Peter Griffin

I agree it would have been better to keep Targett. I assume there were discussions we are unaware of relating to finance and player's wishes which we are unaware of.

Do you think Everton will benefit by selling Digne to us? Was it a masterstroke to take him from them?

You really are missing the point

I am not talking about lows and highs. I am talking about playing style, u said u it wasn't clear to you. I am surprised. To me the style of football is very different but hey, if you don't see that I suppose we see the game differently.

Trying to work out why I feel so down about SG despite the statistic about us being 11th in the table since his arrival For me the disappointment with SG's tenure so far, and taking into account that we are 11th in form since he arrived, is that I think all of us feel that we could be in the top half now rather than where we are. We could have had an outside chance of pushing for a European place. That is the really frustrating thing for me.

I agree that the club hierarchy had survival as the objective. The point is that they did not expect it on the last day and relying on another team messing up

you don't need a crystal ball to see what happened in the past, it is used for seeing into the future

I never said it wouldn't be a dogfight. i am saying unequivocally that leaving it to the last day and relying on Bournemouth messing up was not in the plan. PL survival will have been expected before that. That was a hiccup.

It is crystal clear. Do you not see us playing different football than we did under Deano? although none of us know what is discussed inside Vill Park and I think we can all agree that the changes made with the manager and the playing style are designed to improve us and push us up the table. We don't know whether they will work or not but 20 games is not enough to make a judgement on Gerrard. He may turn out to be rubbish or he may turn out to be brilliant. None of us know as we don't have a crystal ball.

See comment above. There is zero chance staying up like that was the plan. That was a hiccup. Suggesting otherwise is folly. On the last day it could have gone either way whether we stayed up or went down. Fortunately we stayed up but to deny it as a hiccup in Deano's reign is just daft

There is absolutely zero chance that after spending 144m on players that Deano or CP or NSWE expected to leave it to the last day and rely on Bournemouth messing up. We were brutal for very long periods of that season. Yes, we survived but it was absolutely not the plan to do it that way no matter what way it is dressed up

I am not sure it was the first sign of a hiccup. Do u remember surviving in the PL on the last day of the season away to WestHam?

We knowingly appointed an inexperienced manager and it is clear we wanted to change how we play football with this appointment. There is a lot of risk associated with this strategy but that is the strategy CP and NSWE have agreed upon. I think it is way too early to say SG is not a 'proper' upgrade given the fact we knew we were taking on a guy that has little experience and none in the PL. He needs more than 20 games to judge whether he will be a success or not.

Yet people wanted to keep Deano and want rid of Gerrard

In the post match he has to say he has been practicing that in training

I can sense Bruce's post match. player indiscipline for sending off, ref's fault for the throw in leading to the goal and a fluke of the season. Has he started blaming the Baggie fans yet? another 3 in the 2nd half and he probably will

I think the latter

I was hoping they would win tonight and maybe squeeze into the play offs and then lose the final. They would then have to stick with Bruce for next season. Now they are getting an excuse to get rid of him

Bloody hell, a little perspective and understanding of what other clubs are going through and the threats to their survival and the threat to jobs at their clubs. We are a rich PL club with PL status all but nailed on for next year and we will no doubt spend many millions on transfers in the summer window while we are employing architects to design the redevelopment of Villa Park to be world class to match our training facilities that one of the best youth squads in the country train on. Saying things like that give Villa fans a bad name

It is to be expected to be honest. A lot of Villa fans don't like SG and didn't want him as manager. Any opportunity will be jumped on to have a pop at him without actually looking at the facts. I am not trying to suggest we are having a great season, far from it, but the bias and narrative coming across in some of the posts on here is quite funny

I can't imagine that CP or NSWE have misjudged the financial implications of such a strategy and I expect the financials have been extensively peer reviewed. CP and NSWE are not the type of people that would tolerate surprises and I would say they are rarely presented with them in business.

I agree, but even if there was evidence to support it or more importantly, if it actually happened. There is plenty of time for NSWE / CP to get SG to change strategy or they could decide to replace SG. I am not sure of the timings of next season with the winter WC in Qatar but it if was a normal season then the Oct International break is a good time to change manager if things are going pear shaped. It is not an ideal scenario but the point I am making is that the decision about next season and whether SG is working out or not does not need to be nor should be made until next season

Why can't he? How do you know that this wasn't agreed at the interview stage?

This is a question I ask myself quite a lot. Do we really want to find a system to utilise the players we have or should we be putting in place the system we want from a footballing strategy perspective and getting the players to play to that system and if they can't then replacing them. Let's say SG wants to play system 'A' and he is forcing the players to play to that system as long term we believe system A will get us top 4 and Europe if we stick to our principles. However, we don't have the players to play system And our players would be better suited to system B but we know system B will not bring us long term success albeit it may have us getting some better results this season as the players are better suited to it. There is a merit in the argument to stick with system A and ship out the players that don't fit and bring in ones that do. Over time we will develop into a team that is good at playing system A. But if we look for the short term gain to suit the players we have that could stop us ever getting the system in place that we believe is correct. Could this be what is happening at Villa?

I agree with most of what u are saying I think he or any manager needs the unconditional support during the summer window. If they don't have continued belief in SG and want to curtail his influence and his transfer window then they should sack him. We should have a manager with unconditional support or we should replace him.