A strange pre-season

[dave.woodhall]

https://heroesandvillains.info/2025/08/04/a-strange-pre-season/

Richard Keeling comments on the latest Astonian happenings.

[Steve67]

Good article, I enjoyed reading it.  Such a very quiet window. I honestly don't recall a quieter window in all my 58 years of being a Villain.   I've never loved and hated football so much.

[ROBBO]

The premier league is supposedly a competition, trouble is most clubs are fighting with one arm tied behind their backs.

[steamer]

Couple of concerning points
Particularly about the board

[darren woolley]

Good article.

[The Edge]

Good read that. It leaves me with a horrible gut feeling that owners like our own are going to bail out unless something changes. The PL have done a fantastic job of protecting "The Sky Six" (Scab Six) with a set of rules literally designed to make it practically impossible for ambitious clubs like our own to gatecrash the party. Maybe im just being overly pessimistic because of the flattest pre-season in memory but watching the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City  and Arsenal spending vast sums to practically confirm the top 4 before a ball is even kicked just leaves me with a depressing sinking feeling. That's not how it should feel with the new season fast approaching.

[Hillbilly]

“We provide a unique combination of active, strategic partnership and patient, long-term capital to high-potential companies and their management teams.” Corporate bollocks.

[Duncan Shaw]

Good read that. It leaves me with a horrible gut feeling that owners like our own are going to bail out unless something changes. The PL have done a fantastic job of protecting "The Sky Six" (Scab Six) with a set of rules literally designed to make it practically impossible for ambitious clubs like our own to gatecrash the party. Maybe im just being overly pessimistic because of the flattest pre-season in memory but watching the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City  and Arsenal spending vast sums to practically confirm the top 4 before a ball is even kicked just leaves me with a depressing sinking feeling. That's not how it should feel with the new season fast approaching.

That is my worry too, why would they continue to bother if the ladder is constantly being pulled up.  It's certainly making me feel flat before the season, I can't help but have a nagging feeling that March/April last season was the peak, and missing out on those things narrowly will define our next few years.

Cue Unai summoning the spirit of Ron Saunders.......

[VillaTim]

Certainly hope Atairos aren't meddling n affairs too much and disrupting the likes of Vidagany , which in turn would unsettle Emery / Monchi.