Henri Lansbury has signed and the hope begins again. He's a solid Championship player from what I'm told and we have to believe he is better than what we have in the middle and I suspect many will see him playing alongside Jedinak.
And while you'd not be alone in wondering if it's worth getting hopeful again, one thing has changed since the summer farce; we have a new manager.
And I put a lot of faith in Steve Bruce. I believe he must have now seen enough of Agbonlahor to know that it's not helping and he's making decisions on players that he knows, from his experience are capable of playing the way he wants in this League.
So, there is little else to say on the signing, other than good luck Henri. There is a match this weekend where you can make an instant name for yourself!
But before we look at the Preston match, the BBC are reporting that we're close to signing wonderkid Jacob Bedeau. Yes, I added wonderkid because the only things I know are that he was released by Leyton Orient last summer, has made seven appearances for Bury and according to the report we're willing to pay £750,000 for him. Unless he's just arrived on the other side of puberty as a wonderkid, then I'm baffled as to why we're paying that much for a 17 year old when we have our own academy.
If you think I'm taking my posts too far of late, look at the game.
Preston
So, with that written, it's time to look ahead to the weekend and we've got Preston at home and yes, I'm going for a win, off the bat and no messing about. If we are to feel any hope, we have to have it for matches like this under a manager that isn't going to play or have Agbonlahor anywhere near the first team and as someone that will have figured out now how to get the best out of the players he has.
And yes, if Lansbury is able to play, you have to hope he will hit the ground running because if he does, it will mean we all start to believe again.
But Preston are above us and even if we do win, they'll still be above us. But we can win any game at Villa Park and not just because we could beat any team, but because we have a squad capable. And that's factoring in that for every team coming to Villa Park this season, it's probably their biggest game of the season.
So on that, I'm going to leave you. It's Friday after all and today, unusual for me, I've come into the office on a Friday. That means only one thing; the opportunity to leave early and have a late afternoon few pints. So, comment below please, I'll be scrolling through.