Tony's Tweets

[olaftab]

Incredible  excuses being made for Bruce in this 87v16 debate.

[paul_e]

and yet again it's not about being impatient, how patient should we be with a 33 year old who we got in purely to get us promotion this season?

More patient than 5 games is my answer.

Why is it that other teams can sign players and have an immediate impact but when we sign players who should provide it we have to put up with them being shit for a few months whilst they 'settle' or 'gel'.

[Clampy]

and yet again it's not about being impatient, how patient should we be with a 33 year old who we got in purely to get us promotion this season?

More patient than 5 games is my answer.

Why is it that other teams can sign players and have an immediate impact but when we sign players who should provide it we have to put up with them being shit for a few months whilst they 'settle' or 'gel'.

How do you know all other team's players make an immediate impact? I'd be very surprised if every player every other club signs hits the ground running.

[paul_e]

and yet again it's not about being impatient, how patient should we be with a 33 year old who we got in purely to get us promotion this season?

More patient than 5 games is my answer.

Why is it that other teams can sign players and have an immediate impact but when we sign players who should provide it we have to put up with them being shit for a few months whilst they 'settle' or 'gel'.

How do you know all other team's players make an immediate impact? I'd be very surprised if every player every other club signs hits the ground running.

Who said anything about all of them?  I just want at least 1 and I want it to be one of the 'experienced' players that we've thrown a retirement package at.  We've sign 4 experienced players who've had a chance to play, Terry has weakened our defence, Samba looks as slow on the turn as we expected, Whelan has been anonymous and Elmo looks one paced and average, none out of 4 in the first month when we needed a good start isn't great.  Hourihane (who wasn't Bruce's first choice in that role) and a few kids are the only players who can be happy with their start to the season.  We keep signing leaders but if those players don't perform better than what we had then we tread water.

I haven't written Whelan or Terry off and Samba is only a backup but it's undeniable that they've not given us the boost that we should've expected, that may change in a month or 2 but given some people are quick to tell that they'd given up on promotion after 11 games last season (so Bruce missing out wasn't a failure) that might be too late.

[Drummond]

The only thing I will say is that Bruce just isn't and never will be the class of manager Taylor was.

Very, very few were, are or will be.

[Clampy]

I think Terry has struggled the most without being totally awful. Whelan has been ok (I thought he had a good second half against Norwich), Samba's only played one half and Elmo like Whelan has been ok. I'm sure they'll all play their part as the season goes on.

[Risso]

I think Terry has struggled the most without being totally awful. Whelan has been ok (I thought he had a good second half against Norwich), Samba's only played one half and Elmo like Whelan has been ok. I'm sure they'll all play their part as the season goes on.

Elmohamady was absolutely awful against Bristol.

[Drummond]

I think Terry has struggled the most without being totally awful. Whelan has been ok (I thought he had a good second half against Norwich), Samba's only played one half and Elmo like Whelan has been ok. I'm sure they'll all play their part as the season goes on.

Elmohamady was absolutely awful against Bristol.

Surely we're not judging players based on a game or two?

[saunders_heroes]

According to the Telegraph Villa have escaped any punishment from the Football League regarding Financial Fair Play due to sales that raised £18m in the summer.

[eamonn]

John Percy writes:

Aston Villa are set to escape punishment from the Football League after raising £18million in player sales this summer.

Villa offloaded nine senior players in the transfer window, either permanently or on loan, in a bid to fall in line with Financial Fair Play regulations.

The Championship club were in danger of breaching League rules after incurring heavy losses in the past, but are now in a healthier financial state after their summer clear-out.

Stringent new rules dictate that clubs can lose up to £83million over the course of three seasons, and in February Villa revealed a deficit of £81.3million, leaving them dangerously close to sanctions.

Jordan Veretout, Carlos Sanchez, Nathan Baker and Leandro Bacuna have since left the club while Jordan Amavi’s loan move to Marseille is expected to be made permanent next year.

Villa did sign seven players but, crucially, only spent an initial £2million on Glenn Whelan and Ahmed Elmohamady.

Former Chelsea captain John Terry earns around £70,000 a week after signing on a free transfer, while the deal to sign Robert Snodgrass from West Ham on loan is also understood to include Villa paying around £40,000 a week of his wages.

But Villa’s success in generating cash through sales will ease fears over possible punishment, which could include a heavy fine or points deduction.

Last month manager Steve Bruce admitted: “I told people before the end of last season that there won’t be millions spent.

“I’ve had to balance the books. It’s always been a part of the manager’s job. In that respect, I’m trying to clean up the mess.

“The question you always ask is: Can I spend some money? At this particular moment, no I can’t.

“We have to get on with what we’ve got and I think we’ve still got a good enough squad to be challenging. I’m convinced about that.”

£6m Veretout
£2.5m Sanchez
£? Baker
£? Bacuna
£? Cissokho
£? Amavi Loan Fee
£? Gil Loan Fee
£? Gardner Loan Fee
£? Tshibola Loan Fee
___
£18m

[Ads]

£4 million for Baker.

[eamonn]

£2.5m Bacuna? (didn't we turn down Reading's first offer for £1.5m?)
Leaving about £2m fee for Amavi's year away and £1m loan fees combined between Gil/Gards/Tish.

We didn't do too badly all told.

[stuart445]

so he was at it then, in a sense, as he was the club's only shareholder?

He didn't take any of it out, if that's what you mean.

I sense we're on the slow boat to another Herbert discussion.

I fear you may be right.

I don't know about that. But I'm sure that there's one or two on here that would "hold a grudge"  if Ellis had broken all those unwanted records and taken us out of the PL.

Just because we lauded the arrival of Lerner as the coming of the Messiah and the death of the Antichrist, we don't have this pretend the reality was anything other that a complete disaster. Or do we?

Ellis took us from European Champions to relegation in just 5 years,  surely that's good enough reason to hold a grudge. I'm no Lerner fan but he took us from 6th to relegation in 6 years.

I don't hold a grudge against Lerner either to be honest I do believe he cared but that simply isn't enough.

[LeeB]

so he was at it then, in a sense, as he was the club's only shareholder?

He didn't take any of it out, if that's what you mean.

I sense we're on the slow boat to another Herbert discussion.

I fear you may be right.

I don't know about that. But I'm sure that there's one or two on here that would "hold a grudge"  if Ellis had broken all those unwanted records and taken us out of the PL.

Just because we lauded the arrival of Lerner as the coming of the Messiah and the death of the Antichrist, we don't have this pretend the reality was anything other that a complete disaster. Or do we?

Ellis took us from European Champions to relegation in just 5 years,  surely that's good enough reason to hold a grudge. I'm no Lerner fan but he took us from 6th to relegation in 6 years.

I don't hold a grudge against Lerner either to be honest I do believe he cared but that simply isn't enough.

He actually took us from very close to relegation, up to sixth a bit and then to relegation in six years, as our dearly beloved had pretty much ran us into the ground by then.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Assuming the Telegraph is right I will give Bruce, Xia & Wyness some credit for avoiding the eldritch FFP and at the same time contstructing a squad that is still one of (if not the) strongest in the league. Good job.