"EXPERIENCE & STANDARDS" Rory Jennings REACTS to Chelsea's INTEREST in Brighton' Danny Welbeck

The fact that we even discuss now, I think is quite a thing, honestly.

Modern football's gone mad, hasn't it?It's gone mad.Like, you know when Arsenal, and look, Arsenal are in the league of fair play to them, but you know when they've got that mural as you go to the ground, sort of from the Caledonian Road sign, and they were going to, or they had one of Niko Djova.It's crazy.It's crazy.What is happening?

It is absolutely bonkers, isn't it?They made a mural to him.Like, to get a mural, to get, like, it's not a million miles off a statue, it's like major commemoration.We're remembering you for helping us get throw -ins correct.

Crazy.Austin McPhee, we're talking about, he's going to leave his role as Aston Villa's set -piece coach after five years because Chelsea have triggered his...How does he even have a release clause in his contract?

How does he sit down and get a release clause in it?

It's amazing, isn't it?Villa scored the joint most number of goals from set pieces in Europe last season alongside Arsenal, 29, which is a big number to be fair.And of course, with Rory Jennings alongside him, we had to get the Villa side of things as well, I think it's fair to say.So we've been searching and scouring the internet for one.We have got one, he's coming.But on it very quickly though.

Big loss for Billy though isn't it?

Or is it?I don't know.I find it very difficult to get to.I appreciate that people will now call me sort of old -fashioned and a Yadar and whatever else, but I find it very difficult to get too animated about this.

Yeah.

It's a member of the backroom staff.It would be like if Billy Blood left Chelsea and went to Arsenal.It'd be like, okay, I can't get animated about this.

Yeah.

It's a member of the backroom staff.

You know who is animated though?A good friend of the show.Mr. Dan Bardell is livid.Is he?He's not happy at all.Dan, I find it all very embarrassing, Dan, and I heard you're upset about it.

So I find it embarrassing for you.But go on, why are you so upset, Dan, about losing your set piece coach?Is it because of his hair?Good hair.I'll give him that.But anything else?

I'm bewildered as to why anyone cares about this.

I wouldn't say I was, like, massively upset.Are you crying?I'm just saying, I've gone a bit red, to be fair, looking at myself on the screen now.I'm not sure why.Um, my, my thing is more.They've gone, gone Chelsea really.

Like obviously we've lost a big player to Chelsea in the, in the last seven days.And then it's just kind of a, another thing there where a team that's finished 10th and as Rory will know has been a, been a mess under Bluco for the entirety of time.He's just, just decided to go there, I guess, for, for, for more money.I've met him a couple of times.He's a, he's a really nice guy, really good at.what he does.

I think the release fee stuff is, I think it's pretty standard, you know, backroom stuff, contracts to be fair.I think probably most clubs will, their staff will have the same kind of thing going on.So it's a, it's a pretty low fee.It's probably not even, even worth reporting, but...

Wait, wait, what's the fee?Do you know the fee?

I've been, someone's told me but I can't come, I can't, no, no, I can't, it's low, it's low.Text me, text me.

When you say low, are we talking like change down the back of the sofa low?You're not talking millions of pounds.

You're not talking millions of pounds.You two are getting paid more than that.

Dan, do you know what I can't work out?And it feels like you're going to have far more knowledge on this kind of thing than me.How impactful do you think this story will be, both for you and for us?

Uh, I think, I think from a villa perspective, look, he's been there five years.He came in under Dane Smith, Steven Gerrard came in pretty quickly and kind of discarded him a little bit.Didn't give him much of a chance to do what he's good at.And as soon as he left, Unai Emery kept him on and identified him as someone who could be a weapon for Villaren.But Villa have scored lots of set -piece goals.I don't know how many they would have scored without him.

But when I watch us play, our set -pieces are pretty inventive.Even in some games, if we do something that's quite inventive and it doesn't come off, you think, oh, that was quite a good move.I can see what we were trying to do there.And it goes away for a few months and then maybe it comes back out of the playbook and we use it again at some juncture.Ultimately, you know, If Unai Emery left, I'd be absolutely devastated.That's the only thing that's going to cause me to shed tears.

But I still think in the summer where there's been a lot of change for Villa in terms of a couple of backroom staff members.have left already.Some of the medical team have left and obviously we've lost two key players.I think when you put it all together, that's probably the thing that's disappointing for me rather than being the individual that's gone if that makes sense.

You know, it scares me down and this is not a villa thing.This is more just a footballing thing in sort of entirety to set piece thing and the focus on set pieces.I was at the World Cup and I was watching like so Spain just knock it around and they barely relied on set pieces and France do the same thing.I don't have any goals.They scored from set pieces as well.And it just kind of took me back to us and asked them on the title.

So you know, fair, fair due to them.But the reliance and the over reliance on set pieces now, rather than just playing good football is just it's given me a headache.

I just think there's now individual coaches for a lot of things.I think obviously Arsenal utilized it really well last season, and maybe you watch them and think it's maybe it's gone from being a marginal game to being the be all and end all, but it was an effective tool for them.And ultimately, it was one of the things that carried them over the line to win the Premier League title, which is what they wanted to do, isn't it?It's what they've been trying to do for years.I understand what you're saying, but I also think set pieces have just always been a thing that's happened.I had a bit of a debate with Stan Collymore, who I've got no problem with the tour.

He sits a couple of seats away from the villa, and he was saying it's not a loss at all.So everyone will have a different opinion on it.He reckons set pieces are no better or no worse than they've ever been.Basically, the specialists are coming on and being chances, was essentially what he said on X. But he has been a good part of Villa and the players have always spoken well about him as well.When I score a goal off a set piece, they go and celebrate with him.He's obviously very good at what he does and he'll probably be very good at what he does at Chelsea as well.

So McPhee has gone, obviously Tielemans has gone and Morgan Rodgers has gone.What are your aspirations for the new season, Dan?Because obviously, Unai Emery, I think everybody here, You, me, Adi, we all agree that Unai Emery is excellent at what he does, elite at what he does.Second best manager in the league.I think he certainly is.that.

Yeah, I think you can certainly argue it.What are you thinking now for the new season?Because I think off the back of last season, you qualified for the Champions League, it was a very good campaign, but this summer hasn't gone to plan so far, has it?

I think there was always going to be a little bit of a reshuffle, but I think some of the things that have happened have maybe expedited it a little bit.Like Villa had to get younger because they've got the oldest average age in the Premier League.If you look at the numbers last season, so something was fundamentally going to have to change and it's difficult for Villa because of the financial situation.But it's better to do it when you're on top, in my opinion, because you're more attractive to prospective players when you're in the Champions League.So Villa have got Johan Manzambian, who they got in before Rodgers left, but is essentially Rodgers' replacement.He's got a high ceiling.

maybe he doesn't come a bit around in the Champions League.So I understand it.I'm not particularly worried because as I said earlier, Unai Emery is the king of Villa.The day he goes is the day I'll start to worry about this football club as long as he's there.We'll be somewhere near where we need to be.We'll be challenging for Europe still.

We'll still be trying to disrupt the top five, the top six.I do think this season, preseason, the way it's gone so far with the transfers, it's more geared up for the so -called big six to become the top six for the first time in a long time because Villa have disrupted it a couple of times under Unai Emery.But I'd say that we'll be pretty close to them because we've got that stability and we've got a genuinely top -class manager.You guys agree he's one of the best managers out there.So he will always be Villa's differential.and whoever the players are, they will always get better when they're working under that manager.

I think that's a fact at this point.

Dan, final one.You spoke about the financials.Obviously, you guys are trying to, I don't know, you're almost trying to play cards with your hands tied behind your back, and then you must see what Chelsea is spending.How's that possible?You're not allowed to spend, and Chelsea have just spent that much money on Morgan Rodgers.They've spent that much money in Palestra.

They've spent that much money in Quenda, and you guys can't spend any money.

Yeah, look, Chelsea, it's not just me.as well.It's Tottenham.They've obviously spent a lot of money after a couple of really bad seasons.The rules are there.They benefit those teams because of the revenues and Villa are never going to get their revenues up to that level.

Villa have got, and I include Coventry in this, I've got the second lowest net spend in the Premier League across the last five years.We've spent barely anything because we've sold really well, yet we still can't go and have free reign in a season when we've just won a trophy and we're now going to be in the Champions League again.It's annoying.It drives me mad on a regular basis.Chelsea, City, whoever, they were allowed to build at a time where the rules were pretty flimsy and they got themselves to a certain level and now their revenues are through the roof.The Villa, Forest, Newcastle, whoever, that's never, ever going to happen because the rules don't allow that to happen now, but we'll just carry on going on about our business and just try and be successful.

Sorry, despite.all that stuff.And that's what we've done for the last four years.And I'll keep backing us to do it again.Because honestly, I can't tell you how special this manager is, and where we're so lucky to have him.

Dan, as always, my man, appreciate you coming on.Thank you very much.Massive Villa fan, top broadcaster as well.All right, let's quickly focus on Chelsea.Whilst we've got a couple of minutes.Reports suggesting, by the way, that Chelsea for Danny Warbeck, Brighton striker.

He's had a good last couple of seasons, to be fair.I mean, there was some talk about him being in the World Cup squad as well.That didn't materialise, but it's strange, isn't it?Chelsea have always gone young, always got on these sort of exciting new talents, and this is a completely different sort of shift in ideas.Yeah, which is progress.

I think it's progress.I think it's the club.I think it's a testament to the club, acknowledging that they got it wrong, acknowledging that they made a pig's ear of it, acknowledging that they tried to run Chelsea Football Club as if we were some Silicon Valley tech startup.That didn't work.And now, fair play to them.They've gone, OK, we now need to shift.

We need to pivot.We need to bring in a proven manager with pedigree.We need to give that manager the title of manager, which is symbolic.We now need to let him do his job.and bring in the kind of players that he deems necessary.

What does he do?Well that you'd That guy well, you're well Beck.Well, what does he do?Well, what does he do?

Well?What apart from the last couple of seasons?

Well, I think he's got 16 Premier League goals in 10.He's been in the Premier League This will be now his 20th season the Premier League coming up and this isn't me trying to dig at him because I think he's a good role model, he's a good professional.He's got 92 goals in 20 years in the Premier League.

But what you just touched on there is very important.What Chelsea haven't had since this ownership took over.Let's remember, when this ownership took over at Chelsea, we were champions of Europe.In fact, we were champions of the world, if you really want to drill into it, right?We won that tournament in Dubai, right?That's who we were.

That's who we officially were.Since they come in, everything has gone wrong.We've brought terrible player after terrible player.We've brought young only young.We have lost any kind of standard at the club.What Danny Welbeck will bring, regardless of how effective you think he will be, I think he'll be a good player for us.

But even if you want to have a conversation about that, he will bring standards.He knows what the culture of a dressing room is supposed to be.He will bring an experience and a knowledge to that dressing room, which is basically incredibly.

Isn't it going too far the other way, though?You've got incredibly young.You are correct.And you're now going incredibly old.He's 35.Isn't the happy medium somewhere in the middle?

Absolutely.But he's a very, he's a very experienced player.Chelsea don't have any distraction.If you want to try and put a positive spin on it, any distraction of European football, he will be required to play Approximately, I reckon, 20 games a season.So that's Liam Delap gone?

I'm just asking, is that for you?

Liam Delap should never play for Chelsea again.I mean, you could argue that he should have never played for Chelsea.Nicholas Jackson gone as well?Nicholas Jackson, I think you have a conversation about.I think Nicholas Jackson probably goes.But if you think about what Chelsea will be, it will be João Pedro with Danny Welbeck to fill in as and when.

Equally, if Cole Palmer's injured, then what will happen is, João Pedro can do that role, Danny Welbeck goes up front.I think it will be, I think it's a very good signing, it's good for the standards, it's good that the club are now backing the manager's decision.This will be an Alonso decision, he wanted to bring in Granny Xhaka didn't he?He didn't get Granny Xhaka.I think he clearly wants, he clearly wants experience and standards, which when you think about how...I like the way you spun it.

I mean, don't worry, you spun it very well.Adi, it is true.If you think about how Chelsea...It's never a Chelsea...Adi, sign it.I never like...

Even over the last...Even over the Abramovich era, where you...

No, this isn't...

This is so not a Chelsea signing.We're not that club, though.

We're not that club anymore.You're that club in terms of spending power.No, but we're not that club.We don't have those standards.We don't have those aspirations.Like, when Roman Abramovich was Chelsea manager, the ambition every season was to win the European Cup and the Premier League in the same season.

That was the ambition.Yeah.The ambition now is to, at best, qualify for the Champions League.I think Danny Warbeck helps us qualify for the Champions League, potentially.I think he contributes...If you're Danny Warbeck, you're buzzing.

Yeah, I think he contributes to us potentially challenging for the Champions League.But what he will bring us is standards.What he will bring us is professionalism.Whatever you think, or whatever I thought of Graham Potter as Chelsea manager, the Chelsea players calling him Harry Potter is obviously bang out of order.I think it's quite funny, but I'm not a Chelsea player, I'm not a Chelsea employee.The players that were his players had absolutely no respect for the office of Chelsea manager when they're calling Graham Potter, Harry Potter.

They had absolutely no respect for the office of Chelsea manager when they're calling Liam Rossini a substitute teacher.laughing at him, mocking his method.I think his methods deserve to be mocked.

He was a stain on the office of Chelsea manager.

He was a terrible Chelsea manager, the worst that we've had since Ian Porterfield, if not before.But the players shouldn't have been doing that.I don't think that happens on Danny Welbeck's watch.I don't think Welbeck allows anyone to mock the manager like that.He was managed by Sir Alex Ferguson.He's not going to allow that sort of disrespect to the office of manager.

I hope for your sake, you're right.Darren's gone.Let's go to Sat very quickly.Sat, Villa fan.Sat, how upset are you with what's happening to Villa in the summer?You just probably heard Dan Bardell there.

You've got one of the best managers, I think, in Europe.And he's almost not allowed to do things.He's not allowed to bring in the players he wants to bring in.He's having to sell the players he clearly doesn't want to sell.And now he's lost his set piece coach.

Peace coach, I feel, is a footnote.concede, sorry, we score a lot of set -piece goals.I don't have the exact numbers, but I feel like we concede a good number as well.I never feel completely solid from set -pieces, and I feel like it needs to be both ways if you are a set -piece coach.And on the playing squad thing, that does worry me a bit, because we're linked with Watkins going out, we've got Consell linked with going out, and we've got Martinez still linked with going to Juve.And I feel like we have had, you know, we've restructured, you know, we've bought quite well.

But we're almost at the point where we're tearing apart too much of the team with Luka Dean also going out.You need time to build these relationships which we've had over years and that can't be replaced in one preseason.

It is scary, isn't it?Because with Villa, you are very close, I think, to get into that next level where it's consistently Champions League football and who knows, right?Challenging for the league title.And if you are Konsu, by the way, I think had a fantastic World Cup, especially considering that a portion of it was played out of position.You're probably looking around thinking, We've gone a bit backwards here in this window.We are losing our best players and not bringing in sort of equally talented players.

You're bringing in good cover, but not as good as Rodgers.And certainly you ain't going to find a goalkeeper that much better than Emi Martinez if he goes as well.There must be concern that some of the bigger players might start looking around and getting itchy feet.

Yeah, no, I completely agree.And I feel like it's sort of getting to the point where we probably need to hear from the club that like, that's fine.We've had playerssales going out and we are working on incomings, but no one else is going.Because if we lose Watkins and we lose concert, that's the spine of our team completely torn out.And then you just worry about, you know, are we going to finish mid table next season?

Is that good enough to keep Unai?And the next thing you know, like, where are we the season after that?So it is the moment optimistic.If we lose any more sort of senior key players, that's when it becomes a worry.

Do you think him fitting in with his colleagues at the club's more important than to him looking like he's supporting the management team?

Do I what, sorry?

Do you think him fitting in with his colleagues at the club and being one of the boys is more important than to him looking like he's fitting in with the management team?

It's not going to happen, mate.No, I don't think he'll be trying to fit in with the management team.I just think that Danny Welbeck, because of who he's played for and because of his professionalism, he will naturally exude a level of commitment and professionalism that isn't there at Chelsea at the moment.It would be like if Chelsea were to sign John Stones, which I think we should.Bringing in a player like John Stones, who's been such a consummate professional for his entire career, should have a positive impact on the Chelsea dressing room.

So you think he'll distance himself from his colleagues in the dressing room and actually go allying with the management?

No, no, no, I don't think there'll be a distance.I don't think there'll be a distance.I think he will set a tone in the dressing room which will make everybody on the same hymn sheet.

And he'll do that naturally, by the way, as well, isn't it?It's not even...It's not something he thinks about doing.It's just that 35 years of age...

They'll get in line with him.He's the player that they'll look to get in line with.

I don't agree, mate.I think that's a bit optimistic.Would you say that would be the same if Rossini would have been there?Would Danny Welbeck not have jumped on board with getting on Rossini's back?

I think the players like Jon Stones, Danny Welbeck, players that have been in the game for 20 years, will naturally have a loyalty and professionalism which will respect the manager.And it will make sure that the players that don't, are brought in line.The reason why players and dressing rooms thrive when they have players like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Petr Cech, Didier Drogba, the reason why the Chelsea dressing room was so in line and could win a Champions League with a player like Roberto Di Matteo, sorry, with a manager like Roberto Di Matteo at the helm, is because of the standards that were set by the spine of the team, bringing in players who have a track record of of success, a track record of professionalism, can only help harmonise a dressing room and make a manager's life easier, can't it?

Yeah, I agree.For once, with you.