Written by Damian Thursday, 13 May 2010 09:25
I will probably be alone in thinking this might actually be a good idea if the rumour is true. I know that it is probably just made up, like so many of the rumours we read, but with the way Lerner was talking yesterday, you can't help but think we need to change things about a bit and if this was true - would it be so bad?
We will get to Lerner in a second, because what he said/released as a statement yesterday was fantastic and what as someone said to me last night; it was perfect PR, but to coin a phrase I picked up by the PR machine at the club, actions speak louder than words. Words are just words.
Webcam and Gabby for £45mn
Don't get me wrong, I like both players but I am at the point of accepting we are not going to invest the type of money needed to really challenge so I'm at the point now of thinking maybe we should take a little break from banging our very soar head against this very big brick wall and try something else.
Gabby gets a league goal for us every 3 and a half games and Webcam puts in one successful cross for every 62 attempts (I made the Webcam statistic up) and that is the reason why neither were picked for the England squad this summer. It isn't because Gabby doesn't score, it's that he doesn't take his chances and that Webcam wastes too many.
If the number is true and we could get £45mn for the two, I just think, why not? Why not put a bit of faith in The Fonz and why not put a bit of faith in Albrighton. It would mean Downing can play on his preferred left (he is awful on the right) and it would mean that with the money we get for those two, we could go and get another two more players and lets face it; we all like Gabby and Webcam but it's hardly as if they've consistently done the business for us and what is wrong with giving other people a chance - the more chances we give the more chance we have that eventually we will find a player that does do it on a consistent basis.
Randy Lerner
Talking about next season
I think next year will be exciting and worthwhile and I look forward to it.
Talking about James Milner
I am not worried about losing James Milner and I think he will play for Aston Villa. I'm not dismissive of the realities of the situation whereby a player who has received the attention and acclaim of James Milner is going to spark discussion and debate about whether or not he will move. But I don't worry about him leaving because he is wanted at this club. We will do everything in our power to keep him.
Talking about Martin O'Neill
Martin will be back next year managing. It has already been settled. He and I spoke on a number of occasions in person and over the phone. Yesterday [Tuesday] I dragged him out of a series of meetings with chief executive Paul Faulkner trying to get plans for the summer underway. We feel very good about that because it represents continuity for the players and in many other ways.
Talking about funds for next season
I gave Martin the assurance that I also wanted to take the team forward. A £30mn striker would be out of our budget but there is money there to be spent on the team. I say that carefully in the context of knowing that the summer brings a very dynamic environment of players coming and going so I'm careful not to simply say 'here is a brand new amount of money, go and spend it'. I would prefer to say our ambition remains to get better and we are not in some sort of mode where we are shutting the door on spending on players. Is there a sell to buy policy? I think there is a sell to buy policy in every organisation on the planet. On the other hand if an opportunity arises and the net 'sell to buy' doesn't equal what is required to take advantage of an opportunity, then you may spend the money. I wouldn't exclude us from the group who would do that.
I'm not saying anything about what Lerner said or didn't say but I will say I suspect him and Martin O'Neill went to the same school in how to deal with the press.
Daily Summary
If you can get £45mn for Webcam and Gabby; sell them. Put a bit of faith in some of the younger players and your own and go spend the £45mn on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and offer him £150k a week - the money you will be saving on the Aston Villa six. Until you offer him and sell him the idea - how do you know it isn't possible?
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Pancho Villan
said:
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... Great blog apart from Ibrahimovic - don't rate him. Like the idea of Gabbs & Young out - Fonz & Albrighton in. deal of the centuary Things looking great at the Villa |
Dsparks
said:
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... I think we get another million or two out of a deal but I certainly wouldn't rule out selling them if we can put the money to good use. |
Carlos is a centre back!!
said:
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... I'd sell them for that price but MON won't!! Out - Shorey Davies Beye Sidwell Heskey Osbourne Salifou Harewood In- Ben Foster N'Zogbia McGeedy Parker Ireland Carlton Cole |
Paul W
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... someone said yesterday that for that deal they would drive ash and gabby to eastlands themselves. Well I'd pay for his petrol. If this rumour were true it would be silly to pass up. I really like both Gabby & Ash, but the consistancy just isn't there with either of them. |
Damian
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... Paul W i think you have hit the nail on the head - consistency is awful from both of them and we would really have to be stupid to turn our noses up at this type of money when our owner is saying he isn't entirely willing to put any in |
villaman
said:
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... The reason Manchester City won't get them, is because Martin won't let them go.. Realistically he will let young go, but I don't think he would want gabby to go. In all honesty I would take 20 Million for young and then go out and buy someone like Bentley, I reckon he would fit in at Villa and finally find his potential. Then with abit left over and the money from players going out the club, we could invest in a quality striker and centre mid. I do believe Randy will invest about another 20 Million this summer of his own Money. |
villaman
said:
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... If the rumour is true maybe ireland could and bellamy in return with abit of cash too? Sounds good your thoughts? |
runtingz
said:
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... i think citeh will be linked to every player worth having because of the money they have but i think all our first teamers will want to stay as we are a very progressive club right now |
Andy
said:
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... It's simple really. If they don't get Ash and Gab they will get someone else. And I'd bet they would get better than Ash and Gab. So I say sell them for that type of figure and lets spend that on some real quality. I do think Ash is quality, but the price is good. I think Gab is crap and the cash for him is amazing...! The thing is, I think Ash would be better in the middle and bring in Albrighton on the wing. We can then just sell Gab and bring Fonzy in. Sell Petrov, while he's still worth something and bring in another quality midfielder to rotate/sub with any of our midfielders. Benayoun or Ireland would be ideal. What about a swap Gab for Ireland.  |
ak_27
said:
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... God i would love to see this deal happen. Cuty would paying way over the odds and we could really make massive improvements all over our team with 60/70m to spand this summer. Pity its just a load of b******s though as do you really see Man City with the money they have really wanting to sign Gabby? They can sign most strikers in the world but they are willing to pay 20m plus for our Gabby who hasn't exactly set the place alight with his finishing. Doesn't add up im afraid. |
NickC
said:
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... I wouldn't be too upset to see both players move on so long as you have an idea of what you can bring in instead. I'm sure the Fonz could score as many as Gabby. Yes, he doesn't have that explosive pace but the difference is, as far as I know, he can actually finish.......... We can all remember Darius, who could run very quickly but couldn't score for toffee or at least, not very often. You can point to a few quick forwards at Villa who couldn't score often but terrorised defences with their pace. Go back to Liverpool at home, almost the last kick of the game, Torres gets his chance, bang, goal. I'm afraid that Gabby will never have that ability. Villa need a finisher badly. Carew is far more adept at putting the ball in the net than Gabby yet alot of fans would be happy to see him go. For what he's worth now, I'd keep him for his goals alone. Gabby can go. Ashley Young didn't make the England squad because he's been mediocre at best this season. He hasn't upped his performances and moved on at all this season and I think teams have worked him out now. Yes, he puts the odd good cross in but so do most wingers. He had a fabulous season in 08/09 but that's all. Consistency does not reign in his game. Lets take as much money as we can for these 2 players is what i say. |
Andy
said:
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... Should we actually be saying Gab is fantastic and we would be stupid to sell him for anything less than £50M...!  |
DavidC
said:
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... No offence to Gab and Young but they are not big enough names for Man City. They'll be looking at statement signings. We shouldn't sell either of them IMHO anyway. Inconsistent or not, they are still our biggest threat going forwards. |
Damian
said:
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... DavidC Isn't Milner more of a threat than Webcam and based on game to gaol ratio isn't John Carew a bigger threat than Gabby actually in front of goal? |
Andy
said:
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... DavidC...Gabby is not really our biggest threat. Well I suppose you are right in a way, he is a threat, but that's the point...He's just a threat...! But you don't just stick with your biggest threat anyway. We are looking to improve, so an improvement on Gab is surely a positive thing. But like people have said, this one won't happen, because Man City have more ambition than taking on these particular Villa players. They would make decent subs for Man City though |
dave@shepton
said:
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... Must not believe everything you hear boys. Why would City want Gabby, who has as much skill and ball control as my 1 1/2 legged dog and Young, who despite plenty of pace and a great crosser, largely ineffective. No, I think City can do better. Especially for the money mentioned. I think you can safely say that it is a rumour, nothing more nothing less and Villa will be stuck with the pair next season. |
.vogra
said:
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... Without doubt id flog them for that, id even sell the pair for 35mill, as you know i dont rate Gabby, never have never will, thats just my opinion. The amount of chances he wastes are quite evident in those stats given, with a striker like Defoe,Bent or dare say Zamora we would have nailed 4th Place, i have absolutly no doubt in my mind of that.Now onto Young, i thought two seasons ago he was superb..brilliant, but i think he's believed the hype waaay to much and did not produce half of what he put in the season before and i think him not getting selected for the World Cup is a Massive wake up call for him, and could benefit us next season as he surly has some point to prove to himself and England. Id love Bellemy at Villa Park, especially with either Carew or lets just say we manage to get hold of someone like Zamora or that fellow from Porto Falcao. I also think we should be going for Ben Foster, Friedel isnt exactly getting any younger and i still dont think Guzan is a Number 1 at the moment. |
John Salter
said:
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... Firstly where has this come from and can be be substantiated? If they did go for 45 million, we would hsve to use at least 25-30 million (at least these days), on a guaranteed 20-25 goals a season striker (and what would his ridiculous weekly wage be £120 000)! Who would that be? Gabby kept us going at the start of the season and at the moment, he and John Carew are the best we've got becasue the Fonz hasnt had a real opportunity to get his boots green. Maybe next year eh, in which case Gabby hypothetically could go. I doubt he would want to especially to the mercenary scum! Ashley Young is a MON favourite and can be world class but first he has to take his head out of his backside and show what he can do, not just listen to the hype and not produce the goods. If he did go Downing would be in his natural position so good point! |
Maindog
said:
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... I would maybe sell Ash if the price is too good to refuse but I like to think Gabby will become legendary at our club. A real Villa boy sticking with his roots. Gabby has improved this season and he has a vital season ahead of him. I honestly believe he will become a 20+ striker in the near future. Surely if we are trying to build a squad then keeping our best players is vital? Ash is one of our best players and we have all seen he can be one of the best in the league when he turns his game on. I would like to see a new winger in to challenge Ash as he desperately needs the twitching feeling of not knowing if he will be in the starting 11 every week. MON's style of footballing provokes complacency in players and that is unhealthy for younger players. |
Chiefy
said:
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... For me A.Young is good and I do like him when he is playing well he is on fire but he is another player that seems to turn up when he wants to, and quite frankly that is not good enough anymore, we not consistent battling and quality from our so called STAR's. Gabby is a trier he does try so hard bless him it just doesnt work for him, when it works it works but is pace all he has to offer ?? so for 45million for the pair I would quickly take them to eastlands kick them out the car grab the cheque and drive back before Mancin realised what had just happened. The reality is neither will be going anywhere, A.Young is MON's and Gabby is a Villa boy and i doubt he would want to go not to mention I doubt MON would want him to go either. There is not to much I think MON will change for next year, maybe someone in the centre for Petrov now Delph is injured, maybe a striker, back up left back and a first team right back other than that i am not sure there is to much that needs to be messed with to be honest. If we can keep the team together and add these players but quality additions first team players |
holteend paul
said:
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... players to go for who are young and would defo improve the team with a sell on profit.. defour....12million van der vaart..7million ireland....6million falcao.....12million richards.....6million vagner love....10million veloso....8million marek hamsik....8million ivan rakitic....7million all the prices are what has been quoted recently with each player, but it shows we could maybe get 2 or 3 of these players when we have our very own clear out! the biggest stumbling block would be the lack of english players who wouldnt fit into mons catergory... |
Chiefy
said:
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... Thinking of the right back issue, Just imagine in Cuellar spends the summer in the garden kicking the ball against the wall learning control and gradually moving further away and working on his passing. After which about mid june he will then work on his crossing abilty, again in his garden using the wheely bin as a target. Why sign some when you can train the player you already have to do the job !!!! |
Andy
said:
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... Why do people keep going on about keeping our best players. It's all relative. They are only 'our' best players. The thing is with improvemet, you have to buy better. You also have to sell players when they command a price that makes it logical to sell at a price where that money can be reinvested wisely. That's the true test of a good manager. |
Chiefy
said:
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... Holteend -- hamsik -- just signed or about to at napoli i think shame though Falcao -- 33 goals a season, need i say more richards -- please Ireland -- 14million been in the press for him ???? he is a knob as well Defour -- again good call they are my pick |
jk92923
said:
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... i would take it. both quality players and hate to lose them but if they cant produce week in-week out why should we hold onto 45m worth of assets? smart business to sell now before their form dips even further and we are left with only only half the possible transfer fee. heavy heart to let them go but if there really is going to be a shake up, then i would let them go. |
Lanceley12
said:
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... Ashley Young was young Player of year and in the prem 11 last year. You don't get voted in that for doing rubbish crosses. |
holteend paul
said:
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... am i right in thinking martin petrov and van der vaart are both free agents this summer?? |
Chiefy
said:
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...am i right in thinking martin petrov and van der vaart are both free agents this summer?? you are indeed |
marceaux marseilles
said:
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... I would sell Young. Rumours have it that at England training camps he is a rabbit in the headlights and completely out of his depth. 25 million for someone who is not a national player (and probably wont be for some time) is crazy money. If Gabby plays with Carew you just don"t know what you will get from our strikers. This is why I sometimes leave a Villa game thinking we are almost there and other times thinking we are just awful. Gabby might do well with a more consistent and assured striker than Carew. |
Chiefy
said:
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... Apparently we are leading the chase for Benayoun at the minute, Roma, Spuds and someone else are in there but we are leading according to some |
holteend paul
said:
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...Chiefy i have also read this but unless he is under 4 million or on a free its a no brainer because he is another player 30+ who has gave his best years to other clubs!!!!11 |
Chiefy
said:
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...i have also read this but unless he is under 4 million or on a free its a no brainer because he is another player 30+ who has gave his best years to other clubs! that stuffs that then heard the figure was between 6-10 million  The boyd rumour has popped up again from somewhere according to some a 3year deal is on the table ?!?!?! now this would make sense as is a typical MON signing dont know though ? |
jimboAVFC
said:
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... I don't know why were even talking about this rumour. There is no way this will happen. surely is man city were after any villa player for stupid money it would be milner!!?!? |
Chiefy
said:
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...surely is man city were after any villa player for stupid money it would be milner or Salifou give him some credit  |
holteend paul
said:
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...jimboAVFC i also think its b****x thats why i havent commented on it, but it gives us a new page to do our rambling  |
holteend paul
said:
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... haha damian you have been reading carefully havent you you have also edited my word b o l l o x as a swear word which i find a tad unfair lmfao |
AussieLion
said:
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... This is probably a case of Man City being linked to every decent to good player for ridiculous amounts of money, just because they can. But if it was true I wouldnt say no although I do think Ash can improve but I dont think Gabby will ever be our number one forward and to me seemed to be lost in the last few matches. For 45m we could buy 3-4 world class players and only lose two nearly world class players. Or better yet 25-30m + Ireland, SWP and Richards would be a deal I'd be very happy with. |
Chiefy
said:
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...but it gives us a new page to do our rambling women have bingo, girls nights out, girls nights in REAL MEN HAVE THE VILLA BLOG |
holteend paul
said:
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...
and cider |
Chiefy
said:
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...This is probably a case of Man City being linked to every decent to good player for ridiculous amounts of money, just because they can. on a few websites recently it was reported that Man Citeh's transfer policy included bidding for stars from teams around then if nothing else just to weaken then, now some might say thats rubbish but if you look at it and you can afford it, it is a fairly good business plan of getting to 4th and the title, not sure about how true it is but it would make sense and make their job easier. I bet they employ a leak just to start rubbish rumours but it only has to turn the head of one of the other teams top players aand it can cause problems |
Chiefy
said:
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...REAL MEN HAVE THE VILLA BLOG smilies/cheesy.gifsmilies/cheesy.gifsmilies/cheesy.gifsmilies/cheesy.gifsmilies/cheesy.gif and a lock on the wardrobe |
StickyAV
said:
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... I'm sorry Damian, I just do not agree with anything you say. To even perform business like detailed in your last paragraph would be crazy. Everyone would scream and shout how great it is we have a player of that calibre then the truth would come out in the season. The fact we spent all our money on one transfer. The fact we have a smaller squad and so players get tired. THe fact that our youth players are not quite there yet (two weeks ago you put a blog up saying that blooding youngsters in europe is throwing away the comp and you think MON doesn't know what he is doing because of it, now you say trust their abilities). The fact that the wage cap is smashed and our squads moral takes a hit. etc etc etc. Damian. We ARE NOT Man City. With this owner we never will be. Why would anyone want to be? Chelsea and City are ruining football. They are taking the culture and heart out of two established clubs and buying glory. We are Aston Villa and we have been for a long time. This summer we will sell players and buy some, hopefully that are an improvement. Expect no massive signings. Don't be dissapointed when there are not any. Villa are of the Evertons in this fight. We are a football club, and a business. One designed to break even at very least. We are not the play toy of some middle easten oil baron, and I hope we never will be. Money is ruining the game for me, and anyone who moans when Villa don't spend like the owners that are ruining club football, are also ruining the game. As a side note, look at Ash Young's stats. Compare them to every other winger in the league. Assists and goals. He is up there with the best. Just because you deem to many of his crosses to go long, or out of play, does not mean he does not contribute to the team? I just don't get that logic. You are a stat man. Look at the stats. Not how many crosses go to no one, but how many goals he creates and scores. Then compare that with a winger you would rather have. I'd be suprised if you found it to be worse. |
StickyAV
said:
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... People talking about ireland, bent, carrick. These are players we should be going for. Build a team, not a squad of individuals. |
Vainn
said:
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... Spend the money on Zlatan?! are u insane Damian?? no way.. i'd get Suarez from Ajax any time. Lerner didnt say he wont be spendin money, i dont see anythin wrong with his statement - its obvious we will be sellin in order to buy and yet there may be a little more spendin, for the right players, just not 30m for a striker which he gave as example and i find it reasonable. i would agree if we sold Webcam on a decent price, but not Gabby. Gabby has been improvin, and is a local lad. both him and the Fonz are needed in the club. Young should be replaced easily, by either Bannan or Albrighton. they deserve a chance and they would both probably grab it if presented. |
John Salter
said:
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... I think this is what it seems 'just a rumour!' Maybe somebody thinks that if they cross their fingers long enough, click their shoes together and chant, 'There's no place like Villa Park!' it'll happen! If the arab has as much cash as some say, why would he go for middle of the road to good players when he can just buy Messi or some other superstar! However, heres a real subject for debate: Why didnt MON put Emile on the transfer list yesterday? Maybe he has actually adopted him. He could be like Maddonna! Ashley Young could be next!!!!!! |
StickyAV
said:
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... Ash Young 10 assists. NOT bad for someone WHO CAN'T CROSS. How many wingers beat that? None How many get level with him? 2, nani (winger?) and lennon. So who did he beat? Valencia, Malouda, the rest of them!!!! So why isn't he playing for england? As MON said, he doesn't come out of his shell on the big stage. Stop talking about how many crosses he misses and start looking at how many goals he creates. |
Chiefy
said:
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...Why didnt MON put Emile on the transfer list yesterday? either one of two things 1) Lionel is staying and after tearing the big lump apart I would not mind to much if he did but remained as a Sub and came on now and then, he does add something to the game that cant be denied what it is no one knows, there is talk its the pre pre assists where lionel is top of the charts 2) MON is hoping Lionel has a good world cup and it shows to teams like Liverpooop why they need him in their team to hold the ball up and bring in Gerrard or Torres and then we sell him for 100 Million Dollars or more realistically 6-7million ?? |
StickyAV
said:
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... If you are 3-0 in the europa cup final, and gabby and carew or maybe delfons are on the pitch, what sub do you use. For me heskey is an excellent option. Defend from the front, hold the ball up, take pressure off the midfield and take 2 defenders with him creating a hole for another route one goal. He has uses people. Very very good uses. |
Genital Grinder
said:
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... Why the hell are we talking about increasing the ground capacity to 50,000 when we can barely fill it each week? Bring in a few big signings first methinks. |
Headologist
said:
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... Mon and Lerner keeping their cards to their respective chests - no change there. I don't think so |
holteend paul
said:
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... why are people talking about zlatan gayabhimavic?? i dont want to be in the holte singing and cheering a shirtlifter!!! i say oi zlatan NO!!!!!! |
AussieLion
said:
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...... Yeah I mentioned Suarez a couple of weeks ago as well and his goal rate is for Ajax quite incredible and it is also quite good for Uruguay too, The problem with him would be that he has also been linked with Arsenal and also that Ajax is in the Champions League again (I think) while we arent. Also bringing him here say for 15-20m would be a risky move as we would spend a whole heap of money and brake our transfer record for a player who might not suit the Premier League as has happened before with players from the Dutch League. But if I was MON id plead to Lerner to take a risk and give him at least some of the money to buy him as Ruud Van Nistelrooy had a great goal record for PSV Eindhoven and adapted to the Premier League where he still had a great goal record. |
WinsforVilla
said:
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... My son says that he will start supporting Crewe Alexander if we don't get rid of Heskey this summer. Can anybody help please? |
RayK
said:
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... There is just no way Citeh are going to spend £45m on Gabby and Webcam. Or if they are, why not get another £20m for Lionel Heskey |
Christian1983
said:
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... I'd take their arm off for £45m for the pair! Of course, the story's absolute nonsense- Man City will be looking for much bigger fish than Gabby and Ashley. I imagine they'll spend a fortune on players who Mancini has eyed up in the past- so they'll probably be Italians etc. Like I said, I'd take their arm off for £45m, but on the provision the money was re-invested (unlike the £80m United got for Ronaldo) because as David C wrote: We shouldn't sell either of them IMHO anyway. Inconsistent or not, they are still our biggest threat going forwards. They are definitely our biggest/a major part of our threat. Defenders do not like playing against Gabby- he pulls them all over the park and they daren't switch off for a second (let's put to one side that he then misses the glorious chance he's fashioned). And I'd be a little cautious about saying 'Get Albrighton in for Young'- we're talking about the previous Young Player of the Year, first ever player to win Player of the Month 3 times in a calendar year and someone who 'hilariously' got compared to Ronaldo and Messi not so long ago. Maybe Albrighton is good, but if he was this good, we'd have seen a lot more of him by now- even with reluctant MON at the helm. £45m and reinvestment? Yes please. |
Birty
said:
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... STICKYAV - Well said.. re Young Ashley needs to be kept and a GOALSCORER brought in . ... Then his 'assists' would double - Also, how on earth has SWP got into the 30 in front of him, seriously. He cant even get into the Man City 11 |
StickyAV
said:
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... Birty, As already yesterday SWP takes his chances at england level. Scores on his debut. Scores off the bench. Plays well and at times has been englands best players. Young has never taken his chance, and I think in training with england restreats in to his shell. To play for england you not only need ability but confidence. Ash has not got that quite yet. Most think he is really arrogant but I think in reality he is quite a shy lad. SWP won't go to SA unless he seriously does something special. That is my view. Lennon should start based on early season form. He was CLASS before injury. Scary as hell to play against I would imagine and improved his final ball no end. |
Damian
said:
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... Birty the reason SWP gets in ahead of Webcam is basically because of what you wrote he cant get into the Man City side but has 8 assists this season and 4 goals (in the league) while Webcam gets in every single game and has 10 assists and 5 goals the reason SWP is in ahead of Webcam, despite hardly playing, is because when he has the ball he does something with it on a more consistent basis and when playing in the world cup - you might, in the 3 qualifying games, only get 3 or 4 chances to do something so you need to be on your game. Webcam, while we all love him, needs 20 chances a game to make 1 come good and at a World Cup - it isn't good enough |
eoin1981
said:
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... The question is always - would this be good business for villa. I dont have loyalty to any players (or manager for that matter) - just the club. I actually rate Gabby more than most and while I think Young is hugely overrated - I think he does a job for us - essentially cross everything as soon as he gets it. I know its speculation but if Man City really really want these players - then I think its great news for us. They will pay stupid tranfer fees and more importantly they have players I would love Villa to get. I personally would take Ireland and Bellamy every day of the week over Young and Gabby. And we could probably get Ireland, Bellamy and Richards plus a few quid for Gabby and Young - now that would be the deal of the summer.. I really really rate Ireland - i just think he needs a manager to tell him he is superman, which is exactly what O'Neill does. I think we'd have to switch to a more 4-5-1 to accomodate him as you need a defensive midfielder - which Milner isn't. |
Birty
said:
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... Damian SWP has played 30 times for England and, for me I can count on 1 hand - without using my thumb - how many 'good' games he has had. Would you rather have SWP at Villa then? |
StickyAV
said:
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... Damian, Judge a player by what they do, not what they do not do. Ash is as good as SWP at club level. For england SWP is more experienced and a greater asset. Our four most important attacking players of the last 4 years have been, barry, milner, ash, gabby. You hated Barry, now considering one of the most important english players. You dissed Milner, who can't cross, score or beat his man (when he was on the wing). And this seaons you have been on to webcam, our second best player on paper. Why oh why do you love to winge about our players? Would you Damian, rather have SWP than Ash? Who do you think would sell for more, SWP or Ash? |
john doyle
said:
 |
... i do not belive this for one minute if they offerd 30 mill i would take there hand off it cannot be true as neither has got a cat in hells chance of geting into the man city team gabby would be 5 th choice center forward there and ash would be 3 rd choice they aint no where good enough as for the guys who go on about ashley not being sold he aint half the player he was last year and i think his new 60k a week contract has a lot to do with it and the fact that whatever he dose or how ba he plays he would always be in the team as one of mons pets as for his 11 asists 11 out of 150 crosses aint good enough |
JimVilla
said:
 |
... I'm with Damien on this....£45 million for those two is good business so long as suitable replacements are available. I don't think £45 million for Zlatan would be good business nor would he come in a month of Sundays, but the first part is very interesting. What I must strongly disagree with is the idea of putting one player on a huge wage...it will end in tears as it has for smaller teams trying it (Hull, Portsmouth, Stoke now) and the big ones who can't hold players like Joe Cole because he thinks he is worth more than half JT's wages. |
nickG
said:
 |
... Personally all Villa need is 2 good strikers and a new center mid to replace petrov. then we will be a finnished article. if you look at how many games we had drawn this season, with a potent striker to score the winning goals, we would have finnished fourth or even third this season. its all we need a good twenty goal a season striker. |
StickyAV
said:
|
... Oh and SWP has played in 30 games this season. Ash has played 37. Started all mind you... Adam Johnson has played 15 games, 8 assists. There is a good record. |
Damian
said:
|
... Birty given the choice of webcam or SWP - i don't know. i think i might prefer SWP StickyAV i dont hate barry -never have, just dont think he is as great as you are making out. as for milner, when he played on the wing, i did say all those things and i started saying a long time before he was moved into the middle that he should be moved into the middle and since he has, i've praised him. even said he would be my first name down on the teamsheet as for Webcam, i've not 'been on' him at all. but most of his crosses fail. its a fact, not an opinion and when it comes to a world cup and you might only get 3 or 4 chances in 3 games - you need someone that has a higher chance of making those opportunities come good. i'm sorry if that offends you in some way, but to me, its just common sense i'm not whinging about the players - but you do, just a little, seem to be looking, quite often, for ways to have a little pop at me. that is your right, but don't do it on something as trivial as this. wait for something better as for who i would prefeer at villa - like i said, i think it would be SWP - only because on the numbers this season look much better than webcam and while i rate webcam, he is only a tool. its not as if he is aston villa and that he wouldn't leave the second he had the chance for more money as for who would sell for more, i guess that depends on how much someone is willing to pay |
StickyAV
said:
|
... I am perfectly aware it seems that I love having a pop at you Damian. It's not that I do and it's why I appologise at every post. We just don't agree on much. That is what it comes down to. I think for instance, someone who says one minute playing youngsters is throwing away a comp, and then says we should trust them more (like evry game of the season if we were to make the move you suggested above), is confused. I can't help but think that. Wingers don't get 3 or 4 chances in a world cup. Strikers do. One thing about ash is he commands the ball. The reason he missed so many crosses and still succeeds with so many (look at the stats) is he has the ball so often. Even when he played for England, in THAT second half, he had the ball more than any other player. His crossing was poorer than normal that day, he hardly got one in which he usually does. The occasion was too big for him. But a player that sees more of the ball and needs to improve his success ratio, is better than one that only crosses twice a game but succeeds on reaching someone with both. Think what an asset he will be when his crossing gets better. He is young, in age and name. And if he improves dramatically on his crossing imagine what his stats would be like then. Lets not judge him only on this season, but on the skill he holds. Don't get me wrong for 45 mil I'd sell. I'm not even considering that in anything I wrote here though, as I don't consider a rumour of such stupidity to even deserve my thought... |
jk92923
said:
|
... NickG - if Carew decided getting some titties flopped in his face the day before a game was a bad idea, he would ahve hit 20 goals easy, and who knows how many match winning goals he could have gotten too! but, yeah, we need someone to match gabby and push him for a place. |
RockSteady
said:
 |
... 45m? Surely that would be an outstanding deal. Use the money to buy a striker around 25m and a top quality winder for 20m. Would love to see this happen... |
ak_27
said:
|
...Ash Young 10 assists. NOT bad for someone WHO CAN'T CROSS. Not when you take into account that has probably put in over 800 crosses to get those 10 assits. You just cannot discount that factor. Sorry but his crossing on the whole has deteriorated big time over the last 18 months and we need as a team to move away from having him as our main attacking threat as it is overall ineffective. |
Damian
said:
|
... StickyAV I will be watching every game at the World Cup this year, because I am getting paid to and I have access to a lot of historical stats from the World Cup - one of the things we do not have much info on is what we are used to at the moment and what we get from Opta, so I can't really say how many crosses a player made in Germany - I will be able to after this World Cup though my point is however and someone else has mentioned it above - what Webcam seems to do is just cross - in essence and most of the time - he gives the ball away SWP doesn't do as much of that. what SWP does is add it all up, very quickly in his head and makes a calculated decision based on the chances of success if he does cross - you will often see him not crossing, instead passing back, when you will always see Webcam crossing nothing wrong with this either because that is exactly what O'Neill wants him to do - regardless of the possible outcome SWP is more interested in keeping the ball and maybe giving someone else a chance at the World Cup, a winger might only really get 3 or 4 chances in a game to make that cross where the team really can score a goal - that is my point dont get me wrong, Webcam if picked, would still be putting in 20 crosses a game, it's just that most of the time - he'd be giving the ball away and at this level, that is the one thing you can not afford to do - you could also argue that he shouldn't be doing it in the Premier League and i often have, but he does because that because that is exactly what o'neill wants from him and exactly why we will never finish higher than 6th in this league - retro football as for my comments on the youngsters. you cant just throw the kids into a one off match and that really goes for anyone - you cant just throw players in for one match as they lack match awareness and match fitness - if you play a team consistently for 10 matches and then take 5 or 6 out and replace with anyone, for 1 game, that team will not function at its peak - too many changes my view on giving them a chance is more about giving them a real chance. a proper opportunity. not just a one off match which isn't going to help anyone |
Andy
said:
|
... Sometomes Ash's crosses do you long and it's a pain to watch, especially when he's done well to get the ball and move forward with it, only for it to be hit well over. That said a lot are actually on target into the box or low across the box. The problem is that Gab is frustratingly out of positin a lot of the time. Gab needs to poach around the box much more. We rely too much on his speed. I also think this is why Carew gets such goals. He simply knows how to get on the end of balls more. That said I'm still a firm believer that Ash should be played in the middle alongside Milner and bring Albrighton in on the wing. |
ak_27
said:
|
...Personally all Villa need is 2 good strikers and a new center mid to replace petrov. then we will be a finnished article. if you look at how many games we had drawn this season, with a potent striker to score the winning goals, we would have finnished fourth or even third this season. its all we need a good twenty goal a season striker. I agree up to a point especially about the strikers. We also need a RB and im still yet to be 100% convinced that Milner is a top attacking CM. He is a quality all round footballer but we do need that guy that give that killer pass. That guy is Ireland. |
AussieLion
said:
|
...... Basically this which I have thought all season. Having Gabby with a 20 goal striker and Carew and the Fonz on the bench is a great strike force. Add in the mid such as Ireland as ak_27 said above and our team could challenge the top 3 next season. |
lufbra
said:
 |
... [Ash has not got that quite yet. Most think he is really arrogant but I think in reality he is quite a shy lad. ] Webcam. Shy! Now that is funny. Anyway, I agree, we should definitely keep him. He'll get better as soon as he gets more freedom to roam as an attacker. people forget how much defensive work he does in the system. And, I honestly think he's an inside player like Milner. As for Gabby, why let hime go when we've worked hard to develop him? You can clearly see his progress. Next year he'll score 20. Anybody remember how clumsy Gary Lineker was at that age? But what he also had was outstanding pace which is worth an awful lot of money because it is so rare. |
Aero-4-Villa
said:
 |
... FFS.. if it was last summer we would have gotten 50 million just for Ash... what has happened to him. And Downing for that matter. Lets wait until he gets back on form and then consider selling him in a different window. Barca and Madrid werent linked to him for nothing. As for Gabby, we could get a much better forward than him for 20 million. But then again, hes getting better. Imagine his pace combined with a great finishing ability. He'd be the complete striker. He needs a mentor, someone world class to learn from. Thats why i always think it wouldnt be a bad idea to bring in someone like Shevchenko or Crespo, maybe Totti. Someone to take the young players under his wing. Like Petrov has done for Delph. Once again... give him a year and see what happens. We dont need to sell these players in order to buy. Randy will obviously provide MON with a reasonable amount of money. And even then, has he ever said no when MON was keen on a 'more' expensive player than usual? NO! MON went for Sneijder didnt he... Yes ive read his comments, but he didnt sound that bad. Randy will surprise us this Summer, i know it. And dont forget, we still have s**twell, Shorey and Beye etc etc to sell on. Money will be there. |
Aero-4-Villa
said:
|
... Just out of interest. How much would you say the stock price on Adam Johnson has gone up since he left Middlesborough? id say its gone from 5 million -> at least 25 million. Im sick when i see what we missed out on..  |
DavidC
said:
|
...Sorry but his crossing on the whole has deteriorated big time over the last 18 months and we need as a team to move away from having him as our main attacking threat as it is overall ineffective. I think we've done that. Or certainly are in the process of doing it. If you look at our matches before Milner came inside then I'd say 90% of our play was out to Young. Now I'd say its probably closer to 60%. We shouldn't cut off our nose to spite our face. Young is quality. Best winger in the league with the exception of Lennon if you ask me. |
AussieLion
said:
|
... Yeah Johnson has been pretty impressive too bad MON or his scouts didnt see him when they were watching Downing. I reckon he'd be about 20m which is a great profit. Not that Man City would need it. |
jk92923
said:
|
... Johnson only really hit the big time this year AFTER we bought Downing so he wouldn't have been a player you would send the scouts after, otherwise he would have been snapped up in the summer when downing was leaving by us or another club. Always a decent player but this year was his year to shine and he grabbed it with both hands. |
Damian
said:
|
... Aero-4-Villa Barca and Madrid were linked to him because his agent wanted to get him more money or someone somewhere just thought it would be fun to start the rumour. They were not interested in him. |
JimVilla
said:
|
... £50 million for Ash last summer? £25 Million for Adam Johnson? Where do these prices come from. Johnson has done well but see how he gets on next year when they unveil their new £45 million duo of gabby and Ash! Funny s**t. A bit of a come down isn't it, Torres to Gabby (all due respect to Aggers) but I feel this is unlikely. What about there other 10 strikers? Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy, Valeri Bojinov, Felipe Caicedo, Jô, Benjani Mwaruwari, Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely, Robinho, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez. Even a club with more monmey than sense would surely have more sense than to sell Sturridge for £3.5 million and bring in Gabby for £20 million! |
villarobin
said:
 |
... While part of me says at £45m lets sell them , you have to remember that we are trying to build a solid squad , of which they are very much a part of. Yes they are not the best players in the world, but on their day they are both VERY good players who can still improve alot. If we do sell we then have to either try youngsters or buy new players , who may cost alot of money , but may not work. So on balance i would say sell the deadwood, and hold onto these 2 at all costs. Imagine bringing Gabby and Young off the bench in the last 20 mins for example !! They would run rings around a tired opposition. |
villarobin
said:
|
... I have to also say that i dont think even Man C would be foolish enough to pay that for those pair. |
Craigy1874
said:
 |
...Damian said: How jammy can you get ? |
PaulE
said:
 |
... Hey Damian - do you reckon you could get your hands on a copy of the "plans and drawings" for the new North Stand that Lerner was on about to increase the capacity to 50,000? Maybe once of your sources at the club could 'leak' them... That might give us something to get excited about! |
Andy
said:
|
... villarobin...Sorry I don't see the logic in that. I would see the logic if we had loads of money so that we could buy better than them and still keep them. The fact is we don't though...! Therefore that's not going to happen. We have Fonz and Albrighton to come on for that. If we did sell Ash and Gabs (I don't mind who to if we get a great deal) we could get better with the money we could get for them. It would not surprise me if Man City came in for Gabs or wanted some sort of swap deal with Ash. I can't see a straight cash purchase though for Ash and Gabs by Man City. I think they would be buying them though in an attempt to weaken us, as we are clearly a threat. Mancini may well eb taking a leaf out of SAF's book of buying to weaken other teams...?!  |
Geoff
said:
 |
... If thats a real rumor. I will fly over there personally from the United States and drive them to the Eastlands. Of course, I would be driving on the opposite side of the road and it may turn into a bit of a dodgy situation. Still, if they offer 40-45M for those two you take that. You can get three good players for 45M or one World Class type striker. This is a no-brainer really. Ashley YOung is WAY overrated, sell high now. So is Agbonlahor, sell high. This is a must do. You've gotten all you''re ever going to get out of those two, and replace them with something better or more potential. They should probably clear out Carew too, he is farely useless. |
Andy
said:
|
...Hey Damian - do you reckon you could get your hands on a copy of the "plans and drawings" for the new North Stand that Lerner Visit the Birmingham Planning Department site. They were on the public planning search when I looked some time ago. |
villarobin
said:
|
... Andy , you are contradicting yourself. You are saying we should do it because we have fonz + albrighton, but at the same time that it will weaken us. We should keep hold of them and then spend the money we do have on 2 or 3 class players who will improve us. Play fonz + albrighton in the cups to blood them in. |
croni
said:
 |
... definitely take the money i would even take less money and stephen ireland and bellamy as part exchange use the rest of the money on doyle sell most of those six players mentioned yesterday and buy carlton cole young is good but not that good, has completely lost the ability to cross this season gabby is just not a striker, does not have the killer instinct, but inf airness he gets into good positions, has decent pace, and holds up the ball well. he's far more of a threat on the wings |
Andy
said:
|
... You read it wrong or I said it wrong, but to clarify I mean we have Fonz and Albrighton to come on with 20 mins to go and run the defence ragged. It's not going to happen, but I would sell Ash and Gab and buy better with those sorts of funds being mentioned. I did not mean start Finz and Albrighton. THat way they get 'blooded' as you say in the premiership games, where they really do need the experience. It's this next season that Fonz and Albrighton need to feature much more so that they have real impact the following season. They can then equally fight for a starting place with whichever two players we replace Ash and Gabs with. Surely this is improving the quality of the team...! |
villarobin
said:
|
... People have such short memories honestly ! Young has had a bad season but last season he was brilliant, and agbonlahor is improving all the time. Like i say imagine keeping them and then also getting a couple of class players on top. We will have at least 40m to spend with all those sales, so we dont need to sell them.. |
Andy
said:
|
... villarobin....we also know that MON does not use many players. So what is the point of keeping players and then adding to the squad with the same type of players. We will just end up in the same situation with surplus players that are getting paid to keep the bench warm. This is not good management in any way shape or form. It's also not good economics. To sell Ash and Gab for anything like a decent price and replace them (granted it may cost a bit more to replace them with real quality) and at the same time bring in Fonz and Albrighton to increase their value is great for the team and great economics in the longer term. The only way to improve on 6th or get silverware is to improve the starting 11. (this is more so the case with how MON uses a squad) Anything else won't give improvement. That is fact. It's not something that is simply my opinion. It's real life. |
Simeon
said:
 |
... Man City's striking options can certainly be improved. I'm sure David Villa would have been a realistic target if they'd finished in the top four, but without Champions League football they will have to set their sights lower - unless no-one comes in for him of course. Torres has to be a possibility for Man City given that the money Liverpool would require is beyond the means of every club other than Real Madrid, Barca and Chelsea. Whether Real Madrid and Barca would be in the market for Torres is a moot point. If Barca can offload Ibrahimovic, then I'd guess Torres or Villa would be nailed on. But do they want to? As for Real, they may well be interested, but realistically, how do they accomodate him? Mind you, that hasn't stopped them from signing players in the past! Abramovich has the money, but will he spend it? Man City have the money, and would definitely spend it, and I think Torres might well go if there isn't another offer on the table, for the simple reason that Livepool are toast without new owners. Where that leaves Gabby is unclear. I think he could do well at Man City, and would score more goals per game for them than he does here, though he would probably be rotated with Adebayor and Tevez. I'm not convinced that Man City would be interested, but I don't think it should be completely ruled out. Gabby is massively underrated by most Villa fans, and the invaluable work he does for the team is often overlooked. He may well need a move to develop as a player, as I just don't see him getting the requisite quality of coaching at Villa. But then again he's a Villa fan, so would he be in a hurry to leave? As for Young, I think he would definitely benefit Man City. He can play to good effect on either the left or the right, and if Man City were to lose just two of Bellamy, Wright-Phillips and Petrov, which I think is more than likely, then Young would be a perfect fit. He has not progressed in the last eighteen months, and his form has been poor to indifferent. Neither is he in Capello's plans. If he's ambitious and Man City come in for him, I'd be amazed if he didn't jump at the chance. We need to sell in order to buy, and realistically, if we're to have any chance of improving then the proceeds from the fire-sale of our fringe players isn't going to cut it. O'Neill himself has said that a major asset could be sold to enable rebuilding, so Young leaving would make sense for all involved. |
Andy
said:
|
... villarobin....tell us is what position do you want to buy players for this £40M you mention....? |
Simeon
said:
|
... ak_27 It's interesting that some are such great admirers of Ireland, whilst others of your countrymen say we should avoid him like the plague. I think he's a fine player, but I think it's pretty clear that he is highly temperamental. He'd be a risk for anyone to sign, but then we're in a position where we are not going to get quality unless we take a risk. On that basis, assuming Man City are happy to sell, and they might well be, then signing Ireland would be interesting. But there are two major reasons why signing Ireland is unlikely to happen. The first is that O'Neill has never taken a risk in signing a player in four years. Why is he going to change now? The second is that Ireland wouldn't fit in with the way we play football, and wouldn't get in the team unless either he or Milner played out wide - neither of which is appealing or likely. |
Jammer
said:
 |
... I think this is a lot of money to be offered for these two, but the bigger picture is that I think the home grown rule comes into effect this season and that means every team has to have I believe (correct me if i'm wrong) 8 British players that have been trained by a British club for the last 3 years. This now means that British players values go up even more than before, also each club in the prem has to name a maximum squad of 25 players, although I think I read that players under the age of 21 don't count as part of the maximum 25 players. So for the last 4 years it looks as if MON has stolen a march on every other prem manager and actuallly thought about this rule when signing players so if villa do sell their British players it is going to be to teams that desperately need to add to their 'British contingent'. |
villarobin
said:
|
... Andy, i thought it was obvious we need a striker and a creative midfielder. But that doesnt mean we should offload ash + gab. For example do you think Downing is better than Young ?? Why not sell Downing. Same with Heskey and Agbonlahor. The basic fact is you are dismantling 2 key elements of our team , with no promise that the replacements (However much they cost) will be any better. |
Simeon
said:
|
... Jammer Regarding Man City, they have plenty of home-grown players already. The new rules will benefit them as much as they benefit us. As for clubs in need of some English talent, they'll find plenty at Villa going on the cheap. Davies, Reo-Coker, Young, Shorey - not to mention our own academy prospects who are unlikely to get a look in at Villa, but who would be useful for other Premiership clubs. I'd be more than a little concerned that Delfouneso could leave this summer for this reason. If a big club has any sense, they'd buy him now whilst his stock is relatively low. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we'd easily get eight figures for him (although this would probably look like daylight robbery in a season or two's time), and I can see O'Neill cashing in on Delfouneso in order to fund new signings. |
villarobin
said:
|
... Jammer - great point !! Therefore hopefully we shouldnt offload our fringe players at knock down prices like we normally do. Also another reason why we dont have to sell Agbon + Young |
Simeon
said:
|
... villarobin My guess is that we couldn't sell Downing without looking like right muppets, because we wouldn't get anything like what we paid for him. I'd take £5m for him right now if someone offered it, but then it wouldn't be me looking like a muppet. O'Neill doesn't have the same luxury. |
HOOLY
said:
 |
... isnt ther some sort of ruling that you have to have so many home grown players in your squad?if that is true would getting rid of 2 of the best home grown players do us any favours. |
villasouth1
said:
 |
... Here we go again, the Villa faithful, on the back of our most successful season since 1993 and everyone wants to get rid of the players that achieved our success. Is it just me or are Villa fans just getting too big for their boots...Zlatan Ibrahimovic GET A GRIP, Barcelona to Brum i thought a lot of stuff on this blog made sense but this is nonsense. Just another pessimistic star gazing day dream from a villa fan who has no bearing on reality, yeh just be fickle its real easy, cheer for them one day stab them in the back the next. I find it shocking how its so easy for all of you to say sell them i mean who else is better winger then ash in the prem he won the pfa last year and in my opinion was one of our best this season. If gabby and ash went to manciteh it would end there careers they would be just used as english paper weights in there huge foreign squad, at villa they will get a game every week. Judging by MON transfer dealings i think 45 million will just go on a hand full fake diamonds and perhaps one real gem...which would basically just keep us a float. |
Damian
said:
|
... villasouth1 i dont think anyone for a moment thinks that zlatan ibrahimovic wants to leave barcelona and wants to play for aston villa - but how do you know? how do you know that if you approach barcelona and make an offer of £40mn that they wont say yes and how do you know that if you go speak to zlatan - sell him the big picture, the 5 year plan and the he'll be used just for the league' unless we get to the semi-finals of something along with the £150k a week that he wont come? tell me how you know this? my point is, if you do not ask any world class players you know where you stand. but if you ask 10, how do you know you wont get one? as for finding it easy 'to say sell them' - nobody really is. but given the choice of £45mn or Webcam and Gabby - I think what most are saying is that you'd have to be a fool to not accept it - it is also worth noting that this is just speculation |
John Salter
said:
|
... This nonsense about Ashley Young being shy and not promoting himself is ridulous. MON created that when he wasnt good enough to sustain a place in the England team. At the start of every game at the start of the season when his hype was unparelelled he would walk along the Villa team line 'high fiving' the lads as if he was the captain. Not even Petrov did that, was that shy? I dont think so. How many times was he told to shut up because he was gobbing off to a referee or even booked and not just by the Ref! Lots! Dont get me wrong, I think he's a good/could be a great player, he's just not matured, hasnt reached his potential and looses the ball far too easily! He feigns injury clutching his ankle all too often and wastes energy switching wings and for what? He's stopped getting passed defenders which is where SWP is better if we're honest. I want him to succeed just like I want Emile Heskey to be a successful striker which he isnt. Infact Emile would in all honesty be better in centre midfield with a goal scoring striker up front! As for Man City paying that for those two! Never going to happen! |
ak_27
said:
|
...It's interesting that some are such great admirers of Ireland, whilst others of your countrymen say we should avoid him like the plague He is a tool of the highest order and i really dispise him for not wanting to play for his country which should be his greatest ambition but his quality was there for all to see last season. He is not a trouble maker or not a slacker as many think he is(the apparent reason he left Irish team is that some of his team mates tried to pull his wig off his head as a joke a few years ago in Slovakia and he reacted like a child and now won't play with them again). If like Eoin said above we sign him and MON makes him feel wanted and vital to our team we would have a truely gifted player on our hands. He was miles ahead of any young player last season (Ashley included)and if he was from Brazil everyone would have been speaking about him as one of the best atacking midfielders in the world. He has an incredible engine (due to his own extra training he does) and has great ability to weight a pass to perfection. City will be making a big mistake if they let him go and i just hope we are the team that benefits from it. Hopefully Dunne will be major factor in him coming here. |
Jammer
said:
|
... My point exactly simeon just for once don't sell these players on the cheap and at least try to make some money on our so called fringe players. They are after all only so called fringe players because for whatever reason MON had he would not play them and seemed to have no trust in players he has actually signed. |
Celtic_Villan
said:
 |
... damian how do you know we havnt tried for world class players, and there just not interested? same logic, you dont have a clue, just like the rest of us |
Simeon
said:
|
... Jammer It seems we both understand what ought to happen. But what ought to happen and what will happen are sometimes tow different things. However, I think that the likes of Luke Young, Davies, Reo-Coker and Shorey will leave on the cheap because we need the money and they will want to leave. In Luke Young's case, even if he'd been playing regularly we wouldn't get back what we paid for him as he is now two years older. I can't see us getting more than £2m for him, and probably less, and he will be a bargain for whoever signs him. As for Davies and Reo-Coker, how on earth do we get anything like £18m for them? Given how old they are, and given that they are both good players, we should be making a profit on them, but we will be lucky to get a third of what we paid for them! We find ourselves in a truly ludicrous situation. |
Simeon
said:
|
... ak_27 I think we both agree that Ireland is a very talented player. Do you think that a) O'Neill would sign him if he was interested (and this is itself highly questionable), and b) that Ireland would flourish in the Villa environment? |
Villa_Chris
said:
 |
... Ireland was outstanding last season, I was gob smacked to find him sitting on the bench every week. It would be a massive signing and a missing piece of the Villa jigsaw. |
taglor
said:
 |
... Chiefy isnt it about time you got a job and stopped blogging all day every day? Maybe you could use your football knowledge and be a world cup commentator for the BBC, you couldn't be worse than John Motson or the History and stat obsessed knobber on ITV. I have an idea for next season. 1) We try and win as many games as we can to get more points 2) We try and stop as many goals against us as possible to get more points 3) We try and win stuff by scoring as many goals as we can GOALS + WINS = WINNERS!! |
ak_27
said:
|
... Simeon i actually do think MON will go for him if possible. He isn't coming in from outside the British shores. And i do also think he would fit in well. Especially away from home on the counter. He scored some great goals on the break last season (liverpool away was one that was top class) and he would be able to stay with Young and Gabby on the break. Not so sure though how we would accomadate him in the CM. Is Milner really a DM? So perhaps we would have to go 451? |
Celtic_Villan
said:
|
... yeh ak that is why he left. it was hair implants though. though it would be up to o neill to decide, after having met with him, from what i hear though, he's an odd fella certainly the kind of player we need, whether he has the character mon wants, which is something he obviously greatly considers, i dont know. something else iv been thinking about, is the emergence of midfields without a holding player - utd chelsea arsenal none of them use them any more |
Jammer
said:
|
... It will only be a ludicrous situation if MON and Mr Lerner let it become that, as you said with Davies and Reo-coker with there respective ages they should be commanding good money, as both players in my view at least, would be very good assets to any team outside of the top 7 teams so why not get at least the money back that we paid for them if and yes its a big if, villa actually stand firm. I think that this will be MON defining summer and will ultimately decide whether he is our manager after next season. Rightly or wrongly this will probably be his last chance to put some silverware back at villa park next season, that is just the way football is. |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
 |
... As for Ibrahimovic, we already have a big lump who cant score, why would we want to pay £40m for another. |
darrenvilla26
said:
 |
... I'll throw something out there, i know what i'd do swap webcam and agbonlawhore for SWP and Ireland and take 15 million and by Bent....jobs a good un! |
Simon Evans
said:
 |
... Hello .... Taxi for Agbonlahor and Young ..... !!!! £24M for these two over rated sods ? Er yes please .... I'll personally deliver em up there for free and if they add another few mill they can have Downing too ! |
Simeon
said:
|
... Celtic_Villain Arsenal use Song as a holding midfielder. Chelsea have used Mikel there this season in the absence of Essien. Man Ure play 4-5-1, and at least one of their three central midfielders - usually Fletcher - is a strong defensive presence. Barca have Sergio Busquets. At this world cup, England, Spain and Brazil - arguably the three strongest teams - will all use a holding midfielder. I think there will always be a place for primarily destructive mdifield players in most teams - although if you do play three in midfield, as long as they all work hard you can possibly get away without a genuine defensive midfielder. ak_27 I don't think Milner is a defensive midfielder. He works extremely hard, and will put in a challenge, but I think that he and Ireland would only work if they had another body in there. 4-5-1 would clearly be the way forward, but as we know, O'Neill is a 4-4-2 man. I just can't see us playing 4-5-1 next season, and as such I just can't see the sense in signing Ireland. Unless Milner is sold of course... |
Damian
said:
|
... Celtic_Villan how do i know? come on, don't be naive. if and it is a huge if, we were going after players like this, it would break in the press or the other clubs would have to announce that they had accepted an offer from aston villa - offers do not get accepted these days without clubs talking about it and for real world class players - you have to make offers PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL zlatan is the daddy - only once in his entire career has he had a season where he has not won the league. he really is an amazing player .. but i guess you are just playing now |
darrenvilla26
said:
|
... just to add...i'd sell ash and gab, swap for SWP and Ireland plus ask for the 15mill...spend that on bent, switch back to 4-3-3 young ginger dunne warnock milner petrov ireland downing bent swp bang bang bang! |
Simeon
said:
|
... Jammer The problem is that both players are unhappy, and they are not part of O'Neill's plans. You only get full market value if you neither want or need to sell a player. We want and need to sell both. We want to sell them because they are not going to be used. And we need to sell because we don't have much money left, and we want to buy players. Reo-Coker is in the last year of his contract. It has been suggested that he is happy to wind his contract down and leave on a Bosman next summer. We either sell him now or get nothing. I don't know how long is left on Davies' contract, but given the option of £3m or an unwanted player, I think the club would have to choose the former. Who is going to pay £8m for Reo-Coker, or £10m for Davies? Only complete fools - although we might get lucky and find some. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...Chiefy isnt it about time you got a job and stopped blogging all day every day? I remember addressing this before my number is still there just say the word !!!! Oh and I have a job thanks a well paid one where i am my own boss. Dont comment on me ignore me and pretend i am not here its the only way |
DavidC
said:
|
...The first is that O'Neill has never taken a risk in signing a player in four years Dunne was a risk. Young was a risk (at the inflated price at the time). I don't think your theory holds up. Ireland - no-one doubts his ability. Its his "head" that people doubt. |
Scott_Avfc
said:
 |
... Selling Agbonlahor & Young would be a disaster, people forget Agbonlahor is still young and learning, his finishing will become better in time, iv'e saw Young all season and he's such a threat and an important player for us, he'll get better aswell, easiest thing in the world to say is 'sell them' and if they go and do well people will ask why they went so you cant win either way. if we do sell Gabs i'd like to see a Forlan type of player come in, a lethal finisher. Falcao is a good shout but would he cut it in the premiership? who knows. Afonso Alves was supposed to be the next best thing but he was a shambles. |
Villa_Chris
said:
|
... Elsewhere, Martin O'Neill's reluctance to rotate his squad as much as many supporters would have liked drew much criticism and was blamed for contributing to Aston Villa's decline towards the end of the season. Not only was O'Neill disinclined to rotate, he did not even like making substitutions – he made only 67 in the league during this campaign, far fewer than anyone else (neighbour Alex McLeish was the next most conservative, making 84 at Birmingham). Blackburn's Sam Allardyce made the most with 110. O'Neill, though, was right to show faith in some players. Ashley Young delivered far more crosses than any other player (272 – the next most prolific was Leighton Baines, with 210). Gabriel Agbonlahor, meanwhile, was the most accurate shot-maker in the league: 64.29% of his 56 shots were on target. Nicolas Anelka ran him close with 63.89% from 72 |
ak_27
said:
|
...Ashley Young delivered far more crosses than any other player (272 So he only puts in on average 6 crosses a game? Im taking it that he played at the very least 45 games last season, no way if you include corners and free kicks has Young only put in on average only 6 crosses per game. I would say he puts in at the very least 15 per game. |
GGGG
said:
 |
... I was just about to add a quote about the season's stats and how Gabby isn't actually as bad as I've been thinking all season, when I see Villa_Chris has already just added it! The most accurate striker (pity "accurate" can also mean hitting straight at the keeper), but also, in the league, he only scored 1 less than Adebayor, and 1 more than Berbatov, and how much did they cost? I'm not his greatest fan, but it does show splashing out doesn't automatically lead to loads of goals. Can't believe the Citeh rumour. Young maybe, but not Gabby, not when they've got all those strikers already and have the spending power to tempt anyone on the planet. |
Damian
said:
|
... ak_27 i dont know where that quote is from but i would suggest that the number is for successful crosses and that corners count |
Villa_Chris
said:
|
... Damian they are stats from OptaSports... http://www.guardian.co.uk/foot...on-england |
paulmcgrathsknees
said:
 |
... cant believe people are arguing about signing ibrahimovic...id eat my arm if we even came within a million miles of him...never gonna happen in million years |
frem
said:
 |
... u lot saying we should let them go are mad. they are easily in the top 5 of our best players we have. what good is it in selling our best players ? gabi has got 16 goals this season and next will hit the twenty mark. young for me is one of the best wingers in the prem. he will have to change his game more next season though. how walcot has got a head of him in world cup squad i dont know. ins clyne noble sessngon or ireland benayoun keane roddelaga |
Villa_Chris
said:
|
... OptaJoe on twitter said: Paul Doyle at the Guardian has run a fine toothcomb through our end of season data. Read his analysis here: |
Damian
said:
|
... frem while i admire the sentiment gabby only scored 13 league goals and that is where it counts and where we count from. my point is, 13 in every game was it, just isn't great and it isn't as if this is a strange season - he never gets close to the 20 we want him to get my point is, why not change it about a bit |
Chiefy
said:
|
... I dont know why this discussion is rumbling on they wont go anywhere Young is MON's and MON loves gabby and surely Citeh want some bigger names with the money they have No offence ashely or gabby but honestly linked with Messi and Ibragayovic one minute then Gabby and Young just Citeh using their ploy of trying to rattle their competitors players, mmmmm remind you of anyone ?? |
Aero-4-Villa
said:
|
... Heres what i hope for in the Summer.. Ins: -Alexander Hleb (9 Million) -Kevin Prince Boateng (3 Million) -Stephen Ireland (10 Million) -Bobby Zamora (7 million) -Joe Cole (Free) (Big Wages) 29 Million overall Outs: -Steve Sidwell (3 Million) -Habib Beye (2 Million) -Stewart Downing (8 Million) -Nicky Shorey (2 Million) -Marlon Harewood (Free)(Lowers Wages) 17 Million overall Net Spend: 12 Million But i know MON wont sell Downing so.. more like 20 Million. Im sure Randy can stump up that much! Other players id be interested in: -Michael Ballack (Free) (Big Wages) -Nadir Belhadj (3 Million) -Giovanni (2 Million) Them signings would make us more than good enough to challenge for fourth. Question is... does MON have the bottle to get off his arse and make it happen? I doubt it.. UTV! |
Aero-4-Villa
said:
|
... http://www.goal.com/en/news/75...liege-deal To anyone with hopes of Defour signing. Give up now. MON was too hesitant... |
mickey86
said:
 |
... Damian - regarding zlatan ibrahimovic - MON said during a international tournement before he was at villa that zlatan was one of the most overated players in football and that he would never sign him. so dont think MON would go for him. (but i kno that wasnt the point u were saying) as for gabby and ashley, when i first saw it i though NO WAY! but thinking about it, dafonz will score a goal every 3.5 games, if nt better and albrighton might end up being the next david beckham and will also be capable of getting 15 crosses in a gam with the system we play. my only worry is that we are sucesful because of our pace, take gabby and young out the team and we will lose ll our pace so will need to completely change our style of play. |
Jord
said:
 |
...Other players id be interested in: Ballack would never. Ever. Ever. Ever. Come to Villa Park. |
mickey86
said:
|
... everyone says defour, but who actually knows if he is anygood? i bet 90% of people who mention him havnt seen him play a game. |
cypruusvilla
said:
 |
... sell fringe players 10million plus ashley another 20million plus 20 from randy and bring in defoe ireland benayon bentley and hleb |
Celtic_Villan
said:
|
... damian the point is you dont know. you call me naive for suggesting we have bid for big player and been told no either by the club or the player. then you suggest we bid for zlatan. pot kettle black last summer o neill openly said he was interested in sneijder and players like him. instead he went to champions league finalists inter milan. this would suggest to me that he is not the one and only, and this one the press did get their hands on but im naive... |
HolteEndersInDubai
said:
 |
... Damian, What would MON do with 45mil IYO as i seem to remember you slating him in the transfer market? I personally think Ash will have an awesome season next year as he will want to prove a point in not being picked for SA. Gabby works so so hard for the team and i know we need goals but i think we need that creative player to play with him instead of replacing him Having said that 45 mil is a crazy amount for 2 players who underperformed last season. I also would never upset the dressing room with a player earning over double anyone else, that would be our demise. For me, get rid of the dead wood, take the 15-20 mil Randy will inject and buy players in the same MON mould...Ireland, Bent, Keane. Parker...and a right back who can attack!! UTV |
Simeon
said:
|
... DavidC Buying Dunne for £6m was not a risk. He has played in the Premiership for over a decade. Everyone knows what they're going to get from Dunne, i.e. generally very strong performances with a few ricks over the course of the season. Whether we overpaid for Dunne or not is another matter. It's my view that, regardless of his quality, I don't think we should be spending significant sums of money on players with no re-sale value. We just don't have the resources to buy immediate success, and especially when that 'success' is no trophies and barely qualifying (we were just three points ahead of Everton) for a discredited European competition. As for Ashley Young, he was a good signing by O'Neill, but not a risk. West Ham and Spurs were both after him, and he was highly regarded young player. We paid the going rate for a young English player with talent, not an inflated fee. |
Celtic_Villan
said:
|
... so simeon your pathway to sucess would be us to act as a selling club? oh and young english players with perceived talent is what makes the fee inflated. of course ashley young was a risk, he was bought after half a season of promising football at the top level for a fee to the tune of 10m pounds! |
Damian
said:
|
... HolteEndersInDubai for image go to http://en.gravatar.com/ - you register at that site and we pull avatar based on the email address as for me slating o'neill in the transfer market - can you be a little more specific with that, i dont recall me slating o'neill in the transfer market with reference to funds as for paying someone more; do you think everyone at united is on the same money as rooney or that everyone at chelsea is on the same money as john the slag or fat frank or that everyone at liverpool is on the same money as stevie g and torres? they're not and every other player understands that for real quality you have to pay more - i could understand it damaging the dressing room if Webcam was paid £80k a week or a regular first team player was on £25k a week and they foudn out sidwell, who rarely plays is on £60k a week .. but if we were to sign a true world class player and we paid him £100k a week - i dont think anyone would really mind that much if it was for the good of the team - and i'd be really very surprised if any of us actually knew how much any of these palyers were on anyway |
andy5759
said:
 |
... The situation regarding home grown players works for us in two ways. ONE; we have many talented home grown players whose stock is artificially high. TWO; other clubs with too many foreign players will be forced to sell, thus lowering the Prem stock of these foreign players. Though I really don't think there are many top half clubs that are going to be forced to sell their best foreign players. I like the idea of signing to strengthen but I hate the thought of selling the crown jewels to be able to buy. Does anyone know what time on August 31st the transfer window opens? |
Trigger
said:
 |
... 45 million i would sell both, on two conditions. 1. It was early on in the transfer market, which gives us time to utilize the money. 2. Stephen Ireland was included in the deal. I realize the second would mean the 45million being reduced. I would use the rest of the money to buy a top striker and the rest? plus what Lerner sanctions and sale of fringe players to improve squad. We would be gaining a top midfielder. On losing a winger in Ashley young, this is where i would give Albrighton more of a regular role in the team. The same applies to Delfouneso. However these rumours are probably utter nonsense, and if were true the likely hood of MON selling are slim. |
Villan57
said:
 |
... As I said on Vital Villa before I read what Damien said . £45M I'd have their hands off and Albrighton and Fonz in there! Jobs a good un |
Chiefy
said:
|
...The situation regarding home grown players works for us in two ways. ONE; we have many talented home grown players whose stock is artificially high. TWO; other clubs with too many foreign players will be forced to sell, thus lowering the Prem stock of these foreign players. I never thought of it like that but your right, I like the sounds of that |
Celtic_Villan
said:
|
... damian you seem to ignore my comments when when you dont have a strong retort! this be a common trend! |
woody
said:
 |
... Ashley young and Gabby out for 30 million and SWP, then we buy Darren Bent for 15-20 million jobs a gooden we got 2 better players and about 10-15 million left. Happy Days =D |
Hadders7
said:
 |
... To be honest, I would be tempted to sell them at half that price! Gabby will never be our '20 a season' man and Young was fairly poor for chunks of the season...if only he could cross the ball without hitting the first defender! |
keithj
said:
 |
... firstly i would like to know why some would snatch citys hands of at 45 milion, IF this bid were true, and we know its crap, then this is their value as its what is being offered. if mon says he wants 100 million it could be that he has overpriced them. secondly i do not think team building is done by removing the pillars on which it was built, and i will guarantee that those who watched fulham,and wanted them to win, were shouting get the ball in the box after forlans second and we according to stats have the best in the prem |
cypruusvilla
said:
|
... defoe and ireland or benayoun thats all we need and maybe swp keep gabby and ashley espeasially keep milner |
FatKevs
said:
 |
... Not Good enough for Villa but Man City will pay £45m the mad season really has started. We know Randy does not have what it takes so lets wave the Yanky goodbye |
FatKevs
said:
|
... Just read on this day we signed Colly a top player at the time i have said many times before this administration give us less than former ones. We have always been able to bring in high profile strikers our biggest aim now is to buy expensive defenders Say everything yet many think what we have now is great time will show this to be one of our low periods |
proxopera
said:
 |
...that Q & A with lerner is great he seems like a decent fellow Yeah Chiefy , he does seem a decent bloke . I liked the bit on continuing with Acorns if potential sponsors dont ante-up . I must say I'm quite proud of the club and its dealings with this charity . Reckon Villa's new anthem should be ace of spades by one of the midlands most glorious sons ...I can see it now, 30,000 Villans giving it b****x,,,,,,,,, "The pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say I don't share your greed, the only card I need is The Ace Of Spades The Ace Of Spades" |
Simeon
said:
|
... Celtic_Villan That's putting it rather crudely, but in the sort term the answer is yes. Until we are in the Champions League we will not be able to keep our best players. We will have to sell them. This is a reality the club needs to accept, understand, and use to its advantage. For example, if Milner leaves this summer because he's ambitious and an ambitious club comes in for him, then we will recoup a large transfer fee that represents a big profit on our initial investment. We can then reinvest this money into young talent. Provided this is done wisely, we can absorb the loss of our best players, and in the medium term have a stronger team. If the team still isn't strong enough in the medium term for us be capable of retaining our best players, then we sell them for a profit again, and the virtuous cycle continues. Over time, we will become a stronger, wealthier club, as we use the profits we make in the transfer market to develop the team - and possibly the infrastructure of the club. At some point we may reach a point where the team is strong enough to be successful, we will be able to keep our best players, and the success we achieve can be sustained and built upon. The alternative is to plough enormous amounts of money into the playing side and hope for fairly immediate success. Except that isn't an alternative for us at the moment, because the money has already been spent, and we haven't achieved the necessary level of success to keep our best players. As O'Neill and Lerner have both said, we need to sell to buy. If we sell off fringe players (and we should, given that they aren't utilised) we will have a little bit of money (say £12-15m) to spend on perhaps one player (say Ireland) who might improve the team enough to keep us in the top 6. Or we could sign two or three players who will not improve the team sufficiently to keep us in the top six. Or we could sell a major asset and reinvest the money in two or three players of genuine quality who will improve the team as a whole, and give us a real chance of maitaining our top six status. Whatever we do, the key for a club like ours is to sign players who we can make a profit on if we need to sell them. It's the only business model that will work for a club like ours. |
proxopera
said:
|
... Simeon , The name of Stephen Ireland is being bandied about on this site like its an inveitibility that Villa will sign him . Can you , and others take off the blinkers and seriously look at this guy . He cant get into the city team over Barry and De Jong , what the f**k would we do with him? He does'nt have the work ethic to replace milner or petrov and he aint a winger . Your analysis of Villa's position is certainly thought provoking but you undermine it when you use ireland as an example of 'stock' which can be developed and sold on at a profit while maintaining our current status. He would have some great games for us and would be a regular contender for goal of the month for a while and then he'd do a f**k**g Kaiser Sose for the rest of the season . Trust me mate , he's not villa material .And while I'm at it , neither is Bentley or Keane. |
Simeon
said:
|
... proxopera My dear chap, I was using Ireland purely as an example. You and I have discussed him in the past, and I believe we both agree that whilst he is a talented player, his character is highly questionable. Personally, I wouldn't sign him for Villa, not just because from what I can tell he is slightly mad, but because, as you also recognise, he wouldn't fit into our team. Earlier ak_27 mentioned Ireland, and he and I had a little back and forth about him. He's a big fan, and whilst he recognises that he (Ireland, that is, rather than ak_27) has a couple of screws loose, he feels that O'Neill might be able to get the best out of him, and that he's therefore worth a punt. My own view is that O'Neill wouldn't get the best out of him, because Ireland is not only incompatible with a 4-4-2 formation, either partnering Milner or Petrov, or playing on the wing. We are entirely agreed on this point. Furthermore, neither would the football we play suit Ireland. It would be some kind of miracle if Ireland and Villa benefited from O'Neill signing him. Having said all that, I wouldn't be at all surprised if O'Neill did sign Ireland, because I don't beieve O'Neill knows what he's doing! Hope this clears everything up. |
proxopera
said:
|
... Simeon, yeah ,clears it up allright ,but you just could'nt resist that O'Neill dig could ye? Has your positivity pledge expired ? |
Simeon
said:
|
... It has, but I suspect that I won't be quite as vociferous as I was in the past. I'm resigned to another season of O'Neill in charge and all that entails. Nothing I say is going to change a thing, although I'm sure I'll be unable to resist wading into the debate from time to time. |
frem
said:
|
... intersecting transfer gossip today. davis to fulham, ozil 8mi to pool and spurs lettin go jenas and keane. the reason i say about ozil is because he is a top player with the creatively we need and maybe cheap but oneill will probably go for jenas or ohara for more money |
frem
said:
|
... steven taylor would suit oneill lovely. young, english and as a centre half can play right back |
villarobin
said:
|
... I really dont understand it when people say " He wouldnt be able to play in a 4 4 2" especvially about central midfielders. How can a professional footballer who plays in central midfield (Like Ireland) not be able to play in a 4 4 2 ?? Ridiculous.. |
SidCowanslovechild
said:
 |
... Gabbi and Ash are our 2 best attacking players, and I include Milner in that. Ibrahimovic is never in a million years going to leave Barcelona for Villa, presume this was some sort of half assed joke Albrighton and Fonzi are promising but between them have about 2 pl assists and 1 pl goal, maybe through lack of chances and youth but nevertheless expecting them to come straight in and replace our 2 best players is optimistic to say the least What a load of nonsense |
ak_27
said:
|
...How can a professional footballer who plays in central midfield (Like Ireland) not be able to play in a 4 4 2 ?? I think what he is saying is that he may not be able to play in a 442 with the current CM's at the club right now. To get the best out of Ireland in a 442 you would need a really good defensive midfielder like Diarra/ Palacious to cover the space when he bombs on. I just don't see how he could work that well with Petrov or Milner. |
ak_27
said:
|
...Gabbi and Ash are our 2 best attacking players But doesn't it say something when neither of our 2 best attacking players can make the 30 man English squad? |
DavidC
said:
|
... I know its probably heresy to some on here, but personally I think Jenas is exactly what we need. We're crying out for a box-to-box midfielder in the light of Sidwell's failings. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...But doesn't it say something when neither of our 2 best attacking players can make the 30 man English squad? Lionel can though |
ak_27
said:
|
...Lionel can though But he is extra special. I think Jenas would be a step up on Sidwell but that isn't saying much really. Don't rate Jenas at all. He is just another CM who goes missing. |
John Salter
said:
|
... So this conversation is still going on eh? Not bad considering its a load of made up nonsense! |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Blues have made an offical approach for Zamora and Knochesky, what confuses me a little is why either of them would want to move from a team who have just been rumours up in europe to a team which will struggle its tits of next season they have punched well above their weight this season and McLeish knows it, does any one think it will happen ? ? |
jonnie5
said:
 |
... Never mate, Koncheskey maybe, but I reckon Zamora will get better offers than the blues. I tell you a player I would take a punt on this season is Jay Bothroyd of Cardiff. What I've seen of this season he really is a cracking player so skillful, quick and he's got the height really does have a lot ot offer. I know alot will say we need to be aiming higher but trust me he 's good. You should check him out if you've not seen much of him. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...I tell you a player I would take a punt on this season is Jay Bothroyd I am almost positive we have been linked with him before |
Chiefy
said:
|
... We have been linked with in January http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/8473948.stm Mcleish is also looking at him according to the press |
jonnie5
said:
|
... His previous record doesnt speak volumes for him. I just feel he has really matured and for a squad player I think he would have real impact, bringing something diffrent rather than like for like all the time. |
ak_27
said:
|
... I think we will see Jimmy Kebe coming to VP this summer. He just looked like a MON type of player when we played Reading in the cup. |
Celtic_Villan
said:
|
... simeon i see what your saying but i dont really agree. what wrong with doing what were doing right now? you say it as though we are miles of the top 4. it does seem that itl be harder next year, but we dont really know how its going to be we have a long summer ahead selling clubs sell their best players. if milner goes i accept thats where we are. i dont beleive it was the case with barry, as with a year left on his contract we got good money - its not like when we sold yorke. all clubs sell there fringe players to generate cash. esp in tight times like these, mos clubs will have to sell to buy. it how we buy now is trying i agree with you about ireland by the way in so far as he needs a 5 man midfield. |
jonnie5
said:
|
... You could be right mate Kebe is very much a MON player has more of a physical presents than our wingers. |
TheKid
said:
 |
... I wud like to see martin bring in Darren Ambrose from palace,has great delivery from set plays,and more importantly scores goals. Also i think he is only around 26/27,perfect age. Cant see him costing more than 2mil, with Palaces Financial situation. BARGAIN |
nath888
said:
 |
... So the current realisitic forwards being linked are: berbatov keane c. cloe k. jones Kevin Doyle Hugo Rodallega If theres anymore or any definate nos then please add or delete. |
John Salter
said:
|
... If Mr Lerner is intending to make Villa Park a 50 000 seat stadium in the next couple of years, as he has said, he has also got to invest in players in order to fill those seats. If we're not at least competing for that fourth spot next season, it would be a waste of money. It will be interesting to see how much MON's got to use on new players and who those players are! It's a positive statement that demonstrates (at the moment) that he's here for the long term and is intent on building on the progress he and MON have made so far! |
SCOTT1
said:
 |
... also what a cock-up selling whittingam 24/25 goals this season.he used to score some cracking goals for the u21s aswell.if cardiff dont come up i expect him to be snapped up |
Damian
said:
|
... John Salter on paper it wouldn't be a waste of money though and it isn't exactly going to be his money paying for it. it will be the likes of you and him and me and him .. the only reason the money is now running out is because the return to Lerner wouldn't be as good as him putting it somewhere else. basically making Villa Park 50,000 isn't going to be money lost and will only ultimately go to increase the worth of the club |
David J
said:
 |
... Sorry Damian - it will be Lerner's money that pays for ground improvements as the club does not generate sufficient funds for such a project. In fact if you look at the last accounts it's his money that has paid for an awful lot over the last couple of years. |
John Salter
said:
|
... Damian - What I mean is; by Randy Lerner saying that he wants to invest in the stadium is good because he's clearly here for the long term and we need more than 42 000 seats in order to compete in the future. However, he cant be thinking, 'I'll put money into the concrete and ignore the team.' So I think what he said was very postive and reading between the lines, he will give MON an adequate amount of money in order to compete and be better equipped next term. I and I'm sure most of us want to see the younger lads, who we know are great assets and who will contribute positively get on the pitch. Three that spring to mind instantly are the Fonz, Delph and Albrighton. Villa can save a fortune using these lads but I'm sure at the same time Mr Lerner will be giving MON the cash to re-inforce his investments. |
Damian
said:
|
... David J dont apologise - prove what you are saying prove it by showing us, in the accounts, where he isn't taking interest on the money he has put in or where he isn't blatantly taking management fees of over 10% of income while increasing the level of debt in the business it isn't lerner paying for anything - he might be putting money in but none of it is a gift and rest assured anything he is putting in, he will be getting back - and some. if you think you know otherwise, prove it. |
MBE
said:
 |
... i dont know this as ive not seen any plans. but i would guess that the desire to improve the north stand is not really anything to do with more seats (althought that is obviously a good thing). its probably more to do with boxes and corporate areas. like it or not this is where the money comes from. long term we need to improve out turnover to get anywhere, i think i saw that 90% of our turnover or somethign goes on wages, which given that we arent big payers compared to some is a bit worrying really. improving the turnover can only help this. obviously the team needs to get better in the meantime to attract people but being in the prem alone makes us attractive. sorry if this has been mentioned but i only get to have a quick look on lunch break! ps - occurred to me watching the season review on espn last night, scharner of wigan is out of contract this summer. thats got oneill written all over it as a signing, thoughts? |
David J
said:
|
... The last accounts showed that Reform Acquisitions had injected £170m since RL took over. £95m of this had been in the form of an equity investment - basically a gift and the remainder was outstanding in the form of the loan that I've heard you talk about so often. Tes - mgt fees and interest are paid - but £95m has basically been written off in favour of the club. |
Damian
said:
|
... MBE you are probably spot on - that and better pre./post match facilities for supporters and maybe a bigger shop, better food faciltities |
Damian
said:
|
... David J do you honestly believe that £95mn was just written off in favour of the club? honestly - you think he got nothing for that? come on |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... Damian, How much did he take in fee's? I thought it was around £7m which basically covers the time he's been here as it wasnt actually paid out in the previous years. When you think that one player, ie Ashley Young is taking over £3m a year out of the club, surely its not that big of a deal if the guy who owns it takes some too, how much is too much? Forgive me if Im wrong I didnt really look at the detail of the accounts and only read little bits here and there. |
David J
said:
|
... That's what equity investment generally means I'm afraid mate. It's the accounting adjustment Abramovich and Monasour use to clean up the balance sheets of their respective clubs. In simple terms they are increasing the number of shares available in the company and writing off the loans in return for those shares. |
Chiefy
said:
|
... The ground improvement is also making sure that we get to be a world cup stadium should the England bid be successful which will also bring in a whole heap of cash for Mr Lerner |
Damian
said:
|
... David J i'm fully aware of what it is and i'm fully aware that it wasn't just written off (your words not mine) and my point was very specific - it wasn't written off - he got something for it - in essence he has pushed the club to the limit in terms of what he can sell it for by increasing his investment and the level of debt he isn't going to put more dent onto the business - even if it is to him - simply because it doesn't increase the value or make it worth any more or, actually make him any more money my point was made in april last year here: http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/...-anywhere/ if aston villa are to move forward - we need an owner willing to really invest in aston villa - not just one that is going to balance the books - which i'm afraid is all lerner is doing |
Chiefy
said:
|
...if aston villa are to move forward - we need an owner willing to really invest in aston villa - not just one that is going to balance the books - which i'm afraid is all lerner is doing During the season we have MON bashing, in closed season and after we have had our owner confirm he intends to invest, in players and the ground, we have moved on to a new LOW owner bashing....Come on damo is this what you really think ?? surely not |
Chiefy
said:
|
...we need an owner willing to really invest in aston villa - not just one that is going to balance the books So i take you would like to run like one of the reasons that this league has turned into ground hog day ??? would you prefer to huge amounts in debt to the owner or worse a bank ?? would like not knowing the fate of the club due to the high levels of interest and rocky economic environment ?? or of course we could be owned by a rich arab who will buy everyone and anyone to win but the question is what happens when he wins ?? what happens when there is nothing else to win ?? what happens if he gets fed up trying to win ?? will they walk away and leave the club saddled in debt and unable to function ?? I tell you what i am happy iwth how are club is being ran and happy what our owner is doing and I am quite happy with the progress we are making and quite happy with the way things are going, i dont have the i want it now culture and i dont care how long we have to wait, but when the day comes at least we can say WE DID IT PROPERLY |
Damian
said:
|
... Chiefy are you new here? do you think this is new? i've even linked to a post over a year old. i'd link to others even older if i could but they are not on this site. my views on lerner are not new but you trying to pass them off as lerner bashing is i'm not bashing lerner - i think what he has done for this club is fantastic but i'm not going to blindly hope that we are going to get more from him, i think its clear as day after what he has said recently where we find ourselves with lerner. but, he is a fantastic owner. look at what he has done in america with his rugby team. they are loved and best supported read my post Chiefy that i linked to. i'm not going to explain it all again - its clear as day fantastic owner but if he isn't going to put in more money and he is going to keep o'neill, this is the best we can hope for and if you think differently, well, great for you - you are clearly more optimistic than i am and clearly happy with no silverware |
David J
said:
|
... Damian that's just not correct. If that money had not been injected then the club would have been unable to meet it's obligations in terms of increased wages and transfer fees. If he had not written the debt off the full amount would still be outstanding as a loan and the interest payments on those would be much higher. |
keithj
said:
|
... damian we know the 90 odd million is not a gift, its his "mortgage" on villa so if he sells for 150 million pays of his mortgage he does quite well, thats what business men do. the man city thing has the morals of "trading places" |
Damian
said:
|
... David J i dont want to sound condescending here but i just wanted to clear something up - he put money into the club; we are all agreed on this, yes? and you think he just wrote part of it off and got nothing? can i just confirm that is what you think |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Damo -- Things change, you cant say for sure this is the best things get, you just make a judgement based on what you have. As i have said people spend far to long looking backward and not enough looking forward. Lerner is running the club as a business from what I can see, although Mr Lerner seems to be aware that for the business to be a success the football team needs to be a success, all he has said is that he wont spend 30million on one player he has not said how much he will or wont spend. Is not a little slef destructive mopping about what you THINK will or wont happen ?? is not best to a least wait to closed season and the world cup is over and we are lining up on the first day of the season ?? judgement cant be made now and the only judgement that is made now is based on the PAST which is exactly that the PAST so leave it there |
David J
said:
|
... So what does Abramovich or Mansour "gain" by adopting the same approach albeit on a larger scale? I struggle to see what you expect from him frankly given the revenue that the clu generates |
Damian
said:
|
... Chiefy no - you can not say with absolute certainty that this is the best we are going to get but you can take an educated guess by using a lot of the information around us and what has happened recently but you've said something which is going toget you into trouble although Mr Lerner seems to be aware that for the business to be a success the football team needs to be a successwhen actually the complete opposite is true. the financial success of any football club can be directly linked to the success on the pitch. we need to get better on the pitch; win silverware first and then the business success will follow. sure, you can plan for things, which to some extent the stadium development is - but that will pay for itself on much the way that MBE suggested earlier - and it is good business what i think will or wont happen shouldn't bother you but this is a blog, it is about opinion. we all get yours and not many jump all over you for it and yes it is best to wait but haven't we waited, like we waited last year and the year before and the five before that and the five before that SCRAP the above about success based on football- i mis read what you said - you basically said what i said .. sorry (wont delete it as it doesnt' seem fair) my point is - we can sort of see what is going to happen just by looking around. accepting it is another matter |
Chiefy
said:
|
...what i think will or wont happen shouldn't bother you but this is a blog, i respect your opinion damo as i do with most peoples i was just discussing mate thats all, it doesnt bother me i think the way i think and you think how you think was just discussing mate thats all |
villarobin
said:
|
... We should ask Mr Cameron for some Tax breaks ! He could also put some "Come To Villa" posters up around Eton to help fill the new 50,000 capacity .. |
villarobin
said:
|
... He could also do a Villa flyer drop over Derbyshire and Wales from the Prime ministers plane !! |
David J
said:
|
... Fair dos - he wrote that debt off, rather made that accounting adjustment, in order to not saddle the club with excessive debts and make it unattractive to potential purchasers in the same way that G&H have done with Liverpool. This I think is only true if he sees the club as a medium to long term investment. If he wanted to sell the club anytime soon he would never see any sort of a return on the £95m. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...my point is - we can sort of see what is going to happen just by looking around. accepting it is another matter Damo what would be your prediction be for say the club over the nest year not just the football but the club as a whole, obviously including the football ?? I am just interested to see the difference between ours thats all |
croni
said:
|
... if we bought one player this season, for me it would be stephen ireland he is the missing piece i would be more than delighted even thinking about ibra is extraordinarily silly |
Damian
said:
|
... Chiefy here is my prediction based on o'neill as manager and having a net spend of circa £22mn again this summer; 6th (with a net spend of £22mn) to 8th (with a net spend significantly less) and no silverware (because we will never get as lucky with the draw two years running) |
MDVillan
said:
 |
... As long as the $$ goes back into the club (and then some) we should sell. Picking up Joe Cole and Ireland would be a solid move for me. |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Damo -- I reckon with the right additions to our squad and holding on to the hope that MON will watch the season DVD over and over to see where he went wrong. I seem to think we will get to 4th, I am not sure on the spend nor am i sure on the players we will sign but I hold onto the hope that they improve the squad. My biggest hope though is not the players we sign, its that MON realises that we need to rotate, we need to make subs, we need to give the youth ago, where appropriate. For me our season would improve even if we signed NO one if only MON would realise some of our first 11 are not the athletes he wants them to be, I also think while out signing players he needs to be considering a plan B and perhaps signing players to adopt a different style of play moving our current style to the plan B and using the new style as plan A. My hope for the new season rest more on MON realising his mistakes and weakness's and putting them right, the signings of players will happen and the players will improve us but that is no good if the manager is making the same mistakes, I hold the hope this will change as this will improve us before we have even signed anyone |
Damian
said:
|
... David J like i've said above about randy lerner, what i think he has done for this club is fantastic and i dont begrudge any person making money. but to answer your question and at a top level; there is nothing i would want him to be doing differently he just isn't wealthy enough. what abramovich did with chelsea is basically what man city are doing now; they are going all out, at any expense, to buy success and when they get that success they will continue to invest to make sure they stay there (the mistake blackburn made) and after time - they will become self sufficient it is going to take chelsea 10 years to become self sufficient - but abramovich can afford that and he isn't just looking at balancing the books or getting a quick return on his investment. it isn't lerners fault that he doesn't have the money nor that he isn't willing to take the risk and i am convinced he wants success at villa - fundamentally because everyone wants to win - but for him it will mean he makes his money quicker than he is now - now, there are other ways - but they are quite radical and i dont want to be the one to suggest that unless o'neill gets serious money he has taken us as far as he can |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Hokey Cokey has started the giant cock he is doing himself no favours, "I will only leave on my terms" http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/premier-league-football-news/2010/05/14/aston-villa-nigel-reo-coker-to-leave-on-his-terms-only-97319-26444775/ OI REO no you cock you are not good enough get out and dont come back |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Damo -- what happens when UEFA stop letting teams who are making a loss, and dont seem to be reducing it, from competing in Europe ?? |
Damian
said:
|
... Chiefy the thing is it isn't just about players. it is about the football, and it is about using the squad - two things where martin o'neill isn't up to date and where he isn't going to change so unless lerner gives him some serious amount of cash to get some seriously talented players, it simply wont happen as for what reo-coker is saying - i dont blame him for leaving on his own terms after the way o'neill treated him - next january he can talk to anyone he wants and leave next summer on a free - what would you do? leave this summer for £40k a week or next summer for £100k a week? |
John Salter
said:
|
... croni - stephen ireland would be an excellent buy and I'm sure he would like to come to Villa as he would probably be guaranteed a starting role, unlike staying with Man City. MON and Richard Dunne would also help him making a choice. Additionally I think he would look at where Man City finished and Villa and want to improve on Villa's finishing place next season, ie; above them. Only difficulty would be who would he play with in centre midfield, I'd say Milner over Petrov, but would that happen? Personnally I think the team would be stronger. We certainly need a striker who can have a 20 goal season as well. If that happens, we've got to finish above 6th at least. There's no reason why Gabby cant improve on this season, he's slowly getting more goals. If big John stayed fit as well all season, we'd be laughing and wouldnt have spent massively in the transfer market. |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... The thing is, in football it seems there are three types of owner. Firstly there is the guy who spends loads of money he doesnt have, saddles the club with huge debt they can never realistically pay off. And eventually ruin the club. Eg. Leeds, Portsmouth. Next theres the guy, who manages expectation, spends where possible and has a reasonable sense of management and business. This is what Manure before Glazers were. As were L'pool before their yank owners. Then theres the sugar daddys who just spend out of their own pockets knowing theres no chance of ever getting a return on the money they have paid in. Eg. Man City, Chelsea. All three types of ownership have been succesful, at least in the short term. We have the middle one, which I think is as good as we can hope for, yes it would be amazing if a Oil Tycoon spent 100's of millions on us, but that has only happened at 2 clubs. Lets just be grateful were not in that first bracket. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...as for what reo-coker is saying - i dont blame him for leaving on his own terms after the way o'neill treated him come on, Reo is lucky he is still at the club, you cant fight the manager no matter what you do gross misconduct, at the end of the day Coker obviously things he is better than he is, he wants to move south to a club with ambition and so far only Stoke, Blackburn and Newcastle have shown any interest, does he think that by going moldy in our reserves it will get him a "lucrative move" is he really that good he can be out of the limelight for a whole year then move on ?? I dont think he is, he wants to realise a few things before trying to hold the club to ransom |
VillaNick
said:
 |
...if we bought one player this season, for me it would be stephen ireland Maybe right, but MON goes as much on personality profile when selecting players. Ireland is apparently a bling merchant and a bit grumpy at times. Not a MON type of player. He like conformists. Hard working athletic types or quieter players that wont take the P. |
Damian
said:
|
... Chiefy first - we dont know what happened or what was said to instigate what happened. if you can write that reo is lucky to be still at teh club, i can write that o'neill is lucky still to be at the club as it could also be 'gross misconduct' and he isn't holding the club to ransom. he signed the contract they offered him and he is living up to it .. the club are the ones trying to sell him - if they really are - and whil they can do that, he is well within his right to say, i'll wait until the right offer comes along |
David J
said:
|
... PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL Totally agree mate. It's what most fans want because everything has to be "Now, now, now" and they all want the short cuts that Man Vity and Chelseas have got. Chiefly Good point re Platini. Looking at his proposal I don't think it's the complete answer and will all of a sudden result in a level playing field - far from it - but things are clearly going to change significantly and we have to be ready for it. Let's not lose sight of the fact that the fans of only 5 clubs in this country wouldn't habe wanted to swap places with us this season. I know we all want more, some even expect or demand it but let's be realistic.....and thankful actually. |
Greg Davillain1887
said:
 |
... reo coker is a joke. He is a terrible footballer, cant pass, cant head cant shoot. He can tackle and win the ball, but whats the use he just gives it straight back to the opposition. I think he is just an upstart arrogant full of himself jumped up nigel. He thinks he can walk ou on us as a club for nothing, let the fans foot his 7.5 million transfer fee, and wages that were paid to him , and leave us with nothing in return to replace him. f**k him. He thinks he's so smart, into philosphy and all that stuff. Get over yourself, your from a slum, probably the son of a refugee, your paid huge sums of money to play football and your s**te. f**k you for bringing our club down to your classless level. I hate ungratell egotistical football w****rs like him, who think they should have it all. You are not good enough. You fight your manager, you can handlel authority because you are a jumped up nigel. Now you want to f**k us over. Damien how can u defend a b******s like this |
Damian
said:
|
... Greg Davillain1887 i'm not defending him - you would do the same as he is as would all of us |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Fulham want Curtis as well according to a report we will take 5million to get him of the wage bill. Taxi for CURTIS |
Christian1983
said:
|
... Newsflash! Well, sort of... I was just on my lunchbreak and eating outside Harvey Nicholls, when Marlon Harewood went past! (I have an impressive track record of stumbling across famous people- Frankie Dettori, Kevin Pietersen, Alan Sugar's helper Nick from The Apprentice!) Anyhow, I said 'Alright Marlon?', to which he nodded and kind of smiled, then I said 'so, are you gonna be at Villa next year?' To which he said... 'Am i f*ck!' and walked off. So, there you go. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...Anyhow, I said 'Alright Marlon?', to which he nodded and kind of smiled, then I said 'so, are you gonna be at Villa next year?' You should have shouted to him "thats ok your s**t anyway you tosser" you only asked a question no need to swear |
Greg Davillain1887
said:
|
... no i dont think i would to honest. If me and you had a fight during a game of football id shake your hand after the match or in a day or two, reo got injured and was out a long time. He cant expect to walk back into the team. I dont think he has been treated unfairly if anything he shouldnt be fighting with his manager. There is respect in the game and through for your superiors and bosses. Nol matter what the argument im sure he laid his hands on the gaffer first. We dont know what happened but he should have the repect for his boss and club not to get involved in an altercation like that. So no i wouldnt do the same as him, and if i couldnt avoid an altercation i would have the charachter to forget about it and not leave it drag after 6 months. I remember he was bombed out of west ham for similar reasons, he was known as a trouble maker and his team mates wanted him out. Goes to show, its amazing how u side with anyone against oneill even a jumped up niggel |
Christian1983
said:
|
... Chiefy said, "thats ok your s**t anyway you tosser" That's exactly what I said back to him (albeit only in my head) cos he's one big b*stard!!  |
Chiefy
said:
|
... 16 citehh players going to be binned of which richards, onhoua, bellamy, ireland, phillips richards and that onhoua would be good, as someone said earlier not sure ireland is the missing part for some reason, Bellamy everyone hates a pain in the arse even more reason to sign him |
Damian
said:
|
... Greg Davillain1887 okay - as i remember it reo-coker was a regular in the team. he has a fight and is dropped. o'neill says all is forgotten a few days later but reo-coker remains dropped for quite few games - then he gets injured and i have to hold my hands up and say that if i was offered £40k a week now or could get £100k a week in a years time and still be picking up my £40k a week for doing nothing but hopefully playing - i'd wait the extra year for the £100k a week and i think the vast majority of people would its the difference between having £8mn on a four year deal or £20mn - now dont get me wrong - i would a lot of things for the type of money these football players are on and even writing that makes it all seem unreal - but if you are earning that type of money and you have those 2 options - most would go for the second option - especially as you have no real ties to the club it isn't about siding with anyone - it is about what most people would do and regardless of what you say - you probably would too and if you didn't - most would call you a fool |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... Marlon Harewood isnt very good though is he. Lets be honest, when we raided west ham a few seasons back, we took the wrong players. £12m quid wasted. |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
...hold my hands up and say that if i was offered £40k a week now or could get £100k a week in a years time Who's going to pay him 100k a week! If anyone does, most will call them a fool. |
Christian1983
said:
|
...Who's going to pay him 100k a week! I agree, surely nobody. But then, John Utaka... |
John Salter
said:
|
... Chiefy - Bellamy would be a brilliant signing if only he would grow up a bit. He has shown some signs of that this season and has been rewarded by getting back in the Wales squad! Would MON want an explosive personality like him in the squad and would he be good enough to replace our current left winger? |
Greg Davillain1887
said:
|
... DAmian I dont think if reo-coker will ever get a 100e a week from anyclub, whether is is signed on a free or not. Do you really think a footballer who is in the aston villa reserves should get a 100k a week. Now i know your point if he delays a year out of the game he could be snapped up on a more lucrative deal but i cant see this fool getting any more than what he on now as he will be rusty and a gamble for a player who is a ball winner at best. Anyway il leave it now, but i can not agree with his mentality, if he has any ambition or drive to become a better player or to play week in week out, this millionaire joker shouldnt put his petty hates before his own progression or chance to become a 1 st team player and some bottom or mid table club. If he hold out for a bosman its out of spite not greed for more money. SO in my eyes he is and will be a fool. Any player happy to do this to aston villa fc should not be supported by the fans or anyone else by saying its the clever thing to do. Life should be made uncomfotable to a jumped up fool who thinks he can piss all over us |
Damian
said:
|
... PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL the £100k a week is an example based on nobody having to actually pay a transfer fee. fact is, we dont know what he is earning now, we dont really know what he will be earning at his next club and we dont know what his worth is to the next club if they dont have to pay a fee that you might say is £3mn and i might say is £5mn ... my point is, if he waits until january he is then free to talk to other clubs and earn him self a lot more money and he cant be blamed for that because it is something we would all likely do |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... Didnt the Coker thing start when he told the Fonz he was, lets say not upto his own high standards!! The Fonz is a better footballer already than RC will ever be. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...Would MON want an explosive personality like him in the squad and would he be good enough to replace our current left winger? Would he be played on the wing ? Can he not play upfront as well ? Did he used to play under MON ? i cant remember if he was at Celtic or not |
Greg Davillain1887
said:
|
... well said paulmcgrathsgoneawol, even when a previous star like roy keane slates his team mates he is fired out of a club he served greatly. REo never played to his standard and look at how ronaldo progressed. Hopefully reo can find a club when he is released from his contract next year and delfouneso hits the highs we are all hoping for |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... Damian, I understand what you are saying. And I can understand if clubs do actually do that, although I have never heard of an example where it has happened, who knows what happens behind closed doors. My problem with that would be this, if Villa were doing it, with say Joe Cole, paying him 100k a week instead of £10m up front in transfer fee's I could understand it, because we would have Joe Cole. If we'd have done it last year with Owen, I would understand because we'd have Owen playing fo us. There is only one Joe Cole and one Michael Owen. Reo-Cokers though are ten a penny. There must be 20 players in the premier league who can do what he can do, with about the same success rate. Whether a team pays a transfer fee for him or not, I cant see him being paid anywhere near 100k. Because he is not that valuable a player. |
Damian
said:
|
... Greg Davillain1887 Do you really think a footballer who is in the aston villa reserves should get a 100k a week.why is he in the reserves? he is there because he had a falling out with o'neill which is why he is saying, if he leaves it will be on his terms. if he hadn't had the falling out with o'neill he'd still be playing. then it is; Do you really think a footballer who is in the aston villa team should get a 100k a week? and the answer is, as i've said above; we dont know what he is on now and we dont know what he will be on. forget about the figure - it is the point that if he waits a year he will earn considerably more money PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL you've never heard of a player playing out his contract so there is no transfer fee so he earns more each week? its been going on for years - i think the first really high profile incident of this happening was sol campbell going to arsenal - this isn't new but like i've said above - forget the figure. that was an example. lets say he could leave tomorrow and sign for blackburn on £40k a week and they bought him for £5mn - if he waits a year, he could say to them; you pay me £4mn as a signing on fee instead of paying £5mn now - interested? but forget about the actual numbers - the point is, if he waits, he earns considerably more money and when he has no association with the club, no ties, no nothing - can you blame him? |
John Salter
said:
|
... I cant remember Bellamy playing for Celtic, did he? If he got his head down and concentrated on playing, instead of whinging, he'd be a great asset to any club. Maybe he's maturing now and realises its better to play with some humility and honesty rather than being a pain to everyone around him. If thats the case, I'll pick him up tonight and give him a lift to MON's |
Damian
said:
|
... John Salter bellamy went to celtic on loan i think from january to the summer when he was at newcastle and had a falling out with shearer ... something about sending him an sms or calling him late at night |
Greg Davillain1887
said:
|
... Yeah sure damian, i get your point, but how can you support him and agree with him, after all if we could get something for him it would only enhance our transfer budget. He fell out with oneill, maybe it was totally his fault. He obviously hasnt let it go and i remeber oneill did right away in the media afterwards. And i beg to differ, he wouldnt be in the team, because around the time of his assault on oneill downing had come back into the team, milner moved into the middle, so he wouldnt have been starting before petrov, so he is in reality a reserve team player now. He has a good engine, he was a good signing when we were a 11th place club glooking to push up the table, now oneill has consolidated out top 6 status, cocker is surplus to requirement and is sulking because he is being left leave the club, he would prefer to cut off his nose despite his face and sit on the bench for a further year. I hope he ends up like sidwell, stale useless and finished |
John Salter
said:
|
... Oh yeah I remember the Shearer thing, just cant see him in the green hoops and being up there! |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... No I understand the concept of it, I just dont know of a situation where a player accepted a huge signing on fee in exchange for a transfer fee going to the club. Im not saying it doesnt happen, just that I dont know of an example. Sol Campbell would have earned a huge amount at Arsenal no matter whether they paid Spurs any money for him or not. My point was merely, Arsenal were getting Sol Campbell, so it was worth paying him huge money. He was probably the best defender in the league when they did that. NRC isnt even the best midfielder in our reserves. |
Chiefy
said:
|
...something about sending him an sms or calling him late at night he will be ok with webcam and gabby then, and Carew can take him under his wing and show him some of the sights like legs 11 |
Damian
said:
|
... Greg Davillain1887 all i am doing is looking at it from his perspective. he doesn't care about the club or the money we can make from selling him aston villa is bigger than reo-coker. hell, aston villa is bigger than all the people at the club right now - it doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do - what he does is a mere spec in the landscape of our future and what he does will have little to no impact on what we do as a football club looking at it from his perspective, knowing (or actually not knowing) what we know - i'd do the same. i'd wait a year and double my money whether he is playing or not is also irrelevant - he will still earn more money if he waits until january to agree a deal for next summer over leaving this summer i'm not defending him and i'm also not going to pass judgement, because we simply dont know what happened - and if i would do the exact same thing - how can i? |
John Salter
said:
|
... If the old blue noses sign Ben Foster, he'll be a great signing for them! I saw him play at Villa against Villa and he was like a cat, he stopped everything. Think he was on loan at Watford? It was copmparable to the best goal keeping performance I've ever seen and I saw Gordon Banks and he was pretty good (lots) (albeit with one eye at the time and playing in an all stars team against Crewe I know Foster had a dodgy spell when he finally got the spot at Man Utd but he's a quality keeper! At least they let Benetez go! |
Greg Davillain1887
said:
|
... ok fair enough i guess you arnt a hypocrite anyway. still i hate seeing someone have more empathy for a fool ike him rather than the manager who is clearly doing a good job. He has his faults but i dont think they are strong enough to eclipse the good he does. |
woody
said:
|
... How can you say that Stephan Ireland is the missing piece!!! nooo waayyyy we need a new striker to progress, last season (the season just gone)we scored 52 goals now that may seem like alot but liverpool got 61, everton got 60 and Man city got 73!!! Boys i may have said this over and over but 24 goals for SUNDERLAND, Gabby got 13 and it was his most succesful season at villa (according to something i read on the internet) Bent 3rd on top scorers list for premiership, we could do with that!!! above Tevez and Torres, now come on no one can say thats a bad idea, can they??? |
Greg1981
said:
 |
... It’s easy to tell why we make so little progress. Once again, most Villa fans get it wrong. Our truly top players over recent years have been Laursen, Barry and Young. Milner has joined this group. So we have two real talents. The idea of mentioning Gabs with those is a nonsense. Ash’s crosses are the best we’ve seen for many years at VP. Ash and Milner are the only players that we need to keep; with Warnock creeping up there. I do, however, think Martin needs to get more out of Young. I think his lack of progress is to do with other players’ lack of comfort on the ball and poor coaching. And as a resume, I’ve been to lots of home and away games this season. What a lackluster year it’s been. We’ve eeked out some wins but we’ve seen some turgid uninspiring stuff; including the two Wembley visits. Selling one of our best two players? Madness. |
Trigger
said:
|
... I think Marlon Harewood is probably one of the best strikers we have seen at the villa in the last 20 years |
craigy boy
said:
 |
...Trigger said: ... I think Marlon Harewood is probably one of the best strikers we have seen at the villa in the last 20 years Trigger by name trigger by nature! |
Chiefy
said:
|
... Some are saying Mr Barry may be on his way back ??????????? Not seen it on any sites but heard it from a few Citeh season ticket holders who have heard it from a few people at the club apparently, would you be happy with the judas, backstabing, snakey, horrible, money grabbing arse coming back ?? |
Trigger
said:
|
... If he improves the team . . . yes i would Chiefy. And i know you are going to dislike me for that |
Chiefy
said:
|
...If he improves the team . . . yes i would Chiefy. I dont dislike you for it mate, he would have a lot of making up to do !! |
andy5759
said:
|
... I was not too disappointed when we sold GB. I will not be disappointed to see him return. As MoN said; he deserved his move to a 'bigger' club after a decade of service to Villa. A decade where he was our best player for much of that time. On a slightly different subject; this article discusses the revenues from the Europa League and compares them with those of the Champions League. Quite an eye opener, and the author makes some very interesting points. http://www.footballtransfertav...he-bother? |
andy5759
said:
|
... Trigger; we have the same striker that we've had for the last thirty years. He's had eleven new heads, twenty-two new legs, etc etc. Sorry Trigger, just couldn't resist that old one from Only Fools and Horses. |
Trigger
said:
|
... Chiefy: Your right, he would have to prove himself again to an extent, and i wouldn't welcome him with open arms as such. But part would be happy to see him back 1. It would be nice to have that feeling of 'we told you so!' 2. I think he would win the fans over with his performances, and that can only be good for us. Andy5759 Classic line |
TJB
said:
 |
... Throw in Bellamy and you've got a deal. Imagine that pace with Carew a target and Milner moving the ball from mid |
G villa
said:
 |
... 4 f**k sake gabby improves every season is still young and its vital that we have a link on the pitch as he is 1 of us look how he celebrates on derby day next year he will get his 20 goals |
proxopera
said:
|
...just thought of a very good buy if we could get him. anderson from man u Anderson ??? Frem , I sometimes think you take the piss with these suggestions but the above confirms it ?Now Obertan or Wellbaek would be ok for low money. |
holteend paul
said:
|
... today villa are linked with bobby bloody zamora!!!!!! for 8 million, it just gets better!!! why not get the james beatie rumours goin again to really take the piss!! |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... I like Zamora, he seems like a very likable guy and he has had a decent season for Fulham, plus that song about the ball hitting your head while sat in row Z is an absolute classic. But look at his stats, PL games for Fulham, 61. PL goals for Fulham, 11. And thats off the back of a "good season". His all competition stats are slightly better due mainly to him scoring 9 in 14 in the Europa. So do we need another nearly striker, he's 29 so has peaked and we'd probably have to give him 60k+ a week. We'd be better off with Carlton Cole, at least he has time on his side. |
proxopera
said:
|
... Frem , For starters , he has no defensive quality . When he's in the game he can be strong driving forward but he offers very little else. He has no composure , no awareness and takes vey little responsibility in midfield to do whats required at any given time , i.e not a leader. I would take NRC over him any day. Alot of Utd's fringe players look good in their setup because they have been moulded into that system and therefore are comfortable with it but take them out of that environment and they are lost . Villa dont have alot of money to spend so any player they buy must be versatile to fit into Villas system instead of having Villa to accomodate the perceived greatness of some failed top 4 player. CM is crucial , Villa need a player who will do all that petrov does but with added creativity and stamina as he is likely to playing every game . We need more midfield players like Townsend , Taylor, Houghton, or Platt and less like Draper , Mccann, Berger or Merson |
holteend paul
said:
|
...We need more midfield players like Townsend , Taylor, Houghton, or Platt and less like Draper , Mccann, Berger or Merson MERSON????????? the trouble with villa is the fact we havent got a merson!!!! |
Simeon
said:
|
... Anderson was red-hot at Porto, but then had a serious injury. Shortly after, Man Ure signed him, but he isn't the same player he was before his injury, and I would guess is unlikely to be again. We shouldn't be looking to sign Zamora. We should be looking to sign young talent that we can develop, that will make the team stronger in the medium-term, and who we can sell at a large profit if necessary. For this reason we should also be avoiding Carlton Cole, who though not as old as Zamora, still isn't young enough to be sold at a profit - unless he has a great season next season and we sold him 12 months from now for mega-money. But all this talk of 'big-man' strikers is lunacy anyway. We already have Carew, who is almost certainly better than anything we could attract at the present time (and is certainly better than Zamora and Cole), and we have Heskey whom we would be stuck with, even if he was surplus to requirements, which I don't get the impression he is. Re-signing Gareth Barry is fantasy. I'm sure that he is central to Man City's plans for next season and so I can't see them selling. Neither can I see us signing him, because I suspect the manager wouldn't want him back, and more importantly I suspect that Barry wouldn't want to come back. With apologies to all those who disagree, we are further away from Champions League football now than 12 months ago. |
Simeon
said:
|
... proxopera I agree with you that Reo-Coker would be a better fit for our midfield than Anderson. He's just the type of player we need in there. But he will either be gone in the summer, in a cut-price deal, or he will see out the remainder of his contract (almost certainly on the bench) and leave on a free in 12 months. By the way, I thought Draper was a tremendous player who's career was ultimately ruined by a chronic ankle injury. He didn't particularly score goals, and he wasn't strong in the tackle, but his range of passing was superb, and he was crucial to the excellent football we played under Brian Little, and especially that first season when we finished 4th, reached the semis of the FA Cup, and won the League Cup when it was still a proper competition. |
MoodyVilla
said:
 |
... --------------Guzan------------- Lichaj---Davies----Clark----Young Albrighton-Reo Coker-Delph-Downing -------Delfouneso-Heskey---------- I can see this being something like our Europa team next year and I can see Coker as captain. |
frem
said:
|
... oh god we dont need zamora but once again this will be the level of quality oneill gets. no different from other transfers. why cant he get good strikers like he does defenders. i bet we get c.cole and zamora, brilliant |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
...we are further away from Champions League football now than 12 months ago. What are you basing that on? |
frem
said:
|
... does anyone think that this transfer window will be different to any other under oneill ? i mean the amount of money spent and the level of quality that comes in. will it be the jenases, oharas, coles and zamoras level of quality that we come in or higher quality that we need |
Simeon
said:
|
... Paulmcgrathsgoneawol I don't think the team we have now is as good as the one we had in Laursen and Barry's last season. We don't have large amounts of money to spend anymore. Spurs are much stronger than they were two seasons ago, and in a much stronger position than 12 months ago having aqualified for the Champions League. Man City still have pots of money to spend, and the players they bought at the beginning of this season have had a year to settle in. Both clubs are stronger than we are. Chelsea, Man Ure and Arsenal are clearly stronger than we are. That's five teams who are virtually guaranteed to finish above us next season. It would take two of them to have awful seasons, and us to have a great season to finish in the top four - but that's as things stand. I think it's inevitable that either we will lose one of our top players this summer to fund signings, or the team will not be strengthened meaningfully at all. I think we will lose a few of our fringe players and scrape together enough money to sign a player in the £10m-£12m bracket (which could be a Milner, or it could be a Downing). Either way, I don't see us being as strong next season as we were this season - and we weren't strong enough this season anyway. We should have been strong enough the season before last, when all we had to do to finish fourth was best a decimated Arsenal side. But we weren't. That season was by far our best chance of finishing in the top four, and probably our only one. This coming season we will finish no higher than sixth. If Everton can avoid another injury-ravaged season then I would tip them to finish above us next season, as they have done in all of the past few seasons bar this one just gone. I don't think that Sunderland will make enough progress in the summer to overtake us next season, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Liverpool not only finished below us, but in the bottom half. Things are that bad there. |
Simeon
said:
|
... deansaundersperm He might well have been a bit dim, but he had football intelligence! |
proxopera
said:
|
... Simeon , On Draper , CM's need to be able to tackle and impose themselves otherwise they can be bullied by inferior opposition who know nothing else about football, I'm afraid ,Drapers passing aside , he was a little bit of a ladyboy. Holtend paul , I know that there is a serious merson following among the faithful on here but I always thought he was like a 'man with a mission'!... He was trying to prove to the media that he had'nt lost it when in reality he had .Merson was out for merson not for villa .Villas squad was just so piss poor at the time that he stood out . Sorry mate , just never liked him . |
young villain
said:
 |
... what are peoples views on aiden mcgeady, think he would be a fantastic squad player and impact sub. May even push downing for his place in the side. There are better but he may be a cheaper alternative. |
PaulMcGrathsGoneAWOL
said:
|
... Simeon, Its not that I disagree with anything that you've written, except maybe the part about us being stronger with Laursen and Barry, both were great players for Villa, but the overall standard of the team was worse than it is now. Those two players would still get into the team now but if you look at who they were playing alongside, how many of them would make it into todays team? The Webcams, Milners and Gabbys will continue to improve and despite form ups and downs have improved over the team of two seasons ago. Our first 11 is pretty close to anyone elses in the league. With one or two additions, who knows how much closer we will be next season. But the main point of what your saying is that Mancity and Spurs will improve and we wont catch them. Is that right? The thing with that is, both teams spent alot of money last season and the 2 or 3 before that. Mancity were spending huge money when that Thai bloke and Sven were there. Then they spent again with the new owners. They will spend more this summer, the trouble the are going to have is there is no consistency to the team. They are talking about releasing 14 players. No doubt 14 new ones will come in to replace them but then they have to settle in, its going to be hard for them to gel. Will they be able to keep all those players happy with no CL? Will the manager still be there at christmas? Spurs will have money to spend but will most likely be looking at a good CL run. If they spend beyond their means and go out of the CL early who knows what position they will be in, in 12 months. Even if they do well, will that impact on their league position? There is far to much uncertainty with any of the clubs around us to predict what will or wont happen in 12 months, who's to say Arsenal wont have another mare? Fabregas might be gone, Will they replace him? What is for sure is that since MoN came into the club we have closed the gap 4th and on 1st. Just look at the tables in the last 4 seasons. Positionally, we've closed the gap and points wise we have too. You will argue that the standard of the PL has reduced and I will argue that you can only beat teams that are in front of you. |
SidCowanslovechild
said:
|
... Unusually I agree with Simeon on Champs League but for (partly) different reasons. It is just getting harder and harder to break top 4 because even with Lpool slipping up this season you know they may be back again next season and Man City should be much stronger again next season. Spurs could take their eye off the ball with a Champs League campaign but it is going to remain difficult for us to attract real top players. Everton will presumably not start so badly again next season and Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal are unlikely to be ging far backward So we could get more points next season and still be battling it out for 6th, 7th 8th. It just looks really hard to break through so I have more hope than expectation Having said that I will still be getting behind the team with all my energy and hope we can keep on improving. With a couple of good buys and a couple of youngsters improving we have a chance but if we finish 6th, 7th or 8th I won't be saying this is because MON is useless as many will - it is just a real tough ask |
SidCowanslovechild
said:
|
... proxopera, bit hard on Merson? He was magnificent for us and even if he was doing it for himself, we need a bit of that at Villa at the moment I don't understand why someone here are so reverential toward Carbone, he looked good in flashes but to little effect, very few goals for us and not many assists either from memory, all style, little substance. |
Simeon
said:
|
... paulmcgrathsgoneawol, sidcowanslovechild The point about Spurs being distracted by the Champions League is a fair one. It might happen - though if Spurs are sensible they will still priorities their league campaign. Personally, I think they can do that and still qualify for the knockout stages (assuming they don't get a group of death) because the standard of football across Europe is so poor these days. But as I said, we'd need more than Spurs to slip up. On the point of whether we are stronger now than we were a season ago, I should clarify myself. When we were playing 4-5-1 because Carew had been injured, I think our first XI (and given O'Neill's aversion to rotation it's only worth comparing first XI strength rather than squad strength) was quite a bit stronger. Friedel was a year younger, and not as far over the hill as he is now. I think that Laursen and Davies (who at this point was fully fit) were a better pairing than Collins and Dunne - though I understand there are those who will argue otherwise. The full-back situation is tricky to compare, because Luke Young played at both right and left back - although in my opinion, Luke Young at left back was better than Warnock is now. He played half the season there and was, for my money, player of the season. But it's the midfield and attack where the real difference is. Even though Sidwell is a terrible player, we were very solid with him, Barry and Petrov in central midifield. (One can only wonder how much better we'd have been with Reo-Coker instead of Sidwell.) We had genuine creativity in the side with Barry (who, though not a 'number 10' playmaker, is extremely effective as deeper-lying, orchestrating playmaker), and Petrov looked a much better player in that system than he does now. Milner played on the right, and though he wasn't as influential there as he is in the middle, he provided balance to the team, and his contribution - especially in defensive terms - was underestimated. (Personally, I think his best position is as a right midfielder in a 4-4-2, becuase he doesn't have the vision and the quality on the ball to be a playmaker, and he's certainly not a defensive midfielder. In a three man midfield it's a different story of course, but this is academic as far as Villa are concerned.) Ashley Young was at his very best at that time, and perhaps isn't the half the player now that he was (though I still believe he is our most dangerous attacking threat). As for Gabby, he was heroic in the lone striker's role, and got a good number of goals. So I think that the individual players were better, but more importantly, the sytem we were using was better. We were a genuine counter-attacking side which played to our strengths, and we were a more solid unit than we are now - though I would of course accept that we are a relatively solid unit at present also, even if this is primarily due to a more defensive mindset. As for Man City, maybe they will be very poorly managed, and there will be another huge turnover of playing staff. But I don't suspect this will happen. I think they may sell a few players (becuase alot of them are ither not good enough or cannot be trusted), but I think they will bring in a smaller number of players. I would imagine that Mancini recognises that they already have 80-90% of a team that can not only finish in the top four, but challenge for the title. Three or four quality signings is all they need. |
Simeon
said:
|
... On Merson, I think he was good for Villa - though the point proxopera makes about him standing out in a workmanlike side is a good one - and certainly much better than Carbone. However, I was always opposed to his signing because I thought that £6m was far too much to be paying for a 30 year old. It was a similar scenario with Dublin, who was excellent for Villa until he had that serious neck-injury. But it was only ever going to be a short-term signing. Brian Little put together a young team that, with just a little bit of tweaking had the makings of a real force in English football, but within two seasons of Gregory, we had a solid, uninspiring team of players around their peak, and subsequent years inevitably saw a steady decline as these player's levels dropped. Funnily enough, what Martin O'Neill has done is what Little and Gregory between them managed, i.e. initially signing predominantly younger players (Young, Davies, Reo-Coker), but then switching policy and signing older players. |
Ibrahim
said:
 |
... We need Andy Townsend-type to replace/compete with Petrov. Townsend was the midfield maestro with a terrific left foot |
Simeon
said:
|
... proxopera Forgot to answer your point abour Draper. I think that as long as you have a strong midfield partner then you can accomodate players who aren't so strong. Playing alongside Townsend and Taylor, Draper had enough protection, despite neither being archetypal defensive-midifelders. |
woody
said:
|
... I reackon Aiden McGeady would be a good addition, impact sub because we dont really have a substitue for Webcam or Downing. Right now though i can't even begin to guess what or who MON will be looking to buy in. I reackon Aiden would be right up MON's street (after all he's at celtic) If anyones got any links or rumours about his intrests i'd really appreciate it and i maybe being an idiot but is the window open yet??? UTV!!! |
Aston.Villain
said:
 |
... what lerner says fills me with confidence. i think you are taking the PR spin a bit too far. What lerner is (correctly and extremely smartly) doing is letting other clubs know they cant charge us extortionate prices (which they will charge city/spurs/manu/chels) whilst at the same time reassuring villa fans he will 'net spend'. perfectly constructed statement, and it needed to be, because its not just a statement for people concerned with villa, but for any teams with our intended transfer targets. |
dingbat
said:
 |
... Harewood should wake up and smell the coffee! Its not only Villa that don't rate him, has he not been on loan at two clubs this season? Not exactly falling over each other to sign him are they! |
taglor
said:
|
... So glad I didnt watch that fa cup b******s and waste time. Although im very surprised to hear that chelsea won. Does it annoy anyone else that stupid dance players do when they win a cup, windowlickers |
Celtic_Villan
said:
|
... bingo aston villain. some are very slow on the up take. remember when o leary announced our transfer budget?! ellis was fuming! |
proxopera
said:
|
... Simeon , If you are going to 'accomodate' a playmaker , his effect on the opposition has to be one of fear . They must worry about him sufficiently to the point of undercommitment in central midfield and overcommitment in back 4 protection . You also need a workhorse who does all the simple things right most of the time a la Roy Keane (without the murderous rage) or Ian Taylor . We dont have that protection currently in Petrov , and , my friend , Draper was no Pirlo , he had alot of protection in that midfield . Sidcowans lovechild , magnificent merson is stretching it somewhat but we'll agree to disagree. Carbone was a self-serving circus pony. |
SidCowanslovechild
said:
|
... taglor, suprised to hear Chelsea won? Typo or that irony stuff again I struggle so much with? Window lickers? Great sounding insult but what does it mean You know my doctor doesn't like me geting confused twice in the same post |
Gabbyismylovechild
said:
 |
... Sid- Window lickers are the kind of people who have to go to "speffal" schools etc and spend all day looking out of the window at passers by while licking the windows! |
Stan Balaban
said:
 |
... OT slightly but apparently Capello will look at playing 3-5-2 if Barry isn't fit for the WC. Damo, I know you love your formations, what are your thoughts on this? |
frem
said:
|
... oneill has shown that this window wont be any different to others. hes said are fringe players can fight and stay. he cant be that desperate to sell them to get cash for better quality. sidwell could still stay whilst city and spurs get real quality players. what are u doing oneill. id like davis to stay though |
Stan Balaban
said:
|
...http://www.football-rumours.com/whufc.php Andy, if that's real then that makes for some very interesting reading. Danny Gabbidon on £50k per week is as surprising as seeing Stanislas on £1.5k per week. Mark Noble would be a good addition to our squad, a much better player than Sidwell and on less than half the (reputed) wages too! |
frem
said:
|
... oneill has shown that this window wont be any different to others. hes said that are fringe players can fight and stay. he cant be that desperate to sell them to get real quality players. sidwell could still stay. hes are new player with flair and creatively is he oneill? |
Chiefy
said:
|
... http://www.expressandstar.com/...in-oneill/ Oneill on the six up for sale and Faulker is now the CEO after being promoted |
Monstermerson
said:
 |
... Picture of proposed North Stand from the world cup bid http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00113/stadia_astonvilla_6_113600a.jpg |
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