Di Matteo to Villa.

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,791]

Interesting one.

[K Lo 246]

[quote user="Graham Paddons Beard"]Interesting one.[/quote]I thought the same when Leicester appointed Ranieri.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

We now have Di Matteo at Villa, Pearson at Derby, Coyle just announced at Blackburn and Leeds looking for yet another manager.

[King Klose 0]

Some statement of intent. Added to the fact they will have a £60 million transfer budget. Don''t think I can remember the Championship being as strong as it will be this year.

[shefcanary 2,955]

[quote user="TIL 1010"]We now have Di Matteo at Villa, Pearson at Derby, Coyle just announced at Blackburn and Leeds looking for yet another manager. [/quote]

Tilly, has Monk left already?

[TIL 1010 5,246]

[quote user="shefcanary"][quote user="TIL 1010"]We now have Di Matteo at Villa, Pearson at Derby, Coyle just announced at Blackburn and Leeds looking for yet another manager. [/quote]

Tilly, has Monk left already?[/quote]Blimey you are on your toes Shef as i see it was breaking news about his appointment only 2 hours ago.

[Mr Apples 1,407]

Cue rampant hysteria now as Villa and Newcastle have obviously secured the top two spots and we are left to fight it out for a play-off space...

Alan Stubbs appointed at Rotherham as well...that''s one of the relegation spots now available for us to fall into.

Apples

[Highland Canary 78]

We shall all be able to rue last August''s failure at our leisure if the best we can hope for is a ticket to the playoff lottery.

[Hairy Canary 754]

Villa were a basket case last year so di Matteo or not that is still going to be one tough job to get them up straight away.

The division does look strong this year though and shows that once up in the Premier you have to do everything possible in an attempt to stay there.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Depending on recruitment, I fancy Newcastle and Derby for the top two, us to get Play-offs but don''t fancy us for promotion this time around. Should be a good season though.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Highland Canary"]We shall all be able to rue last August''s failure at our leisure if the best we can hope for is a ticket to the playoff lottery[/quote]Bit optimistic there Highland, you''re normally hoping for relegation.......

[daly 551]

Can''t see the problem

We have Frankie McAvoy from Primark and Gary Holt from Lowestoft plus Ed Balls from Westminster and Tim but dim Smith from Stowmarket

All we need now is Stephen Fry''s husband to file for divorce and we have promotion virtually assured.

[sgncfc 1,330]

[quote user="Hairy Canary"]Villa were a basket case last year so di Matteo or not that is still going to be one tough job to get them up straight away.

The division does look strong this year though and shows that once up in the Premier you have to do everything possible in an attempt to stay there.[/quote]

I don''t think it''s ever happened before that the 3 relegated clubs have all gone back up - I think the gap is so big now that it''s likely to happen next season.

I only hope we make the top two and don''t have to rely on the playoffs again. I hate them. The team that finishes third should be promoted.

[JF 694]

I think villa will be closer to the relegation places then the promotion ones and this appointment does nothing to change my views on that but we will see

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

For some reason I don''t quite fancy our chances of a quick return as much as I did last time, when I was probably over-optimistic.

We just scraped into the top six in the end, but breezed the play-offs.

We have a better squad, IMO, even though we are not sure who will leave and we have a better manager.

Perhaps my caution reflects the strength of many of the coming season''s Championship teams and also some doubts about AN''s ability to pull it off twice in a row. Doubts which gradually grew right up to the very end as the last season progressed.

I hope to be more positive after the transfer activity of the next two months has been completed.

It would be a positively massive thing to hang onto Howson, Redmond, Klose, Brady, Olsson and Tettey, in particular. Unlikely en masse though so I just hope that the money that we get in is spent well. That''s a small, niggling doubt also.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]

We just scraped into the top six in the end,[/quote]What on earth are you talking about ? We finished in 3rd place just 3 points (86) behind 2nd place (89) Watford who obviously got an automatic spot and 8 points clear of 7th place (78) Wolves who finished 7th !!!!!!!If they was scraping into the play offs i am astounded at your post Broadstairs.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

If that was.....

[Katie Borkins 1]

[quote user="BroadstairsR"]We just scraped into the top six in the end.[/quote]

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Bournemouth	46	26	12	8	98	45	53	90
2	Watford	46	27	8	11	91	50	41	89
3	Norwich City	46	25	11	10	88	48	40	86
4	Middlesbrough	46	25	10	11	68	37	31	85
5	Brentford	46	23	9	14	78	59	19	78
6	Ipswich Town	46	22	12	12	72	54	18	78

You don''t half spout some shart.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

[quote user="Katie Borkins"][quote user="BroadstairsR"]We just scraped into the top six in the end.[/quote]

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Bournemouth	46	26	12	8	98	45	53	90
2	Watford	46	27	8	11	91	50	41	89
3	Norwich City	46	25	11	10	88	48	40	86
4	Middlesbrough	46	25	10	11	68	37	31	85
5	Brentford	46	23	9	14	78	59	19	78
6	Ipswich Town	46	22	12	12	72	54	18	78

You don''t half spout some shart.

[/quote]I cannot wait for his response.

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

Well it gives us some amusement until the Euros start

[Move Klose 303]

If you think Villa will be near the bottom 3 then you are mental. They will probably lose a few like Ayew & Amavi etc. They have a lot of overpaid idiots like lescott, bacuna etc but looking at the squad they have quite a few players who would do well at this level. Like mark bunn, ciaran Clark, Nathan baker, Ashley Westwood, jack grealish, Scott Sinclair, gary gardner, rudy gestede. D

Di matteo knows the English game has managed in the lower leagues and been successful at league 1 and championship level. Add to that the £40m+ he has to spend and I would safely say they will finish top 6.

[shefcanary 2,955]

[quote user="TIL 1010"][quote user="shefcanary"][quote user="TIL 1010"]We now have Di Matteo at Villa, Pearson at Derby, Coyle just announced at Blackburn and Leeds looking for yet another manager. [/quote]

Tilly, has Monk left already?[/quote]Blimey you are on your toes Shef as i see it was breaking news about his appointment only 2 hours ago.[/quote]

Sorry Tilly, I work in Leeds at the mo'' so had been told first thing, then saw your post and knowing Cellini thought he had changed his mind again! Nothing can surprise ole Dirty fans at the mo'',

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

"You don''t half spout some shart."

Oh yeh. Well corrected.

Had completely forgotten that. That was too long a time ago for my fragile memory to cope with.

I seem to have made the cardinal sin of confusing us with 1p5wich Town.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Just interested to know why people think this will be an exceptionally ''stronger'' Division than recent times? Genuine question

There is Newcastle and Villa, and us. We will all lose some of our better players through transfers. So who has the ''tighter'' squads? I would definitely say us. Who can attract top Championship players more easily? Any of us, for slightly differing reasons I would say. I actually feel, that, despite Villa''s new manager and money, they will have to go a long way, and quickly, to mount a Top 2 challenge. They will have to rebuild, and that ain''t easy

Who else is there to fear? Derby? Brighton? Sheff Wed to name 3 obvious (because of the season they have just had) They will be ''good'' opposition, but being obdurate about this, what else can they offer?

Anyone else that will suddenly recruit massively and come up with a sweeping winning formula? None spring to mind for me.

I think we will be amongst the top 3 or 4 favourites to go up, and I was glad to see Burnley, Boro and Hull go up, because that weakened this Division for me. But to be honest, I am not wetting my pants about facing any of what is left . That is not blind faith, at this pre transfer signing stage, but just someone who isn''t going to get myself wrapped up in knots about anyone else in this Division, as a result of getting collywobbles about my own team

[Keith Scott 294]

Championship looking seriously strong. Mid table mediocrity at best next season i fear. More than likely followed by a few seasons languishing in championship/league one. Still, we should never have been in this position. What a huge missed opportunity last season was. Shambles.

[Branston Pickle 4,150]

Villa have a heck of a lot of work to do - and with a new manager/little time: they could do with shipping out a lot of players (some on big contracts who may not want to go) and also buy and bed- in decent replacements. Di Matteo is a good shout for manager, but has been out for quite a long time and has a massive amount to do if they are to be a real threat; IMO it might not be this season.

[Herman 11,136]

[quote user="Keith Scott"]Championship looking seriously strong. Mid table mediocrity at best next season i fear. More than likely followed by a few seasons languishing in championship/league one. Still, we should never have been in this position. What a huge missed opportunity last season was. Shambles.[/quote]Deserves one of these.

[Katie Borkins 1]

[quote user="Keith Scott"]Championship looking seriously strong. Mid table mediocrity at best next season i fear. More than likely followed by a few seasons languishing in championship/league one. Still, we should never have been in this position. What a huge missed opportunity last season was. Shambles.[/quote]

+1

[img]http://www.wheeliebins.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/smelly_wheelie_bin.jpg[/img]

[Capt. Pants 5,011]

Bank holiday week. Bins are a day late.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Keith Snott"]Championship looking seriously strong. Mid table mediocrity at best next season i fear. More than likely followed by a few seasons languishing in championship/league one. Still, we should never have been in this position. What a huge missed opportunity last season was. Shambles.[/quote]