Re: Dr. Tony Xia.

by **villabromsgrove** Thu Apr 20, 2017 9:53 am

After nearly a full season of Dr T's ownership, I still have more questions than answers about the footballing side of AVFC.

If we have a plan, is it going to work?

All the indications are that we are stuck somewhere between the good and bad teams with no apparent plan 'B'.

Is this going to be a wasted season on Dr T's Villa journey, and will another season of much the same cause him to re think the viability of investing in a Championship team?

We have to get out of this division next season, and at the moment I can't see it happening with our current ideas and set up.

by **Sandie** Thu Apr 20, 2017 9:23 pm

He's sunk money in but we might just be on a second poor managerial appointment already which is somewhat concerning.

by **villabromsgrove** Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:18 am

Offering blind support to Bruce and his coaching staff a few weeks back was risky. Wyness has backed himself into a corner with his fulsome praise of the current set up, and a U turn will be awkward to say the least.

Bruce, Calderwood and Clemence are the epitome of a hard working no nonsense, no frills, old fashioned "British" approach to football. You know what you get with them, and until recently it was enough to get up there with a shout of promotion.

Unfortunately the system we play will not allow some of the cracking Championship players that we've bought recently to play to their full potential. That's already obvious as these players have been much poorer in our set up than they were with their "lesser" clubs.

I believe Dr T and Wyness have a tough decision to make. Do they ignore the current warning signs and back Steve and his coaching team, or do they accept that Championship football has changed, and that we also have to change in order to catch up with the other promotion candidates next season?

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:42 am

Message to Dr T .... Doing what we are currently doing, even with this summer's addition of two or three better players will not get us promoted.

Wasn't it Einstein who said "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"?

by **Sandie** Mon May 01, 2017 10:53 pm

Good to see the Doc and Wyness were so quick to stamp on the rumours on TalkShite that he was to sell up following our failure to gain promotion.

by **villabromsgrove** Tue May 02, 2017 9:43 am

Sandie wrote:Good to see the Doc and Wyness were so quick to stamp on the rumours on TalkShite that he was to sell up following our failure to gain promotion.

Talksport make up their news don't they? Dr T has some decisions to make, but selling up isn't one of them.

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:10 am

I'm getting the impression from Dr T's comments that Bruce has convinced him we can replicate Fergie's Man U rise. It's as though he believes that the building blocks are in place and now we just need to work hard to be successful.

I would like to be able to buy into this philosophy, in fact I do agree that the playing personnel is nearly there, but I wonder whether Bruce's outdated methodology can push us onwards and upwards? Fergie was a man of his time and superbly successful, but even he became outdated in his last couple of years, with Mike Phelan supplying the training and tactics that carried them through .... now there's an idea, he's available at the moment!

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Jul 03, 2017 10:05 am

Terry was the De Facto manager when Roberto Di Matteo was "in charge" at Chelsea. He could run the team for us in a similar way, even from the bench if necessary. One thing's for certain, there will be no slackers on JT's watch!

Dr T has confirmed Terry's signing in his usual idiosyncratic way by thanking Kodjia on twitter. This has to be for the gift of the number 26 shirt.

by **villabromsgrove** Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:19 pm

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tony-xias-sensible-plan-should-13368419

Dr T's aim is admirable and makes a lot of sense. The reality is that this will be damned hard if not impossible to achieve this season. The wages that "unwanted" senior pros are on will stifle any movement at the higher end of the pay scale.

by **Sandie** Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:21 pm

Had a look and counted 30 senior players in the squad.

by **villabromsgrove** Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:55 pm

Sandie wrote:Had a look and counted 30 senior players in the squad.

I did the same earlier and I counted 30 as well. Getting that figure down to 19/20 will need more than slimming, it will need a crash diet!

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