Steve Round

[Ads]

Ha! What don't you understand. It's not about the players that yes, we were happy to sign, it's the fact we appear not to have a pot to piss in now. It's about the lack of financial planning. The fact that Bruce says we may have to sell players we don't want to sell to balance the books.

You didn't expect the managers to be backed?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Calderwood is a strange one. He was highly credited for the way Brighton play. They were not happy to lose him last season.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Ha! What don't you understand. It's not about the players that yes, we were happy to sign, it's the fact we appear not to have a pot to piss in now. It's about the lack of financial planning. The fact that Bruce says we may have to sell players we don't want to sell to balance the books.

You didn't expect the managers to be backed?

Now you're being silly.

[Ads]

We spent barely anything in January, the manager should have been entitled to pick his players, as RDM was. That we had to write off £20 million this summer is down to poor acquisitions.

We're not at the limit of FFP because of anything Bruce has done.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Nobody is blaming Bruce.

What I am questioning is the financial planning of Wyness and Round. Apart from Hogan, we paid an additional £11m on three midfielders and a full back, money that we've recouped this summer with the sale of Vertout, Sanchez and Baker. So far this window we've spent £2.5m and even then the manager is saying we still need to sell and by the sound of it, one of our more valuable players.

Maybe Xia thought he could buy us out of the Championship but you'd have hoped Wyness and later Round would have set the alarm bells ringing back in January to let him know it was a shit or bust strategy.

[BarryT]

Nobody is blaming Bruce.

What I am questioning is the financial planning of Wyness and Round. Apart from Hogan, we paid an additional £11m on three midfielders and a full back, money that we've recouped this summer with the sale of Vertout, Sanchez and Baker. So far this window we've spent £2.5m and even then the manager is saying we still need to sell and by the sound of it, one of our more valuable players.

Maybe Xia thought he could buy us out of the Championship but you'd have hoped Wyness and later Round would have set the alarm bells ringing back in January to let him know it was a shit or bust strategy.

I guess thats where my confusion on what the real plan was/is - regardless of what happened in January the piece implies the day of shit or bust strategy should be moving behind us but I think its pretty much been biting us on the arse for most of the backend of last season culminating in no real strategy around buying players this summer that supposedly will support the "Villa way" - unless we are thinking kick and rush is our long term aim (and we still don't have the players even for that)

I just wonder what Steve Round would say his best achievement has been in the last 12 months. I've had a season ticket for a number of years and gave it a miss for a few years due to working abroad and other work pressures but decided this was the season that the recovery started and bought one. Just can't see that anything has changed but more importantly you would hope that the likes of Steve Round and the CEO etc have been preparing for this eventuality over the past 9 months.

Somehow I doubt it.

[Ads]

We sold Ayew, Westwood and Rudy for 17 million in January, which funded the bulk of our purchases.

Round wasn't at the club last summer.

[BarryT]

We sold Ayew, Westwood and Rudy for 17 million in January, which funded the bulk of our purchases.

Round wasn't at the club last summer.

No he wasn't - think he came in around September

[berneboy]

There's an interesting and very largely positive interview with Steve Round on the OS.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2018/02/14/the-big-interview-steve-round-on-villa?view=amp&__twitter_impression=true

[LeeB]

Nice 'Man at C&A' photo to go with it.

[Hookeysmith]

Well whatever his contribution is it is having a positive effect

Long may it continue

[Toronto Villa]

It’s a really good read. And he points out many times it’s a process and our direction is correct. That we are setting in place a foundation for future success which we all said was critical. The losing culture at the club had to change and that must have been challenging. We’re on the right path.

[Des Little]

It would be good to hear more about the long term plans for the club, be it in the Prem or where we are now.  By that I mean on and off the pitch - this Aston re generation scheme sounds very promising.

[Dante Lavelli]

It would be good to hear more about the long term plans for the club, be it in the Prem or where we are now.  By that I mean on and off the pitch - this Aston re generation scheme sounds very promising.

The official site also has an interview with Wyness which looks forward a bit more, buying other clubs, increasing capacity to 60k being the two big changes.  Little by the way of detail but certainly express ambition.

[Hookeysmith]

I have always wondered, imagine if we had established ourselves as a top 4 club under Lerner would be honestly attract enough regular support to fill 60k stadium every week? Even with man city's success they cannot regularly draw crowds like the red side of town.
I think for balance, if nothing else, the midlands needs a top premiership club. But would we genuinely have support to fill one?