The Championship and Aston Villa

Well it's the elephant in the room, so we may as well talk about it. It's been sometime since Villa were not in the top tier of English football, so.....

How do you see us adapting to life in The Championship? What do we need to do to be "Prepared" (We can't use that anymore can we ha) What players would you get rid of? who do we need to bring in? The type of player we'll need is obviously different to who we've chased in many a year, so who would you recommend? What else needs to change on and off the pitch (without talking takeover as that's a given) to cope with all the extra games, a minimum of 46 league games for starters.

A thread to discuss the rigours, strategy and Pros and Cons of the Championship. Discuss.......

GadgetMan wrote:What players would you get rid of?

It would be easier to list the ones I'd like to keep of the senior squad.

The approach I'd take would be to try and cherry pick some of the young players at other Championship clubs who have had a couple of decent seasons down there even at a tender age. Players like Alex Mowat and Will Hughes as examples (and there are others probably less well known who might be more gettable) who you would hope could get the club back up then do well in the Premier League. Add to them a few experienced players who might be on their way down. These guys need to be the right kind of pros - not like Gabby or Lescott - who can lead the club by example. If Petrov is up to it he would be a good option. I'd suggest bringing back Gareth Barry but he's showing no signs of slowing down. I'd also hope to give some of our youngsters their heads. Jed Steer might deserve a shot in goals for example, players like Toner, Sulliman and Lyden should be able to bring forward their careers and others like Gardner and Grealish need to finally impress in claret and blue on a regular basis.

I think the type of players we'll bring in will reflect the philosophy of our new manager. Bernstein's dossier on our existing players may be used to identify the malcontents who have helped to destroy our team, and a few has been's and never will be's need to be moved on. I can't be more specific than that at the moment.

I agree on the type of players you've highlighted Sandie. Definitely worth giving Steer, Baker and Gardner a chance as all three have done well at Championship level, Bennett to a lesser extent.

VB I guess I'm thinking more generally with regards to the Championship than what a specific manager may want, more a case of, what would you do to get us operating well in the Championship (I probably didn't explain myself that well) keeping it realistic obviously, however there's a certain type of player we'll need next year. Joey Barton....dare I say it. Some tough and seasoned warriors. Incidentally I'd take Barton in a heartbeat now we're in the Championship, but wouldn't have touched him in the EPL.

So what else can we do differently? far less games will be available streaming wise and a lot more 3pm Kick off's as Sky don't show anywhere near as many Championship games, so a chance to get more people down to VP. How do we make the atmosphere better in the Championship or will that come anyway with a new owner and fresh hope? A proper singing section that's fully embraced by the club? (remember the headlines re Fox and his battle to stop certain elements) should we embrace a raucous atmosphere, maybe we will be able to where there is less scrutiny worldwide.

What we've known since the Premier League (or the Premiership as it was) began is one way, now we need to get used to lots of different clubs, a brand new Tues/Wed to Saturday week playing week for starters, 46+ games (before cups) etc

Ultimately much of this is far too early to say, but for now it's a chance to be creative and think with a tiny bit of poetic license until we know the solid facts, like owner, level of ambition, manager etc! but let's guage our thoughts now and compare as time goes by with all the changes (hopefully) to come.

Where do you see us being positioned? Chasing the title/promotion? Adjusting to all the new elements and scrapping about in mid table or the fall from grace continuing and fighting at the bottom end?

GadgetMan wrote:VB I guess I'm thinking more generally with regards to the Championship than what a specific manager may want, more a case of, what would you do to get us operating well in the Championship (I probably didn't explain myself that well) keeping it realistic obviously, however there's a certain type of player we'll need next year. Joey Barton....dare I say it. Some tough and seasoned warriors. Incidentally I'd take Barton in a heartbeat now we're in the Championship, but wouldn't have touched him in the EPL.

I was thinking about Barton when I made my comment about experienced pros. Looking at articles on Burnley's promotion and there are a lot of comments about his signing being decisive in that. Kevin Nolan, a similar type of player, was decisive in both Newcastle and West Ham making a immediate return after their relegations too. We need to find and identify our Barton or Nolan.

Next season is going to be very difficult for our overseas supporters. They sometimes have pub meets etc but it's going to be very difficult for them to get Championship coverage abroad so they will lose that kind of social side. Most of the games won't even be televised.

As for expectations, I think there's going to be too much upheaval in terms of playing staff, new manager and a likely new owner for us to go straight for automatic promotion without major investment. Don't think we'll struggle but we'll probably be in and around the play offs. I think we need to assemble a new squad and let it bed in unless we're going to splash out big time.

I'd take Barton no question. as with a lot of players who we'd previously turn our noses up at. Trouble is some of them may be out of our reach now. same with managers I guess. Things have been flipped on their head a little and we have to adjust our thinking acoordingly. Even more so if we don't somehow get back up at the first time of asking. Everyone is saying we'll be a giant in the Championship, but they said the same of Forest and Leeds, Sheff Wed to a lesser degree. This will be the biggest summer in our history in context to the modern game and how it's changed so much. We could either be the next Leicester or Southampton or easily Leeds, Forest etc!!

Reality will bite unless we get a decent owner in with ambition and the knowledge and ability to rescue us. Lerner is a man who has made very few good decisions and now we're totally at his mercy to get his next decision right. it's got to be spot on it years in the wilderness will beckon. Gosh, thats all very depressing...

On a lighter note, I think he will get it right. I think he'll choose a good owner and we'll rebuild and be challenging for promotion next year (it even feels strange saying promotion.weve appkied it to so many other teams for so long) but yes, it will all come good again.

I wonder if we do get a serious buyer and have real intent whether all 500 of the job losses will need to happen? Also will they still press ahead with closing the upper trinity.

Interesting times ahead...

Players like Barton have huge character flaws but they have the required snarl and bite on the pitch to add to their skills. Managers like Pearson are similar, flawed but tough as old boots. I'm hoping that we'll have a decent new owner who will support a proper rebuild, but I'm also pragmatic enough to realise that we may need a "quick fix" of a couple of old war horses, before we can start planning our way out of this mess.

On a side note, I would love to know the content of Bernstein and King's recovery plan. Any new owner would do well to talk to these guys at length, and maybe employ them again to implement their findings.

villabromsgrove wrote:Players like Barton have huge character flaws but they have the required snarl and bite on the pitch to add to their skills. Managers like Pearson are similar, flawed but tough as old boots. I'm hoping that we'll have a decent new owner who will support a proper rebuild, but I'm also pragmatic enough to realise that we may need a "quick fix" of a couple of old war horses, before we can start planning our way out of this mess.

On a side note, I would love to know the content of Bernstein and King's recovery plan. Any new owner would do well to talk to these guys at length, and maybe employ them again to implement their findings.

Could not agree more with this. I'm really hoping these guys get invited/asked to form our new board under a new owner. We can but hope....

I agree. They will already know the ground and they will save a possible new owner time in identifying the problems at the club.

Norwich will have been prepared for the Championship since they were promoted, so it should be a seamless transition for them. Both ourselves and Newcastle haven't started to prepare, for different reasons. Newcastle because they can't let anything interfere with their fight to survive, and ourselves because there is nobody left in Villa management to do the job.

Sunderland should stay up, but if they do go down then big Sam has all the experience to manage the demotion properly.

We don't make things easy for ourselves do we?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016–17_Football_League_Championship

I thought I'd post this as a reference piece now that all 24 teams are known for next season.

If we put together a decent squad with a couple of old fashioned goal scorers plus a good manager and coaches, and get rid of the malcontents, we should be able to target the play offs at least. We should beat at least half of the teams listed home and away, and pick up some hard fought draws. If we can't then it will be down to our Owner and management under estimating the size of the task during the transfer window.

The list of opposition clubs doesn't lie .... of course it's going to a tough season, but eminently 'doable'!

Am I being too positive?

I've said before that there will need to be a great degree of upheaval from a new owner through a new manager and on to a substantially revamped squad. With that in mind, I'd wonder if automatic promotion was beyond us. Getting into the playoffs should be our minimum goal even if Dr. X throws a vast warchest at the squad. Newcastle need less work than we do, have a better manager than we have and will be strong contenders. There's also the teams who are always there or about there like Derby, Brighton, Norwich etc to contend with.

I don't think that there is enough real quality in the Championship to stop a good team over 46 matches.

We have to make sure that Tony Xia's money is well spent and we become that 'Good Team'.

villabromsgrove wrote:I don't think that there is enough real quality in the Championship to stop a good team over 46 matches.

We have to make sure that Tony Xia's money is well spent and we become that 'Good Team'.

I agree but if you have a slow start when everyone's trying to get to know one another then it's not long before you're on the back foot having to play catch up.

You're right about the slow start and playing catch up, but try telling that to Barnsley. They were bottom of their league in December .... and got promoted!