McGrath: We Look Unbeatable!

Aston Villa have always been the club this season who have flattered to deceive. They have the players who can perform to the standard needed to be a top club but this season they have been iffy to say the least.

That changed this month as the young side, captained by the old guy Ron Vlaar rolled over two big sides and almost got a result against Spurs. We improved so much this month and in Jack (Grealish), Kevin (Volland), Mason (Bennett) and Dorin (Rotariu) I believe that we have the most exciting youngsters in the Premier League. It has took a change in formation for us, switching to three at the back, but we now have competition all over the pitch and although I will be looking to offload upto 6 players in the summer, I will only be looking to replace them with 3 players. Two youngsters and a marque signing.



The month started off with a bang against Manchester City. City's manager Unai Emery stated that a deal had been done to transfer Fernando to Villa at the end of the season, something McGrath completely denied. Villa though wanted the win so much more than Manchester City. Captain Ron Vlaar got the Villans off to an amazing start with a pile-driver of a free kick to make it 1-0. It was nothing more than Villa deserved, playing on the counter attack with Agbonlahor pulling the strings up top and Grealish and Volland looking unstoppable they went into the interval 2-0 up when Grealish connect with a through ball by Agbonlahor.

Gabby Agbonlahor has been unlucky to miss out on England caps this season but has been knocking on the door of Roy Hodgson's preliminary squad for the European Championships being played all over Europe. in the second half Man City got a lucky goal and Grealish finished them off for a mighty impressive 3-1 victory with a goal from behind the half way line as Hart had come up for the corner and Villa broke fast.

Now in other months a fantastic result against Man city would mean a awful result in the next game but this did not happen this time despite Villa shaking a little. Delph got Villa rocking on the 25th minute with a 25 yard cracker of a goal, But in the second half Austin hit two goals in 8 minutes to put the hosts 2-1 up but this Villa side has a new found belief and Volland who come on for Rotariu equalisered in the 65th minute with a goal of the highest of quality. He round 3 defenders, played a 1-2 with Benteleb and drilled it into the bottom left hand corner. Villa were completely on top and Q.P.R got deeper and deeper until it backfired in the 80th minute as Grealish taking a rare free kick bent it around the wall and in off the post. Villa had 2 wins in a row for the first time since they defeated Wigan and Stoke 3 months ago.

They made it 3 in a row though with a 2-0 demolition of Liverpool. Liverpool, who are either great or absolutely awful were the latter one here as they allowed Vlaar to score a flying headed goal from a Volland corner and Bennett got his first goal for the club in the second half of the match with a sublime give and go with Castaignos and the chip over Mignolet was exquisite.


Vlaar scores vs Liverpool

Bennett, who is a new signing at Villa also picked up the man of the match award and he was all over the pitch in this one, given free reign to go and cause carnage and is already becoming a big hit with the fans.

Aston Villa had the chance to go a month totally unbeaten, all that was standing in there way were Tottenham and in this match they were fantastic again. Jack Grealish was rested for Dorin Rotariu much to the dismay of Villa fans but it proved to be a brilliant decision along with Mason Bennett starting again. It was Tottenham however that had the first chance with Icardi firing into the chest of Marek Rodek.

At half time it was 0-0, but a good game for 0-0 but it needed a goal and just after the hour Villa fans got what they wanted through Romanian wonderkid Dorin Rotariu. It was great play by Delph and Cleverley, who have a great understanding in the middle of the park. With Yohann Cabaye out injured they have made him not be missed at all. It was Cleverley who spotted Rotariu storming past the defence and with a lofted ball perfectly into his feet he rounded the keeper and slotted it into the net.

Then Bennett missed when it was easier to score and Cleverley hit the bar while Icardi was proving to be a threat for Spurs and the fact Villa could not close out the game proved to haunt them in the 89th minute when the tireless Icardi got his reward for a fine game with a solo effort to save Spurs' blushes.




It is Chelsea's title to throw away now as they are 6 goals clear of United and 3 points ahead, so they only now have to draw to win the title. Man Utd are confirmed atleast 2nd place with Everton and Man City getting the champions league places.

Arsenal will have to reflect on a awful season in the end because they were top at Christmas but only end up 5th but 11 points behind Chelsea which for fans of The Gunners is unacceptable.

Aston Villa, with a game in hand are looking to finish 10th and that would be a great season for The Villans. They should be able to overhaul Newcastle and if Stoke and Q.P.R falter they could 8th or 9th.

The relegation scrap is also enthralling, with Southampton now amazingly close to the great escape, with Charlton slipping into the zone and Hull are almost certainly doomed. Forest are now safe so it will either be Leicester, Southampton, Charlton or Hull to go down this season.

Villa Player Of The Month

Grealish celebrated the Villa Player Of The Month by signing a 5 year £41,000 a week deal

This was simple because Jack Grealish could also become the Premier League Young Player Of The Year and will also be favourite for Villa Player Of The Year. What a month he has had, he scored the winner on a couple of occasions but the fact he is a local boy, coming through the ranks at Villa and is now a Irish international, he will be one of the important players as Villa move on up throughout the seasons.

Aston Villa Awards Ceremony

In yet another great season for Paul McGrath and Aston Villa they ended it two places better than this time last season.

Last Season's Table


This Season's Table


As we compare the table from Last season and this season we see that Chelsea finally got the better of Manchester United but they did it in better fashion this season. The fact that they won the league with less points just shows that the league is getting closer, but only very slowly.

Everton qualify for the Champions League again this season albeit finishing forth instead of third and that place goes to Man City who improved from there 6th place finish to claim 3rd and be back in the Champions League proper whereas Spurs have gone from Champions League to no European football at all.

Southampton have gone from the top 10 to only just surviving the relegation zone but Leicester and Hull have been relegated with the unfortunate Charlton, who up until the 88th minute against Villa were staying up but when Villa equalised they got relegated.

The Awards Dinner

We are joined again for the second Annual Awards Dinner and there are some awesome awards up for grabs again this season. The awards up for grabs are The Fair Play Award, The Managers Player Of The Season Award, The Players Player Of The Season, The Young Player Of The Season Award, The Top Goalscorer Award, The Best Coach Award, The Best New Signing, The Most Man Of The Match Award and finally The Special Recognition Award, The Most Shirts sold and Defender Of The Year and The Unsung Hero Award.

Every member of the squad turned up for this and there was a tinge of excitement around the room for the first award but first of all Paul McGrath spoke first.

I would like to thanks everyone here for the enjoyment of this season. We hit our target of the top 10 but next season we need kick on and try to hit the top 6. I know we can really achieve this and is we work hard we could even gatecrash the top 4. (Applause) I am planning on making three signings, not sure who yet and there will be some people leaving but we will work that out in the pre-season. I will hand over to Ron now for his captain's speech

Thanks boss and what a season we have had. There has been some awful results but also great results. I remember the 8-0 victory against Southampton and also the 3-1 victory against Manchester City but I think we will get on with the awards now, shall we.

The Top Goalscorer

This award was won by just the one goal this season. Two players got into double figures this season in Jack Grealish and Luc Castaignos. Grealish, to hit 12 goals in one season is a massive improvement but he was just edged out by Luc Castaignos who hit 13 goals this season. He wins this award for the second time and we hope he can continue to hit in the goals in the future.

The Fair Play Award

Last season Fabian Delph won this award but he just misses out this season because there is a player who played 43 times this season and did not get one yellow or red card. Jack Grealish may only be young but in terms of fair play, he is top dawg and to talk about him we would like to welcome up last season's winner Fabian Delph. Working with a player of Grealish's ability as just amazing. Not only does he play the game fairly, he plays it right. No one wants to face him on the training pitch or the football pitch and I for one am very happy that he is on the football to play alongside me and not against me because he has immense skills and qualities. he is a worthy Winner.

the Best Coach Award

David Platt walked the voting! Since he has came into the club our defence has got a lot better and he must take the credit for it so is a very worthy winner.

Best New Signing

Now many people are expecting me to name Kevin Volland as the winner of this award, but he is not the winner. He came very, very close though but the award is going to £8,500,000 signing Alessio Ramagnoli. This 21 year old has shown desire and hunger to be the best he can be and in a back three with Ron Vlaar and John Stones he has settled into the side really well. I can not wait to see how he does next season but congratulations to him for winning the title.

Defender Of The Year

In a new award, the Defender of the year has been won by Ron Vlaar. The captain is the obvious choice, he is a great role model to the younger guys and although he keeps himself to himself, we all know that he is amazing to be around and I can not wait to see what he does next season. Not bad for an old man!

Young Player Of The Season Award, Managers Player Of The Season Award, Players Player Of The Season, Most Man Of The Match Award

Jack Grealish wins this award and it was the only one where everyone has already accepted it. This Irish superstar is exactly that and although England fans are not to happy that he chose Ireland but he will get games for them all the time. Jack is absolutely amazing for us and he will be for a long, long time. We are building the squad around him and you can see why and that is why he also picks up the Player's Player Of The Year, The Manager's Player Of The Year and the most man of the match awards too, getting 5 man of the match awards.

Most Shirts Sold

Kevin Volland, the new signing caused a surge of shirt sales for the German and it meant that he just nipped Gabby Agbonlahor to the accolade of selling the most Villa Shirts. Tom Cleverley was in third place with Ruben Garcia and Fabian Delph close behind.

Unsung Hero & Special Recognition Award

The same player gets both awards here and it is one of the lesser known men at Aston Villa in Head Physio Alan Smith. Smith, who has been at Villa for so long it is like he part of the furniture and fittings at Villa Park. When someone gets injured it is the Head Physio who tries to make sure they are back playing as quick as possible and that is always the case. He is one of the best head physio's in the Premier League.

1

It Is A Proud Moment: Through Luc Castaignos Eyes

Winning your first cap is always a proud moment but Luc Castaignos tells us exactly how his mind worked from getting called up to the match itself.

I did not believe my boss, when I was told I was included in the squad for Holland's European Championship experience but he was telling the truth. I do not expect to get past the group stages but I had a personal phone call from Jan Jansen, the manager of the Dutch national side who told me that I had made it impossible not to be selected following my season at Aston Villa.

So when I was told that I would play some part in the friendly against Bosnia & Herzegovina I was naturally excited. The match at the amazing De Kuip stadium got an attendance of 30,067 and I was selected for the bench, knowing full well that I was going to be playing at some point. On the 27th minute Zivkovic went down and looked really injured so the gaffer told me to warm up, but Zivkovic ended up being OK so my wait went on.

The half time whistle went and the being 1-0 up the boss kept it the same to start with and we got the second goal from the spot. It hit the 55th minute and I was called over and told to warm up! It is the most gentle warm up I have ever done because there was no way I was going to get injured without even getting on the pitch. Those 4 minutes seemed like a life time as I got recalled back over. I was told I was replacing Van Ginkel, who had picked up a knock, to play alongside Zivkovic.

I was nervous as I ran on, but the crowd were fantastic! I felt right at home and once I had my first touch I was feeling a lot better. The best chance I had came from a corner and I found myself totally unmarked, now I don't know whether it was the moment or the pressure but I fluffed it completely. The full time whist had gone and we had won 3-0, but the best bit about it was that I new I was somewhere I belonged. The manager put his arm around me and said welcome to the European Championship squad!

Other News

Villa Park To Be Redeveloped

Villa Park to get a face lift

The Aston Villa board have announced plans to enlarge Villa Park by 12,215 seats. The board are delighted to announce that they have been able to fund the project without having to secure any other external funding, the cost of this project will be around £14,750,000.

It is expected to take around 13 months to complete, while this development is undertaken we acknowledge that the club will have to move grounds.


Coventry City ground The Ricoh Arena is to be the home for Villa next season

We looked into this very, very hard as a matter of urgency, we decided that St. Andrews was a complete and utter no so we looked outside of Birmingham and agreed a deal with The Ricoh Arena in Coventry. We understand that some fans will not like this but lets look at the positives and that is that the club will have a 55,000 all seater stadium in just 13 months time.

Villa Announce Two Signings As McGrath Turns Down Two Interviews

http://i61.tinypic.com/168weiq.jpg
Sirigu Is In At Villa

Aston Villa had a great season last season, they signed great players in Volland, Stones, Santon and Rotariu but this season they are only going to be signing two or three players according to club sources.

Well if that is the case then the first two of the possible three have already been confirmed. The first player is a more experienced goalkeeper, this is because Rodek and Rajkovic are deemed to be great prospects and it is thought Rodek, who is the more highly rated keeper will be loaned out next season for experience.

The keeper signed is twenty-nine year old Italian Salvatore Sirigu. Sirigu, who is a well-known name to football fans across Europe has made 16 appearances for Italy with his debut coming in August 2010 against Ivory Coast.

Sirigu began his career at Unione Venezia in 2003/04 but failed to make a signle league appearance in two years. In 2005/06 he joined Palermo, making 69 league appearances and spent time on loan at Cremonese and Ancona, making a combined total of 34 league appearances.

In July 2011 he joined P$G for just £3,000,000 and went on to make 108 league appearances. Sirigu's Le PSG team lifted the Ligue 1 title in 2013. He went on to join Napoli in July 2014 for £3,800,000 and made 63 appearances for the club where he lifted the Italian Super Cup in 2014.

He moves to Aston Villa for a initial fee of £14,000,000, with £14,000,000 in monthly instalments over 36 months and at a press conference he had this to say through a translator as he does not speak English yet.

Sono molto triste di lasciare Napoli ma vedo l' ora di mia nuova avventura in Inghilterra con l'Aston Villa e vorrei ringraziare tutti i fan qui in Italia per il sostegno che ho ricevuto , ma purtroppo la squadra ha mostrato alcun desiderio di trattenere di me e io in realtà mi è piaciuto molto l' idea di trasferirsi in una squadra come l'Aston Villa per mostrare l'Inghilterra quello che ho da offrire l'obiettivo di vincere il titolo con Villa.

I am very sad to be leaving Napoli but am very much looking forward to my new adventure in England with Aston Villa and would like to thank all the fans here in Italy for the support I have recieved but unfortunately the club showed no desire to keep hold of me and I actually really liked the idea of moving to a side like Aston Villa to show England what I have to offer in the goal to win the title with Villa.

The second player is in an English central defender, who has been bought for for an initial £5,000,000 with £10,000,000 over 36 months. The defender is 24 year old English international Steven Caulker.

http://i59.tinypic.com/260rd6w.jpg
Caulker signs for Villa for £20m

Caulker is a well-known name for football fans across Europe. Caulker has made 5 appearances for England with his debut against Sweden. He made his senior debut playing for Yeovil against Tranmere on 8th August 2009.

He started his career at Tottenham Hotspur in 2008/09, breaking into the first team in 2012 and making a total of 18 league appearances, where he scored 2 goals for the club. During this time he also spent time on loan at Yeovil Town, Bristol City and Swansea City, making a combined total of 99 league appearances and scoing 2 goals, In July 2013 he joined Cardiff City for £8,500,000 and made 38 league appearances where he scored 5 goals but has since accepted a contract from Aston Villa for a reported £20,000,000 and he can not wait to play for the team in the midlands.

This is going to be fun! I love the fact that Villa are going places unlike Cardiff City and also they play three at the back so there is more chances to play here and it will boost my chances of an England call up.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2mf0ykz.pnghttp://i57.tinypic.com/214a62h.png

It has also been revealed that Paul McGrath turned down interviews at both Man Utd and Arsenal after Luis Van Gaal and Arsene Wenger both retired. This shows exactly how far Villa have come under manager Paul McGrath but the fact that the job is not finished and he is going to stay and get Villa all the way back to the top.

Aston Villa Smash Transfer Record

Aston Villa today broke there own transfer record in splashing out £39,500,000 for ex-spurs striker Salomon Rondon.

Subject to conditions however the deal may rise to a whopping £48,000,000. The striker, who joined Spurs from Zenit for £15,000,000 in 2015 has represented Venezuela 49 times during his career.

The 26 year old has signed a 3 year £110,000 a week deal and the Villa fans are excited about the prospect of the Venezuelen playing alongside Kevin Volland, Luc Castaignos and Jack Grealish but some have said the fee is excessive.

Brazilian Journalist Walter Alves said He is good but not almost £40,000,000 good but lets hope this gamble pays off.

Rondon is well known across both South America and Europe. He made his Haiti debut in February 2008 and began his club career a Aragua Futbol Club in 2006/07, making a total of 49 appearances and scoring 15 goals.

That landed him a move to Spain and Las Palmas after winning the Venezuelan Cup with his former team, he went on to make 46 appearances for Las Palmas and scored 10 goals.

The he stayed is Spain and signed for Malaga for £3,000,000 where he made 63 appearances with 25 goals in 2010/11. After a 2 year stay he moved to Russia and Rubin Kazan for £8,000,000 where he made 36 appearances and scored 13 goals.

That attracted Zenit St. Petersburg, who signed him for £10,250,000 and he stayed there to make 34 appearances and scored an incredible 26 goals and in July 2015 Tottenham signed him for £15,000,000 and he made just 23 appearances with 7 goals scored.

It is thought he will be used alongside Castaignos, Agbonlahor and Mason Bennett next season with this Villa squad now getting stronger and strong, manager Paul McGrath talked about not signing anymore players and the new affiliation.



Thats it! we are finished our signing players early, with this side we will challenge for the top 6 next season and with the new affiliation with Brazilian side Guarni, who are in the Brazilian third division things are looking up for the youngstars too. I can not wait until next season now!

Next Update will be the fixture list.