When Lerner came in, his PR man, General Krulak spouted a lot of blarney about a five year plan about Villa getting into the top four. A lot of people bought into it and they can't be blamed, because they wanted to believe him. They wanted to believe the hype and then started to defend any criticism with the 'five year plan'.

Since then, Martin O'Neill has dismissed the five year plan and well, I don't think many were really that surprised.

Some of you might have noticed but most probably wouldn't have, but I have been away for a few days, but I am now back to rain and long grass which is not what I like to see. On the other hand, it is Sunday and the best rumours are kept for Sunday.

First up, which ties in with the poll we had running for a couple of days this week, is that Ashley Young is now wanted by Barcelona and that Sir Alex has put him top of his wanted list and both clubs are willing to spend around £25mn. on the winger.

I hold strong opinions and I haven’t been afraid to express them on this site. This means that those who disagree also have the right to be outspoken in return and robust in tone when they do it.

I have no problem with principled opinions even if they run counter to mine. I try to be polite and courteous when running an argument against someone (although I plead guilty to using a caustic humour against Damian from time to time).

I want to take you back. It's February or March 2006, and Villa are at home to Portsmouth. It's grey and it's cold - very, very cold. I think we're lying around 15th in the Premiership table after a shocking run of form, characterised by dull, uninspired football and a manager who has nothing to say apart from criticism of his chairman.

We pull into the car park, but if we're honest none of us really wants to get out of the car. Alan Green is commentating entertainingly on a big four game, and we know it's worlds away. And the car is warm.

Patrick Vieira has today denied rumours claiming he was to join Midlands outfit Birmingham City. Speaking from his villa outside Milan, the 33-year old midfielder was quick to play down growing talk of a move to St. Andrews.

"Primarily I am footballer, rather than a clown or a pig. I am one of the most capped French midfielders of all time," snorted the former Arsenal captain.

I don´t think I can completely agree with what Doc posted yesterday. Don´t get me wrong, the feeling was fantastic but I´d swap Lerner in a heartbeat for someone willing to put a few quid into the club.

It isn´t that Lerner hasn´t put in a few quid and I love the mosaic, but had he given O´Neill some proper money to spend we would have been in the Champions League by now and if he doesn´t start giving proper money soon it won´t be long before others start referring to him as just another Doug Ellis.

So let me ask you the question: which are the signatures you most want MON to pull off over the next few days and weeks?

Borowski? Hangeland? Berg? Cole? Miguel?

I live in the north of Gloucestershire and I want to tell you about the shopkeeper in our village, a guy called Pat. Pat's a Mancunian. And he's a City fan.

The thing is, I'm surprised by Pat. I would have thought that he'd be quivering with excitement at the amazing developments at Eastlands. I would have expected him, every time I go into his store to buy a 4-pack of Stella and a couple of bottles of red, to be full of it. Full of the massive star signings and the seemingly endless transfer budget.

The comments and debate around Martin O’Neill’s transfer market dealings and ability (or lack thereof) and the subsequent post by Doc Bowles disagreeing with the criticism compelled me to offer an alternative view as I found myself, for the first time, disagreeing with Doc.

As Doc correctly states, the ‘smash-and-grab’ attack upon Lyon in which the great John Carew was snatched from their clutches in exchange for Milan Baros was a majestic piece of business. One that is only surpassed by the signing of Ashley Young. A significant number of eyebrows were raised when the deal was announced but now the sceptics have turned into green eyed monsters, wishing they had seen what O’Neill saw.

There's been a load of comment on this site recently suggesting that Martin O'Neill may be a poor operator in the the transfer market. I share some of the views that he is sometimes a bit slow and sometimes a bit careful, but by and large I disagree.

I think O'Neill has issues to confront, but I don't necessarily think they are all about transfers.

I'm not mentioning pre-season starting in a couple of days or the fact we are three players down on last season or even that I think we need five really good players to come in and maybe three more very solid squad players for us to kick on from last season.

I'm not going to mention any of it and I'm not even going to bring up formation because I know O'Neill knows it has to change and the players are coming.

I don't want to just leave what was put up yesterday and I also don't want to just repeat myself but there really is absolutely nothing new and I really do think we'll have some player announcements sooner rather than later. I should also apologise for the title of this post but really, if I had something else I would have used it, it's just that was the most fun.

Call it blind optimism if you want, because there is no proof to suggest it will be this week and in fact with everything laid out in front of me, I really shouldn't expect anything for three more weeks, but I've just got a feeling we are going to do it right this season.