Christian Purslow - Resigned

[PeterWithesShin]

"Extremely busy". "Backing the manager". Etc, etc, yada, yada...

Lots of talk so far.

Show us in the summer or stop shouting about our ambition...

You'd probably moan if he hadn't said anything.

[pablo_picasso]

"Extremely busy". "Backing the manager". Etc, etc, yada, yada...

Lots of talk so far.

Show us in the summer or stop shouting about our ambition...

You'd probably moan if he hadn't said anything.

What would I moan about?

It would be nice to know what I think, considering you assume you know me...

[Ads]

It's difficult to reconcile an absence of ambition with our owners.

[AV82EC]

It's difficult to reconcile an absence of ambition with our owners.

It would suggest the senior executives appointed by the owners aren’t capable.

That Purslow quote from the week about progressing in a sustainable manner in my view isn’t going to cut it. It may get us competitive next season with the likes of Fulham, Brentford and Brighton but it’s not going to get us up with the top 6 or 7.

I’m always reminded of your post from the recent past Ads where you talked about us not existing in a vacuum and everyone else in the Premier League is ambitious so progress from this point forwards will not be easy and that means cold hard cash and lots of it. They’ve got a very good Manager that now needs to be backed hugely in the transfer market. I’m not in the negative nellies camp, though completely understand the utter frustration that some display in here about where we’re headed, but Emery will only succeed from this point if that squad has at least 4 top 6 level starting Players added to it this summer.

[Risso]

Exactly right. 'Sustainable' is of course a completely reasonable objective, but his comments above are really just parroting what Doug Ellis and Mark Ansell used to say about waiting for the bubble to burst. It hasn't, and shows no sign in doing so. If we're going to ever get close to the European places, and then do well in Europe itself, we need to spend some big money.

[AV82EC]

Exactly right. 'Sustainable' is of course a completely reasonable objective, but his comments above are really just parroting what Doug Ellis and Mark Ansell used to say about waiting for the bubble to burst. It hasn't, and shows no sign in doing so. If we're going to ever get close to the European places, and then do well in Europe itself, we need to spend some big money.

Sustainable for me is clubs like Fulham, Brentford and Brighton, they’re never going to have the financial clout we possess as they just don’t have the stadiums or fan base. If we’re going to go past them it’s now about the money. It raises the spectre of FFP but the low net spend of the last 2 years would suggest we’ve got a heap of room in that regard but yet again we’re being held back by our improving but glacially slow commercial performance.

In my view I’d completely sideline Purslow from all operational football matters give him a CEO role at V Sports level and appoint an MD for Villa for all off field stuff and a Sporting Director who is solely focused on the football stuff. Incidentally doesn’t Emery want a Sporting Director to sit above Lange?

[ChicagoLion]

Does sustainable mean  putting in £30 mil bids for Ward Prouse?

[AV82EC]

Does sustainable mean  putting in £30 mil bids for Ward Prouse?

Snigger.

[Clampy]

I've never been that sold on JWP really. He's not a bad player and can take a decent free kick but it's interesting that he's not been bought by anyone else.

[AV82EC]

I've never been that sold on JWP really. He's not a bad player and can take a decent free kick but it's interesting that he's not been bought by anyone else.

Lower to mid table PL player.

[London Villan]

Sustainable means the club "wipes its face" financially. We have seen the initial elements of this already, price increases, focus on premium admission, foreign tours, massive gigs, more non-football events, interesting sponsors...  If we are going to compete the club has to generate more revenue.

We are going to see massive commercial changes off the pitch in the next few years - it's going to piss a lot of people off no doubt, but the club will be run less like a corner-shop and more like a global sports brand.

[ROBBO]

I was thinking of getting opinions on JWP, I really don't see too much of him unless it's a free kick around the box. What position does he fill?. I would love to get the West Ham captain, though i expect him to go to a Manchester club.

[Footy-Vill]

I've never been that sold on JWP really. He's not a bad player and can take a decent free kick but it's interesting that he's not been bought by anyone else.

Lower to mid table PL player.

Ward Prowse is currently yes, but he's going to take the free kick goal scoring record of most goals scored directly in the Premier League and take excellent pens and set pieces. A good pro comes from good stock. would be an asset to any team.

[Drummond]

Sustainable means the club "wipes its face" financially. We have seen the initial elements of this already, price increases, focus on premium admission, foreign tours, massive gigs, more non-football events, interesting sponsors...  If we are going to compete the club has to generate more revenue.

We are going to see massive commercial changes off the pitch in the next few years - it's going to piss a lot of people off no doubt, but the club will be run less like a corner-shop and more like a global sports brand.

This is it. We're not competing on revenue with clubs in the Champions League or with bigger grounds (unless we start charging obscene prices) but have to make it up somewhere.

We're increasing capacity and investing £100m in stadium facilities. That means more people spending more money.
We've hired a manager who has proven success over a good period of time.
We're buying young talent to develop for the future, Kamara, Duran, and numerous youth players have arrived.
They've spent an awful lot of money since they arrived, to sort out what was a shambles of a squad, but if you look, it's incremental increases rather than massive splurges. They have done it properly, rather than the Man City way, which looks even more dodgy.

I know which way I'd rather have gone.

The new manager is in place, and every player is getting a chance, with him already shifting some of the players he didn't want. There will be more leaving but lots coming in too. Given Emery had only been around for a few weeks (including the World Cup) prior to the last window opening, it was hardly enough time to really get to know the limitations of all the players.

Summer will be the measure of the squad development I think, deals will already being worked on and it wouldn't surprise me at all if we acted quickly and had a couple lined up for very early in the window.

Purslow has done most things right so far, barring that most stupid decision to appoint Carpethead; that set us back probably 18 months.

[kippaxvilla2]

The most Villaesque thing to happen will be when one summer window closes and we have finally spent £300m net.  Only to be docked points due to the change in FFP rules meaning that any team that has an A at the start of their name and an A at the end cannot overspend in any one transfer window.