"The Pride of The Midlands - no matter who the owner" - Be Prepared

[Crayth]

LAMBERT SACKED IN SHOCKING LERNER U-TURN!

Today, in a shocking U-Turn, we can reveal Randy Lerner has sacked Paul Lambert with immediate effect. The club was originally put on the market for for £200 million pounds in the summer but has recently dropped his estimated value to £150 million in order to find a buyer. He was said to be backing Lambert for the foreseeable future, however, in a press statement released today, Randy Lerner had this to say:

"Due to the club being up for sale, I have decided to take the awkward decision out of the prospective new owners hands and can announce that Aston Villa Football Club have indeed parted ways with former manager Paul Lambert. We have left on good terms and I am now going to put the power into the hands into the Aston Villa fans hands.

In a never seen before attempt to regain the loyalty I may have lost whilst unsuccessfully putting the club on the market in the summer, I have decided to allow them to chose the next manager amongst themselves in the Aston Villa committee, I am overruling any board actions, however they have offered full support to me on this project and in this scheme. I would like to thank you and I will have another announcement regarding the future of me and Aston Villa Football Club imminently. Thank you."

Unclear are the motives behind this move, perhaps the outcry of the fans for the recent misery that has hung over Villa Park but if the statement goes through will it come to fruition that the fans finally get to chose their own manager? Some critics may argue it is to take the spotlight off him whilst he looks to quickly usher a sale through but whilst no take over offers look imminent it will be interesting to see the start of a new era at Aston Villa Football Club.

Some pundits are already touting David Moyes to be the third Scottish heir to the Aston Villa thrown, whilst others are throwing the fiery Italian Paulo Di Canio into the frame. Until a press statement is released I'm sure the bookies will be inundated with bets on who will be Aston Villas third manager in just over four years.

*David Moyes pictured above, in action for Everton.
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[Crayth]

"Local, Daniel Killeen, appointed Aston Villa manager"

Aston Villa confirmed today that it had appointed Daniel Killeen, a local manager who is also a lifelong die hard fan of Aston Villa as it's shocking new manager. It was revealed today after Paul Lambert was sacked immediately yesterday after Randy Lerner made a shock U-Turn on the future of the club and it is being speculated that the Aston Villa fan base made this decision themselves. No formal statement or press conference has been arranged but it is a startling development in the world of football.

Who is Daniel Killeen?

Daniel Craythorne is the manager of local football side Leechfield Spartans' first team, which in recent years had been jumping through the leagues rapidly under the control of Daniel Killeen. Daniel had a tough time in football suffering a double break of the leg whilst trialling for the youth side of Nottingham Forest and the once aspiring forward was ruled out of football for life by his doctor at the age of 15. He however managed to recover and against the doctors orders was back playing regular youth football at 17. Unfortunately it re-occured after he secured a contract at Nottingham Forests academy thus making the contract defunct and he was left in the loop again.

Despite being upset he used this to his advantage and asked whether he could start training to become a coach for Nottingham Forest and here we are today, he was coaching the youth sides for a while but wanted to make a jump to competitive and after a few years at poor clubs and bringing them up to a decent scratch he got a dream job managing his local teams first time and the rest is history.

Just six years ago at the age of 27, he accepted the contract to make him the Leechfield Spartans manager and become a semi-professional football manager and, five leagues, three cups and two charity shields later, he has been accepted the job at Aston Villa at the young age of 33.

Inexperience

This is just a brief introduction to show the determination this man has been through so, whilst the critics will spout "unexperienced at this level" and "out of his depth", they may have to eat their words at some point.

Randy Lerner has acknowledged this and accepted that it is true, we will cover all the updates on this shocking development here at this once great club.

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[Crayth]

CHAPTER 1; PRE-SEASON

The dressing room was quiet - they were stunned, slightly embarrassed I knew more of all of them than they knew of me. All I was, was a name on a piece of paper before they finally got the face.

I'd never imagined a week ago I'd be stepping into this great stadium as the manager. The players were as shocked as me, not only had I joined, I had arrived half way through pre-season, I had met up with each player individually to gain their views on this season before this date. But I hadn't met them as a collective. The acquisition of Joe Cole and Philipe Senderos were huge bolsters to what WAS, last year, a faltering team.

Not only had I gained these two, but I had full backing from the current board and managed to sign a number of key players I had drawn out once I knew I had the job interview. Most of these targets had been signed, the deadwood had been cleared and the mist had settled. I was the new face of Aston Villa Football Club, along side some A-List football icons, I was about to set the Premier League alight. I had also received news just days after that a take-over could be imminent from a consortium backed by a former footballer, and they had already said they would give the new manager all their support.

My target was set to achieve Premier League status for the next season - a target I was quietly chuffed with. You know how every male mumbles that he could do better whilst chuntering into a half full lager glass with discarded peanut remains scattered around his shirt, I felt that I had achieved that dream. I could do better and I was so confident, I would of put my life on it. My journey starts here and as my captain Ron Vlaar stood to shake my hand I felt a rush of anticipation..

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PRE-SEASON SIGNINGS

GARETH BARRY | CENTRE MIDFIELDER | FREE

An old face returned to Aston Villa this year. Considered traitor or not, I was always a fan of Barry's and he did extend his loyalty for Villa for a while and stayed on despite being of quite a good standard and unfortunately he never made it at Manchester City quite like he did at Aston Villa but I was excited to see his name mentioned to me and after one phone call he was delighted about re-joining the club and due to his contract being expired he came for less than a pack of pork scratchings!

SAMUEL ETO'O | CENTRE FORWARD | FREE

One of the most feared centre forwards in European Football joining once champions Aston Villa on a free. After I found Samuel Eto'o searching for clubs, he was in talks with very reputable teams such as Valencia, Athletico Madrid but after I talked with him about my vision and the prospect of partnering him up front along side ferocious Belgian Christian Benteke, he was delighted to become part of my project and also become my Vice Captain alongside Ron Vlaar. A brilliant signing and on a wage less than Darren Bent's!

TOM INCE | WINGER | FREE

Tom Ince was someone who I knew and had admired for a long time - I had spoken to Paul as soon as I had the call to say I had the job and he had agree'd Villa would be the perfect option for Tom to continue his development into what we all know is going to be a big player for Aston Villa and arriving on a free with a cut price wage he is a brilliant replacement for dead stock out goings in the other direction. A brilliant signing.

JOLEON LESCOTT | CENTRE BACK | FREE

I had always loved Joleon Lescotts neat but no holds barred style of defending and thought that he would be a perfect centre half partner for Ron Vlaar so I quickly snapped up the 28-year-old on a free transer to bring him to the club he supported as a boy. A huge signing at the back.

OTHER SIGNINGS:

We also brought in the following:

ROBERT KOREN | CENTRAL MIDFIELDER | FREE TRANSER

MATTIAS CASSINI | RIGHT BACK | £1 MILLION | FIORENTINA

KLEBER | LEFT BACK | FREE TRANSFER

BREDE HANGELAND | CENTRE BACK | FREE TRANSFER



OUTGOING PLAYERS:

GABRIEL AGBONLAHOR

LEFT FOR £7 MILLION POUNDS --> SOUTHAMPTON FC

Despite loving the club to the core, he was utterly terrible at making the decision, he was like a Ferrari without a steering wheel, a power house without any direction what so ever and thus I thought the offer was too good to refuse and allowed space for Andi Weimann and Tom Ince to battle it out for left wing position and gave the club some needed money. Good sale in my opinion and at the right time.

DARREN BENT

LEFT FOR £1.7 MILLION --> EVERTON

Over paid. Under worked. Over rated. Darren Bent was the subjects to hundreds of enquiries as to why he just couldn't do it at Villa and I put it down to the fact he's just pure lazy and was glad to get rid of him and his astronomocial wage budget pronto, he was pushed onto Everton for a cut price £1.7 million pounds and I was glad to be shot of him.

ALAN HUTTON

LEFT FOR 500K --> WEST BROMWICH ALBION

I don't have the time nor patience to speak about this guy, why WBA paid for him I'll never know. Explicit words are the only ones I can use to describe this fella.


KARIM EL AHMADI

LEFT FOR £3.4 MILLION --> FC TWENTE

Worked hard and was decent at times over the last few seasons but he was never quite good enough and I was happy to get the money I did for him, was genuine and did try his best for the side, just not to this standard and didn't fit our way of thinking.

NATHAN BAKER

LEFT FOR £2.4 MILLION --> STOKE CITY FC

Left for the Potters and I wasn't too happy to see this but I would rather have the experienced heads of Lescott and Hangeland and keep Clarke instead of Baker. Good player, might live to regret this.

LOAN DEALS;

GRAHAM BURKE
JOE BENNETT
DANIEL JOHNSON
JANOI DONACIEN

All went out on loan deals..

THE FUTURE IS CLARET AND BLUE

My pre-season friendlies were being taken by my second in command - former Southampton Assistant Manager Paul Williams. We had a number of games and I expect for the results to be compiled into a report before being published but it was a brilliant pre-season to what I'm sure is going to be massively successful first season in charge of Aston Villa.

My team is set and my formation is set. I have no qualms about attacking and love attractive football but the job is about results with entertainment coming alongside, Aston Villa's glory days are not too far down the line and with the squad and staff we have at the club and a take over imminent, we are looking into the future anticipating.

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[TotalFM]

Brilliant use of the free agent market, rebuilt a team for a small cost (agents and players)
Best of luck for the upcoming season

 

[Crayth]

PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES REPORT
*Compiled by Assistant Manager, Paul Williams.

View attachment 367716

All in all I am glad to report back with a successful pre-season.

We had a mix of first and reserve team players playing together, but the key partnerships we were keen on developing were kept together. We were only inflicted one loss, that being at home to Granada, disappointing but fair to take because of the busy schedule and constant interchanging of players.

I have a few comments to make including the fact that Vlaar and Lescott look to developing a relatively comfortable partnership at the back with mistakes from either fullback or the goalkeeper to blame for the leaked goals. Other than that the midfield is functioning well, a little more creativity needed from Westwood who we may want to look at as a serious first team player this year.

Our strike force are looking clinicial, Samuel Eto'o has been rolling back the years with some super play. Alongside Christian Benteke, we could have a serious strike force, and with Libor Kozak and Andi Weimann waiting in the wings, it looks like we have a sufficient attack force to break down even the countries most organised defences.

Unfortunately, we haven't really had chance to play our first XI all together and therefore leaves us with an unpredictable start come opening day of the season, I think we are sufficiently prepared for the season ahead.

Our formation of a more attacking 4-4-2 is a lot more attractive to our supporters and they have spoken out happily of their new approach to football.

I look forward to what is sure to be a successful first year under your guidance.

Yours Sincerely,
Paul Williams.

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WONDERKID AGREES LOAN WITH VIEW TO PERMANENT DEAL

Aston Villa have struck the gold mine again finding Tom Carroll from Tottenham looking for first team experience. With Aston Villa's very good relationship with Tottenham, it was a viable and easy option for Tom Carroll to move to Villa on loan for the season unable to be recalled, he is now confident of putting in a good season for Aston Villa and hopefully establishing a first team spot.

Daniel Killeen spoke to our reporter earlier driving into Bodymoor Heath. "Tom is one of the biggest English talents we have in the country and he is exactly the type of hungry players we need at the club, he will bolster our midfield and give us different options."

Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino has said this to our reporters when asked about his thoughts on the deal, "Aston Villa are a great club, with great fans and great facilities. Tom Carroll is a brilliant young lad who needs the first team experience and the move is good for all parties, I was delighted to allow him on loan to a club like Villa."

The two clubs have also struck a future agreement deal for around £5 million to be activated if Villa do want to make the deal permanent.

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THE START OF THE CAMPAIGN

Matchday #1 | ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
VILLA PARK
ASTON VILLA 2 - 1 WEST HAM UNITED
(JOE COLE, SAMUEL ETO'O)

A perfect opening day for the boys, I had told them before the game to get in their face, don't let them have any time and force them to rush their long ball style of play and it worked. Albeit after they equalised after Joe Cole's dream debut goal only for it to be cut short, after a twisted knee Joe had to be replaced and will not be on the shelf for 3-4 weeks but not before helping his old club defeat his former one who released him in the summer.

Samuel Eto'o got what proved to be the winner with a screamer from 40 yards, to prove he is to still be taken seriously as a dangerous front man. A brilliant start to the campaign in front of 40,000+ streaming Villa fans. A dream come true and a brilliant start to the season.

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Matchday 2 | ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
TURF MOOR
ASTON VILLA 1 - 2 BURNLEY
(SAMUEL ETO'O)

A disappointing result and performance to go with it. We never looked the same side we did against West Ham. Without Joe Cole, Andi Weimann took a while to adjust to his new role and after Danny Ings pounced to put us 1 - 0 behind, we were always struggling. We certainly didn't deserve to win but I think we deserved a point.

Samuel Eto'o scored a wonderful team move to cap off a neat equaliser. Unfortunately, we had a second lapse in concentration which allowed Danny Ings to steal in and pinch the three points on 88 minutes. We need to dust ourselves down and apply ourselves in our next fixture against Swindon.

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CAPITAL ONE CUP SECOND ROUND
THE COUNTY GROUND
ASTON VILLA 1 - 0 SWINDON
(CHRISTIAN BENTEKE)

Despite not being dazzling, we got the job done, a good finish from Christian Benteke proved he can also put one in the back of the net and despite not majorly threatening the goal of Swindon, we were comfortable at the back and the first clean sheet of the season is a welcome sign of the partnership at the back from Joleon Lescott and skipper Ron Vlaar.

Matchday 3 | ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
VILLA PARK
ASTON VILLA 5 - 2 LEICESTER CITY
(CHRISTIAN BENTEKE x2, ANDREAS WEIMANN x2, JOLEON LESCOTT)

An entertaining afternoon, and nail biting at times. However after going 2 - 0 up early on, I thought we may have cruised to the three points but as I have already learnt in my short time as an Aston Villa manager, the Premier League is full of surprises. We started really well and were fashioning chances left, right and centre. Barry and Westwood were controlling the midfield and the two wingers were causing havok for Leicester City until Albrighton, wrote the seemingly already written script and pulled one back. After just a few minutes they were level after a wonderful smashed cross along the floor found Vardey unmarked six yards out.

But we showed our grit, determination and character as we went on to get the next goal through a Benteke, swivel and shot about five yards outside the area to fire is into the lead, Tom Ince made a jinking run down one side of the field to tee up fellow winger Weimann on the far side to lash into the top corner, for his brace. Joleon Lescott volleyed home the fifth two minutes from time to give us advantage and despite the score line, it could have very well been different if Chris Wood and Vardey had their shooting boots on.

A brilliant result none the less and one to round off a succesful month in charge with three victories out of four.

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CONGRATULATIONS!

SAMUEL ETO'O CLAIMS AUGUST PLAYER OF THE MONTH AFTER IMPRESSING AT VILLA PARK!

Samuel has won the award just ahead of returning villain Gareth Barry in second and Ryan Bertrand of Chelsea in third. A brilliant achievement after he banged in three goals in three games in August. Fans will be surely purring at the prospect of seeing him play more.

NEXT MONTH

Next month we face some challenging opposition in Chelsea and Manchester City but with the confidence we've built we are ready for the challenge. We are only going to get better as a collective and not worse and I feel with our mixture of experience and youth, we can create a really good side this year and finish comfortably within the league.

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MY THOGHTS?

"It had been the perfect week for my family and for myself. I had finally managed to achieve the dream, I had become the manager of my boyhood club, the team I used to go and watch every week, idolise the very ground the players walked on and dreamt of having an oppurtunity of sharing a stage with them even being a ball boy back then would have galvanised me.

It has been over 20 years since then and here I am. The manager of Aston Villa Football Club, I'm not getting too far ahead of myself. Their are much harder times to come, the defeat at Burnley only made me realise that further that this will be a tricky business and if I am to succeed I much make choices from the head and not the heart. I will do whats best by the club, and I can't wait to get on with the second month in charge.

With just two days remaining of the transfer window left, I am on the look out for that one more player who will complete my team. I am delighted with the way we have started, and despite an injury to regular left full back Luna, brazilian veteran Kleber has done an outstanding job at deputising.

Their is a long road ahead and I'll just take one little step at a time, but I am enjoying my new role more than I have ever loved anything before."

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[Crayth]

Brilliant use of the free agent market, rebuilt a team for a small cost (agents and players)
Best of luck for the upcoming season

Thank you mate, always nice to hear feedback of any kind, even better when its positive, thanks dude!

 

[Crayth]

HORROR MONTH

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Matchday 4 | ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
STAMFORD BRIDGE
ASTON VILLA 0 - 4 CHELSEA

What can I say, we made minor tweaks to respect Chelsea and got punished severely for it. No mercy from the would be champions who had amazing talent in the starting eleven such as Diego Costa, Hazard, Fabregas, Pedro but we should have done a lot better, the fans were fuming and rightly so, a humiliating defeat and one that has brought me right back down to earth. Sunderland next, sanctity as Manchester City loom later on in the month.

Matchday 5 | ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
THE STADIUM OF LIGHT
ASTON VILLA 1 - 1 SUNDERLAND
(SAMUEL ETO'O)

In the end a result we were quite happy with given the circumstances we tweaked a few things at the back as Okore was back fit aswell as Luna and they both got injured early on in the game to throw the gamethrow out of whack, we managed to recover and a man of the match Ashley Westwood performance and a vintage one chance, one goal clinical compure shown from Eto'o, we managed to salvage a point in Tyneside.

With the cup up next in just two days, I am hoping our squad will be able to face the challenge of a real battle with high flying Cardiff.

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Matchday 6 | ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
VILLA PARK
ASTON VILLA 1 - 3 MANCHESTER CITY
(SAMUEL ETO'O)

A really frustrating afternoon, we deserved more, the score line didn't reflect the game and our attacking at time was unplayable, our front two inter changed, Benteke and Eto'o causing havok but just not quite finishing key chances, Tom Ince jinked into the box and was bundled to the ground at 1 - 1 to make it 2 - 1 but Samuel Eto'o uncharacteristically of him, saw him tame penalty saved by Hart and substitute Dzeko did the inevitable, in the 84th minute he smashed home his first to put Manchester City in front again after Eto'o's 60th minute finish had put it level.

He made the score line look flattering after the first, we just stopped defending. Samuel Eto'o came into the changing room and stopped me before I had anything to say. His structured English must of meant something along the lines of;

"I apoligise boys, we can't accept that we deserved this defeat, we have Arsenal next week, at Villa Park and hopefully I will redeem myself."

His apology was not needed.. he had delivered the goods week in and week out and I saw the fire at the start of the season in their eyes again, we had defeneders and midfielders getting injured and returning left right and centre and it was hard to establish our ''best first team line up.'



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CAPITAL ONE CUP THIRD ROUND
CARDIFF CITY STADIUM
ASTON VILLA 2 - 4 CARDIFF CITY
(SAMUEL ETO'O, JOLEON LESCOTT)

There should be a crime against what our fans had to endure. They paid a lot of money, travelled a long way to watch a dreadful display lit up only by Samuel Eto'o's finishing abilities, this was just before the Manchester City game and didn't set us on our way, I was horrified with the defending and a lot is going to be done to stop the route.





WINGER REJECTS ASTON VILLA IN FAVOUR OF NEWCASTLE SWITCH!

"Robert Snodgrass has signed a new deal with Newcastle in favour of completing his loan move to Aston Villa, the winger who can play either side signed the deal..."

I turned the television off... This is how I find out, no time to prepare, sneaky? That would by cynical of me, but I couldn't help have my suspicions. I was happy with my squad any who and I didn't feel the need to rush through any deals. I was happy and with the youth products developing nicely I'm sure I'm going to be just fine.

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I CURRENTLY SIT 11TH PLACE IN THE LEAGUE​

*unable to show a screen shot because I played a little furhter in but it will be included with next update.​

A long and testing month with another one ahead of me, with Samuel Eto'o the only one really coming up trumps some other guys are going to have to step up to the plate or we'll slide dramatically.

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*I HAVE BEEN CATCHING UP RECENTLY FROM NOW ON THE POSTS WILL BE A LOT BETTER, A LOT MORE IN DEPTH AND A LOT MORE FUN TO READ, I ASSURE YOU.*

Thank you for following & reading my material...
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