Peter Griffin

I agree we are better than Arsenal at the moment but the general public do not judge football teams based on the last couple of games. Arsenal build their very strong brand with about 25 consecutive years of Champions League football so they have a lot of credit in the tank. We have done naff all in the last decade and spend a number of years in a lower division. Even if we are playing better football than Arsenal now they are still a bigger draw than we are. We just need to keep doing what we are doing and build our brand and turn Villa into a team that broadcasters want to televise. This will take time but I do believe we have the right people in the right positions at the club to make it so. I can't think of a club that has more opportunity than us to get into the 'elite' group of clubs.

Would u rule out any of the bottom 10 players playing for Villa as they don't press enough?

Not a nice run of games. Maybe we should start a new thread on the next manager to get sacked in the PL. My money is on whoever gets the job at Watford

Ranieri 4/11 fav for the Watford job. I assume he has to win the PL this season or he will be sacked

Is this bringing up the discussion of a BA Baracus style DM again

Where is the bottom of the pyramid, is that the bottom of the PL or the bottom of L2? Where do we draw the line as to how far down the money should flow?

How is it a problem if a club that is well managed and invests a lot into their infrastructure and development earns more money than a club that isn't as well managed and doesn't invest as much into their infrastructure and development. Should we reduce our revenue and give a big portion of it to Championship clubs? Would that be fair to Villa?

Yes it is fair. The teams that are able to command the bigger TV audiences are the teams that deserve the greater share of the money. It is basic advertising. In the good old days pre internet, the newspapers with the greater circulation could charge the highest prices for advertising. It is exactly the same principle.

Watford is starting make Blues look like a professional outfit

Yes, I dod agree, I did say I 'kind of agree'. My problem is that although I agree with what u are saying the team is proving me wrong. When we have a game where we can't score we can get on our moral high horse and say Smith got it completely wrong . I have high hopes for Buendia, I really rate Traore and there is no need to say what any of us think of Bailey. I can't wait to see the 3 of them in the starting 11 for Villa. Fitting in the rest of the players that are playing so well at the moment is going to be a real struggle for DS

I get what you are saying and kind of agree, but Ings and Watkins are not scoring from open play (one 1 goals from open play between them this season) and we are still scoring goals and doing well.

There is always going to be some teams that earn more or less in TV money than teams that finish above / below them. There are many factors that influence this. The big clubs often get a game on TV against a lesser team which benefits the lesser team, also the lesser teams can be involved in a relegation dogfight and some relegation games will command a big TV audience. Also, Covid hit the PL that season and the full schedule was disrupted. None of this changes the revenue model of the PL and how TV broadcasting companies generate revenue after paying the PL. Sky and the other broadcasters will televise the games which give them the greatest commercial return while maintaining a view of the full Premiership

What point are you trying to make? Are you disagreeing that the better teams get more televised games than the rest?

I think if we want to have an outside chance of a Europa place this is the type of game we need to win.

I prefer them to when we are not playing well though

And why are they shown more? Because they are better at football and there is a greater demand to see these teams. This demand drives increased broadcasting and advertising revenue and this is why they are on TV more and why they deserve more of the money.

It is not unfair. The teams that are on TV more play the better football and are more enjoyable to watch for the neutral. If someone wants to watch a good game of football there is more chance that they will elect to watch a game with the better teams in it. This is exactly the same reason the PL get more viewers than the Championship, it is better quality football. It is difficult to become a top side but with the right management at a club and the appropriate investment it can be done. Moaning about the big clubs is just hypocrisy when you look down the league and look at the Championship and then League 1 etc. The teams below us say it is a closed shop to get where we are. But we have proven it is not. We have good owners, a good CEO and a good manager, that is why we are moving up the league. A few years ago we play Blues in the league when Jack got attacked by one of the scum fans. At the start of that game Blues were 2 points ahead of us in the Championship and a win would have put them 5 points clear. Look at the gap between us now. PL and Europe is not a closed shop and the paranoia that suggests Sky is trying to keep teams out of the top 6 is tinfoil hat stuff.

How is having a closed shop where relegation cannot happen and no new entrants are allowed be a fairer distribution of income?

The clubs that generate the most revenue should get a bigger share. It is nonsense to suggest the money generated should be shared equally or even close to equal distribution. All clubs want to have as much money as possible and don''t want to share it with the teams below them, that is why the PL has more money than the Championship. By having 6 to 8 really good quality clubs in the PL that can afford to pay the highest wages and buy the best player serves to protect the massive broadcasting rights of the PL.

NFL is a franchise and is the equivalent of the Super League that the 12 clubs wanted last year. Its not a like for like comparison.

I agree, I have said that all along and I don't agree with this idea of the Sky6 or it being a closed shop. Arsenal and Leicester have proven it is not a closed shop. Yes, it is difficult to become one of the elite clubs but once a club is an elite club they deserve to earn more money than the lower clubs.

I agree that the PL needs competition and the PL has the benefit over the other leagues in that there is more than just two teams competing for the league and cups. But it is deluded to think that the PL does not need a set of elite clubs to participate in the league in command the huge fees it charges for broadcasting.

We just just sell a player every few years for 100m and we will be in great position

I understand what you are saying, it is just I disagree. More people want to see Liverpool on TV than want to see Villa. Liverpool therefore increases the value of the broadcasting rights more than Villa. Therefore, Liverpool should get paid more than Villa. It doesn't matter what the PL call the payment, be that prize money or facility fee or whatever. The teams that increase the value of the broadcasting more than other teams deserve a greater slice of the pie

Obviously I don't know the details of cash flow etc at AVFC but having sold Jack it suggests that no cash injection was required. It is also important to note that it is an overdraft facility and not a loan. We did not receive any money from Barclays, we just agreed that if we want to go overdrawn in the future we are allowed to do so. I am with you on wanting a sustainable AVFC, and that is what NSWE and CP have said from the very start but I do not believe that NSWE will not invest further in the club in the form of equity.