Peter Griffin

I am still in the position where I think we are well in credit on the luck stakes. We have had a few very significant things happen that could have gone either way. Pens in the semi against Baggies, a playoff final is always a dodgy affair, staying up by a point on the last day and some kind person forgetting to plug in the Goal Line tech against the Blades. We made the most of our opportunities but our number came up for us a few times.

I think the injuries we have got this season are frustrating us (well, they are frustrating me) due to the circumstances and the players. Ollie had never missed a game as a professional in his career and he misses the start of our season which coincides with us dropping points against teams we expected to beat. Sanson finally came back from injury is a player in a position we need and he starts to look like real quality and then breaks down half way through the game with Chelsea. There was a lot of excitement surrounding Bailey and he came on as a sub against Everton and looked a 100m+ player and had the best 20 minute cameo I think any player has ever had in the PL and gets injured. It feels like a real kick in the teeth and that we are getting no luck but I suspect we are getting just about the normal amount of injuries and are not much different to other clubs. These things do tend to balance out over the course of a season.

It appears you are not allowed to do that. You have to say Deano is much better. Suggesting Potter is a good manager is disrespectful to Dean as he is unquestionably the best manager who can do no wrong

In fairness they said both Wes and Heaton would be out for over a year and they were right

We will be only 2 games away from the next intl break after the Arsenal game so there is presumably some risk we may not see him till the Brighton game on Nov 20

It is a pain in the arse that he is out but as Bilko said, we are stronger now and we can do things properly and we don't have to rush him back and add any unnecessary risk to his recovery

It is nonsensical to try and compare Potter v Smith with so little data. They have each only managed at one club in the PL and Potter has only managed in the PL for two seasons and Smith for 3 seasons. They have both undertaken a serious change in direction at their respective clubs and they are both doing a good job. The likelihood is that both clubs will finish mid table / lower upper half this season. I am sure there is lots of individual data elements to show where Smith is better than Potter and also to show where Potter is better than Smith. Suggesting one manager is better than the other with the information available is simply showing bias Edit: DS has only managed us for 2 seasons in the PL and not 3 as stated. Time flies when u are enjoying yourself

I hope you are right, it will be another place up the PL table for us if we do and I expect it will be pushing us very close to top half

Why the extreme and bias each time when discussing Smith? It appears the people that endorse Smith the most are the ones that put him down the most on VT.

That is exactly how NSWE got 100% control of AVFC from Xia. When they bought us 3 years ago they only bought 55%. But as they pumped cash into AVFC Xia's shares were diluted. However, it is not uncommon for early stage investors to have non dilatable shares, particularly so if they are going to work in the company on a day to day basis.

That't an interesting point. I like Smith and I also like Potter. What is it that makes Smith the much better manager?

I assume u are referring to the 1st half against Watford and yes that was by far our worst performance in a long time. The rest have been a lot better but I think there are some games where we just don't look up to it. I can't really explain what I mean but sometimes, like against Spurs, we just look a little slow, or not prepared to really roll up our sleeves and force a result against the better team on the day. I always remember Man Utd under SAF, when they had an off day and the players just were not ticking, the team always managed to show real grit and determination to squeeze a result against the run of play. I think the attitude of Roy Keane on the pitch is what I really want to see in a Villa team. The relentless drive to win every ball and give blood for the team is lacking at times with us. When we go behind or have an off day we very often take the foot off the pedal and relax and go through the motions till the final whistle. Referencing Roy Keane is not a call for a DM, it is the attitude of Roy Keane I would like to see in some of our players

Smith has done a great job and although there will always be some fans that moan about the manager, these people tend to just want attention as they probably don't get any in their life away from the internet. For real fans, I think the biggest complain genuine fans have with Smith is the lack of consistency. Sometimes we are brilliant and sometimes we are rubbish. It would be nice to go into a game having the confidence that Villa will turn up and that is regardless of whether we win or lose. Smith got a lot of praise for the 3-0 loss to Chelsea, that is the type of play I would like to see every single week. I find it frustrating that we are so inconsistent. I like Smith and I really hope he can sort this out because he is a great fit for Villa and it would be great if he could be our manager for the longterm

I haven't seen any of those on VT

Not a difficult task. He was the ultimate professional and a very tidy player at every club he has been at

Sky now saying that Bruce will take the pre Spurs presser tomorrow and that they expect him to be manager for the game on Sunday. I hope they stuff Spurs 5-0 and Bruce makes himself unsackable.

Maybe they think Newcastle is a nicer city and able to attract better players. Also, the weather is cooler in the summer, Barcelona can be very hot at times and Las Ramblas has become very touristy with way too many pickpockets.

The funny thing about it is that the media and the Toon fans have already build the club up as the richest and are expecting a massive spend of money and an elite manager delivering almost immediate success. Most level headed people can see that will not happen. In time, they may be up there but it is not going to be aligned with their fans expectations. Disappointment will set in and the fans won't be happy as the rest of the PL fans are all laughing at them. Getting a big name manager in from Europe could be a disaster as he may not know how to cope with a PL relegation fight and then the possibility of trying to get promotion from the Championship. There is the potential for some seriously funny entertainment at the expense of the Toon over the coming months and years

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1505780/Newcastle-Saudi-owners-100m-transfer-budget-next-four-years-Premier-League-latest-news There are some reports in the media that you would just love to be true. The one above it right up there on my Christmas list of 'please be true'. The Toon fans will be gutted, reading their forum they are looking for hundreds of millions to be spent on world class players in Jan and they are already calling Amanda's and PIF's ability as Bruce is still manager and a manager like Conte is not taking charge for the Spurs game

Yes, that is absolutely correct but the best team managers do more than just build the best culture. Coaching & tactics and also key factors. All of the best managers have the attributes to do each of these. Time will tell if Smith can develop into one of the best managers. He does show elements of all the necessary skills but he is still learning

The poor lad has been diagnosed with cancer. Only 24 years old. He says his prognosis is good. He is a very talented player and one that we have been linked with a few times. Wishing him a speedy recovery

Yeah I saw that, I think we have owners worth about 13Bn and should have been up there in 4th or 5th. If NSWE wanted to invest the money they have the funds to outspend any club in the world. The is a threshold as to the how much you could actually spend and that threshold is within NSWE's wealth. It is irrelevant whether they have 13 Billion or 130 Billion or 1,300 Billion. It is still enough money to do whatever the **** they want to do

I am not so sure it would only be a couple of clubs. Regardless of how much money they spend or outspend the rest of the league they can still only have 25 players in their squad. Yes, they can have a few others hanging around on the payroll but they can't contribute and would not be elite players. I don't see why Villa or any other club with serious wealth cannot compete with City or Toon if there was no FFP. There a lots of exceptionally good footballers out there, it would be down to good scouting, coaching and management for which teams (of the serious wealthy teams) succeed if FFP was dropped.

That is no longer permitted and they will not be able to exploit it.