Summer transfer, gossip, speculation and the usual butter ollocks thread

[AsTallAsLions]

120 million spent, no pace, no experience and no striker.

When we get relegated signing Grabban and Gayle is a must. I don't care what happens with Davis, Wesley or Samatta.

Err, ok. Lets sign a 29 year old and a 32 year old that are not quite good enough for the top flight, that will sort all of our problems out.

Grabban would make sense on a short-term deal, I'm sure we could offer him 2 years at the going rate for wages in the Championship and he would be better than what we have to be quite honest.

Gayle will almost definitely go back to WBA when they sadly get promoted.

[OCD]

It isn’t the only option.

Sheffield United have done ok this season and spent fuck all. They are well organised and disciplined, and look greater than the solid of their parts. I am not sure I would swap any of their players for ours, apart from the keeper perhaps and yet they are miles ahead of us. Ditto Burnley.

I'd have any of Lundstram, Egan, or Fleck in a heartbeat tbh.

I would add Norwood to that.

[ChicagoLion]

It isn’t the only option.

Sheffield United have done ok this season and spent fuck all. They are well organised and disciplined, and look greater than the solid of their parts. I am not sure I would swap any of their players for ours, apart from the keeper perhaps and yet they are miles ahead of us. Ditto Burnley.

I'd have any of Lundstram, Egan, or Fleck in a heartbeat tbh.

I would add Norwood to that.

and Edna

[brontebilly]

Key to it for me is fitness. You can cover a multitude of sins if you can stay in games for longer than an hour.

Seems like we’ve been saying this for a decade too.

Sign for us. Go to BMH. Add weight, lose pace.

That's what Enda Stevens said of his time at Villa, said his diet was poor and didn't work hard enough off the pitch. How this was tolerated at an established top division club (back then) speaks volumes for our decline.

.Fair play to Stevens had to drop down the divisions to get his career back on track but Wilder and his backroom staff are clearly miles ahead of ours when it comes to strength and conditioning, not to mind the matchday stuff re tactics et al.

[Goldie.7]

120 million spent, no pace, no experience and no striker.

When we get relegated signing Grabban and Gayle is a must. I don't care what happens with Davis, Wesley or Samatta.

Err, ok. Lets sign a 29 year old and a 32 year old that are not quite good enough for the top flight, that will sort all of our problems out.

I couldn't give two shits how old they are. Grabban has almost 20 goals in the Championship again and a year ago Gayle scored 24.

We won't be in the top flight, so even mentioning that they're "not quite good enough" for the Premier league is inconsequential.

[LeeB]

120 million spent, no pace, no experience and no striker.

When we get relegated signing Grabban and Gayle is a must. I don't care what happens with Davis, Wesley or Samatta.

Err, ok. Lets sign a 29 year old and a 32 year old that are not quite good enough for the top flight, that will sort all of our problems out.

I couldn't give two shits how old they are. Grabban has almost 20 goals in the Championship again and a year ago Gayle scored 24.

We won't be in the top flight, so even mentioning that they're "not quite good enough" for the Premier league is inconsequential.

Would we not be trying to get back there straight away? And would we not then be lumbered with two players that would be no use for us, leading to us having to do more business to reshape the squad, pretty much leaving us where we were at the start of this season?

Neither of them would be a bad option for a year loan, I may add, but one or the other.

[gpbarr]

120 million spent, no pace, no experience and no striker.

When we get relegated signing Grabban and Gayle is a must. I don't care what happens with Davis, Wesley or Samatta.

Err, ok. Lets sign a 29 year old and a 32 year old that are not quite good enough for the top flight, that will sort all of our problems out.

I couldn't give two shits how old they are. Grabban has almost 20 goals in the Championship again and a year ago Gayle scored 24.

We won't be in the top flight, so even mentioning that they're "not quite good enough" for the Premier league is inconsequential.

Would we not be trying to get back there straight away? And would we not then be lumbered with two players that would be no use for us, leading to us having to do more business to reshape the squad, pretty much leaving us where we were at the start of this season?

Neither of them would be a bad option for a year loan, I may add, but one or the other.

we need a long term plan/strategy, not yet another quick fix. We are arguably in this mess because 2 summer's ago we didn't make the right decisions and that created the need to overhaul the squad as we were promoted which, created huge issues with panic buys, team cohesion, prep time etc. Let's not go buying players who can "get us out of the Championship" and instead buy players who have the skill, attitude, and style to fit AV long term 

[Steve67]

If and when we drop, I would like us to try to bargain for swaps as well as outright transfers.  Grealish with the likes of Tuanzebe thrown in for example.  McGinn for Gayle, possibly Hayden for instance.  The number one position to sort for me is the centre of midfield, we really need a ball winner in there.  Luyindu has been linked from Turkey, although he might not want to come if we drop.

[PaulWinch again]

In the Championship 2 or 3 of the right type of loan are fine. It’s just you have to ensure you still have an evolving and improving core within the squad.

[Mister E]

If and when we drop, I would like us to try to bargain for swaps as well as outright transfers.  Grealish with the likes of Tuanzebe thrown in for example.  McGinn for Gayle, possibly Hayden for instance.  The number one position to sort for me is the centre of midfield, we really need a ball winner in there.  Luyindu has been linked from Turkey, although he might not want to come if we drop.

What makes you think Hayden and Gayle would want to drop a division?

[sickbeggar]

I may be in the minority here, but compared to the rotten bloated squad that went down last time i dont see much stopping a promotion push if we go down. Yes, we're a poor side in the premiership, but worse teams than us would have got something out of an admittedly under-par liverpool side. We just haven't got a forward worthy of the name currently, and unless Smith tries something up front we will go down however well we play in the remaining games. Yes, we'll lose Grealish and 1 or two others but if you can't replace them with decent championship players when you've pocketed the best part of 100m then you should get out of management/owning a football club,

[KevinGage]

Key to it for me is fitness. You can cover a multitude of sins if you can stay in games for longer than an hour.

Seems like we’ve been saying this for a decade too.

Sign for us. Go to BMH. Add weight, lose pace.

It's a sweet deal.

[paul_e]

Would we not be trying to get back there straight away? And would we not then be lumbered with two players that would be no use for us, leading to us having to do more business to reshape the squad, pretty much leaving us where we were at the start of this season?

Neither of them would be a bad option for a year loan, I may add, but one or the other.

I find it amazing that, after over a decade of quick fixes and band-aids, there are still people who think everything would be fine if we sign a couple of ageing players who are a little bit better than what we have but whose careers are only going in one direction.

At some point the whole club needs an overhaul and to work on building a squad that can grow together and not shit ourselves if it hasn't worked after a season. There are literally no examples of teams building sustainable improvement by throwing money at players like Gayle and Grabban, every team that does it has a year or 2 of being ok before sinking again because you can't run a modern club like that. Even all the money clubs have put a huge focus on youth players and growing players into what they need. Yes they still make big signings but how many outfield players over the age of 28 have the top 6 signed in the last 3-4 seasons?

[dave.woodhall]

The trouble with that is that it will work for a club that isn't used to the giddy heights, so they don't mind taking the occasional step back to go forwards again. Try saying to our supporters that we're building for the long-term and see how far it gets you.

[KevinGage]

The issue with a lot of that Paul is any big club that drops down to the Championship has to have an immediate return as their priority. Due to the overheads and debts as much as the prestige factor or anything else.

So they aren't really in a position to sit it out for a season or three and develop an ethos - fully removed from the pressures of needing to go up.

The smaller clubs who have gone up and survived for a few seasons have had the benefit of utilising a consistent panel at the lower level. Gaining top flight football in the first place was the cherry on the icing on the cake rather than the be all and end all for them. Different strokes for different folks.

Our transfer deals under Bruce (particularly from the summer of 17 onwards) definitely felt more short term than building for the future. I wouldn't want a repeat of that. But - short of the owners deciding to bail - any manager/ head coach in place at the start of next season knows promotion will be priority 1,2 and 3.