Summer transfer window 2017/18

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Cannot see the tweet, but looks like 'avfctransfers1' has said that Terry won't be announced on Saturday with the kit, despite 'the mirror' reporting that he will.

I'm bored of whole Terry saga now.

He reckons it will happen but not until next week. If it is true about Terry's contract running until the end of the month - and that is entirely logical - he won't officially be a free agent until Saturday anyway. Nothing can be signed before then and there would have to be the medical done as part of the process so early next week seems likely.

Alan Nixon saying that Johnstone is going to Middlesbrough for £2.5M, so looks like we'ved got some goalkeeper shopping to do.

John Terry

It is being reported that Aston Villa have won the race for former Chelsea and England captain John Terry - and the bookies certainly agree.

Villa are battling fierce rivals Birmingham City for the 36-year-old central defender and are said to be edging closer to an announcement.

Harry Redknapp is reportedly resigned to missing out to Blues’ Second City rivals.

And Sky Bet are now pricing Villa as 2/7 favourites to be Terry’s next club, while Blues have drifted out to 9/2. The next best priced club is West Brom at 11/1.

Shame. Was hoping we could buy Johnstone permanently.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Alan Nixon saying that Johnstone is going to Middlesbrough for £2.5M, so looks like we'ved got some goalkeeper shopping to do.

Don't get this one. If Boro were still in the Prem maybe.

But why would we pass up the chance to take him for that sort of money?

Either:

he doesn't want to sign for us under any circumstances or
we don't want him under any circumstances or
we've lined up a much better option


If it's the first option then that's a concern, not just because I think he's a very good Championship keeper but that Boro might have a manager that is a bigger draw than ours.

Monk is a really decent manager. Well respected in the game, hasn't done much wrong so far in his managerial career and if we were looking for a new manager I'd be very happy to have him at Villa Park.

Just hope that Bruce proves my fears to be unfounded.

When someone asked Nixon on twitter why Johnstone wasn't signing for us, he just said 'money', and then went on to say that we're spending elsewhere, whatever that means.

On Terry, I see that the daily star have an article stating that he's been told he'll be in contention for Manager's job should Bruce leave.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:On Terry, I see that the daily star have an article stating that he's been told he'll be in contention for Manager's job should Bruce leave.

Happily, that sounds like totally tabloid bollocks. I would be astonished, nay, aghast, if anybody said any such thing to him. Who would have said that to him?

Bruce? "See, John, if you come here you'll be in contention for my job should I walk or get sacked." Don't think so as that would be Bruce saying that he isn't sure he fancies it much longer - which is hardly a way to sell the club to Terry.
Or, he is saying he is on shaky ground and could get the bullet - which he'd have to be even more stupid to say because it would maybe give Terry thoughts of agitating and undermining Bruce as soon as he felt able.

Wyness/Xia/Round/Little? Don't think so, they wouldn't be so dumb as to create the situation where Terry could say to Bruce, "Hey, Steve, they said to me I'm your heir apparent. They don't think you're gonna be around long."

If Terry does think he is in contention because someone has actually suggested it to him, then he's had smoke blown up his arse to entice him. Being "in contention" would actually mean perfunctorily considered, with possibly some going through the motions as a courtesy, before telling him the time isn't right yet.

Well it is all quiet at the mo apart from JT and the greatest need we have is a decent keeper! Not many links though?

I thought Okore and Clark made a good pair a couple of seasons ago but we were given Richards and Lescott week in, week out. Chester and Baker looked really solid last season, and I'm pretty sure everyone who played us last season knows neither is going to back out of a challenge. Not a perfect pairing but improving all the time. What we all said we needed was backup for Chester and (especially) Baker, not replacement. Is Terry going to be another Richards or Lescott? Let's hope not. I don't like this signing though.

And I don't know if going defensive and continuing to hope that lobbing the ball to Kodjia is how we'll get out of this league.

With the money reported for JT's wages he must be a guaranteed starter? He is however used to playing the ball out from the back not just hoofing it?

I think we are trying to sell a few before bringing in any? This could prove difficult with the likes of Elphick and Richards? At least we can bank on a minimum of 25m for Amavi can't we Tony?

DelboyVilla wrote:With the money reported for JT's wages he must be a guaranteed starter? He is however used to playing the ball out from the back not just hoofing it?

I think we are trying to sell a few before bringing in any? This could prove difficult with the likes of Elphick and Richards? At least we can bank on a minimum of 25m for Amavi can't we Tony?

Yes, it would be crazy for him not to be, plus he probably wouldn't come to sit on the bench. If we're going to play it from the back it's a fairly serious commitment. Sure, we'd have three defenders in Chester, Baker and Terry, but I don't know if we have an RB good enough (De Laet?) to work as a wing back and it surely wouldn't be Adomah, would it?

So now we need a goalie, and perhaps for a change one who communicates and works with the defence. I too liked Johnstone and thought he was improving. I still think Gollini is going to go onto great things but we fucked up that one didn't we? In a 5-3-2/3-5-2 we'll presumably then have Jedi (or replacement) with Lansbury and Hourihane ahead of him, with who upfront? If Kodjia plays it has to be Grealish with free reign behind him, or we go for Hogan and McCormack. Seems a bit of a risk, doesn't it? Sure, Hogan looked last season like a very (very IMHO) good player in need of support and players to play with, while McCormack looked like a very good player who just wasn't interested, and with the support he had I can almost forgive him. If you're used to being the centre of attention and scoring goals, playing in a negative side like Villa was isn't going to be much fun.

I thought Lansbury and Hourihane looked great together at the end of last season when the Jedi wasn't around for whatever reason. It would be nice to think that Bruce could trust his defence to do what it needs to do, and play a five-man midfield with Kodjia up front on his own but always with support.

I just don't see how Kodjia and Hogan can work together though. And I really like both of them. Unless we go for 3-3-3-1:

                  Goalie
    Chester - Terry - Baker
         RWB - Jedi - Amavi?
Hourihane - Lansbury - Hogan
                  Kodjia

Nope, that doesn't feel right either.

                            Goalie
              Chester - Terry - Baker
                             Jedi
RWB - Hourihane - Lansbury - Hogan - Amavi?
                            Kodjia

hmm.

                           Goalie
              Chester - Terry - Baker
                            Jedi
    RWB - Hourihane - Lansbury - Amavi?
                       Grealish
                             Kodjia

Or, why not try something crazy like

                           Goalie
               RB - Chester - Baker - LB
Adomah - Hourihane - Lansbury - Hogan - RW
                            Kodjia

Nope, I can't see these happening. Bruce bought in Hogan, is he going to leave him out? But then he doesn't work with Kodjia. I suspect they're training their arses off over the summer to make this work.

Edit: this doesn't take into account any summer signings other than goalie. I suppose we'll have a bit more of an idea if we go for a really good right winger, if Kodjia gets sold or we buy a younger, fitter Jedi.

Ha ha, I forgot about Green. What an idiot. I thought he looked great last season, he's surely our left winger? I'm still of the mind that we have the players we need, they're just being forced into a formation that doesn't work for them (Lansbury is a central midfielder, Kodjia works on his own, Hogan and McCormack don't etc). So if it were me, we'd be selling McCormack and buying a goalie. A really, really good one.

ember wrote:

deadbuzzardalive wrote:On Terry, I see that the daily star have an article stating that he's been told he'll be in contention for Manager's job should Bruce leave.

Happily, that sounds like totally tabloid bollocks. I would be astonished, nay, aghast, if anybody said any such thing to him. Who would have said that to him?

Bruce? "See, John, if you come here you'll be in contention for my job should I walk or get sacked." Don't think so as that would be Bruce saying that he isn't sure he fancies it much longer - which is hardly a way to sell the club to Terry.
Or, he is saying he is on shaky ground and could get the bullet - which he'd have to be even more stupid to say because it would maybe give Terry thoughts of agitating and undermining Bruce as soon as he felt able.

Wyness/Xia/Round/Little? Don't think so, they wouldn't be so dumb as to create the situation where Terry could say to Bruce, "Hey, Steve, they said to me I'm your heir apparent. They don't think you're gonna be around long."  

If Terry does think he is in contention because someone has actually suggested it to him, then he's had smoke blown up his arse to entice him. Being "in contention" would actually mean perfunctorily considered, with possibly some going through the motions as a courtesy, before telling him the time isn't right yet.

Well apparently Redknapp suggested that Terry could be the next sha manager in two years time, if he joins them, leading a few fans on twitter to suggest that we might offer a similar deal, all of which has probably lead to the click-bait article.

Terry may well make a good manager one day, but if Bruce gets off to a bad start, then I doubt we'd hand over the responsibility of getting the club promoted to someone totally new to management, his best hope would be that we bring in someone who knows him, and he's offered a job as their assistant with a view to eventually taking over, but I think he'll probably have one last season of playing before going back to Chelsea as a coach.

DelboyVilla wrote:With the money reported for JT's wages he must be a guaranteed starter? He is however used to playing the ball out from the back not just hoofing it?

I think we are trying to sell a few before bringing in any? This could prove difficult with the likes of Elphick and Richards? At least we can bank on a minimum of 25m for Amavi can't we Tony?

Really is a testament to how shit our scouting is, if we can't find alternatives to getting in an old Terry on massive wages, and that in the lower leagues. Would have thought we learned from Lescott and Richards, but clearly not.

How many clubs have tried to replicate Dave Mackay's impact at Derby a couple (or more) years ago. I hope it works but wouldn't be too sad if it doesn't happed.

Much has been made about his potentially positive dressing room influence. But what are Bruce & Calderwood for? No to mention Jedi etc. Who are they trying to 'positively influence'? Gabby? Maybe Terry can take him out the back and teach him what commitment means? Maybe Richards too? (Why the hell don't we pay him off - or part pay and get shot?) Is that it what we expect from Terry?

Looking ahead to the new season it's RDM that excites me. Just hope we can keep him fit. Potential top goal scorer IMHO.

Anyone know percentage of Baker's starts vs time out with injury time last season?

Gordonsleftboot wrote:How many clubs have tried to replicate Dave Mackay's impact at Derby a couple (or more) years ago. I hope it works but wouldn't be too sad if it doesn't happed.

Much has been made about his potentially positive dressing room influence. But what are Bruce & Calderwood for? No to mention Jedi etc. Who are they trying to 'positively influence'? Gabby? Maybe Terry can take him out the back and teach him what commitment means? Maybe Richards too? (Why the hell don't we pay him off - or part pay and get shot?) Is that it what we expect from Terry?

Looking ahead to the new season it's RDM that excites me. Just hope we can keep him fit. Potential top goal scorer IMHO.

Apologies, that should read RHM. I doubt RDM would do much these days!

I don't know about percentages or injuries, but I know that he played 31 games last season; to begin with he was left out in favour of Elphick. There are suggestions that Bruce is going to play three at the back, I really hope not.

One of my worries with Terry is that Bruce is bringing him in to bring 'passion' to the team and to be a 'character', and putting those qualities before actual tactics, we tried such an approach last season when we signed a bunch of captains from other clubs, but that doesn't work without an actual game-plan.

I really wouldn't be surprised if come October, we're looking for a new manager and end up appointing someone who's worked with Terry in the past and Terry becomes his assistant, that's if he actually signs in the first place, I still wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't.

I dont get why we have to wait for the magical 1st July to get the wheels rolling, every other club is making deals before the official opening ofthe transfer window

deadbuzzardalive wrote:I don't know about percentages or injuries, but I know that he played 31 games last season; to begin with he was left out in favour of Elphick. There are suggestions that Bruce is going to play three at the back, I really hope not.

One of my worries with Terry is that Bruce is bringing him in to bring 'passion' to the team and to be a 'character', and putting those qualities before actual tactics, we tried such an approach last season when we signed a bunch of captains from other clubs, but that doesn't work without an actual game-plan.

I really wouldn't be surprised if come October, we're looking for a new manager and end up appointing someone who's worked with Terry in the past and Terry becomes his assistant, that's if he actually signs in the first place, I still wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't.

Well, if we really have to exchange Bruce for Conte in October I'll obviously be gutted but I'll try to overcome that.

Villa Transfers via twitter has just said that JT medical is booked for this afternoon. Hopefully his arrival will be the spark that this squad need for the new season

Xia has also pretty much confirmed that someone has signed, presumably Terry. Also John Ruddy has said that he'd love to join, lots of people taking that to mean that we're actually signing him, we'll see. I remember him being pretty good a few seasons back, but haven't really heard much from him recently, not even sure if he's been getting in Norwich's first team.

Honestly I respect Dan for the stuff he does on the VillaView but these comments about Ruddy are just plain silly imo.

Dan Bardell‏

He's like Guzan, mentally gone. Couldn't get in ahead of mcgovern last season who is a poor keeper

and

Dan Bardell‏

I'm no convinced he's an upgrade on bunn tbh

From what I know SJ is still the one for #avfc

Ok, firstly lets get down to the facts. He played 29 games combined last season and guess how many clean sheets he kept? TEN!!..including one in the league cup at Goodison Park. Yes, there were some reports that he had a few dips during last season but lets be honest, the Norwich defence was a shambles for most of the season which is why they failed to get promoted. So in essence he never done too badly at all. Johnstone may have kept eight cleansheets himself but for me that was more down to the brilliance of the defence infront of him, than he himself saving us points.

I'd also like to add that Ruddy is only 30 years old, has an England cap and has FOUR seasons worth of premiership experience under his belt. So needless to say, I think he would be a terrific signing. Most of our rivals had experienced keepers last year. Leeds had Green, Brighton had Stockdale, Reading had Al Habsi, Wednesday had Westwood etc...us having rookies cost us way too many points.

A back five like this....

......................Ruddy.................

..De Laet...Chester..Terry...Taylor....

could potentially be the best back five the championship has ever seen.

1Elliot wrote:Villa Transfers via twitter has just said that JT medical is booked for this afternoon. Hopefully his arrival will be the spark that this squad need for the new season

Cheers for the update

https://twitter.com/Dr_TonyXia/status/880713280293154817
Terry signs?