Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on September 21, 2025, 11:09:17 PM
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Enjoy.
https://thebirminghampress.com/2025/09/aston-villa-and-the-further-unanswered-question/
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I was chatting to someone yesterday who is close to Jacob Ramsey and was explaining how he was told to move on even though he didn’t want to. The way it happened sounds pretty shitty and apparently has gone down particularly badly with our spine of Mings Mcginn, and Watkins.
Essentially Ramsey wasn’t told about the move until it was across social media that an offer had been accepted from Newcastle. He was being offered a new contract for an extra £5k a week (which I’d have managed to struggle by on but would have left him a long way off what equivalent players like Malen are on) so was holding out for a better offer.
He told his agent he didn’t want to move. When he went to training the following day Emery asked him what he was doing there, genuinely surprised thinking the move was happening. Was essentially told by the club (not uniai) that he would be frozen out if he didn’t leave. Emery told Ramsey that he didn’t want to sell him and there are other players he’d have preferred to lose but the offers didn’t arrive.
Ramsey was a particularly popular squad member with a lot of the team, especially those who have seen him come through in their time at the club.
I also imagine that after the last game of last season we have been actively hawking around most of our squad. I imagine the players are either aware or suspect this and are unsettled.
I’m not suggesting they and others have downed tools but so much of football is psychological and it doesn’t take much to undermine spirit and confidence.
If the negative mood, feeling like we’ve peaked and players falling out with unai is effecting performances I don’t know how you get out of that kind of spiral. Possibly not by calling the players lazy.
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The penultimate paragraph sums things up perfectly which is a worrying sign
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Didn't your man, Ornstein (sp?) tweet earlier in the week Ramsey was sold that Wham and Newcastle were both in for him and he was interested in both? Doesn't chime with a player still keen to stay at Villa unless he was disappointed by the contract increase.
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Looking at it through Ramseys eyes, if you can pay Malen who has done fck all why can't I have the equivelant seeing I have played well when fit. We really do miss Ramseys drive.
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As I’ve said a hundred times before he was told he had to leave. He didn’t want to.
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We have in a few months become a side that can beat anyone to a side that is playing not to lose.
Maybe some have been at Villa for too long but this tip tapping to each other outside the box is killing us.
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This is very plausible,it’s obvious that our transfer business has been sub optimal and if this has caused us to panic sell then the disruption to squad morale is an obvious by product.
I doubt many would chose Malen over Ramsey.
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Sounds plausible that Ramsey was forced out. Aside from that, the amount of chopping and changing in the squad over the last couple of seasons has been crazy. Youngsters are discarded and not given a chance which doesn't bode well.
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I also know someone close to JJ and can confirm he did not want to leave Villa and was forced out, he would have gone end of last season if he hadnt picked up the injury. One first team player also 'volunteered' to leave if it meant JJ could stay, a lot of the squad are very unhappy about the behind the scenes situation and JJ was very well liked by the other players.
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Spot on Dave.
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Spot on Dave.
Thanks again Daz.
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The players need to grow up. Your mate has left, it happens in all jobs in all walks of life and the reason we didn't qualify for the Champions League is because you bottled it against a bottle 6 side.
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The players need to grow up. Your mate has left, it happens in all jobs in all walks of life and the reason we didn't qualify for the Champions League is because you bottled it against a bottle 6 side.
Yes.
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There was no other player that would generate £40M pure profit, so JJ was the PSR sacrifice.
Unai didn't want it to happen, the fans didn't want it, JJ didn't want it, and the other players didn't either.
It's had a real negative effect this season, we need something to unite us all again. Maybe when we finally win a game it will start to feel ok again.
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The players need to grow up. Your mate has left, it happens in all jobs in all walks of life and the reason we didn't qualify for the Champions League is because you bottled it against a bottle 6 side.
Yes.
I really enjoyed the Enzo Maresca 'fisherman' bit over the weekend. I understand that most of us are too close to our problems to be able to see our relative privilege compared to most of the world and all of human history...but like, fuck, fuck guys, you're playing football for a living! At the absolute top level! It's exciting! Isn't it? ISN'T IT?!?
IDK, they just come across like big time actors at the minute, Oh I cannot possibly work in these conditions...Yes you can. Yes, you can.
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And now we have it for all to see why we've bottled the final test every time so far with this group of players. They don't have the mental strength. Sulking because your mate has left his job is a pathetic reason for the performances so far.
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The thing is although I have as much sympathy as you can have for someone ‘only’ being offered 5k a week I don’t really see what the club could or should have done differently.
I have some sympathy for the other players who might feel unwanted now they’ve been made available and might feel there’s a lack of loyalty or stability. But in both cases what else is the club supposed to do?
The appeal of football is wrapped up
for me with sentiment and feelings and I wouldn’t have wanted to lose Ramsey, Watkins, Mings or Mcginn in the summer but Monchi and co can’t afford to be sentimental when they have to balance the books. And it currently looks like we’ve kept some players too long.
If that is the substance of the ‘something’ that’s not right from Dave’s article then they need to snap out of it pretty quick.
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If they were all so upset at the prospect of losing JJ, then perhaps they could have considered taking a collective £40m pa pay cut.
Might that have helped us balance the books without needing to sell?
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Done.
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It's not just now that we blow opportunities. For thirty-odd years we've found it easier to lose trophies than win them.
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It's not just now that we blow opportunities. For thirty-odd years we've found it easier to lose trophies than win them.
That's very true, but if (IF!) these players are downing tools under this manager - the guy who turned Matty Cash into a Champion's League player - they require a wheelbarrowful of smelling salts or transporting to the next along galaxy.
And as much as I adore Mings, I'm very suspicious when I hear that I 'don't know the half' of something, because the person saying it normally has a fair idea that the thing they're bellyaching about is quite trivial in a wider context.
It feels, based on admittedly limited evidence, like they've stumbled on what they think is an excuse and they're trying to use it, probably unwittingly.
They're probably just bored of all the meetings, and I bet the meetings are even more painful when they're playing like sht.
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The players need to remember that they are playing for the Villa, and they owe it to us, the fans, to give their best all the time!
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Yep, fuck the meetings off and tell them to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in.
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Yep, fuck the meetings off and tell them to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in.
Well if they don’t it’ll soon be time for the tickly bit.
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It's not just now that we blow opportunities. For thirty-odd years we've found it easier to lose trophies than win them.
In my 40+ years as a fan there’s never been a more dangerous time than when we’re on the cusp of something better. It’s almost exclusively been the tipping point where things are actually about to get worse.
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Very good Mr Woodhall.
Sums up my feelings almost perfectly.
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It's not just now that we blow opportunities. For thirty-odd years we've found it easier to lose trophies than win them.
In my 40+ years as a fan there’s never been a more dangerous time than when we’re on the cusp of something better. It’s almost exclusively been the tipping point where things are actually about to get worse.
Ain't that the truth. I blame the authors of the two books about us that have been published recently.
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Another honest and fair assessment. The comments about lazy and identity also adding to the ‘something ain’t right’ vibe.
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The way it happened sounds pretty shitty and apparently has gone down particularly badly with our spine of Mings Mcginn, and Watkins.
…
Ramsey was a particularly popular squad member with a lot of the team, especially those who have seen him come through in their time at the club.
Well, we couldn’t afford to keep Ramsey, because of the enormous wages that the other players are earning, so silver linings!