Summer transfer, gossip and speculation thread

[mr underhill]

quite right Brian ; all this really means  - providing we don't go bang! - is that we have to behave like the vast majority of teams in this league.

[boozey182]

Oddly I am quite optimistic about next season.  Bloody good stuff Prozac.

With Bruce either gone or, without his shotguns Wyness and Round, obliged to be shall we say less inclined to view constructive criticism as hysteria, we have enough ability in the squad to hold our own in the Championship.

Quite looking forward to not having the luxury of throwing obscene sums of money around actually.  Make the back room staff earn their wages.

I feel exactly the same Brian. I've been very uncomfortable with our policy of throwing money around, even before it turned out we are terrible at it. I remember writing an article for the fanzine after Bruce's first January suggesting that I thought he was suffering from having too much freedom. Sometimes you need restrictions in order to do a better job.

This year we're going to be forced to use our youth team more, which is what I've wanted all along. Will it mean we get promoted? I have no idea. But I'll be able to support, for example, Easah Suliman with a lot more gusto than I was able to muster up for people like John Terry. And other than relegation, the measure of success in the league is either promotion or no promotion, so the kids can't really do much worse than we've done over the last two years.

Finally, I heard Arthur Smith recite this poem the other day, and it struck a chord:

Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse.
Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care enough,
that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best intentions do not go amiss;
sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen;
may it happen for you.

(This is the thread in which we share poems that we've heard recently, right?)

[tomd2103]

Oddly I am quite optimistic about next season.  Bloody good stuff Prozac.

With Bruce either gone or, without his shotguns Wyness and Round, obliged to be shall we say less inclined to view constructive criticism as hysteria, we have enough ability in the squad to hold our own in the Championship.

Quite looking forward to not having the luxury of throwing obscene sums of money around actually.  Make the back room staff earn their wages.

This year we're going to be forced to use our youth team more, which is what I've wanted all along. Will it mean we get promoted? I have no idea. But I'll be able to support, for example, Easah Suliman with a lot more gusto than I was able to muster up for people like John Terry. And other than relegation, the measure of success in the league is either promotion or no promotion, so the kids can't really do much worse than we've done over the last two years.

It is something I hoped to see as soon as we went into this division, yet we have only seen glimpses of most of them.  I can't think we will be seeing a lot more of them if Bruce stays to be honest.   

[Damo70]

Lewis Grabban going from Bournemouth to Forest for six million.

[mr underhill]

31 next birthday no resale value etc but good luck to him and them - as one of the few clubs anywhere not really troubled by debt they can afford it, we can't.

[brian green]

Thank you for the poem boozey.

It brings back to memories of the words of a friend of mine who had just trained the winner of The Grand National.

" ...most of all I am happy for all the owners of horses in my yard.  We don't have millions.  We could probably scrape a hundred thousand pounds between us to buy a horse but here we are.  We did it by hard work, dedication and commitment.  Against all the odds..."

I would love somebody at some time in the future be able to say the same sort of thing about Villa.

[oldhill_avfc]

That reminds me of a couple of friends of mine, one who runs a title winning winning premiership football club, the other who runs a title winning championship football club.

Both said the same thing to me, "We did it by hard work, dedication, commitment and the largest the budget in the league to buy the best players".

Apparently they both based their strategy on that of the most successful club in European football.

Interestingly they also thought the Grand National was a low grade horse race where the occasional nag could stay the distance, but it never happens on the flat at Ascot.

[Steve67]

Has Abel Hernandez gone anywhere yet?

[Drummond]

Scott Hogan to Sheffield United is the rumour round these parts..

[Richard E]

Has Abel Hernandez gone anywhere yet?

Sounds like nobody can afford his wage demands.

[Steve67]

Huth being linked again.  Dad's army part two!

[Clark W Griswold]

Huth being linked again.  Dad's army part two!

I'd have him in a shot if we can get him on reasonable wages and considering our need for centre backs.

[Ads]

I think we will go 343.

[aj2k77]

Huths wage demands wont be sensible for us and he missed most of last season through injury. Definitely wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

[VinnieChase84]

Time to build a new playing style?
Since we’re stripped back and need to rebuild, how about 352?

                          Steer
              Elphick Chester Axel
Bree.  Lansbury Thor Hourihane Hutton
                      Kodjia Green

We’ve lost a winger in snod’s. We’re going to sell at least one striker. We will lose jack.
Just means we need to get more defenders and our depth is still impressive.
Green can play the ‘Sterling’ role