dn1982

13 minutes ago, KHV said:

Reilly is an analyst. If Sherwood said he wanted Cambiasso for example then Reilly will use stats to see players who do similar things on the pitch to Cambiasso, therefore if Cambiasso says he doesn't want to come or someone says we can't afford the wages then Reilly will provide a list of people with similar attributes. At this point the alternate players are supposed to be scouted and then a decision is made usually by the manager to say yes or no to the alternative. Allegedly Almstadt and not Sherwood was deciding on these alternate players through statistical analysis and not actually watching any of them as we have no scouting network at all. All the players Sherwood was keen on were supposedly blocked due to financial restrictions from Lerner.

Lot of guesswork and assumptions based on rumour there! Stats are used by every club but I doubt any club solely uses them! 

2 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Why would Riley, just like Sherwood in the reverse sense, get credit for Amavi, Gana and Ayew but not ripped for Lescott and Richards?

With a lack of evidence to the contrary they both should be held accountable for all summer signings, rather than people picking and choosing who signed who to suit their particular opinion. 

Edit - it was, for the main part, a disastrous window that drove the final nail in the coffin. I'm surprised Riley is still here. 

Because I doubt very much those 2 needed any form of scouting. If you wasn't aware of them 2 players you shouldn't be in football. In hindsight Richards should've been scouted as he looks like a carthorse unfortunately. 

1 minute ago, mwj said:

As will I, I'm just saying that its POSSIBLE Randy just said "I'm cutting my losses", the first guy that can stump up cash (as opposed to some leveraged or incremental buyout) can have her (the club)

Any things possible but Dr Xia has said its a 2 part deal lump sum followed by a promotion pay off so it's in Randys interest for him to succeed. 

4 minutes ago, mwj said:

I think its also worth noting that Hollis' job (legally required as Chairman) is to act in the main shareholder (ie. Randy Lerner)'s interest.

If that means £60m cash from a blagger so Randy can exit stage left and go and sit on a beach then perhaps that's what's happened. 

Time will tell.

The £60m isn't correct the initial fee is higher and a second fee is payable about £40m if promoted this year. Do you think Lerner would sell to a crap bloke with the chance to lose £40m if he fails?? Lerner has lost £250m he may have bann crap for the last few years but his heart was in the right place before that just not his head. I believe his intentions to find a good owner are there and let's see how it pans out. One article in the FT who found the info in 24 hours or weeks of due diligence by Hollis??? I'll go with Hollis for now. 

1 hour ago, Gary Thomas said:

Just a bit.  FT article also quoted Hollis saying Tony Xia helped to build the Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium. And then quoted a spokesman for Recon (someone called Mr Jin) who today told them that Tony Xia was not involved in the planning or designing of the Bird’s Nest, his expertise is in urban design.” 

 

Where has Hollis said about the Birds Nest? He never mentioned it yesterday when he was interviewed by the media. 

He'll pass the fit and proper test as its not really to do with wealth more to do with character so as long as he's proven funds to Lerner he'll sell. Whether he has the clout to fulfill his ideas is something we will no more come 31st August. 

44 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said:

people who say football moved on, why don't Liverpool, Man U. Everton rebrand ? oh yeah because they are a brand in themselves Villa and Villa park are a brand.

Man Utd have virtually everything possible sponsored in some form! Real Madrid are getting a roof and that's sponsored. The Emirates The Eithad are all deals to get round FFP. We have a lot of ground to be made up so if we can leverage any money off of naming rights to help us close the gap I'm all for it. 

34 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

Time has changed in a short space of time. There is a video on the youtube of Barry when he was first coming through. He was playing first team PL football and still living in digs with an old lady associated with the club.

 

 

....anyways, Barry won't be coming back here. He will still be playing PL football next year...and probably the year after too.

 

 

Seeing as it's a speculation thread I thought I'd throw his name in!! It's no secret he still spends loads of time here and that he'd have come instead of Everton a few years ago. He was loved by Martinez who knows what a new manager will want? He'd come back here over others even PL teams I do agree he'll be still playing the year after in the PL as he'll be with us! ;-)

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

You'd have heard a lot more about him if every single person had a video camera with them 24/7, as they do now.

I would love to see him back though. Can't see it, far too good for the Championship.

He's 35 not 65!! I know what you mean though all pro's have a personal life but it's how they are perceived that matters most  Hopefully Evertons new manager won't like him so he'll be available. 

1 hour ago, lexicon said:

I think it's pretty naive to think that one manager can take you from the Championship to the Champions League. It's a case of horses for courses and creating a style of play/philosophy at the club that will allow us to change managers when needed without disrupting things massively. 

I don't think Di Matteo would be a good choice. 

That depends who the manager is. If you get a big name manager to drop down it's entirely feasible but if you got a lower league manager just to get you up you'd be in for a change at some point. I think Pearson would be ideal for the next 2/3 years but a Moyes may not be as good in the next 12 months but would be bett in the longer run. These are just examples but it all depends on the owners ambition and belief we can get up first attempt. No point in appointing a top manager if he can't get us up first time. 

We need to get Barry back. He be able to boss the Championship especially against the better teams as he's getting on you'd have to pick and choose his games to a degree but as a leader and as a professional he'd be perfect to set the example and standard we require at the club. He was a regular at 17 yet you never heard stories of him in the papers. 

Build a new North Stand with full naming rights once we are established again until then get a sponsor for each stand and naming rights for the ground. This could easily bring in £15-20m a season especially as the Recon Group has so many companies. 

We are in a position now to take the hit and pay the full wages. I'd promise all the players they'll get all their money if they stay and we come straight up. It may not work on all of them but it'd give them some thing to consider. 

1 hour ago, allani said:

To be fair his figures are SO wide ranging that he hasn't really given much away.  I suspect that everyone would expect us to spend £20 million minimum - the £50 million is so much higher as to suggest that he will spend what the manager (and I assume others) think we need to spend.  I don't think he's opening himself up to being held to ransom - any more than you would expect of a new owner who seems to be loaded.

Getting tookover would always give the impression there is money to spend but the best thing to take from it was the fact he said it would be the managers decision. It could be £20m but if it was needed up to £50m! Sounds brilliant let's see how it pans out! 

Just now, Isa said:

 

I was meant that might be a factor behind his appointment and why they might not going for someone like Moyes.

 

From my perspective, he wouldn't be my first choice but I can't say I get a lot of the scepticism. I prefer him to a lot of the other suggested/linked candidates. Then again, that applies to Pulis also, so I guess it's not saying much! 

 

Not that it was a prerequisite for me but Di Matteo has a good lower-league record and not only did he achieve promotion from the Championship, he did it with a club just relegated from the Premier League. Which is relevant to our situation. The idea that we need a manager to come in and sort out the dressing room also implies we'll have the same team next season. 

I just think it needs a change if attitude at BMH that may be achieved simply by getting rid of the bad eggs but if it isn't it comes from the manager. Ultimately if we sort the dressing room and recruit right we will be in with a chance who ever is manager especially if we can get a buzz going at the grounds. Exciting times ahead either way!! 

I don't understand the hate towards him. I've seen enough in Gana, Ayew, Amavi and to a lesser degree Veretoyt to think they are decent players. Adama could be anything. The worst signings for me have been the names we new before or picked from the English leagues. If we had a manager who bought into the foreign players last year we'd have had a chance on staying up. If Riley was to stay I wouldn't mind. You just need a strong manager to say the positions that need filling as the main priority. We had good players last year we just had a crap team with a lop sided squad. This needs addressing. 

I' get rid of  Richards Gabby Hutton Guzan Gil Bacuna and Sanchez then if we can keep the rest I'd add McCormack, Dunk, Knockeart maybe try for Kalinic again. Then we'd need a couple of RB's does Byram get a game at West Ham?? We have a few out on loan who can fill out the squad as its a slog playing 46 games. Gardner Bennett Steer and Robinson can all be pushing for a start. 

13 minutes ago, Isa said:

 

Indeed and this is possibly a big reason why it won't happen if the new regime go with a DOF system. Whereas somebody like Di Matteo has always worked under one without issue.

Di Matteo hardly hangs around long enough to fall out or make demands. Only 2 complete seasons in all his managerial career? If RDM didn't win the CL would he even get linked with jobs? My biggest concern is he hasn't a record of building teams. I've no idea what his style is or how he gets players performing but we need a manager that can whip this lot into shape. 

3 minutes ago, Nigel said:

Are you kidding me? Are you alluding to the case of Villa being a better option?

 

Behave!

Without going into its too much Celtic is an easy club to manage. You have one rival and a few big European nights but getting a team challenging at the top of the PL is a bigger pull now I know we aren't in the PL but if we do have the money and the ambition to challenge I'd say we'd be the better option but Celtic does have a romantic pull for some managers. 

I think Moyes would want financial guarantees and control over signings. Seeing as he's worked with Wyness before hopefully this can also sway him. If the Dr gives him the assurances he needs we'd be ideal for him. Even though we aren't in the PL we are the biggest club available to him at present and like us he needs to restore his reputation. If we do have a lot to spend we need a manager who has done it before and done it well. 

30 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

Start by opening the Upper Trinity that would be a sign of ambition.

The Upper Trinity isn't closed. It's they don't want to have a few hundred ST's in there and have to open it if the attendance is going to be low. Until we as fans show we are going to attend in big numbers it's a correct decision. Hopefully when it's available for ST's those that sat up there get first refusal. It's better for us if we have 35000 crammed into the rest of the ground to create an atmosphere. If this bloke is the real deal I'm sure we'll pushing 40k for a lot of games. Let's see how it pans out. Some are already talking about ground expansion on th back of this!! 

9 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

OK, this is sad old man talk, but...

When I was a kid I never thought of the Villa as being 'owned' by anybody except the fans. I would hear of American sports teams being owned by an individual, and I thought that weird, alarming and rather sad.

I've struggled with the idea that we were owned by some American bloke. Now we're owned by some Chinese bloke. It just feels wrong. 

I know that's the way the football is these days, but I don't have to like it. And I find it very hard to rejoice at this news.

When have we ever been owned by the fans? Ellis became a fan over time 

SSN just regurgitate what's found on the internet most of the time. Them actually saying something doesn't mean a lot so I wouldn't take it as gospel If you do you may aswell believe everything on here. 

2 minutes ago, 007√ said:

Good. Randy shot himself in the foot with this one. Could've received ALOT more money for the club with spending a little more and keeping us up, but instead he's having to sell for dirt cheap compared to what he could've possibly received!

That's not exactly true. We've been for sale for ages it may have been the price was the sticking point it could be anything. Let's just hope this one completes! 

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

No he isnt in my view, you dont get jobs at Chelsea or Schalke if your crap and you certainly don't win champions leagues 

He's dined out on the Champions League success but taking over with 3 months to go it isn't exactly his team! Rumours are the senior players picked the team and didn't get on with AVB so got their finger out when he went. We need a manager who is proven in building teams RDM isn't. He hasn't been at a club long enough to do it. I want Moyes especially under new owners but I'd be happy with Pearson who the owner is makes a big difference to who we can aim for.