More redundancies at club

[Toronto Villa]

If we consistently flog off our better players, it's hard to see how we're ever going to move beyond where our squad pegs us at now - mid table.

I know it's somewhat a tired comparison but Newcastle last year and Spurs for a few seasons now have shown that you can be inventive in the market despite selling key players. I think the "selling club" thing is all a bit of a myth and way overplayed. Every club sells, you just have to do it more often than not when it suits you. For us, we need to have layers in place whereby when we do sell, the next (replacement) James Milner or Ashley Young isn't far off because of the system we have established and have in place. Be it in our own ranks or because our scouts have identified the replacement and the transition would be relatively seamless. Instead when it happened to us we were left with this massive hole that we still haven't filled. My feeling is long term that's the road that we need to go down is that we make more intelligent decisions as opposed to rash reactionary ones that are expensive and have serious long term implications.

[pauliewalnuts]

The selling club thing depends not so much on how often you do it, but on what you do with the money you get from those sales. Newcastle copped a gigantic windfall for Carroll so they're an exaggerated case. However, Newcastle spent a fair bit of money, and Spurs have consistently reinvested the money they get from sales plus have a much higher income than we do, too. Whereas we have largely pocketed the proceeds from our last big sales.

If we sold Darren Bent tomorrow for (say) £20m, for example, the way things are currently, how much of that do we think we'd reinvest on players?

What kind of system can we put in place to guarantee there's another Milner or Young not far off? Is that even possible to systemise? If it's just a matter of putting a system in place, why isn't everyone doing it? Also, having a system whereby you consistently find decent players cheap with the aim of flogging them for 10-15m, isn't that what Wigan do?

It's pretty difficult to find players like those. It's also then much harder to keep them if you're bobbing around mid table. I'm sure Young would have done one earlier had we not been top six for three seasons.

I totally take your point about intelligent decisions etc etc, but it's much easier said than done, and over-reliance on it is dangerous.

It's like over reliance on youth products. Yes, use your academy and grow as many of your own as you can. That's fine, but do not assume they're going to produce the goods, and don't over rely on them.

Faulkner has said he wants the Ajax model where they create their own and also buy some in. The problem with that is that it works fine for Ajax because they're the biggest club in the country - so can attract the best kids in the first place - and can hold on to them for longer if they show promise because they can offer constant CL football.

We can't do either of these things.

Our problem was that we never moved on from sixth. If we're now not investing to prosper but living on our income, and sixth is a much harder ask than it was three years ago given the changed financial landscape of the league, then aren't we just going to have the same problem we had when we lost those good players, except further down the table, and they'll want out earlier?

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is all gloom and doom, but anyone who thinks we're going to snap back into big spending mode, or that we've hit on some magic formula whereby you don't actually need to spend more than you earn to move forward, is really going to have a nasty shock, I fear.

[eamonn]

Fuck sake paulie, I was really looking forward to the new season before reading that....think I'll just enjoy watching the Villa stars of yesteryear pay tribute to Eamonn Deacy next weekend in Galway and then draw the curtains on 2012/13 barely after it's begun.

[pauliewalnuts]

Fuck sake paulie, I was really looking forward to the new season before reading that....think I'll just enjoy watching the Villa stars of yesteryear pay tribute to Eamonn Deacy next weekend in Galway and then draw the curtains on 2012/13 barely after it's begun.

You're such a doom merchant, eamonn. Strap one on / man up / borrow a pair etc etc ;-)

That's the thing, see, I'm not at all gloomy, I can't wait for the new season. We've got a progressive, forward thinking manager in place where last year we had a clueless, doomish, negative abberation calling the shots.

It's just the "pretend we're not cutting back any more" stuff that I find a bit bewidlering, as it doesn't bear any comparison to actual reality. If you accept that, it gets a lot easier. as you're going to be a lot less disappointed. That and the belief some have that he's sold the Browns so he can focus his attention and money on us.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Fuck sake paulie, I was really looking forward to the new season before reading that....think I'll just enjoy watching the Villa stars of yesteryear pay tribute to Eamonn Deacy next weekend in Galway and then draw the curtains on 2012/13 barely after it's begun.

You're such a doom merchant, eamonn. Strap one on / man up / borrow a pair etc etc ;-)

I've seen it all now. Poor Eamonn getting bitch slapped by last season's drama queen finalist.

Good work, girls. *winky*

[Risso]

There are some redundancies, mostly voluntary and on the marketing side, mainly due to the downturn in non-matchday corporate business. I know the public sector use Villa Park a lot and they've obviously been affected by cuts.

Christ, what possible reason could the public sector have to use expensive corporate hospitality facilities?

[dave.woodhall]

There are some redundancies, mostly voluntary and on the marketing side, mainly due to the downturn in non-matchday corporate business. I know the public sector use Villa Park a lot and they've obviously been affected by cuts.

Christ, what possible reason could the public sector have to use expensive corporate hospitality facilities?

It's not hospitality, it's weekday events such as conferences and exhibitions. Villa Park is cheaper than most, easily accessible for travellers from afar and situated in the local community. 

[Chris Smith]

There are some redundancies, mostly voluntary and on the marketing side, mainly due to the downturn in non-matchday corporate business. I know the public sector use Villa Park a lot and they've obviously been affected by cuts.

Christ, what possible reason could the public sector have to use expensive corporate hospitality facilities?

I've been to a few such events and when you want to get a lot of people together from all over the country there aren't that many places available that cater for those sort of numbers. It's to ensure that a consistent message is delivered to a wide range of people. I have to say though that it's a thing of the past, in these austere times there is no money for travel let alone hiring of corporate facilities.

[Karl Bridges]

It's difficult to imagine there are potential owners out there who could have done a worse job over the last two years.

The hairdresser down the road?

[richardhubbard]

Why would the public sector need to villa park when council own Icc , talk about pissing money away!!

[dave.woodhall]

Why would the public sector need to villa park when council own Icc , talk about pissing money away!!

Not all the public sector is the council, they don't own the ICC, it's impractical for most of the events Villa Park host, it's inconvenient for a myriad of reasons. Minor details like that.

[Chipsticks]

[Dante Lavelli]

I think it’s fair to say that we have not got value for money from that spending.

[eamonn]

Villa v Stoke Champions League final...the world would turn off.

[Chipsticks]

It's the Stoke one that surprises me the most. Where the hell have they managed to spend 60 million?

But back on topic, maybe if we didn't spend so much money, and then 40k a week for the likes of Habib Beye and Wayne Routledge to sit on the bench then perhaps those who are now redundant and provided much more for the club might still have a job.