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Bradwell canary

Will Villa be the new Fulham?

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Reports say they are spending £100 M.

Thats the same as Fulham last season.

Let's hope they have a similar ending to their season.

If we finish higher than them, in view of what we will spend, it would truly prove that money

does not always buys success, and even more credit to our management team.

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By signing El-Ghazi and Mings permanently for the best part of £30m, spending £22m on Wesley to replace Abraham, and also having lost Tuanzebe, they've spent over £50m and are still not as good as they were last year when they finished quite a bit behind us.

Then they've spent £20m+ on Targett and Jota to try to catch us up, and that doesn't exactly fill me with dread. 

We'll see.

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22 minutes ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

By signing El-Ghazi and Mings permanently for the best part of £30m, spending £22m on Wesley to replace Abraham, and also having lost Tuanzebe, they've spent over £50m and are still not as good as they were last year when they finished quite a bit behind us.

Then they've spent £20m+ on Targett and Jota to try to catch us up, and that doesn't exactly fill me with dread. 

We'll see.

It's a hell of a risk that they are taking, they have been skirting on the edge since that crazy Dr Tony bought then and if they get relegated having blown a load they could be in some bother. 

Agree though, they have blown a lot so far and are no better than where they were last season. 

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I guess it's up to Villa how they want to conduct their transfer business and I'm not really bothered what they're doing. As many have said on here, they haven't really improved the squad.

I wonder, though, if this is mainly being done to ensure the fans are on side and appeased? The Villa fans may be expecting these big money signings and an investment in British players, or at least those who have played in our leagues before and know them. It's up to Villa how they feel their transfer strategy is best executed.

With us, we had to have an entire cultural shift and changes to our philosophy of how a club should be run. Massive changes, in fact, and all we heard for a long while was "Oh great. Another second rate, fouth tier German. WHAT EVER IS GORRRN ORRRRN NAYUL?!"

Of course, most fans were forced to eat humble pie.

Seems to me that Villa fans expect the kind of transfers they're getting and it will likely backfire on them.

Edited by BobLoz3

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Judicious use of loans is one thing, but Villa are showing the problem inherent in relying on quite so many - they’ve had to spend £60m or whatever just to get to something like the strength they had at the end of the season.  Thankfully we’ve not had the same issues.

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Will we ever hear the immortal words "Why can't we be Villa being the new Fulham?" 😂

Apples

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I'd agree with the point that Villa have arguably spent £50m without improving on their squad from the end of last season. But, you could equally argue that their squad was much better than their league position would suggest. Maybe as much as we were punching above our weight, they were punching below.

Ultimately though, we are not directly comparable. Money can't really buy what we have (and Villa lacked for large parts of last season). We have a cohesive football philosophy embedded throughout the entire club and have worked tirelessly to remove the people who don't fit the mold. Villa are investing in individual ability in a way that we cannot do. It remains to be seen which approach is most successful, but ours is definitely lower risk. 

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And now it's 15m for Luiz and then maybe Engels...oh I hope Villa do a Fulham , I really hope so! Spênd, spend , spend

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On 09/07/2019 at 14:24, Petriix said:

I'd agree with the point that Villa have arguably spent £50m without improving on their squad from the end of last season. But, you could equally argue that their squad was much better than their league position would suggest. Maybe as much as we were punching above our weight, they were punching below.

Ultimately though, we are not directly comparable. Money can't really buy what we have (and Villa lacked for large parts of last season). We have a cohesive football philosophy embedded throughout the entire club and have worked tirelessly to remove the people who don't fit the mold. Villa are investing in individual ability in a way that we cannot do. It remains to be seen which approach is most successful, but ours is definitely lower risk. 

Agree with that, but the only thing I would say there, is that were we really punching above our weight or merely realising the potential of the players we have? As for Villa, I will expect them to be like they always are, a bit like Newcastle, the so called 'big' club that never quite reaches their potential.  

Edited by lake district canary

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2 hours ago, ROBFLECK said:

And now it's 15m for Luiz and then maybe Engels...oh I hope Villa do a Fulham , I really hope so! Spênd, spend , spend

https://www.transfermarkt.com/aston-villa/transfers/verein/405

According to this, they've spent 93m euros (£83m) already, before Luiz and Engels. Those two would take them over the £100m mark, with no money having come in for players sold. I really hope they crash and burn and then get beasted by FFP upon their return to the Championship.

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Wolves also spent £100m odd last season and nobody brings them up.

The issue with Fulham wasn't them spending money, it was spending it with zero plans or thoughts to squad cohesion.

Villa's signings feel altogether most sensible and focused on filling gaps in their squad. They've arguably overpaid for some but I don't think they'll be the sort of disaster Fulham were.

 

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Time will tell how ours and Villas approach will be looked back on in the future.

There is no recipe for survival. Spending over 100m does not instantly mean you are 'doing a Fulham' and will hence be relegated. Equally doubling down on the promoted players and spending little, is no guarantee of survival by any stretch.

It will be interesting to compare us with villa next season as both teams are taking extremely opposite approaches at staying up.

Regardless of approach - If either team finishes with less than 30 points they will be crucified by the media, pundits and fans alike. Just like Fulham have been. The next batch of promoted teams will then point to them as what to avoid and the cycle will continue.

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5 minutes ago, HertsCanary93 said:

Time will tell how ours and Villas approach will be looked back on in the future.

There is no recipe for survival. Spending over 100m does not instantly mean you are 'doing a Fulham' and will hence be relegated. Equally doubling down on the promoted players and spending little, is no guarantee of survival by any stretch.

It will be interesting to compare us with villa next season as both teams are taking extremely opposite approaches at staying up.

Regardless of approach - If either team finishes with less than 30 points they will be crucified by the media, pundits and fans alike. Just like Fulham have been. The next batch of promoted teams will then point to them as what to avoid and the cycle will continue.

Sorry to be 'that guy' but this should be in the 'non-football' section. 

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Definitely a whiff of spend to avoid dropping back down again.    However there is not the same mix of signings,  the average age is lower than the Fulham ones and most have something to proven,  expensive but at least will retain a sell on fee.

Many are from last years squad which will minimise the disruption fulham saw to the promoted squad.    But the figures remain eye watering.

we will know in 10 months whether giving bigger contracts to our stars of last season or spending that money on new faces works best;  it could easily happen that both teams survive.   

I remain quietly confident in how we are going about things.

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I would have thought the person who may ultimately pay for the spending spree is Dean Smith. A really good manager but will be under huge pressure if villa get off to a bad start and even though, as some have pointed out, they have kept a degree of continuity they have lost Abraham’s goals.

just to break with public opinion (and Micheal Bailey) I’m not convinced by McGinn. It was noticeable that it was he and not McClean who was subbed by Scotland in their qualifiers as he kept getting caught in possession. Clearly they have some good players and haven’t stopped spending yet but I would definitely think they will be amongst the bottom 7 fighting for survival with probably us, Sheffield Utd, Newcastle, Brighton, palace, Burnley and maybe Bournemouth. 

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Nothing could be worse than the infamous Sunderland transfer "strategy" of a few seasons ago which ultimately almost destroyed them. "Who's available... we'll have em"

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5 minutes ago, Michael Starr said:

Nothing could be worse than the infamous Sunderland transfer "strategy" of a few seasons ago which ultimately almost destroyed them. "Who's available... we'll have em"

For every Sunderland or Fulham, there's a Wovles or Watford. Perhaps it a alphabet thing? :classic_biggrin:

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OK big money but is there the quality for the PL, never heard of these signings.  Lots of CB's but they won't keep you up its goals that will make the difference.  Sheff Utd pinning hopes on Championship striker of dubious potential.

Glad we are keeping squad together rather than waste money we don't have on players who are second class at best.  Have a punt on Teemu to be a top scorer we will surprise a few.  Pity Zimmbo out for first games might be a slow start. 

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21 hours ago, king canary said:

Wolves also spent £100m odd last season and nobody brings them up.

The issue with Fulham wasn't them spending money, it was spending it with zero plans or thoughts to squad cohesion.

Villa's signings feel altogether most sensible and focused on filling gaps in their squad. They've arguably overpaid for some but I don't think they'll be the sort of disaster Fulham were.

 

Agreed. With Fulham it was almost like they were bringing in players purely because they were more expensive than what they already had. Villa seem to have a bit more of a plan - making some deals permanent, like for like replacements for loaners they couldn’t keep, a couple of additions. 

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10 minutes ago, Aggy said:

Agreed. With Fulham it was almost like they were bringing in players purely because they were more expensive than what they already had. Villa seem to have a bit more of a plan - making some deals permanent, like for like replacements for loaners they couldn’t keep, a couple of additions. 

Exactly.

I think Villa have overpaid for a couple of them and I've no idea how good some of them are but they've not bought anyone that has made me go 'why have they done that?' unlike Fulham with players like Vietto or Rico.

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3 minutes ago, king canary said:

Exactly.

I think Villa have overpaid for a couple of them and I've no idea how good some of them are but they've not bought anyone that has made me go 'why have they done that?' unlike Fulham with players like Vietto or Rico.

But players like Vietto, Seri and I suppose maybe Anguissa too were, on paper, too good for a team like Fulham. They just signed individuals who never worked as a team.

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I can remember thinking that City had arrived in the big time when we signed RvW for £8.5m. I hadn't felt like that since we signed Ted McDougall way back. Instead RvW launched a period of high spending with low results. Fortunately we dodged the bullet that was Ross McCormack (Villa caught that one), but all the same we ended up too close to administration for comfort.

How things have changed since Stuart Webber arrived. Probably the best bit of recruitment we've ever done. It amazed me how quickly most people accepted Stuart's vision, a German Head Coach, and an influx of German and other 'foreign players'. Out went overpaid British players and in came austerity and a new emphasis on young players. Things wobbled in the first year, but the second year was magnificent as we left other teams in our wake to end as Champions.

This summer we've recruited a new striker/attacking midfielder on a free and two players on loan, albeit with a hefty loan fee in Fährmann's case. These have gone under the radar in the national media because no big fees are involved while Villa are the media darlings for the money they have spent (or misspent). Time will tell. In fact they've spent extravagantly on players they had on loan last year when they finished 18 points back. Others they've brought in may make a difference (or not), as Fulham found out.

What a difference it makes to have Webber who can find gems like Pukki and Buendia (and all the others) on a free or next to nothing, as was the case with our new signings. True Fährmann did cost us €3m, but that's a tenth of what Villa are paying out. There's also the young players SW is bringing in under the radar for DF to develop. This is sustainable development.

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I think a lot of bitterness around Villa relates to that season when they first went down with Di Matteo In charge and they bought up the Championships “best players” thinking they’d walk the league and effectively did a Fulham in the Champs by not going up and finishing mid table.

I admit, I did have a chuckle at that and watching a Villa supporting workmate squirm in his otherwise smug self assuredness they’d bounce straight back.

They knocked on the door season before and squeaked by last season and finally made it since they have the money to do it. 

But they still did it, so begrudgingly id say they probably deserve to be back in the big time. I doubt they’ll be relegated either, if stuff looks dodgy for them come Jan then they can milk the cash cow again. 

I don’t know their administrative position at all but they seem to have steadied their ship so I would put them at finishing mid table and again firmly back in the PL for the foreseeable if they can get some stability with Smith working out. 

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