Right, seeing as most of the discussions on the manager should now be over, if only because the club have told us he is staying, we need to look at something a little less stressful; speculation. However, I am going to touch on the manager at the end of this post
The first bit and most important bit is Shay Given. Talk is the manager is interested and if talk was more than just talk and talk actually meant Shay Given was coming or there was some serious interest, I'd be very happy.
I was actually surprised we didn't make a move for a keeper in January and even now, looking around, I think Given would be top of my list of all the available keepers.
I write that, because I don't think we will get Pepe Reina - I think he is destined for Manchester United - and he would be my number one choice, but within the realms of possibility, Shay given would be, by a country mile, my number one choice.
But talk is cheap, but also dangerous, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Goalkeeper to midfielder
Next up on the speculation conveyor belt is Inter Milan midfielder McDonald Mariga. McDonald has played a bit in Sweden and won rave reviews, so I'm told, then moved to Italy playing for Parma and Inter. My memory isn't what it is, so I can't confidently say I've seen him play, but talk is he is a special player. Time will tell and remember, talk is cheap.
To Ashley Young
Now, I'm not sure what this is all about, but someone said something about maybe Young not leaving this summer. I'm sure it is something he has said that has taken it to this and while things do point to him leaving, we have to take the man on his word; he did say he was happy and he did say he wanted to concentrate on his football and that he would discuss things in the summer.
He has done nothing, apart from getting spotted in a Manchester night club in the early hours, not concentrating on his football, to suggest he wants to leave, so maybe just maybe he will sign a new contract in the summer. Maybe. I want to see the good because I really do believe he is going to get better and we've made him the player he is and I'd like to think that he enjoys his life here and that maybe he is just holding out for the most he can get and for that, we can't blame him.
We will know fairly soon, summer is nearly here, so until then, he remains an Aston Villa player and should be treated a such.
Talk can be dangerous
Right, before I leave you tonight, a mention about what the club have told us, a recap of what has been posted on the blog the last few days and a mention about why talk can be dangerous.
Right now, we are in the thick stuff and right now the team needs as many points as they can possibly get. To do this, there has to be a level of harmony and that means support. You can gloss it over if you want; support them for ninety minutes and boo or protest, but if the players suspect protests or banners, it will have an impact and it will play on their minds.
The club have told us the manager is staying so rather than be involved in a protest and be part of creating unrest that can not guarantee anything, why not put your faith in the club. The club have decided what they want to do, so now, maybe we should decide to do what supporters are supposed to do.
The days of Doug Ellis are gone. The vast majority are happy with the new owner and are happy with what he has done and what he plans to do, so in this particular instance, can we not just wait until the season is over. If anything happens now, it isn't going to have a positive effect, it really wont.