Matt D

Hope you’re right, but I simply don’t see it. I don’t see where we get any money at all that would allow us to rebuild while remaining competitive.

We’ll almost definitely sell Rogers, but that’s a little counterintuitive to strengthening when we have 5-10 other players than need to be replaced.

This simply is not true in any way at all.

We would also still be subject to UEFA’s SCR rules, which we will breach again next season and probably get another fine to pile onto the mess we’re already in.

The reason that that’s a big problem is that that means we still have to sell-to-buy but we don’t have a huge number of profitable sellable assets anymore - we clearly need to replace Watkins, but that will cost £60-70m + Bailey, Buendia, Cash, Mings, Pau, Martinez, Garcia, Digne MUST be upgraded.

Without CL for an 2nd year our revenue will return to roughly 23/24 levels - c£300m. Our wages are currently around £293m and we have around £150m of additional expenses.

All told, we’d be looking at a loss of about £150m next season alone before signings.

Nope, his tenure at one club doesn’t define him. He’s elite because he’s elite across his career.

Eddie Howe didn’t win multiple trophies at Sevilla, Villarreal and PSG. And we finished 4th when we got CL, not 5th.

Depends on what you class as “achieved”. No Villa manager in our 150-odd years has qualified for Europe 4 times.

Oh, I’m well aware of the financial catastrophe that’s heading our way. We have one last financial dial to turn this summer in Rogers that will keep us afloat, but after that we‘re in deep deep trouble.

He walked from Sevilla, Valencia and PSG and we poached him from Villarreal. He rarely gets sacked.

Does he get to a dead end and leave? Maybe. That’s why I think he walks from us this summer.

He’s elite because not one other manager anywhere on earth could’ve turned our team as it was into a champions league team or do what he did at Sevilla and Villarreal with the squads they had. That makes him elite.

There‘s no way he knew how restricted we’d still be 3 years on. If we have another summer like the last and end up with the same tired, old, out of form players next season , or we’re forced to sell Rogers to make up another financial shortfall, then i am absolutely certain he will leave.

He is elite but much like when Ferguson walking at Utd in the end, he’ll know when we’re about to hit a dead end - especially if a big job appears.

We don’t have anywhere near the money to both fix the squad and remain competitive. He literally told us last season “I don’t want to waste my time”

So we can talk about whether our players are good enough, sure - but they’ve been good enough for the past 3 years, so why not now? Mcginn and Tielemans being injured doesn’t make Martinez make mistakes, or Rogers misplace a 6 yard pass or Buendia fall over whenever he touches the ball.

People keep using Luiz but he’s playing better by a MILE than Onana.

Buendia isn’t better than Barkley AND he’s playing badly.

If we didn’t need Abraham, why sign him. Watkins is in the worst run of form of his entire career, but plays every single game.

We don’t need to play Bailey but we do.

Emery’s tactics and constantly picking staggeringly out of form personnel are the main factor for why we‘re playing badly, not the injuries (They are a factor but not the main one).

If we lose against Utd we will have gathered 9pts from 10 games, which is by chance the same total that Steven Gerrard got in his last 10 league games with us.

If we fail to score, we will also have scored 1 less goal than in those last 10 games of glorious Gerrard-ball.

#AVFC

Between the two Lille games we beat Arsenal and followed them by beating Bournemouth. We lost 3 out of the previous 10 league games in the run up to Lille (we‘ve lost 4 of the last 10 now).

I don’t think anyone’s doing anything on purpose - I’m being silly.

We scraped past Lille 2 years ago when we were actually playing ok. Now we are playing worse than at any other time under Emery. They will beat us in both legs, I am absolutely convinced of it.

For all the noise of us continuing our slide back to our natural state of “absolutely fucking useless” after a few ace years, it’s good to see that Spurs are now only 1pt off 18th

Us capitulating top 5 and consigning ourselves to financial armageddon would be tempered a bit if they went down

#AVFC

I can take this one for you, Unai: Chelsea just kicked the ball forwards in any direction, our midfield stopped running and our entire defence closed their eyes and hoped for the best.

6th will be easy in 10 days, because it will be reality.

We will lose both legs.

Can’t afford an overhaul because we’ve run Dean Smith’s squad into the ground, sold most of our own youngsters, spent millions on youth players who we loan out and make pennies on and we have, at best, 2-3 players with any substantial value left.

I’m telling you now, we will never win a trophy with Unai. We blew it in the Conference League and we blew it in the FA Cup last season. Those were the chances.

The conspiracy theorist part of my brain is telling me he’s trying to get sacked for a massive payoff because he knows he can’t do any more with us with zero cash.

We will also lose vs City and Liverpool, so it’s 6.

We’re not in the race and I guarantee we’re going to lose vs Lille. The only question now is whether we can stay above Brentford & Everton. Players and manager are absolutely broken. It’s the worst we’ve looked for this length of time since Gerrard.

#AVFC

I think he’ll walk. Our DISASTROUS transfers, suicidal over-reliance on near 30 year olds (14 players will be 29+ by the end of next season) with 0 resale value and a complete lack of funds means we have literally no chance whatsoever to do a single thing to the squad in the summer. It’s so bleak.

I‘m calling it now: The main consequence of no champions league will be Unai leaving.

#AVFC