully expect that we’ll hold onto him for the next year at least, as I don’t believe for one minute he’d kick up a fuss to leave.
Which will give him time to set the Championship alight and mature a bit more.
He isn’t going anywhere just yet.
I’ve just seen that Andrew suggests Di Matteo will be in within 2 days.
I forgot about him.
But I doubt he’d want to sell flair players too quickly, given his own youngish age.
Grealish won’t leave. Birmingham Mail’s already claimed we’ve rejected a Premier League side’s advances before they even made an offer for him.
But yeah, it is the Sun, so no idea if it’s true about Di Matteo. Collymore treated it as well.
Badger – I believe he’s represented by his Father and I would hope he’s advising Jack to stay. He hasn’t yet shown the consistency that marks him as a really good player although he appears to thrive on the big occaission to use an overworked cliché.
Having said that the combination of injuries off field disasters and four managers didn’t help him last season.
Hope he stays
The Daily Mail States Dr Xia will not pass tests to buy Villa, as he does not have the funds. If this is true, we are truly in trouble. I am worried for our short to medium term future.
I understand he’s got to have a face to face meeting with the fa,they may have quite a few questions to ask him.I’ll be glad when this whole situation is over as the clock is ticking & there’s plenty to sort out.
Ps the brummie mail isn’t reporting this so possibly it’s more media bollox.
Sid if this sale falls over there will be some big question marks hanging over Hollis’ judgement – unless he’s kept the under bidders warm his position would look untenable and administration seems a highly probable consequence given that Lerner’s already counting the cash.
On the other hand why would Di Matteo sign a contract before the PL / FL complete their due diligence. IF DM signs in the next couple of days I would take that as a positive sign
I doubted this takeover from day 1. That said, I don’t believe the Daily Mail. How they would know what Lerner has been told is a mystery. If they are right it is pure guesswork in my opinion. Let’s face it, it’s a 50/50 guess for anyone. No chance of Di Matteo signing in 48 hours if the deal falls through so at least one section of the press is talking pants. No change there.
If the Mail are correct then there is no reason for the PL/FL to delay announcing their judgement any further.
The Daily Mail. Bible of Bulls***t.
who ever the owner is or manager is,,,, villa need to restore its identity, i remember villa as a club, that always brought through young kids. with todays game 99% money, i find it hard to understand, why we have deviated from this tradition.
if grealish has a future in the game, surely it has to be with villa. we invested in young players, developed um up. then when it comes to the next step in blooding them into the first team. we lately have bottled it. preferring to buy cheap foreign crap (made inTaiwan ) when it should read (nurtured at villa)
I wouldn’t blame him one bit if he decided to move, I think we should hold on to him if we could , would you turn down 30 grand more should the chance come?, hes one player we could start to build on that’s for sure, its so harmful to Villa that its taking so long to own a business, I know its supposed to make that type of business safe in sales, but why so long? Our city seems to be to me deemed a target of spite in one thing and another let’s get this sale done please.
I might be on my own here with regards to grealish I think he’ll be too lightweight in the championship as it’s a very physical league.
I will gobsmacked if Dr Xhia fails the Fit and proper test.
Hasn’t checking companies out (KPMG) been Hollis’s job for most of his career.
Maybe he can’t be deemed fit until we are officially a championship club, which i think is the 6th June….. If there was any negative news, the premiership or championship would have leaked it to the press by now !
In a week or so I think we are going to be inundated with lots of news stories…. Don’t believe the press, they hate every club except the sky4.
The sport news on TV in Ireland reporting RDM deal is done 1.8mil a year for 3 years .
I hope Grealish stays I think he has a lot to offer football wise .
BBC are reporting that Tony Xia’s deal is NOT about to collapse and that he has already paid £52 million.
Pat Murphy on BBC website again saying “Takeover not in Doubt” and that Xia has deposited funds, etc.
The Mail have syndicated their piece so all the papers are repeating it. The Mail have no factual evidence to back their claim but hey ho they need something to fill column inches!
That’s not to say that I have no concerns. The FT piece is (one assumes) factual reporting but if Recon is privately owned it is under no obligation to publish its accounts. My main concern is understanding where Dr Xia’s wealth originates from. He is supposed to have been involved in a large number of urban developments (and make no mistake these are huge developments) and people migration in China – if so one does suspect links with the Government on some level.
Unlike Giddy I think that Jack could thrive against Championship defences however I’m very much of the opinion that if he wants to go he should be immediately shown the door.
We’ve had far too many players over the past few years who have clearly not been committed to the cause something I sincerely hope we don’t carry down with us to the Championship.
The things, for all the Daily Mails faults, they have a very big international presence and are the biggest UK paper online by miles in the USA. They may be onto something. In pretty much the way Russian big business is spread over many areas, they’re kept separate for tax and accounting purposes. But if you can’t provide a simple sheet saying what you are worth, then Xia may fail the tests. If he isn’t ok to take us over, then I see us going down next season. If DiM does sign on as our new manager, then I’d guess we’re just waiting for the ink to dry…
The thing is…sigh!…
The imminent arrival of a new manager coupled with the announcement of our pre-season fixtures suggests to me that our new owner HAS been given the ‘nod of approval’ by the relevant autorities!
Just a case of tying up a few loose ends now IMO! I also suspect (and hope) that RDM was ‘unoficially’ appointed some time ago and will therefore know exactly what is needed to be done in terms of rebuilding the squad…..good luck with that one 🙂
Pat Murphy is clear that Dr Xia has provided satisfactory finance information. I suspect Murphy has been provided with an ‘unofficial’ press release to quell the sort of nonsense being spouted by the Mail as it’s in no ones interest for misleading information to be circulating in the press.
Reading his piece, it suggests that the ‘delay’ [-if there really is one] may be more to do with having to approve each of his proposed new directors, rather than anything to do with Xia or his bank account!
I agree Ardent – and the issue may be around Samuelson who was involved with the Reading acquisition where the Russian buyer disappeared after two years which almost resulted in the club going bankrupt. I believe Samuelson resigned as a director. I can’t imagine there’s an issue with Wyness (sp?).
Apologies to Badger for wandering off topic again – suppose it’s pretty inevitable given the current uncertainty.
Samuelson has NOT been tried or convicted of anything remotely dodgy!
This deal WILL go through and we WILL be promoted at the first attempt!
Have faith…..public enemy No1 Lerner has gone….time to get your positive heads on and enjoy the ride!
UTV
From what I read somewhere a few days ago, there are more than just those two names involved; there were at least another two or three exec and non-exec positions to be filled.
As for being off-topic: maybe, but until the ownership is sorted and the full management team in place, it’s very unlikely that Grealish or anyone else will be coming or go-going out of the playing team!
I agree Langford and I wasn’t suggesting otherwise but I think the PL / FA are bound to look at any Directors past involvement in English football. In hindsight I should have included IF there is any issue.
Broadly I’m in the positive camp but working from being cautiously optimistic.
The scum media are desperately searching for anything to have a go at our new owner…..well guess what? They have found absolutely nothing….and they wont!
The media cant stand us…..they have never liked us going back years…..the McParland goal at Wembley, our deserved title in 1981 and our European Cup win in Rotterdam. They have constantly searched for reasons to diminish our achievements. Now they know that we are coming back bigger, better and stronger than ever and they hate the thought of that…..shame on them!
UTV
No arguement from me Langford
Hitch,
don’t worry about going OT.
When I said “stay on the subject” the other day, it was more me talking aloud to myself, as I’d changed the subject with my own very first reply!
I fully expect replies to meander from the main subject and it’s all good, no worries.
I see Ray Wilkins is having his say again.
I remember Wilkins as a player. After leaving Chelsea for utd he became known as the crab (for being sideways – westwood). All the years in england at 2 of the biggest clubs and one FA Cup to show for it. He aslo played for England when England was crap.
As a coach successful at Chelsea when only chelsea had any money anywhere else including us and qpr – crap.
How he is constantly on the television and radio being paid for his views is totally beyond me – Literally Micky Mouse could do better.
The “Old mates” act.
He’s been around at London, Manchester and Glasgow clubs with some of the others who’ve moved from playing to TV; not quite ‘good enough’ as a full-time TV pundit, just as he’s not quite ‘good enough’ as a manager!
To be fair to Wilkins I’ve never heard him say anything but good things about the Villa on the radio. He also revealed a very interesting chat he had with Gabby about improving his fitness, Gabby told him that he didn’t need any help from the club and that he would sort himself out. Inferring I guess that Gabby wasn’t being part of the ‘gang’. I also met Ray outside the ground once during his brief time at the club, had a quick chat, seemed a real nice bloke.
Got a few dislikes for that Dave C don’t know why, could be jealous that you spoke to him, mind you never liked him as a player or at Villa. Happy now Lerner gone and may happier days come home to Villa Park.
Strange isn’t it Bill, if I’d said I’d met him and he was a complete c**t I would’ve got many likes, but I’ve got to speak has I find, he was a real nice, polite bloke. Sorry guys but he was….and hopefully still is!
Not sure who’s giving you the ‘dislikes’ or why.
Can’t say he ever really caught my eye as a player – other than his appearences in an England shirt which were usually underwhelming, although the commentators at the time seemed to have a much higher opinion of him – and his record afterwards is not exactly spectacular; but don’t have anything against him personally.
Maybe he’s just one of those people that the mere sight or sound of him winds-up a lot of others!
Midland news Di Matteo is on .tonight 6.30 .
No its 6 pm ITV, still might say the same on BBC,
He was mentioned but no interview mate.I’ll try bb1
Giddy, just a indication that its him but will be announced in two days time, also Xia will be confirmed in two weeks, well I would say that they are working regardless of announcement but we are not told yet.
The Daily Fail says that RDM will be announced today. Which should be good news except that I normally never trust a word they write 🙁
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3620728/Aston-Villa-announce-Roberto-Di-Matteo-new-manager-former-Chelsea-boss-agrees-two-year-deal-relegated-club.html
If it happens then I should think it’s also an indicator that Dr. Xia will be getting the nod as a FPP as I couldn’t see RDM accept the post if things were still uncertain.
As for RDM the juries out for me. Someone said that it was the team that won the cups at Chelsea but, if that was the case, then at least he had the sense to not upset the bandwagon and his subbing must have been okay. Just hope he has the steel to get rid of the dross ASAP and get in what we need.
Apparently he sorted the dressing room out at Chelsea and got them playing as a team after Boas left a team in disarray. He also got Baggies promoted first time of asking.
If two year deal is correct that sounds a very sensible arrangement for both parties given DM’s history and Dr. Xia’s ambition. I’ll back him – it’s the least he deserves from the fans in the first instance.
@H60
Totally agree.
As soon as RDM gets appointed as far as I’m concerned he can walk on water and do no wrong…
…unless things do go wrong of course 🙂
So yesterday the Daily Mail have the whole deal apparently about to go off the rails; today they say RDM about to be appointed…
Consistency?
Arse-wipe rag!