Every Friday we’ll be bringing you a round-up of the week’s Villa news from elsewhere that actually won’t make it into Media Muppets, so you can go into the weekend fully informed on the Villa news doing the rounds.
Remi Garde to Stay or Go?
A number of newspapers have reported that Garde will either leave or get sacked at the end of the season, and in the past week we’ve had mixed reports on the future of the Frenchman. Lord Mervyn King has commented on the whole situation stating that it’s more a case of whether the former Lyon manager actually wants to stay, rather than the board assessing his position.
Furthermore, we’ve had additional reports that Garde could have a number of offers to take up another role, as a way out of his current job. There are rumours floating around that the French national team may offer Remi a role as a national team director, rumours that probably don’t hold too much substance to them considering their source. The outstanding reputation he’s built in France has also served him well as a return to Lyon maybe on the cards according to Dave Armitage and the Daily Star.
However, Garde has come out today in his press conference and stated that he still values the three year contract he signed when he became manager. “I’ve never said I want to leave this club, I have a three year contract, that’s it.” So, it’ll be interesting to see where he’ll be by the end of the summer, with many fans divided by whether we should stick by him or not.
Club makes Losses, whilst Fox makes Dollars
The official numbers in terms of finances were released in the week, with the Birmingham Mail giving us a lowdown on where all the money was spent, how much we made from TV revenue and just a general overview that includes a 27m LOSS in the last financial year. 1.25m of this is paid to Tom Fox, who kindly took a 400% increase on what the last Chief Executive made. Putting him sixth in the league in terms of wage for Chief Executives, comfortably in between Liverpool and Chelsea.
Clearly Tom Fox has involved himself in a ‘false narrative’ of his own after he explained to fans at the AVST AGM last January that the work behind closed doors and off the pitch was vastly improving and finances at the club had made positive steps forward. Instead, player wages have increased up £14m and the club has made an enormous £27m loss, a figure that should really put into perspective how far the club could fall in the next few years without serious action.
The Clear-out Begins (Sort of)
The first transfer news about the summer as the Mirror report that it’s rumoured that Jordan Veretout and Idrissa Gana both have options to leave the club in the summer. With Marseille being linked with Gana and AC Milan showing interest in Veretout apparently. Further reports from the Telegraph have also linked Jordan Ayew and Jack Grealish to moves away with West Ham being the popular option for the two.
Many fans will be calling for a complete overhaul of the squad in the summer and it looks likely, but I’m sure many supporters will feel that the more ‘Premier League Experienced’ players are the ones who they’d like to be moving away, whilst the French acquisitions have impressed in parts and would be further down on their list to leave the club.
Big News as Little Appointed
The board at Aston Villa has already made serious alterations as Lord Mervyn King and Chairman Steve Hollis have looked across Villa’s structure with a fine eye. Tom Fox, Hendrik Almstadt and Paddy Reilly’s futures all look uncertain as they have all been key to Villa’s failures on and off the pitch this season. However, today we’ve been brought some good news from BBC WM Sport that ex-player and manager Brian Little will take an advisory role to the board, while ex-Manchester City chairman David Bernstein will be given a role on the board.
Bernstein is a solid appointment according to Manchester City fans we’ve spoken to, while Little has a certain feel of public relations exercise about it, but that in itself was a much needed move by Villa. It does them no harm at all to have Little associated with the club, whatever the capacity.
Overall, this vastly improves the wealth of football knowledge that the board has, as previously it was largely business based and this has obviously proved to be a major problem. Some good news for Villa fans that has been an extremely long-time coming.
Ex-Youngsters Reflect on Time at Villa
Bright Prospects Samir Carruthers and Daniel Johnson were both interviewed by Football League Paper and they allowed MOMS to expand on what they both had to say about their time at Aston Villa. Carruthers, a player who captained the Next Gen Cup winning side spoke about the lack of opportunity under Villa’s previous manager Paul Lambert and how his move to MK Dons has enabled him to do something he’d never been able to at Villa. Play Games.
Both revealed how the club’s lack of faith in their academy products is a negative strategy and I’d probably have to agree with them. Both Johnson and Carruthers looked like they’d offer as much or more than the likes of Westwood, Bacuna or Bennett, but instead Villa’s mismanagement meant that both left for almost next to nothing. For more, click here to read the full Daniel Johnson article and click here for the Samir Carruthers interview.
Holiday in the Sun
Finally, in the week that the latest financial results came out, one of the ‘F A R’ trio (Fox, Almstadt & Riley), Hendrick Almstadt was allegedly sunning himself on holiday in Dubai, according to the Daily Telegraph. Not great timing at this time of the season and considering the state of the club. Have a holiday at the end of the season? Just an idea.
Follow Chad on Twitter – @ChadBillyWrenn
Follow MOMS on Twitter – @oldmansaid
More crap coming out of Villa no good news as normal the white flags of surrender will be raised this weekend and I expect these to wave clearly on TV so out the door on 74 respect to you but for me I stay and protest well that’s unless a cricket score finally finishes even my resolve so stay loyal to yourself keep the faith and Villa till we die
Not much good news, except Remi will honor his contract hopefully and Almstadt knows he’s fired (except it could be that he had a hand in getting Amavi, Ayew and Traore). Almost all the players I would keep are wanted elsewhere no surprise. And will go cheap. Another 2 directors haha, more captains can’t save a sinking ship. Little almost took us down first, and its telling the the guy from Man city isn’t there now when they are successful. Either of them a CFO, cause I think that’s the position that is open. This is 4 new board members including Hopeless, just maybe 3 players could have kept us up, one would would have stopped a lot of questions for the manager. They are all on wages I assume just before there will redundancies on the floor. The train wreck continues, unbelievable.