Paddy Reilly

[mattjpa]

As much as we want to pick holes and focus blame, I think the quality of the squad is testament to the directive being sent down from above. Ultimately, I believe, the plan for the summer just gone was to spend the Benteke money on relatively cheap, unproven talent from abroad with the intention of getting lucky and finding the next Benteke to repeat the cycle and slowly progress up the league. maximum effort scouting, minimum net outlay, maximum profit to reinvest. To be fair, its is too early to judge, but who is to say that had we managed to secure 13th-14th place for the next couple of years, we wouldnt have been entertaining 30m bids for Amavi, Veretout or Traore? If you have an owner who no longer wants to invest then its a relatively sound plan in theory. The reasons for why it hasnt worked in practice are plentiful and not worth going into on this post but what I will say is the OP has negated his argument a little by the virtue that Benteke, Coutinho, Moreno, Sturridge (had he not been plagued by injury) and Can could probably turn enough profit alone to cover the outlay for the entire list.

And who's to say if we hadn't won the league all our players would be worth £20m plus? We wont because the players bought are not good enough. These group of players were never going to finish 13th or 14th, they're crap, the proof is in the pudding. We've lost nearly every single game weve played for 4 months.

Our transfer goal cannot be to simply make a bit of profit, it has to be to find players that can be moulded in to a team that can achieve something, so my point hasn't been negated, the list of signings have been mostly terrible and for huge sums of money. Benteke, Moreno, Coutinho and Sturridge wouldn't command transfer fee's totalling £230m odd would they.

I didnt say the transfer goal is to simply make a bit of profit, I summised that they have devised a transfer policy that they saw as the most viable option based on the fact that the owner will no longer be investing in the team. Its obviously a mid to longer term strategy that relied wholly on not imploding in the short term. The team can then gel and be moulded into a cohesive unit and we start to climb the league again. The cream of the squad will always be taken away no matter what our strategy, but the money is then reinvested and the club becomes self sustaining. It has failed spectacularly but I dont put that down to the new signings being good enough, the ones I mentioned all have huge potential and look better every game. We have failed because the people running the club havent been combined potential of youth with a solid investment up front who can get goals, We had a manager who was out of his depth and kept changing the team, confidence is fragile with the older players due to 5years of beatings, we have changed manager, we have suffered with injuries, new signings are settling in slowly etc. To tarnish them all with a sweeping statement like they are all crap is something I disagree with.

Regarding the transfer fees I also mentioned Emre Can and yes those might fall slightly short of 230m but 8 on the original list are in a team currently challenging for the title so I would say the failings are more down to the flaws in the various remits he has been given whilst at Villa.

[Dave]

There is no transfer committee. Infamous or otherwise.

I don't buy into that at all (not a dig at you but the information)
There has been too much chatter about it and I think it was also reflected in Sherwood's team selections.

Who do you think is on this committee then? Paddy Reilly, obviously. Presumably the manager at the time.

And I don't know about them being evidence of a transfer committee, I think the only things that Sherwood's team selections reflected was the incompetence of Tim Sherwood.

[old man villa fan]

All of the management of the club from the Owner through to the Manager should be involved in the buying and selling of players. There are matters of ability and finance that have to considered.

[AVH87]

As much as we want to pick holes and focus blame, I think the quality of the squad is testament to the directive being sent down from above. Ultimately, I believe, the plan for the summer just gone was to spend the Benteke money on relatively cheap, unproven talent from abroad with the intention of getting lucky and finding the next Benteke to repeat the cycle and slowly progress up the league. maximum effort scouting, minimum net outlay, maximum profit to reinvest. To be fair, its is too early to judge, but who is to say that had we managed to secure 13th-14th place for the next couple of years, we wouldnt have been entertaining 30m bids for Amavi, Veretout or Traore? If you have an owner who no longer wants to invest then its a relatively sound plan in theory. The reasons for why it hasnt worked in practice are plentiful and not worth going into on this post but what I will say is the OP has negated his argument a little by the virtue that Benteke, Coutinho, Moreno, Sturridge (had he not been plagued by injury) and Can could probably turn enough profit alone to cover the outlay for the entire list.

And who's to say if we hadn't won the league all our players would be worth £20m plus? We wont because the players bought are not good enough. These group of players were never going to finish 13th or 14th, they're crap, the proof is in the pudding. We've lost nearly every single game weve played for 4 months.

Our transfer goal cannot be to simply make a bit of profit, it has to be to find players that can be moulded in to a team that can achieve something, so my point hasn't been negated, the list of signings have been mostly terrible and for huge sums of money. Benteke, Moreno, Coutinho and Sturridge wouldn't command transfer fee's totalling £230m odd would they.

I didnt say the transfer goal is to simply make a bit of profit, I summised that they have devised a transfer policy that they saw as the most viable option based on the fact that the owner will no longer be investing in the team. Its obviously a mid to longer term strategy that relied wholly on not imploding in the short term. The team can then gel and be moulded into a cohesive unit and we start to climb the league again. The cream of the squad will always be taken away no matter what our strategy, but the money is then reinvested and the club becomes self sustaining. It has failed spectacularly but I dont put that down to the new signings being good enough, the ones I mentioned all have huge potential and look better every game. We have failed because the people running the club havent been combined potential of youth with a solid investment up front who can get goals, We had a manager who was out of his depth and kept changing the team, confidence is fragile with the older players due to 5years of beatings, we have changed manager, we have suffered with injuries, new signings are settling in slowly etc. To tarnish them all with a sweeping statement like they are all crap is something I disagree with.

Regarding the transfer fees I also mentioned Emre Can and yes those might fall slightly short of 230m but 8 on the original list are in a team currently challenging for the title so I would say the failings are more down to the flaws in the various remits he has been given whilst at Villa.

I'd love to know which team that is.

[TheMalandro]

There is no transfer committee. Infamous or otherwise.

I don't buy into that at all (not a dig at you but the information)
There has been too much chatter about it and I think it was also reflected in Sherwood's team selections.

Who do you think is on this committee then? Paddy Reilly, obviously. Presumably the manager at the time.

And I don't know about them being evidence of a transfer committee, I think the only things that Sherwood's team selections reflected was the incompetence of Tim Sherwood.

Hendrik Almstadt & Paddy Reilly.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/11932271/If-Tim-Sherwood-is-sacked-those-behind-Aston-Villas-deeply-flawed-transfer-policy-should-pay-too.html

I believe it. I've also seen the club attack managers as soon as they are out the door. They are good at throwing the dirt.

[Nelly]

I read today on the Aston Villa Supporters Trust Facebook page that they sat in on a session with Tom Fox who was keen to re-address the media talk about this Transfer Committee. I think he said the committee was just him (Fox), Reilly and Sherwood; that Sherwood had absolute final say on who Villa brought and moved on; that Alhmstadt and Reilly's positions are there to support the manager.

Worth a read if you can find it. I don't know what the truth is, but I'm loathe to accept newspaper and TV talk/opinions as gospel.

[Nelly]

Oops! just realised there's a sizeable thread about that meeting already!

[Dave]

Hendrik Almstadt & Paddy Reilly.

So not the manager? Is two people a committee?

I definitely believe that a team work together to bring in suitable players. After all, there isn't a professional football club out there that does things any differently to that.

I believe it. I've also seen the club attack managers as soon as they are out the door. They are good at throwing the dirt.

I don't blame them. It's been a very long time since we had a manager who didn't warrant a fair bit of attacking when they have left the club. And I'm not surprised that the club was keen for their side of the story to be heard on the most recent sacking.

[kippaxvilla2]

I think a held belief (not saying widely or otherwise) is that there is a committee consisting of Fox, Almstadt, Reilly and the manager.  It was intimated at Remi's first press conference at which he also confirmed he has the final say on transfers.

[villa for life]

Was talking to an Everton supporting mate the other day who says they are close to being taken over. Rumors of 220 million, which I found hard to believe but with Baines, Stones and lukaku being worth 100 mill, the figure is believable.
So important to get transfer and youth policy right. It can make a club vast sums...

[cheltenhamlion]

Almstadt has fuck all to do with transfers.

[TheMalandro]

Hendrik Almstadt & Paddy Reilly.

So not the manager? Is two people a committee?

I definitely believe that a team work together to bring in suitable players. After all, there isn't a professional football club out there that does things any differently to that.

I believe it. I've also seen the club attack managers as soon as they are out the door. They are good at throwing the dirt.

I don't blame them. It's been a very long time since we had a manager who didn't warrant a fair bit of attacking when they have left the club. And I'm not surprised that the club was keen for their side of the story to be heard on the most recent sacking.

It's been said the two poorest signings were made by the manager.

I don't think it's all been fabricated, do you? (No side to that by the way, just read it back and it may look like it)

[Dave]

I don't think it's all been fabricated, do you? (No side to that by the way, just read it back and it may look like it)

Which bit do you mean fabricated? If you mean the 'transfer committee', then no I don't think it has.

Like I said, there be will a group of different people who will all have their input. Whether that is then called a 'transfer committee' or just 'the normal day-to-day running of any professional football club' I guess comes down to whether the journalist writing about it (or his mate) has an axe to grind or not.

Whether that group of people making those decisions for us in the summer were doing their jobs well enough is still open for debate, but the principle is exactly the way that transfers should be conducted.

[aj2k77]

I agree with Dave here, it's not the fact we have people finding players for the manager, although the type of player should be at the managers request, it's that for me Reilly has not proven himself as good enough to be doing the job he is doing.

Pretty much like all of Lerners cronies to be honest.

[LTA]

I said in the summer and got shouted down for it that I know someone who has dealings with Reilly at the club and says that he hasn't got a fucking clue..........

Fits the criteria for Lerner's Aston Villa.