The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[Zatman]

Of the big players that left Grealish is one that I hold few grudges against. Just like Young, Benteke and Barry(ok he **** up his way of leaving) 

Milner and Downing however ran at the first opportunity yet Milner is bizarrely adored by a majority

Actually Delph i was happy to see leave as well because I felt he was crap

[tomav84]

14 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Sorry to be harsh but I read that as "I'm hurt because I allowed myself to get too connected and was duped..." and that's not grealishs fault that's your own 

 

well, its not just that i allowed myself to be connected is it. he literally said numerous times he was a massive villa fan, believed in the project etc etc so why would i not believe that?

and there needs to be 2 parties involved for one to be 'duped' so you contradicted yourself there. if it's not jack, who's the 2nd party that 'duped' me?

[HanoiVillan]

2 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

he literally said numerous times he was a massive villa fan, believed in the project

Him moving does not prove either of those things untrue though.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Him moving does not prove either of those things untrue though.

yeah and he signed a contract and said he wanted to be part of it.

[HanoiVillan]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

yeah and he signed a contract and said he wanted to be part of it.

And indeed he was part of it.

[tomav84]

this pretty much echoes my thoughts

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/jack-grealish-aston-villa-england-21473066

Quote

There was a real smugness and arrogance to Jack Grealish that was quite distasteful as he sat in a sports hall at St George's Park as he spoke to ITV's Gabriel Clarke ahead of England's 4-0 win in Hungary.

 

[MWARLEY2]

I said it the other day . Theres a fine line between confidence and arrogance. And he has done a Carl Lewis and jumped way over it. We all loved him and it turns out he was just a huge prick in reality. But as someone said . He is a brand now . Anything like this creates more talk about Grealish which is what his management team and him want. 

[HalfTimePost]

Awful article from Ashley Preece. The worst article I've ever read. Reads like he spent 6 weeks in the echo chamber of this thread and then made it into an article.

What Jack said hurts as a villa fan. But. We all knew it was true. And he hasn't actually said anything bad about Villa. It's just not nice to read. Every bad thing is additional interpretation that's been added onto it by fans afterwards.

As for the Article. I don't disagree with Grealish's reply either.

 

[nick76]

3 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

this pretty much echoes my thoughts

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/jack-grealish-aston-villa-england-21473066

 

Mine too.  If others on this forum don’t understand our loathing for Jack after reading that piece which is just a sample of some of the stuff then they’ll never understand our viewpoint.  It would make any further discussion pointless.

[nick76]

1 minute ago, HalfTimePost said:

Awful article from Ashley Preece. The worst article I've ever read. Reads like he spent 6 weeks in the echo chamber of this thread and then made it into an article.

What Jack said hurts as a villa fan. But. We all knew it was true. And he hasn't actually said anything bad about Villa. It's just not nice to read. Every bad thing is additional interpretation that's been added onto it by fans afterwards.

As for the Article. I don't disagree with Grealish's reply either.

 

I disagree, I’m not a fan of Preece but this was spot on.

[tomav84]

Just now, nick76 said:

Mine too.  If others on this forum don’t understand our loathing for Jack after reading that piece which is just a sample of some of the stuff then they’ll never understand our viewpoint.  It would make any further discussion pointless.

agreed and frankly i'm done talking about him. there's 2 camps regarding grealish and i couldn't care less which one anyone else is in.

[villa4europe]

Preece at best comes across like a jilted lover and at worst like a child 

[HalfTimePost]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I disagree, I’m not a fan of Preece but this was spot on.

I normally like Preece but there is nothing professional about that article. It's a shambles as a piece of writing and reads like the posts in this thread. He may as well have signed off calling him Joe Gresford. Atrocious article which reflects worse on the club than Jacks interview did.

[nick76]

Just now, HalfTimePost said:

I normally like Preece but there is nothing professional about that article. It's a shambles as a piece of writing and reads like the posts in this thread. He may as well have signed off calling him Joe Gresford. Atrocious article which reflects worse on the club than Jacks interview did.

Reflects what a lot of Villa fans think, it was spot on and does not reflect badly on the club but highlights how poor Jack has been about this.  After all the national media praising him about the move and ignoring us, it’s great that media type gave the other side to it and a view from a lot of the base.

[Reivax_Villa]

Poor article and very bitter which represents the current feelings amongst a group of Villa fans towards Grealish.

Many fans don’t and never want to understand the business of football.

Football is not fantasy, it’s a well marketed product that is sold to the masses. Grealish, like most of the football players are part of it, it’s a business.

Everyone needs to move on from this, because it’s becoming very toxic.

 

[nick76]

3 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Preece at best comes across like a jilted lover and at worst like a child 

In your view! In my view he comes across as understanding what a lot of the base are feeling towards Jack at the moment.

[Fairy In Boots]

1 hour ago, Wainy316 said:

As I've said before. no way am I becoming what we've laughed at Blues, Baggies, Wolves, Leeds etc fans for for the last few years.

I'm not undoing all the years we've managed to successfully gloat and bat them off.

Who’s respect are you seeking by this approach? We will always be “the vile” to other clubs. Football is tribal I just don’t get our fans obsession with being perceived as universally liked, it’s self defeating as it’s impossible. 
Liverpool and United are small time at times, that’s tribalism. 

[HanoiVillan]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

You don’t agree with us, you can’t see our point of view, we get that!

The two complaints I'm responding to are that 'he said numerous times that he's a massive Villa fan', and that '[he said he] believed in the project', which is followed by 'he signed a contract and said he wanted to be a part of it'. To address these:

• He is both a Villa fan, and also a professional footballer who can play the game at a higher level than Aston Villa. He has not said 'actually I'm not a Villa fan at all' or anything to suggest otherwise. Of course he isn't going to spend the first few weeks at a new football club talking about how he supports his previous one either. The point you're missing is that this is his career, not just his hobby, so being a fan is not the decisive factor in where he plays his football;
• Players say all sorts of things when they sign contracts. This is mostly for the benefit of the club, so that they have lots of positive audiovisual content to put on their social media channels. It doesn't mean that players are committing themselves to never leaving the club. They don't see it that way, so you shouldn't either. It is also surely true that Jack noticed the club was *improving* - he could hardly not have noticed - but there's a difference between improving to a mid-table side, which is what we have done, and the level that he can play at. And we know he can play at that level, because Man City chose to spend £100m on him.

This is a business. I enjoy working at my current employer, and have a lot of time for them, but if someone came and offered me a lot more money to do what I do elsewhere of course I would take it. It doesn't mean I would suddenly hate my current employer, or have turned on them, or whatever else. I think you would probably also move employer if you got more money to do the same job with a higher-quality group of colleagues, but even if you wouldn't, most people would.

I get it, I don't like watching him play for Man City either. I wish he hadn't moved, and specifically I wish we were good enough to be challenging for titles like he is. But that's not what has happened, and rather than dwell on this bitterness like a spurned lover, I'd rather just enjoy the good memories and look for entertainment from the players we actually currently employ.

[HalfTimePost]

Just now, nick76 said:

Reflects what a lot of Villa fans think, it was spot on and does not reflect badly on the club but highlights how poor Jack has been about this.  After all the national media praising him about the move and ignoring us, it’s great that media type gave the other side to it and a view from a lot of the base.

The article isn't spot on though. It puts so many of the writers own opinions on Jack into 'quotes' and mixes it with actual quotes from Jacks interview. It's a bit of a hit job.

All the bits that make it 'spot on' in some people's view is the guys opinion. It's not reporting.

What Jack actually said was (paraphrased) 'Yes we thought somebody would match the clause that's why it was there. Yes I believe I have improved as a player by playing with world class players'

Villa Fans and Preece have then done 2+2=47 and made it to be Jack hating on Villa. Preece has implied his own version of events and written a trash article about his own emotions and basically made up context to fit his emotions. Then published it.

It's an awful article, it's not reporting. It's an overly emotional opinion piece written by a fan. It's awful

[Xela]

1 hour ago, tomav84 said:

personally speaking, i'm not hurt he joined a better club. that's football.

i'm hurt that all the 'my club' stuff he spouted last year, the celebrations when he scored vs blues, etc is now null and void as it's since become evident that he's wanted a move for some time

i'm hurt that knowing a move would happen this summer he took 'his club' to the cleaners financially in a bumper contract for his final year

i'm hurt that i genuinely believe that he faked, or at the very least exaggerated, the injury he had towards the end of the season so as not to risk being injured for the euros

i'm hurt at all the crap he's come out with about how much better the standard is at city, how much better he's become since joining, "that's made my whole year" etc. whether true or not, it's disrespectful for the club he claimed to love

i'm hurt that in his own interviews AVFC coaches, current and former, get no credit whatsoever for the player he's become

i'm hurt that despite starting last season better than this, he walks into the england set up and he has the cheek to cite that as a reason for him to move despite numerous non-scum 6 players playing in the first 11 and foden barely getting a look in

i was indifferent to him at first when he left, and i wished him well. now i cannot **** stand him. i've never hated a former AVFC player before...but i **** loathe the guy. call me bitter, small time, whatever, but can't help it.

 

That's fair, I agree with some of those points and disagree with others. Thats the joys of a discussion forum  I get the point about England and how he now suddenly starts. I don't think he faked his injury, as that could have cost him his Euro place, but I do wonder whether there was something else to the long lay off *sniff sniff*. 

I think his leaving statement to us was a bit weak... I think we deserved more than that. I've seen better efforts from people like Elmo, Neil Taylor and Hourihane. That being said, he's not the brightest bulb in the box so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. In terms of taking the club to the cleaners financially, i think any payrise he got has been more than covered by £100m in the bank!

We could discuss all day and we'll each have our viewpoint. It was a hugely emotive transfer... I can't think of any in recent times in this country that come close to be honest. Anyway, onwards and upwards.