The player who left thread | Page 182 | Vital Football

The player who left thread

If you were in his shoes, playing for the Villa, would you want to go to Man Utd? I wouldn't. Like Shearer at Newcastle, I'd much rather stay and play for my club. Winning something with the Villa would mean so much more than winning 3 league titles with Barca or Madrid.
Yeah, I think if we stay up and keep the manager and the owners are willing to invest in the squad again, it's an exciting place to be for Grealish as captain and idol.

Could go down in history as a hero in one of the most successful decades for Villa.
 
If you were in his shoes, playing for the Villa, would you want to go to Man Utd? I wouldn't. Like Shearer at Newcastle, I'd much rather stay and play for my club. Winning something with the Villa would mean so much more than winning 3 league titles with Barca or Madrid.

Everyone always quotes Shearer in these situations. What about Rooney? He was a boyhood Everton fan, left to become Uniteds and England's best ever goal scorer and probably earnt 4 times more money in his career than he would have at Everton.

It's all very romantic what you are saying but it's a short career and at the end of it you'll look back on trophies.

I'll be amazed if he puts his being an Aston Villa fan over and above his career.
 
I wonder if Dr Bruyne, Aguero, Sterling and Silva are life long City fans?

Maybe Salah was a childhood Liverpool fan?

Perhaps Ronaldo always supported Juventus?

Or do the best players just go where they can win the most trophies and earn the most money?

Time to wake up guys.
 
Everyone always quotes Shearer in these situations. What about Rooney? He was a boyhood Everton fan, left to become Uniteds and England's best ever goal scorer and probably earnt 4 times more money in his career than he would have at Everton.

It's all very romantic what you are saying but it's a short career and at the end of it you'll look back on trophies.

I'll be amazed if he puts his being an Aston Villa fan over and above his career.

Rooney's big ambition was to be the highest paid footballer.

Shearer's big ambition was to play for Newcastle.

Dwight Yorke's big ambition was to win the CL.

One of my cousins was a very handy footballer. He played at a high level for amateur players. Some of the professional clubs sent scouts to watch him but he always told them he wasn't interested.

It all depends on the player.

Would you move to London if a rival company offered you a 25% raise?
 
We're all second guessing, whether it's leaving or staying, but it's delusional to be certain he's staying, there's no grounds for it.
 
if I was in his shoes I'd look at what we'd signed in the last couple of windows and consider if that would mean he's not going to be in either the championship or losing most weeks if we stay in the Prem.

Still be a villa fan but playing for a team which wins & competes.
 
We spent poorly in summer and that is coming back to bite us. Half the players we brought in were not Premier League quality and for a few extra million we could have got better players. If we had spent on better players we would be comfortable in mid table and all this talk and worry over Jack staying or leaving to join Unted or whoever would not be going around. We reap what we sow and that is why we are where we are and fretting. We should have been building around Jack last summer if this was the future plan (ie keeping our best and improving the squad to compete).
 
We're all second guessing, whether it's leaving or staying, but it's delusional to be certain he's staying, there's no grounds for it.
This is spot on. No-one knows his nor the club's real intentions, motivations or driver's. FFP is a real driver if we are eventually relegated.
 
Here's a clue:

‪Jack Grealish on his journey from the Villa academy to first-team‬

‪🗣"As an Aston Villa fan all I've ever wanted to do is play for this club. Being captain in a Cup final will be a massive moment for me"

That's a quote from VillaTilidie on Facebook.
 
Nobody is doubting his love for Villa or his pride in being our captain.

But as a professional he'd be a retard not to want to test himself at the highest level.

I know one thing for sure, I've never wanted to be wrong so badly. Just can't see that I am.
 
...
But as a professional he'd be a retard not to want to test himself at the highest level.
...

Wouldn't disagree with that. But it leaves open a whole load of questions, like what is the highest level, which would be the right club, and when?

If he feels that the club is progressing, and he is progressing with it, there are reasons for staying. He knows the owners are ambitious for the club and have the means to back it, which helps.

If he feels the club has stalled, or slipped back, a move would be very tempting.

I think he'll move eventually, which may be good for everybody. To stay in the same job indefinitely you need a very good reason. Whether he moves this year may depend on what things look like in the summer.
 
If we do stay up, we better show some bloody ambition to try and keep him interested.

Instead of selling our best players, which has the been the case my whole Villa supporting life, bring in some top players he can play alongside.

It must do his head in playing with some of the dummies in this squad.
 
If we do stay up, we better show some bloody ambition to try and keep him interested.

Instead of selling our best players, which has the been the case my whole Villa supporting life, bring in some top players he can play alongside.

It must do his head in playing with some of the dummies in this squad.

If we stay up I would be looking to buy 3-4 £30 million players to add to the existing squad.
 
If we stay up I would be looking to buy 3-4 £30 million players to add to the existing squad.

Yep, it's the only thing to do, otherwise what's the point?

3 or 4 top quality players would make us a very decent Premier League team in my opinion. Not every team already has the likes of Super Jack and Super John, and a few others I could mention.
 
shame we didn't make a start on that in the window just gone (despite being ok for ffp)
we need a few windows at £100 mill + to start making inroads.
(presuming we have the right people picking targets & coaching them)
still maybe if the prem is called off we can get going on that.
 
Nobody is doubting his love for Villa or his pride in being our captain.

But as a professional he'd be a retard not to want to test himself at the highest level.

I know one thing for sure, I've never wanted to be wrong so badly. Just can't see that I am.

All of the highest paying jobs in the UK are in London. Surely, as professionals everyone'd be a retard not to want to test themselves at the highest level? Why doesn't the entire population of the UK live in London?

There are some players like Sterling who want to play for the biggest clubs and highest wages. But not everyone is like that; Haaland chose RB over Juve and then Dortmund over Utd. Juve and Utd pay much better than RB and Dortmund.

Lots of German players choose to stay in Germany rather than move to more money in the PL. Unsworth famously joined us and then unjoined us because his wife wanted to stay in Liverpool.

Not all players are money hungry, glory hunters. Just like the rest of us, there are lots of factors which go into their decisions. Players like Yorke, Young, Milner and Downing, they weren't Villa men. They played for us for a while and then they played for someone else. Jack has much stronger ties to Villa.

Would Ian Taylor have left us for another club? I bet he had a few offers.
 
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Great chat between Andy Townsend and Jack on AVTV......you can tell how much it would mean to him if he could lift the cup on Sunday, talks about pinching himself when he thinks about captaining the club he loves at the age of 24....I personally think he’ll stay if we stay up. What I’d give for an Andy Townsend in claret n blue on Sunday....after watching the debacle last week,he could still probably do a job for us at the age of 56!