NSWE Investment

[SaddVillan]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/jul/02/cashing-in-on-phillips-and-raphinha-gives-a-club-like-leeds-no-guarantees

[Dogtanian]

Very good article today in The Athletic which sums up our position quite nicely.

https://theathletic.com/3419028/2022/07/19/how-aston-villa-hope-to-become-the-best-of-the-rest/

[London Villan]

Paywalled...

[chrisw1]

Paywalled...

Try this (on a PC or laptop)
Open the page and let it load.
Right click on the page and from the drop down menu click 'inspect'  (at the bottom of the list)
The screen will spit with some text to the right.  At the top righ click the settings cog wheel
This will bring up lots of tick boxes - scroll to the bottom and click the 'disable java script box'
Refresh the page
You can now close the opened menu boxes
Tadaaaa!

[chrisw1]

How Aston Villa hope to become the best of the rest

aston-villa
By Gregg Evans
4h ago
When Aston Villa’s European Cup-winning team of 1982 were paraded around Villa Park before the final home game of last season, many were left contemplating how the mighty had fallen.

Spectators packed out the stadium to watch the side labour to a 1-1 draw with almost-relegated Burnley.

A final day defeat at Manchester City confirmed Villa’s finishing position of 14th, behind Brentford, who were playing in the old Third Division when Villa beat Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, and Crystal Palace, who narrowly avoided relegation to the third tier in the 1981-82 season.

The most depressing takeaway from the Burnley draw was how a crowd, so pumped up before kick-off as they welcomed the set of club legends, quickly fell into a state of drift following another underwhelming home performance.

The muted atmosphere inside Villa Park at times last season and the stuttering finish on the pitch were concerns.

Villa won two of their last 11 games and at one stage, relegation fears even started to creep in.

But in the space of just a few months, the outlook has changed dramatically. For some time, officials inside the board meetings at Villa Park have been discussing ways to make the club the “best of the rest” — the team most capable of challenging the Big Six in the Premier League.

Early transfer business has set the tone for an exciting summer and for the first time under Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens’ ownership (NSWE), there is no major roadblock to navigate during pre-season.

Manager Steven Gerrard has already told some key players that finishing in the top seven is the aim.

He was disappointed with the way the season fizzled out in May, admitting there was little to celebrate when the campaign ended.

Gerrard has spoken about “ambitious but realistic” targets for this season. Those above him hope this is the year Villa make serious progress and supporters’ expectations are growing.

Villa were able to get the bulk of their transfer business done before the window even opened as Philippe Coutinho, Robin Olsen, Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos all joined early on.

Negotiating the transfer fee for Coutinho down from an original £33 million agreed price to just £17 million was impressive.

aston-villa
Coutinho taking a penalty for Villa against Leeds during their pre-season match in Australia (Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Signing Kamara on a free transfer and bringing in a centre-back in Diego Carlos, who was so popular at his former club Sevilla that he held an emotional press conference to officially say goodbye, also shows a further sign of the club’s continued growth.

Villa even managed to convince Neil Critchley to leave his post as manager with Blackpool in the Championship to join as the new assistant manager.

There is still room for improvement and Villa are looking at signing another No 8 after further strengthening the full-back positions this week with the loan signing of left-back Ludwig Augustinsson from Sevilla.

Villa still need to recoup funds for some of the squad players who are unlikely to feature when the season gets underway next month.

Compare the to-do list to year one, though, when NSWE saved the club from administration and were able to release the soft transfer embargo placed on the then-Championship side before winning promotion.

Or year two, when Villa had to completely rebuild a threadbare and ageing squad to become competitive in the Premier League and then stayed up by a point on the final day of the season.

Even last summer, there was the setback of losing star man Jack Grealish and then the change of managers when Dean Smith was sacked and replaced with Gerrard.

Now the pathway is free of any large obstacles and the club continue to make bold and strategic moves not only in the transfer market but also by planning to extend the capacity at Villa Park, build a new inner-city academy and revolutionise youth development.

Directors at rival clubs are wary of the threat that Villa pose — even if their modest finish last season suggested the club actually went slightly backwards following an 11th-place finish in 2020-21.

Villa have spent big in recent years and have not got every move right. Yet the continued investment has generated a squad now worth somewhere in the region of £550 million — and there’s a wage system in place that is stretched every season but not to a potential breaking point.

Structurally, Villa are set up well. Their high-earning, top-performing international players are on long contracts and have increased in value. The average age of the squad is among the lowest in the league and a talented youngster is showing serious signs of progression in almost every position.

The foundations are there now and with a couple more additions, Villa look prepared for a crack at seventh place. It will be doing the basics better on the pitch that will now set them apart. West Ham United, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers will all have something to say about Villa’s push for a European place.

Villa must improve defensively. Diego Carlos’ addition will keep others on their toes and Kamara should act as a much-needed midfield screen.

It sounds simple, but taking chances and cutting out individual errors is key.

The long list of games where Villa either misfired in front of goal or handed the points to their opponents too easily led to Gerrard admitting the only way forward would be to sign new players who were better than the under-performers of last season.

Steven Gerrard Villa
Gerrard was disappointed with Villa’s end to the season (Photo: Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
A No 8 to strengthen the midfielder department will help and add further competition for places. Gerrard wants every player in his starting XI to feel pushed to perform.

The forward options already look strong, with Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Coutinho vying for a starting position. Leon Bailey is recognised as Villa’s wildcard. Getting a tune out of him this campaign could make a huge difference after a tough first season in England.

Cameron Archer may also join up as a third striker. He is out in Australia with the squad this week for the pre-season tour and a decision over whether he goes on loan will be made soon.

There have been some big moments under NSWE — the decision to keep Jack Grealish for longer than expected when Tottenham Hotspur came calling, for example. Or how Villa persuaded Tammy Abraham to see out the Championship season on loan when Wolverhampton Wanderers were offering a Premier League move in January 2019. Sticking by Dean Smith during the lockdown months of 2020 when Villa appeared to be heading out of the Premier League was also the right call.

Serious work behind the scenes has been ongoing throughout to build Villa into a proper force again — from the new state-of-the-art performance centre at Bodymoor Heath to the academy rebuild and putting the North Stand extension plans into place.

Villa have announced that season ticket sales have sold out for the fourth year in a row. There is a long waiting list and this summer’s tour will help the club grow into new markets.

It’s an exciting time to be a Villa supporter.

Last season’s awkward finish is forgotten and before three friendly games next week, excitement is starting to build.

This feels like the season where we find out what this club is really made of.

(Top photo: Albert Perez/Getty Images)

[Ger Regan]

I mean, it's a bit of a filler piece on a slow news week for them. It doesn't really give any new information, but does reinforce the good they have done since they took over.

[Risso]

That's a good article by Evans, his writing has improved no end since he moved to The Athletic, presumably because he no longer has to come up with laughable clickbait nonsense.  The bit that concerns me in that article is the "taking chances and cutting out individual errors is key" part. Hopefully Carlos will see the latter part solved, but I still think we'll be a bit hamstrung by Watkins and his shonky first touch.

[pauliewalnuts]

It is a good read and I agree about Gregggg Evans.

However, it is typical start of the season stuff and I am pretty sure there would have been another very similar article at the start of last season, and look how that panned out!

[chrisw1]

Gregg Evans is pretty good at puff pieces, interviews with old players, stories about the Ramsey brothers etc.

Where I've always felt he lacks (and still does) is astute tactical analysis.  Compared to writers for other clubs he rarely offers any detailed insight into the way we play, how tactics are evolving, the strengths of individual players etc.  If you listen to podcasts / read other athletic articles the other reporters seem more astute at this.

It's the same for the Birmingham mail reporters.  When they have guests on their podcasts from other clubs it makes you realise how clueless the Villa reporters really are.

[eamonn]

Yeah, Gregg has probably said the same thing in many different ways just so an article on the Villa can be posted every few days on The Athletic. Better to have it, than not, though.
And the comment about senior players being told that top seven is the target is an interesting snippet if true.

He didn't mention our Wembley League Cup final appearance as one of the achievements of the NSWE reign. We lost but runner-up medals is the only silverware a lot of those players will ever manage in their careers. Also made me wonder, whether our two owners were at Wembley that day? I can't remember.

[pauliewalnuts]

Birmingham Mail sports content is aimed at the sort of people who get conned by the ridiculously misleading clickbait headlines, and can then still be arsed to wade through the horrific amounts of advertising in order to get to the 'content' which is all written in tabloid style single line paragraphs and contains no actual information.

More often than not, the content is actually them copying and pasting stuff people said on Twitter (not with embedded links, obvs, as that might take people away from the steaming bowl of shit which is their site).

A once great local newspaper turned into one of the worst things on the internet. I appreciate it's not 1985 any more and they're not selling half a million copies a day but it's really quite depressing for those of us who grew up with it to see it reduced to the most horrible, desperate incarnation of an online newspaper

[chrisw1]

Birmingham Mail sports content is aimed at the sort of people who get conned by the ridiculously misleading clickbait headlines, and can then still be arsed to wade through the horrific amounts of advertising in order to get to the 'content' which is all written in tabloid style single line paragraphs and contains no actual information.

More often than not, the content is actually them copying and pasting stuff people said on Twitter (not with embedded links, obvs, as that might take people away from the steaming bowl of shit which is their site).

This is true, but the equivalent reporters for Everton & Liverpool for example are excellent.

[The Edge]

How Aston Villa hope to become the best of the rest

aston-villa
By Gregg Evans
4h ago
When Aston Villa’s European Cup-winning team of 1982 were paraded around Villa Park before the final home game of last season, many were left contemplating how the mighty had fallen.

Spectators packed out the stadium to watch the side labour to a 1-1 draw with almost-relegated Burnley.

A final day defeat at Manchester City confirmed Villa’s finishing position of 14th, behind Brentford, who were playing in the old Third Division when Villa beat Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, and Crystal Palace, who narrowly avoided relegation to the third tier in the 1981-82 season.

The most depressing takeaway from the Burnley draw was how a crowd, so pumped up before kick-off as they welcomed the set of club legends, quickly fell into a state of drift following another underwhelming home performance.

The muted atmosphere inside Villa Park at times last season and the stuttering finish on the pitch were concerns.

Villa won two of their last 11 games and at one stage, relegation fears even started to creep in.

But in the space of just a few months, the outlook has changed dramatically. For some time, officials inside the board meetings at Villa Park have been discussing ways to make the club the “best of the rest” — the team most capable of challenging the Big Six in the Premier League.

Early transfer business has set the tone for an exciting summer and for the first time under Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens’ ownership (NSWE), there is no major roadblock to navigate during pre-season.

Manager Steven Gerrard has already told some key players that finishing in the top seven is the aim.

He was disappointed with the way the season fizzled out in May, admitting there was little to celebrate when the campaign ended.

Gerrard has spoken about “ambitious but realistic” targets for this season. Those above him hope this is the year Villa make serious progress and supporters’ expectations are growing.

Villa were able to get the bulk of their transfer business done before the window even opened as Philippe Coutinho, Robin Olsen, Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos all joined early on.

Negotiating the transfer fee for Coutinho down from an original £33 million agreed price to just £17 million was impressive.

aston-villa
Coutinho taking a penalty for Villa against Leeds during their pre-season match in Australia (Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Signing Kamara on a free transfer and bringing in a centre-back in Diego Carlos, who was so popular at his former club Sevilla that he held an emotional press conference to officially say goodbye, also shows a further sign of the club’s continued growth.

Villa even managed to convince Neil Critchley to leave his post as manager with Blackpool in the Championship to join as the new assistant manager.

There is still room for improvement and Villa are looking at signing another No 8 after further strengthening the full-back positions this week with the loan signing of left-back Ludwig Augustinsson from Sevilla.

Villa still need to recoup funds for some of the squad players who are unlikely to feature when the season gets underway next month.

Compare the to-do list to year one, though, when NSWE saved the club from administration and were able to release the soft transfer embargo placed on the then-Championship side before winning promotion.

Or year two, when Villa had to completely rebuild a threadbare and ageing squad to become competitive in the Premier League and then stayed up by a point on the final day of the season.

Even last summer, there was the setback of losing star man Jack Grealish and then the change of managers when Dean Smith was sacked and replaced with Gerrard.

Now the pathway is free of any large obstacles and the club continue to make bold and strategic moves not only in the transfer market but also by planning to extend the capacity at Villa Park, build a new inner-city academy and revolutionise youth development.

Directors at rival clubs are wary of the threat that Villa pose — even if their modest finish last season suggested the club actually went slightly backwards following an 11th-place finish in 2020-21.

Villa have spent big in recent years and have not got every move right. Yet the continued investment has generated a squad now worth somewhere in the region of £550 million — and there’s a wage system in place that is stretched every season but not to a potential breaking point.

Structurally, Villa are set up well. Their high-earning, top-performing international players are on long contracts and have increased in value. The average age of the squad is among the lowest in the league and a talented youngster is showing serious signs of progression in almost every position.

The foundations are there now and with a couple more additions, Villa look prepared for a crack at seventh place. It will be doing the basics better on the pitch that will now set them apart. West Ham United, Newcastle United, Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers will all have something to say about Villa’s push for a European place.

Villa must improve defensively. Diego Carlos’ addition will keep others on their toes and Kamara should act as a much-needed midfield screen.

It sounds simple, but taking chances and cutting out individual errors is key.

The long list of games where Villa either misfired in front of goal or handed the points to their opponents too easily led to Gerrard admitting the only way forward would be to sign new players who were better than the under-performers of last season.

Steven Gerrard Villa
Gerrard was disappointed with Villa’s end to the season (Photo: Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
A No 8 to strengthen the midfielder department will help and add further competition for places. Gerrard wants every player in his starting XI to feel pushed to perform.

The forward options already look strong, with Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Coutinho vying for a starting position. Leon Bailey is recognised as Villa’s wildcard. Getting a tune out of him this campaign could make a huge difference after a tough first season in England.

Cameron Archer may also join up as a third striker. He is out in Australia with the squad this week for the pre-season tour and a decision over whether he goes on loan will be made soon.

There have been some big moments under NSWE — the decision to keep Jack Grealish for longer than expected when Tottenham Hotspur came calling, for example. Or how Villa persuaded Tammy Abraham to see out the Championship season on loan when Wolverhampton Wanderers were offering a Premier League move in January 2019. Sticking by Dean Smith during the lockdown months of 2020 when Villa appeared to be heading out of the Premier League was also the right call.

Serious work behind the scenes has been ongoing throughout to build Villa into a proper force again — from the new state-of-the-art performance centre at Bodymoor Heath to the academy rebuild and putting the North Stand extension plans into place.

Villa have announced that season ticket sales have sold out for the fourth year in a row. There is a long waiting list and this summer’s tour will help the club grow into new markets.

It’s an exciting time to be a Villa supporter.

Last season’s awkward finish is forgotten and before three friendly games next week, excitement is starting to build.

This feels like the season where we find out what this club is really made of.

(Top photo: Albert Perez/Getty Images)

That's a good article. Thanks for posting. It is a spot on summary of where we are right now and where we want to be in forthcoming years. Also spot on is the comment "it sounds simple but taking chances and cutting out individual errors is key" That's what a lot of us have been saying. Hopefully the signing of Diego Carlos will help with cutting out costly defensive errors. Ollie Watkins is an immensely likeable player but can he start taking the chances that a top striker would and should? His glaring miss against City at 0-2 still grinds my gears although it would have most likely given the title to Liverpool so every cloud and all that. Personally I think a top striker is a must. And definitely don't send Archer out on loan. That kids the future and one of the academy stars I genuinely think can take us up to the next level. UTV

[dave.woodhall]

Birmingham Mail sports content is aimed at the sort of people who get conned by the ridiculously misleading clickbait headlines, and can then still be arsed to wade through the horrific amounts of advertising in order to get to the 'content' which is all written in tabloid style single line paragraphs and contains no actual information.

More often than not, the content is actually them copying and pasting stuff people said on Twitter (not with embedded links, obvs, as that might take people away from the steaming bowl of shit which is their site).

This is true, but the equivalent reporters for Everton & Liverpool for example are excellent.

That's because they work for better newspapers.

[chrisw1]

I thought they all worked for the same group Dave?  (although I don't know anything about newspaper ownership)

Specifically, I'm talking about Josh Williams (@DistanceCovered) for Liverpool who works for Reach, David Hughes (@DAHughes_) for Everton who used to worked for Reach but now seems to be at the Mirror.  Not only were they good for their own teams but talked about Villa with real knowledge.  But there's also been other guests on the podcast from the likes of Southampton who just seem far more knowledgable than our bumbling muppets.