Like most i am already going stir crazy without any football to watch  and in the course of doing some research for a Aston Villa Fan site i am interested to hear your views on the "Project" in progress at Villa Park?

Paul Lambert and Randy Lerner have started what many Villa Fans feel is something special and can reap great rewards, not in 1 or 2 years but over maybe 4 to 6 years of sustainable building of a quality squad who have grown together as a group, Young Hungry Talent supplemented by a few quality signings.

This is the German Model which was pioneered by Borussia Dortmund and very much adopted by the rest of the German League, the Idea is to populate the squad with young, Hungry up and coming players with a few of quality signings, so far the results have been a mixed bag with the worst time being the festive (thats a laugh) period and the 8-0 drubbing by your good selves and then the 0-4 battering by the Spuds

However, the Young Lions shrugged off the weight that lay on their inexperienced shoulders and showed their potential and grit by fighting back to keep intact Aston Villa's Premier league Stalwart reputation.

Several Players have really shown under the new regime as per the below,

Benteke - Nuff said
Lowton - Looks like he has been in the EPL for years!!
Westwood - A Player who does not grab the headlines but has a 94% passing accuracy (depending on source! ) and looks a real find!
Bennett - Made quite a few mistakes this season and more suited to the Right wing than Right back, this might change but i think he has a really bright future! very attack minded.
Agbonlahor - Only plays well when happy and has not looked happy since MON left, however, he is back with avengance and thriving in his new position of Left winger/2nd Striker

Anyway, i look forward to hearing your thoughts and the best will be featured on (not looking for advertising but more interaction!  )

Villa - one of the most interesting stories of last season. At Christmas, your season seemed over and you were widely regarded as being 'nailed on' for relegation. That period was awful for Villa and for the Manager and players to have come back from that is very impressive, I reckon. Lambert's strength of character, and his ability to motivate players in such circumstances, is noteworthy.

Aston Villa following the German model you referred to is possible but, to be bleedin' obvious, you'll have to keep your young talent and the supporters will have to be patient.

Glad you stayed up as it's hard to bear Villa any ill will. I enjoyed hearing the Villa fans on 606, at the season's end, demanding an apology from Savage :-)

I agree with Thfc's sentiments that Villa was one of the most interesting stories of last season. You had to admire the way your side played in the last quarter of the season to fight off relegation and it was particularly enjoyable to watch Westwood grow into a premier league player (stepping up from league 1 to the premier league as a centre mid is no easy feat).

A lot of credit has to go to Lambert and Lerner for the way they have completely restructured the club into a more sustainable model. You were so close to the top 4 under MON and who knows what would have happened if you made it, but once you became a selling club (Milner & Barry), the decisions taking by the club in terms of modelling have been absolutely correct.

I think credit is still due to Macdonald, McAllister, Houllier and McCleish for their work during the 'nomad' years of 2010-12. It was an incredibly unstable period, with a dressing room of people wanting to leave but you kept stability in terms of division. Also McCleish was really not backed in the transfer market (probably the reason he got the job as he would accept cuts). He had a net spend of -£20 million and whilst he made mistakes like giving a Given a 5 year contract, he did put in the groundwork to allow Lambert to do what he did last season (controversial opinion I know-McCleish had to go though for many many reasons)

Villa have now laid the blue print for other teams in the premier league on how to stay in the premier league on a budget. The model is great but it is relient on one thing, landing on a gem. Many of your players played very well this year, but without Benteke you would have gone down (assuming Bent didn't play). Most clubs won't land on a Benteke and if they followed your route they may struggle. The cash cow which is the premier league means that survival has to be the number one priority and many clubs may not risk restructuring like you did. Villa in a better position for doing it and the club is of a size that relegation would not have been a disaster. But if, say, Stoke restructure and go down that is pretty much curtains on the premier league for them for quite a while.
 

The future is very bright though at Villa Park and having survived the storm of last year, I can see a relatively comfortable year ahead. I can name at least 8 teams who you are better than in the premier league. You are cracking team to watch and the club did well to get packed houses at Villa Park towards to back end of last season. It will be interesting to see if Lambert is backed as heavily as he was in the last 12 months because he is, you can easily push on for a top half finish and I think you are most certainly ready to reclaim your place as the best West Midlands side.

They also signed a huge former chelsea target Jores Okore from Nordsjaelland, who is finna be a rock in their defence next season.

There's a chap named Torres that would look just fab in the Villa kit.  

They also signed a huge former chelsea target Jores Okore from Nordsjaelland, who is finna be a rock in their defence next season.

Villa signed Okore? What a signing that it for them. He was by far Nordsjaelland's stand out player against us in Denmark, even though we won 4-0. That's the kind of signing that will make Villa stronger for the long run. They just need to sprinkle the team with one more experienced head/star who will help them to keep the points ticking over during a rough period. Somebody to replace Petrov in midfield. If he dropped his wages massively and is genuinely up for playing football, Malouda would be great for the club as he will add quality and bags of experience. 

Villa just don't want to go overload with 'underrated' under 23 year olds like Newcastle did with French speaking players. The model may work to some degree, but there will be a tipping point where it begins to yield negative results.

The problem is, and it is already becoming evident with Benteke, that your quality players will get bought long before any rewards are reaped.

Dortmund had more time with which to do it as they are of a far bigger status than Villa at present, there are too many teams around in the EPL capable of taking your players.

That said you guys did well to dodge relegation this season, I don't know your financial situation but there are a few quality players from the likes of Wigan or QPR you could pick up to strengthen and possibly be closer to midtable next year.

Good ideas at Villa....Though unfortunately for your fans , whether it be 3 or 6 years, will only allow your team and club to remain at most, mediocre....

I think keeping Lambert on board is key because I feel another season like last's for Villa will give him itchy feet to be honest with you.

 

He's proved that he has the right qualities to be managing higher up the table & if Villa struggle to improve,for to long, I don't think he'll stick around .

 

Mind you,making some shrewd signings might help & with that in mind,wouldn't getting the experience of someone like Scott Parker be a good idea for your younger players?. 

 

Don't know about the amounts of dough we're talking about but he's avaliable and I think he'd be a wise head amongst a young team.

 

A quality all teams need sometimes.