I think Ipswich have probably looked the best of the promoted sides too but then they had to rely on a 95th minute deflected equaliser v Southampton .
Definitely thrown more money at it than Luton though! One aspect I like is Delap/Smodzics I guess would stay next season if they do go down.
You're right on all counts. I nearly wrote "not that it's any of my business" at the end too. I presumed you'd all be too busy pulling your puddings over arsenal to notice little old me.
Southampton have had some winnable fixtures in their first seven games. Nottingham Forest and Ipswich would be games they would expect to win. They are struggling to score goals and Muff put them to the sword last night. I'm still glad they went up over dirty Leeds though.
It’s my own fault for listening to too much Talk Sport, but the endless love in about Villa is nauseating, it’s been going on for hours this morning, but it’s incredible to think how close they were to going down instead of us, and how extreme our fortunes have been ever since.
Made an excellent appointment in Emery to replace Gerrard . And made some good signings although have had to go close to the FFP limit .
They stayed up by spending huge sums of money on an array of players, that we couldn't afford (many of whom were rubbish) but that was enough to hang on and now have an excellent manager. Had they not got promoted back to the prem I believe they were financially screwed but new investment came in as soon as they were promoted given their potential....
I mean they were always going to rise above us eventually given their size, but when they stayed up instead of us, they had an awful manager and as you mention had spunked a load of money on players so would’ve been in a lot of trouble back down in the championship. If they’d gone down I doubt they would’ve been in line to have Emery as their manager now and would’ve been a lot further back either way compared to their current position. A real sliding doors moment for both clubs.
The other mildy amusing thing about Villa of course is were they not going to ship Duran out to West Ham at one point, and look how many points he’s ended up getting them.
Yes, Villa decided that paying through the nose for the best manager you can get was the way to go and allowing that manager full control over the playing aspect of the club. Something beyond our control freak owners, which is why the few good managers we’ve ever had have been fired as soon as they showed a smidge of critical thinking and we’ve been lumbered with rookies and failures. Emery has arguably been one of the best investments a PL club has ever made and proves the impact a good manager has. Still, it was the financials rather than the chronic mismanagement that kept them up over us that season. The season they were so poor, we spanked them at home so bad that Grealish lost his hairband.
And Villa's last minute winner against us when they should have been down to ten men. I'm not an advocate of the, "the league wants the big teams to survive" but it certainly felt like it that season
Absolutely but I was just also saying that had they not got promoted the season before from the champ they were in real trouble financially (they fired their FD for going public with that) so getting up and then staying up were both absolutely crucial for them in that they got the new investment and now have an excellent manager.
Few clubs like that. Bournemouth too I think and probably with new owners and their spending would need to stay up regularly now as well. Villa are just on a different level now I guess. Think only Brenford could cope financially with relegation now and I guess as unlikely as it is Tony Bloom would bail Brighton out.
Bmuff have no worries other than FL/PL rules as their rich owners can afford to cover the financial losses. BHA too. We have very experienced but unfortunately also relatively financially poor owners.
Deeney too? Not sure how much we went down by but was only 2-3 points wasn't it. I know some blame Arsenal for fielding a weak team against Villa to let them win and then play the strongest side against us in the last game. Again not sure how true that is...
BHA are profitable now, and worth more as a club than the owner has invested in it. Obviously it needed his initial substantial investment to get there, but as long as they don’t **** it up and their model continues to work as is, he doesn’t need to prop them up financially anymore.
BHA make huge operating losses (as almost all do) which have been much more than covered by players sales in recent seasons. Perfect model if you can keep it going and replace prem stars with really promising gems like Pedro. There will come a time when they replace the stars they sell with a few duds but I expect their owner will be able to put his hand back into his huge pockets again to cover that. They have a lot going for them. Great stadium and great catchment area, plus very rich owner/fan.
This ruling has the potential to change transfers a bit: https://x.com/MiguelDelaney/status/1842123575592956159 https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cjwdydnl3w0o.amp
Absolutely one of the worst Premier League games I've ever seen. The lack of quality is quite incredible.
Have to agree Nath. Could probably count one hand the amount of good chances for each team. Dull boring "Super Sunday" Football. Chelsea / Forest wasn't much better.
