Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Legion on July 15, 2015, 06:11:25 PM
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Welcome to Villa Park!
Our first-ever Sporting Director (http://bit.ly/1TCJ3Xe)
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Aston Villa Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Hendrik Almstadt as the Club's first ever Sporting Director.
The 40-year old German joins the Club from Arsenal where he spent the last four years in the football department working with the chief executive and manager in the areas of technical scouting, data analytics, financial budgeting and contract management, the academy and athletic development.
Chief executive Tom Fox said: "I'm really pleased to welcome Hendrik to Aston Villa.
"I was able to see first hand the excellent work he did at Arsenal and he will add tremendous value across our entire football set-up."
Almstadt begins work officially at Bodymoor Heath on Monday and is looking forward to the new challenge.
He said: "I can't wait to start my new role at Aston Villa.
"It is a club with huge potential, a rich history and deep roots in Birmingham, the Midlands, and within English and European football.
"I look forward to working again with Tom Fox and to establish a close relationship with the manager, Tim Sherwood."
Manager Tim Sherwood said: "I'm really excited Hendrik is joining.
"We have a lot of work to do at the football club and Hendrik will make the job I have here easier."
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Takeover well dead and buried if appointing new roles. Welcome Hendrik
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Welcome.
"The 40-year old German joins the Club from Arsenal where he spent the last four years in the football department working with the chief executive and manager in the areas of technical scouting, data analytics, financial budgeting and contract management, the academy and athletic development."
Just focus on this bit of your job mate.
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Welcome Hendrik, is this the new title for Director of Football Operations then?
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Welcome Hendrik. Here's hoping you know all about release clauses and when contracts are due to run out.
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Welcome Hendrik, is this the new title for Director of Football Operations then?
Yep.
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Have we thrown money at him to leave Arsenal or is he just fed-up of Jack Wilshere's punchable face ?
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I think there will be a couple more appointments similar to this over the next few months. I'm quite happy about this, its taken far too long but we're starting to act in a way that will likely take us forward.
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Don't tell him your name Delph.
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
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I'm curious to see what this role entails.
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I think there will be a couple more appointments similar to this over the next few months. I'm quite happy about this, its taken far too long but we're starting to act in a way that will likely take us forward.
Yep. Look back just twelve months at the structure of the board and the coaching staff to what it is now. To be a PL football club aspiring to compete at the right end of the table you have to act it. And we are starting to move in that direction.
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
He's hardly a Sporting Director, more like a swot that will do Sherwood's homework for him.
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Aston Villa Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Hendrik Almstadt as the Club's first ever Sporting Director.
The 40-year old German joins the Club from Arsenal where he spent the last four years in the football department working with the chief executive and manager in the areas of technical scouting, data analytics, financial budgeting and contract management, the academy and athletic development.
Chief executive Tom Fox said: "I'm really pleased to welcome Hendrik to Aston Villa.
"I was able to see first hand the excellent work he did at Arsenal and he will add tremendous value across our entire football set-up."
Almstadt begins work officially at Bodymoor Heath on Monday and is looking forward to the new challenge.
He said: "I can't wait to start my new role at Aston Villa.
"It is a club with huge potential, a rich history and deep roots in Birmingham, the Midlands, and within English and European football.
"I look forward to working again with Tom Fox and to establish a close relationship with the manager, Tim Sherwood."
Manager Tim Sherwood said: "I'm really excited Hendrik is joining.
"We have a lot of work to do at the football club and Hendrik will make the job I have here easier."
If only we'd had somebody with those skills under O'Neill when Pubehead was looking to sign Heskey.
"31 years old, 3 and a half year contract at £65K a week. Computer says no."
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
Have they really worked here though...just an open question.
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A complete set of coaches.
A Sporting Director.
A CEO with a grounding in football.
Marketing Director.
Spending money again.
This is how is should have been over the last few years. I'm glad to see Randy and the whole club have awoken from a coma. 2 or 3 clever additions and I will really be looking forwards to next season.
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Welcome to the Villa Hendrik.
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Aston Villa Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Hendrik Almstadt as the Club's first ever Sporting Director.
The 40-year old German joins the Club from Arsenal where he spent the last four years in the football department working with the chief executive and manager in the areas of technical scouting, data analytics, financial budgeting and contract management, the academy and athletic development.
Chief executive Tom Fox said: "I'm really pleased to welcome Hendrik to Aston Villa.
"I was able to see first hand the excellent work he did at Arsenal and he will add tremendous value across our entire football set-up."
Almstadt begins work officially at Bodymoor Heath on Monday and is looking forward to the new challenge.
He said: "I can't wait to start my new role at Aston Villa.
"It is a club with huge potential, a rich history and deep roots in Birmingham, the Midlands, and within English and European football.
"I look forward to working again with Tom Fox and to establish a close relationship with the manager, Tim Sherwood."
Manager Tim Sherwood said: "I'm really excited Hendrik is joining.
"We have a lot of work to do at the football club and Hendrik will make the job I have here easier."
If only we'd had somebody with those skills under O'Neill when Pubehead was looking to sign Heskey.
"31 years old, 3 and a half year contract at £65K a week. Computer says no."
"Frenchman at Wigan, handful of good games, can't cross, £9.5m fee, £40k a week, 5 year contract. Computer says are you fcuking joking."
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Hendrick.The ball was over the line! You need to come to terms with it.
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
He's hardly a Sporting Director, more like a swot that will do Sherwood's homework for him.
Say's his role is a "Sporting Director".
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
Have they really worked here though...just an open question.
Personally don't think they have worked. Spurs springs to mind, now Liverpool....
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Aston Villa Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Hendrik Almstadt as the Club's first ever Sporting Director.
The 40-year old German joins the Club from Arsenal where he spent the last four years in the football department working with the chief executive and manager in the areas of technical scouting, data analytics, financial budgeting and contract management, the academy and athletic development.
Chief executive Tom Fox said: "I'm really pleased to welcome Hendrik to Aston Villa.
"I was able to see first hand the excellent work he did at Arsenal and he will add tremendous value across our entire football set-up."
Almstadt begins work officially at Bodymoor Heath on Monday and is looking forward to the new challenge.
He said: "I can't wait to start my new role at Aston Villa.
"It is a club with huge potential, a rich history and deep roots in Birmingham, the Midlands, and within English and European football.
"I look forward to working again with Tom Fox and to establish a close relationship with the manager, Tim Sherwood."
Manager Tim Sherwood said: "I'm really excited Hendrik is joining.
"We have a lot of work to do at the football club and Hendrik will make the job I have here easier."
If only we'd had somebody with those skills under O'Neill when Pubehead was looking to sign Heskey.
"31 years old, 3 and a half year contract at £65K a week. Computer says no."
"Frenchman at Wigan, handful of good games, can't cross, £9.5m fee, £40k a week, 5 year contract. Computer says are you fcuking joking."
Goalkeeper, 35 years old, best days behind him, can't catch crosses, maybe 6ft tall, £60K a week, 5 year contract. Computer says, "are you trying to go bankrupt?"
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Aston Villa Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Hendrik Almstadt as the Club's first ever Sporting Director.
The 40-year old German joins the Club from Arsenal where he spent the last four years in the football department working with the chief executive and manager in the areas of technical scouting, data analytics, financial budgeting and contract management, the academy and athletic development.
Chief executive Tom Fox said: "I'm really pleased to welcome Hendrik to Aston Villa.
"I was able to see first hand the excellent work he did at Arsenal and he will add tremendous value across our entire football set-up."
Almstadt begins work officially at Bodymoor Heath on Monday and is looking forward to the new challenge.
He said: "I can't wait to start my new role at Aston Villa.
"It is a club with huge potential, a rich history and deep roots in Birmingham, the Midlands, and within English and European football.
"I look forward to working again with Tom Fox and to establish a close relationship with the manager, Tim Sherwood."
Manager Tim Sherwood said: "I'm really excited Hendrik is joining.
"We have a lot of work to do at the football club and Hendrik will make the job I have here easier."
If only we'd had somebody with those skills under O'Neill when Pubehead was looking to sign Heskey.
"31 years old, 3 and a half year contract at £65K a week. Computer says no."
"Frenchman at Wigan, handful of good games, can't cross, £9.5m fee, £40k a week, 5 year contract. Computer says are you fcuking joking."
Goalkeeper, 35 years old, best days behind him, can't catch crosses, maybe 6ft tall, £60K a week, 5 year contract. Computer says, "are you trying to go bankrupt?"
Request for proposals: potential methods to reduce wage bill. Proposal: Take group high earning players, ostracise them, hope they magically go away. REJECTED
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
Have they really worked here though...just an open question.
Personally don't think they have worked. Spurs springs to mind, now Liverpool....
It needs the right setup. If the club is geared around that and manager is basically a head coach who turns up, trains and picks the team then it'll work fine. Swansea manage perfectly well doing it this way, West Brom have had their best years in a generation doing similar and Southampton seem to be coping. As do Chelsea.
It should be a setup where the manager is basically an interchangeable figurehead who can slot in and work within the processes in place, rather than the rip-it-up-and-start-again nonsense of the past decade.
That's my only issue with this - if we're having a 'Sporting Director' then their remit should include picking the manager that they feel is right for the club, rather than working around what is already in place. Otherwise you just end with Martin O'Neill making sure that half a dozen Sporting Directors are fired just because he has to be the one in charge.
The reason it's got a bad rep in this country is there's this idea that if something is wrong, all you need to do is make a former player the 'Director Of Football' and all will be fine. That's not what the role is there to do. (edit - as Mark expands on below)
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
He's hardly a Sporting Director, more like a swot that will do Sherwood's homework for him.
Say's his role is a "Sporting Director".
It can only be an English version of a Sporting Director. And you wonder why people, yourself included, don't think we need them. Over here, where clubs have multi sports and players from infant to former players teams, it's a very powerful role. Obviously the football is priority and the SD would be responsible for the hiring/firing of the coach/manager, the recruitment and sale of players. In fact, everything except coach the team and even then, he'll turn up to cast an eye to see how things are going.
Our lad with help Tim with his sums.
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Takeover well dead and buried if appointing new roles. Welcome Hendrik
My theory is that we are about to become the richest club in the world and are getting all our deals in place while everyone thinks we've got no money.
Delph chose us over Man City - spooky - so Tim had to throw a red herring to the press before they put two and two together and got four for a change.
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I agree with Dave ^^^^^
The role of running a football club is too big for one individual so other people need to be given power somewhere somehow. So simply it is a case of deciding where the power lines are drawn. In Dave's system there is continuity between managers and the club avoids the waste associated with flip flopping between managers like McLeish and Houliier.
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This sounds good to me. A forward-thinking move, for once.
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To think it was only a few months ago when Lambert was running the whole show.
We look a bit like a football club now.
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I agree with Dave ^^^^^
The role of running a football club is too big for one individual so other people need to be given power somewhere somehow. So simply it is a case of deciding where the power lines are drawn. In Dave's system there is continuity between managers and the club avoids the waste associated with flip flopping between managers like McLeish and Houliier.
Totally agree and if roles are clearly defined and agreed then I think it can work. It is when roles become blurred that there can be problems. I think the one positive is that a person in such a role can provide stability and continuity even if there is a change in manager.
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To think it was only a few months ago when Lambert was running the whole show.
We look a bit like a football club now.
Ha! Very true.
Whether he proves to be the right guy or not, I don't think Faulkner would even have known who to call whereas Fox has bought with him a host of contacts.
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
Have they really worked here though...just an open question.
Personally don't think they have worked. Spurs springs to mind, now Liverpool....
I never understood why football clubs (who tend to be owned by multi-millionaires who've grown successful businesses, and so aren't exactly mugs when it comes to money) were/are always so quick to allow dumb, uneducated ex-football players to handle their vast sums of money.
Even the managers that are able to string a coherent sentence together are liable to throw millions down the drain eg. like sell a promising youngster (Gary Cahill) and use the money to buy a glorified Giraffe (Zat Knight), and all O'Neill's other disastrous expenditures.
Halle-bloody-luiah! If we finally start acting like a well run football club (Swansea, Southampton) because it'll be about the first time since Ron Saunders left!
Sherwood may not like it, and possibly because Hendrik might soon be on to the fact that he's tactically hopeless, and a bit of a chancer really, who just passes the buck/blame onto anybody else but himself, just like his mentor at Spurs, Redknapp.
And then our Sporting Director can appoint the type of coach/manager that he thinks he can work with and bring the club success, see Les Reed/Ronald Koeman.
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On behalf of the German Villans:
Herzlich willkommen, Hendrik!
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I hope Tim still has full power on who he brings in....
Not a fan of these Sporting Directors to be honest, another foreign myth that British football thinks it must have.
Have they really worked here though...just an open question.
Personally don't think they have worked. Spurs springs to mind, now Liverpool....
I never understood why football clubs (who tend to be owned by multi-millionaires who've grown successful businesses, and so aren't exactly mugs when it comes to money) were/are always so quick to allow dumb, uneducated ex-football players to handle their vast sums of money.
Even the managers that are able to string a coherent sentence together are liable to throw millions down the drain eg. like sell a promising youngster (Gary Cahill) and use the money to buy a glorified Giraffe (Zat Knight), and all O'Neill's other disastrous expenditures.
Halle-bloody-luiah! If we finally start acting like a well run football club (Swansea, Southampton) because it'll be about the first time since Ron Saunders left!
Sherwood may not like it, and possibly because Hendrik might soon be on to the fact that he's tactically hopeless, and a bit of a chancer really, who just passes the buck/blame onto anybody else but himself, just like his mentor at Spurs, Redknapp.
And then our Sporting Director can appoint the type of coach/manager that he thinks he can work with and bring the club success, see Les Reed/Ronald Koeman.
I agree
It will also bring in a little continuity which might mean not totally reinventing ourselves every time we change manager.
I also think the MON period proved the folly of not having anyone with football knowledge involved in that side of things other than the manager himself.
The only possible problem is where the lines between one man's job and the others cross. So long as the roles are defined and agreed to all, that can be minimised.
Your comment re Sherwood, whilst sounding tongue in cheek, is a good point. Prior to this, we've had the manager, the CEO and Randy. If the manager is under performing (a situation we've more than a passing familiarity with, obv), then it has to come from the CEO, who is not a football person. Having another individual there who has a background more attuned to be able to spot these problems can only be good.
Fox played with fire last season leaving it so late to bin Lambert. He should have done it a long time before. Worth remembering, we finished 17th. I know that final position doesn't tell the whole story because it was clouded by things like the cup final, and we weren't rescued by a final day result or anything, but the margins between going down and not going down were as thin last season as we can ever allow them to be again.
In short, we got away with it just in the nick of time. If this appointment stops things like that (and the much discussed witless approach to contracts), then it can only be good.
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We need someone in between managers and club to make sure we use our transfer and wages bill wisely and get good value for money, we wasted too much money in the past. if we become more like Arsenal in transfer market and that will be good for the club. I hate our club managers wasted millions on players with no return.
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A decent/professional structure off the pitch has been long overdue at Villa. I'm in the Paulie/Ormy camp as detailed above. A good appointment, welcome to the Villa Hendrik.
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It certainly won't hurt to have someone looking at contracts.
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I agree with Dave ^^^^^
The role of running a football club is too big for one individual so other people need to be given power somewhere somehow. So simply it is a case of deciding where the power lines are drawn. In Dave's system there is continuity between managers and the club avoids the waste associated with flip flopping between managers like McLeish and Houliier.
Totally agree and if roles are clearly defined and agreed then I think it can work. It is when roles become blurred that there can be problems. I think the one positive is that a person in such a role can provide stability and continuity even if when there is a change in manager.
Changing manager is up there with death and paying taxes as one of life's unavoidable events.
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
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It's not like you to worry.
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😊😊😊
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
Wrong way round. Almstadt's role should be more likely to irritate the incumbent manager at the other end of the contract with a "now's the time to get rid".
Other than that it should be no different on incoming transfers other than another voice / sense check on new contract terms.
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
Wrong way round. Almstadt's role should be more likely to irritate the incumbent manager at the other end of the contract with a "now's the time to get rid".
Other than that it should be no different on incoming transfers other than another voice / sense check on new contract terms.
Yes I get the theory part. However in practice has it worked yet in any premier league club
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
Wrong way round. Almstadt's role should be more likely to irritate the incumbent manager at the other end of the contract with a "now's the time to get rid".
Other than that it should be no different on incoming transfers other than another voice / sense check on new contract terms.
Yes I get the theory part. However in practice has it worked yet in any premier league club
Well yes, all those ones mentioned earlier in the thread.
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Well Southampton, Chelsea, West Brom have already been cited as good examples of it? Spurs you could argue that it works well in terms of maximising their player sales, and it has been working at Arsenal in some form. I don't see this as a hindrance to Sherwood, but a help. And I am glad that it strengthens the position Fox has got.
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Takeover well dead and buried if appointing new roles. Welcome Hendrik
My theory is that we are about to become the richest club in the world and are getting all our deals in place while everyone thinks we've got no money.
Delph chose us over Man City - spooky - so Tim had to throw a red herring to the press before they put two and two together and got four for a change.
That's the exact conversation I had earlier today with a fellow villa fan. It's a double bluff. (But don't tell anyone)
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
It's not like you to try and pick a possible hole in something.
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
Wrong way round. Almstadt's role should be more likely to irritate the incumbent manager at the other end of the contract with a "now's the time to get rid".
Other than that it should be no different on incoming transfers other than another voice / sense check on new contract terms.
Yes I get the theory part. However in practice has it worked yet in any premier league club
Well yes, all those ones mentioned earlier in the thread.
Fair enough I was unaware they all had DoF in place . I still always think of Newcastle and Joe Kinnear.
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That is taking the dark feelings to a real extreme there!
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
Wrong way round. Almstadt's role should be more likely to irritate the incumbent manager at the other end of the contract with a "now's the time to get rid".
Other than that it should be no different on incoming transfers other than another voice / sense check on new contract terms.
Yes I get the theory part. However in practice has it worked yet in any premier league club
Well yes, all those ones mentioned earlier in the thread.
Fair enough I was unaware they all had DoF in place . I still always think of Newcastle and Joe Kinnear.
Isn't it graham carr who is the footballing brains there now - I think his title is head scout but on the guardian podcast they were saying he deals with pretty much the whole footballing side above the manager? From a recruitment perspective they've done well considering the transfer surplus they currently have.
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F##king hell Silhil. If there's one club you can always rely on to be an even bigger basket case than us, it's that bunch of selves aggrandasing, holier than thou, no-one's favourite second team twats.
Anyway the original template for how not to do it was Blackburn after they'd won the league and Dalglish "moved upstairs" handing over to Ray Harford. I seem to remember someone at the time saying that they didn't know what Dalglish was supposed to be doing, and apparently neither did he as he only lasted one season.
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
It's not like you to try and pick a possible hole in something.
Not sure it works like that anyway. I'm guessing the manager would tell the Sporting Director the type of player he needs, Sporting Director consults with scouts and comes back with options that fit into the price and wage structure, manager has final say.
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
It's not like you to try and pick a possible hole in something.
Not sure it works like that anyway. I'm guessing the manager would tell the Sporting Director the type of player he needs, Sporting Director consults with scouts and comes back with options that fit into the price and wage structure, manager has final say.
I don't think there are any hard and fast rules on how the process works, I guess each club come up with their own plan or not it would appear in some instances.
The only way it will work is if the DoF and manager have the same vision, get on with one another, communicate regularly and both understand and agree to the process (if indeed there is one).
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
That's simplistic.
The manager, Chief Scout, Sporting Director and CEO should together agree the realistic recruitment targets and then it should be left to the Chief Scout and Sporting Director to make happen. If players are coming in willy-nilly, then there is clearly a breakdown in relationships and the CEO would have to take appropriate action.
Where it's broken down elsewhere, it's been becuase small-minded managers cannot get it in their heads that theirs is not the 'imperial role' but one that fits into a team of experts.
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They did say when they advertised for the role that it wasn't the traditional DoF role.
That it was to take some of the backroom stuff out of the hands of the manager to allow him to concentrate on the first team.
Really pleased to have got a high calibre appointment.
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Guess the worry is we start getting players in that the manager doesn't want.
tbf sherwood doesn't strike me as the docile type who won't speak up!
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The statement included comments from Sherwood that he's happy with the appointment so it's not an issue. I'm sure the key players will work together.
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There are good and bad ones, and its just the direction football is going, its not ideal, but maybe with a young manager like Sherwood who is still finding his way in the game and might struggle to attract good players it could be a help. Time will tell.
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On the face of it a good appointment. Arsenal seem a well run and profitable operation. If he and Fox can bring that culture to VP all well and good.
At this rate of recruitment to back room staff and Tiny Tim's culling of the playing squad there could soon be more Chiefs than Indians !
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There are good and bad ones, and its just the direction football is going, its not ideal, but maybe with a young manager like Sherwood who is still finding his way in the game and might struggle to attract good players it could be a help. Time will tell.
Why is it not ideal? The worst club in the world at contract management appointing an expert in contract management seems pretty sensible to me.
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The statement included comments from Sherwood that he's happy with the appointment so it's not an issue. I'm sure the key players will work together.
I doubt he would say otherwise to be honest. We will see how it pans out but as long as egos do not get in the way you'd imagine they could establish sensible roles and responsibilities between themselves.
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It does make you realise that the club, while 'backing' Lambert by not putting him out of his misery sooner (and that was a decision I lonesomely backed at the time, wrongly), didn't do him any favours by allowing him to stumble along with no backroom staff or shiny new sporting directors.
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It does make you realise that the club, while 'backing' Lambert by not putting him out of his misery sooner (and that was a decision I lonesomely backed at the time, wrongly), didn't do him any favours by allowing him to stumble along with no backroom staff or shiny new sporting directors.
I think that was symptomatic of Lambert's management at the end. He had either lost his marbles to recognise this was a problem or was so browbeaten/compliant with austerity villa that he was not prepared to fight against it.
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I can get 'midlanders' out of his name but nowt bigger
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It does make you realise that the club, while 'backing' Lambert by not putting him out of his misery sooner (and that was a decision I lonesomely backed at the time, wrongly), didn't do him any favours by allowing him to stumble along with no backroom staff or shiny new sporting directors.
I think that was symptomatic of Lambert's management at the end. He had either lost his marbles to recognise this was a problem or was so browbeaten/compliant with austerity villa that he was not prepared to fight against it.
I think it was both. If he's not careful the Troika will have him replace Tspiras.
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It does make you realise that the club, while 'backing' Lambert by not putting him out of his misery sooner (and that was a decision I lonesomely backed at the time, wrongly), didn't do him any favours by allowing him to stumble along with no backroom staff or shiny new sporting directors.
I am no Lambert apologist, but you're right on that front.
How big is our back room team now?
We must have as many assistant managers, head coaches, coaches, scouts, sporting directors, performance analysts etc etc as we have players these days.
Lambert at the end had Roy Keane, and he was clearly fucking mental, walking around swearing at himself, stinking of piss.
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We had some good moments. The hangover was a bugger mind.
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/16/1408205510218_Image_galleryImage_STOKE_ON_TRENT_ENGLAND_AU.JPG)
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There is a semblance of a professional approach and structure manifesting itself at Villa Park. This is the first time in a long long time this has happened.
It may have been discussed elsewhere but did anyone think the FAI were trying to palm O'Neill back to Leicester in a '..we won't stand in his way..'
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Hope Hendrik got scouting information from Arsenal and Arsene's list so we can see if we can buy them instead and hope he can do a lot of great deals with 40+ millions due from transfer and whatever in current kitty.
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First lesson for Hendrik on Monday is to learn a lesson from this whole episode of Delph and Benteke.
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Welcome to Villa. You have your work cut out for you. Make us a serious club again. Absolutely sick this evening.
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First lesson for Hendrik on Monday is to learn a lesson from this whole episode of Delph and Benteke.
what lesson from Benteke? We bought a players for 7m. We sold him for 32m. We need to do the same again and consistently. The Delph lesson is lock your best players down as soon as possible to long term deals. The overall lesson as a club is build around your best players so the team is successful and they want to stay.
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Is there any irony in the fact the week we bring in a contract manager everyone buggers off using clauses in their contracts?
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First lesson for Hendrik on Monday is to learn a lesson from this whole episode of Delph and Benteke.
what lesson from Benteke? We bought a players for 7m. We sold him for 32m. We need to do the same again and consistently. The Delph lesson is lock your best players down as soon as possible to long term deals. The overall lesson as a club is build around your best players so the team is successful and they want to stay.
I too don't think we have done much wrong with regards to Benteke. The only fault is maybe that we should have some succession planning in place, maybe signing a youngster last summer, however there wasn't much spare money about and we'd already signed Kozak.
Clark needs to be signed up if we're intending on playing him this year. Baker too. Neither are the finished article but we'd daft to lose them for nothing having done the hard part of developing them (and all the pain which went with that).
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I too don't think we have done much wrong with regards to Benteke. The only fault is maybe that we should have some succession planning in place, maybe signing a youngster last summer, however there wasn't much spare money about and we'd already signed Kozak.
I'd say the only issue with Benteke is that we haven't been better so that he doesn't want to leave.
Otherwise I don't think the club can really be faulted with how they have handled his situation since the day he signed.
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And we haven't sold him. Yet!
Maybe he'll still be here next season if nobody from the CL teams comes in for him. I still can't see why he'd be interested in going to Liverpool.
I was thinking that rumours of him going there were more about trying to get a pay rise, if anything!
Perhaps Hendrik can work a bit of magic and get him to stay another year.
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Hendrik are you making these signings ??