Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Bounty Hunter

in the previous windows i treated it just like i am now and what happened we finished 6th, so if this is the same ill atleast wait for the result of it all cos who knows we could do well again. there is still time


can we have all the MON discussion in this thread now and leave the other one for Barry/MON talk

Helix

Savman wrote: »

Word weren't having any effect, figured I'd try pictures and numbers.
Tomorrow we read Ann & Barry.

tomorrow you read ann & barry? that hardly seems surprising i suppose

bottom line, im one of the people who keeps the club going, im one of the people who helps pay the managers wage, ill have my say whether you agree with it or not

at least im not ignoring the problems, youll likely be one of the ones wholl turn if things go the way they very possibly look like going. one of the people mr o'leary referred to, i believe

Mr Alan

Helix wrote: »

bottom line, im one of the people who keeps the club going, im one of the people who helps pay the managers wage, ill have my say whether you agree with it or not

at least im not ignoring the problems, youll likely be one of the ones wholl turn if things go the way they very possibly look like going. one of the people mr o'leary referred to, i believe

you're wat people call a super fan. well done.

not just better than Liverpool fans, better than other Villa fans too. cracking stuff from you this evening.

Helix

Mr Alan wrote: »

you're wat people call a super fan. well done.

no, im someone who gives a **** about my clubs long term future

Mr Alan

Helix wrote: »

no, im someone who gives a **** about my clubs long term future

and illogically looks down on fans of other clubs, and fans of your own club.

as i said, a super fan.

well done.

Helix

Mr Alan wrote: »

and illogically looks down on other fans.

as i said, a super fan.

well done.

he brought it on himself, as i said hes the villa version of you. mon can do no wrong in his eyes, everything is perfect, everything is rosy. 2 fit defenders? pah, doesnt matter. no right back or left back? who cares, we have martin o'neill. no right winger? so what, we dont need one

One Cold Hand

Lets have a bit of perspective here.

I don't think for one second that Helix wants MON to do badly. Like everyone he wants him to succeed, but to succeed he has to improve his transfers. This is what Helix is discussing.
There's no point in sitting around patting ourselves on the back and saying 'wow, we got to 6th in 2 years.' You have to press on and improve. And you improve by working on the weakest part of your team or system or setup. Our weakest area at the minute is undoubtably our transfers. I don't think anyone is going to argue that. And as MON demanded total control over transfer, he is to blame for this.

And it's a fairly fundamental flaw. Our squad is just as weak as it was 2 years ago. Our first team is maybe a bit stronger. But everyone knows about this. MON keeps trotting out the same old sh1t about having a number of things in the pot. This is the third transfer window we've needed a RB (i think). But MON hasn't even made a bid for one yet. I admit, he may have without us knowing. But we haven't even been strongly rumoured to be in for one. This should be top of his priority list.
We've had no RW for the same amount of time (apart from Routledge, but he's not up to scratch). If we didn't have such a creative outlet in Young A LOT more would have been made of this. Yet again, no real attempt made to sign anyone, apart from Bentley. And he made one bid for Bentley, rumoured to be around 10mil, and then gave up. Did he really think that he would be that cheap? Yet there's tonnes of others: Lennon, SWP, Milner, and again, no movement on that front.
The same with CD. Ben Haim moved to City. He'd have been a perfect signing. Undisclosed fee, but rumoured to be around 5mil. Why didn't we move for him?
I could go on.
Spurs are signing quality players. Modric, Bentley, Dos Santos, Arshavin. We should be competeing with them, and signing players of the same standard. We have as good if not a better history than them, we finished above them last year, we're also in UEFA cup. But not only are we not signing players of that standard, we're not even competing with team that are.

There's no point in saying 'we finished 6th, we're gonna push on. I have faith in Martin' We're not gonna push on. We need players and have for the last 5 windows. We needed at least 10. We've signed 2. I've got no reason to believe we're gonna sign 8 more.

I was thrilled when MON took over. I thought he was fantastic and backed him on EVERYTHING, including transfers, when others were criticising him. But I've been slowly getting more disillusioned. This window has been the most frustrating. Something has to change. I know it's a five year plan and all that, but in terms of the squad, there has been little improvement. I'm impressed with the results, but if MON wasn't managing this bunch of players we'd be in a serious relegation fight next year. We still might be.

I don't mean to be pessimitic but at the minute it's not looking good for next year. CM is the only position we're okay in. At the minute, if any one of the following gets injured were in trouble:
Friedel,Knight (unbelievable I know, shows how bad it is), Laursen, Barry
Gardner, Young, Carew, Gabby.
We were very lucky to avoid any major injuries last year. We'd be incredibly lucky to repeat it: Bouma and Davies are already out. I'm not going to judge him til the wondow closes. But I'm worried, to say the least.

Wow that was some rant! Back to work!

spiderdan

Great Post One Cold Hand- sums it up very well, Villa fans have every right to question MON this summer, he's been so conservative- there are so many players out there that we could be fighting to sign. He's starting to really piss me off, how many more transfer windows will it take, we have a billionaire owner for Foook sake, its not like we're short of a few bob! If we had of signed some really good players early on like other teams i.e. Spurs- this creates a positive atmosphere and a bit of momentum going into the new season, it looks like Villa fans will be far from positive if this farce continues- we will really struggle without some really quality players being brought in! its too easy to defend against our attack. Carew really needs to have a better partner then Agbonlahor I'm not convinced on him at all, great pace not much else.

Milner- SWP- Shorey- Miguel- Santa Cruz, I want substantial movement on signing at least 2 of these players before next Monday!

I wouldn't judge MON until the last day of the window- he deserves the chance after last years performances

MementoMori

Yeah good post One Cold Hand.

I would think the major thing that is driving fans nuts is that despite the fact that there is meant to be potloads of money, that MON hasn't splashed the cash or even given any indication he is likely to. That combined with the fact that a number of players have moved, who would seem to have made sense in terms of adding to the squad, only increases the frustration. When I heard the rumoured £10m bid for Bentley I just thought wtf Blackburn are never going to let him go for that. If there is cash to spend why did MON not at the least get into bidding war with Spurs or at least pretend to.

The number one issue when it comes to signing players is money - there are other issues too - some might not want to live in or near Birmingham, some might want CL football etc. However there are decent quality players out there who will be tempted by a nice wage packet and there are always clubs willing to sell especially if they feel there are getting a premium on a player. If a player is valued in general at £5m and you bid £7m, the vast majority of the time you are going to end up with that player. I doubt there are many Villa fans who would be too concerned about paying over the odds on three or four quality players?

I am waiting with interest to see what MON does end up doing this transfer window, but unless he makes a number of serious additions, I would expect his reputation to suffer.

On the plus side he has at least resolved the goal-keeper issue in the short-term and with Guzan (once the work permit is resolved) it looks like he is planning for the future as well.

One Cold Hand

The other frustrating thing is that at the start of his campaign, he was willing to spend (relatively) big. Young, NRC, Davies, Petrov (7mil is a lot for a player of his standard) were brought in for big money.
But in the last 2 windows he's spend sh@g all. Routledge 1mil. Sidwell 5mil. Friedel 2.5mil. That's less than 10mil in total in the last 2 windows.

V1llianous

One Cold Hand wrote: »

The other frustrating thing is that at the start of his campaign, he was willing to spend (relatively) big. Young, NRC, Davies, Petrov (7mil is a lot for a player of his standard) were brought in for big money.
But in the last 2 windows he's spend sh@g all. Routledge 1mil. Sidwell 5mil. Friedel 2.5mil. That's less than 10mil in total in the last 2 windows.

Davies has only just been paid to WBA as it was a 1 year loan ahead of the permanent deal.

One Cold Hand

V1llianous wrote: »

Davies has only just been paid to WBA as it was a 1 year loan ahead of the permanent deal.

Yeah but it was agreed about a year ago.

rgiller

No one here wants MON to fail (keep your pants on Mr Alan) but Helix is right. Signings are essential for us going into the new season. We've potentially got more games this year than we've had in a long time, and that just ups the probability of injury and tired legs a little more. You could argue that we were pretty lucky to finish so well last year. I think a big turning point in our season was beating Chelsea early on: great result and completely out of nowhere as far as the rest of the division was concerned. It gave the players belief that could go out and do that to anyone and it took the rest of the teams a little while to cop onto that drive and team mentality.

This year, with the current squad, they know what we're about. We score from set pieces and some Ashley Young magic (throw in the odd Gabby breaking the offset trap goal maybe) but surely with no new unknown quantities in the team, everyone will have a better idea of how to play against us this year and we'll necessarily be less effective.

The simple solution for both of these problems is to make some new signings, and that will also mitigate MON's responsibilities a little, in that his failure to expand the squad won't be the reason we don't do well (if we don't do well). If I was in his situation I would be much more tempted to pay a little over the odds for some decent players and to expand the player search outside of his usual catchment. It's great to have principles and to rebel against inflated prices, but in all his moral superiority we could be left behind.

Bottom line: we need players

PHB

I'm still of the opinion that its unclear whether or not MON actually has the money to spend. Most of the criticism of him is based on that assumption.

Either way, if he fails in this transfer window, assuming he has money, Villa are gona be in real trouble. If they can't push on this year, Young and Agbanlahor are going to be seriously looking at moving on. Big month ahead for MON.

I do however think that the transfer market is one huge signing from being blown wide open. THe smaller clubs are always last to act. The bigger clubs are all playing a waiting game, sure Chelsea have barely acted in the window yet. Once the big clubs act, the money will role down hill, and lots of activity will occur.

Villain

I don't think anyone expects them to break the top 4 this year? As I said weeks ago this season should be about cementing a top 7 place and building a young squad. I have to laugh at everyone complaning and the window still has a month to go.

PHB

Well if Villa aren't trying to push for top 4 next year they are going to be in trouble. They have some young talented players. Maybe MON never thought he'd get into the top 4 in this cycle, and is hoping to use the money from the sales of Young et al to fund the money for the next cycle?

Villain

Some people want success too quick, that doesn't work unless you have a russian who wants to throw silly money away, Villa is financially solid with a good manager who has a 5 year plan, we have gone ahead of where we probably should be in that plan and now people expect big signings and a push for the top, we'r way off that yet, another season in the top 7 will be great imo.

estebancambias

Nobody (big) would buy Agbonlahor or whatever it is at this time.

He's good enough, seems a bit like Darius Vassell.

Villain

From the General:

General Krulak here:

1. Let's see...maybe I should take a different approach. Hmmmm...MON doesn't want a big squad. MON doesn't want quality players. MON just wants to sit on his bum during this transfer window and do nothing. The Club doesn't want to move up...we want to stand still or go backwards. Randy purchased the Club to attain a significant degree of mediocrity. Randy doesn't care for the Club, the Fans or standings in the table. He wants the Club to stagnate so that the value of the Club goes down. I am on the Boards for PR purposes and anything I say should and must be taken with a grain of salt. If I say MON is working hard to bring quality players in, well, discount it. if I say Randy's wallet is fully open, well discount it. Remember, I am just a "new" Fan...I cannot possibly be passionate about the Club. All I do is look at the glass "half-full." There, does that make anyone happy??? For the 100th time....I do not do transfers. MON does transfers. MON knows how many players he has...better than ANY of you do!! MON knows what the Club needs....better than ANY of you do. He knows who will "fit" and who won't. Spurs, Everton, Liverpool...yes, they have picked up some players, but so have we...and I'll bet on MON and his ability to turn the players he picked up into superb team players...we will have to see what happens with the other Clubs. I am honestly amazed...NOT at the desire to see players come into the Club but the desire to see "numbers" come into the Club. MON is NOT about numbers....he is ALL about getting the "right" players in...players who can help us now and in the future and players who will "fit" into the Club and make a difference. I KNOW many of you are frustrated. As a Fan, I would LOVE to see a signing EVERY day but....MON is the Manager and is in charge of transfers...NOT me...NOT you. I must trust MON to do what is right for the Club...after all, at the end of the day, he is responsible for what is on the Pitch. Randy gives him whatever support ($$$$) he needs...MON has the charge to make it happen. Randy trusts MON and so do I!!!

Savman

Curtis Davies made an early return in a closed doors friendly today. Great news.

estebancambias wrote: »

Nobody (big) would buy Agbonlahor or whatever it is at this time.

He's good enough, seems a bit like Darius Vassell.

Agbonlahor could go either way tbh. Still very undeveloped but he has done moderately well.

invincibleirish

Agbonlahor is not far off being top class, but a bit of competition would do the world of good for him.

And its good news on Curtis Davies, good news & Aston Villa has been too thin on the ground recently with the GB shenanigans & transfer paranoia.

Neil3030

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE BIRMINGHAM MAIL:

Neil3030 breaks silence on MON debate

July 31 2008

by Bill Howell

Aston Villa supporting Boards.ie regular Neil3030 has broken his silence regarding the intense debate over Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill, which had been raging in the Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread for some time.

The debate reached boiling point yesterday, when Savman employed a tongue-in-cheek pictorial jibe at users Neil3030 and Helix, following their assertions that Aston Villa will find it extremely difficult to repeat European Qualification for a second year running. The picture featured a large red button, on which the word 'panic' was inscribed, implying the aforementioned users were prematurely worrying about prospective performances and achievements at the club.

This sparked Helix and Savman to enter into a bitter exchange of posts, with Helix citing the gaping holes in the squad, which he fears O'Neill will not strengthen in time for the new season; that this transfer window is likely to be a re-enactment of previous disappointments; and that the allure of the club's European qualification, in the context of attracting a better calibre of player to the club, looks certain to be wasted. Savman, meanwhile, maintained optimism is justified on the basis of performances of the club so far under O'Neill, and that evaluation of this Summer's transfer activity would be best left until the deadline on August 31st.

Until now Neil3030 had remained tight-lipped in the debate, with rumours emanating from Dublin suggesting he was in the gym last night and fell asleep soon after returning home.

But this afternoon during his lunch-break he issued a statement to Sky Sports News, pragmatically asserting that he had every faith in O'Neill as manager of Aston Villa Football Club, that his achievements on the pitch and progression in Premiership standings justify allowing a degree of the benefit of the doubt and that he hopes signings will be forthcoming in the next few weeks, once the transfer market stars to build momentum.

Having said that though, Neil3030 was also keen to point out that if significant strengthening to the squad is not made, that he will be extremely disappointed.

"I really look forward to seeing a midfield comprising of Sidwell, Barry and Reo-Coker", he said, "but we badly need at least 5 players in various positions across defence, a compliment to Young's attack on our right hand side and a striker to challenge Agbonlahor into getting the finger out. Quality players like Young are not going to want to hang around if they see the club starts moving backwards, and this will cause a perpetual deceleration and eventual reversal of our progress if they leave to join bigger clubs."

Neil3030 also called for increased levels of transparency at the club, regarding who is in charge and ultimately accountable for successes or shortcomings in the transfer market.

"If you look at a club like Spurs, who are taking chances on big signings, or Liverpool who are supposedly stuck for money - both of these clubs are whipping seven shades of faeces out of us so far in the players they’ve signed. I refuse to believe signings like Sidwell (£5m) and Friedel (£2.5m) are the best we can do when we're supposedly backed by a billionaire who will never deny the manager funds if he requests them. It doesn't add up."

However Neil3030 concluded his interview with a proposition of a truce between all parties in the O'Neill debate.

"We are all Villa fans at the end of the day. Even though we might differ on occasion on a variety of matters, it's vital we don't segment and subdivide the support that our club receives on Boards.ie. That's exactly what Mr. Alan would want."

monkey9

Neil3030 wrote: »

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE BIRMINGHAM MAIL:

That's it Neil3030, go running to the press just like O' Neill !!!

Mr Alan

monkey9 wrote: »

That's it Neil3030, go running to the press just like O' Neill !!!

:D:Dhahahahahahaha lol good shout monkey

Savman

Whoah Neil.....ur sig is true! :D:D

wynters

Savman - Curtis Davies made an early return in a closed doors friendly today. Great news.

Came on to post that!!! Great news indeed...!!!! 2 months ahead of schedule!???? Amazing.

I remember hearing about that injury... He was injured in a Saturday afternoon game... the Villa officials arranged the doctors and specialists, and had him in the hospital, operation completed by just after 7pm the same evening. Less than 3 hours from unjury to completed operation. For such a technical injury that's an amazing turnaround. Gotta hand it to the Villa staff involved... wonder if that's partly responsible for such a quick recovery?

Villain

Yea he played 60 mins!

Bounty Hunter

Curtis Davies playing is great news, him and Laursen IMO will make a v.good partnership. not having Zat Knight playing will actually really improve the team.

On the transfer front this is something that a poster on another site said and considering MON's leicster,Celtic & Villa dealings thus far it makes a lot of sense

Everyone should remember:

This time last year, we had let Angel, McCann, Davies, Hendrie, Hughes and Samuel go.

We had ONLY brought in Reo-Coker.

Harewood, Knight, Carson and Davies all arrived in the last two weeks of the transfer window.

This time around we have completed deals for Friedel, Sidwell and have Guzan pending, with over four weeks still to go.

A lot of business will be done late in the window, when clubs start to wheel and deal in earnest. I know everyone would prefer to have all new signings in well in advance, so they get the opportunity to bed in, but the transfer window doesn't work like that.

I still expect 5 or 6 new players to arrive, with one or two eyebrow-raisers amongst them. Whether they're in in time for the UEFA Cup tie, or even the City game, is another thing entirely.

Savman

Having Davies back alongside Laursen means eventually Knight will be squaddie, IMHO that's nowhere near as bad a situation as people make out. Zat can come in and do a job when need be, if unattractively. There are no quality defenders who will warm the bench of any side outside of Europe's elite, so this is as good as we can realistically expect.

So, compared to the team that finished 6th last season we've actually improved the GK issue by miles. We've lost Mellberg who was a make shift RB, would defo like to see that RB thing sorted once and for all. Evidently MON doesn't rate it that importantly in the grand scheme of things.

Bouma's injury aside, we're not very different from last season's first teamers, with the addition of Sidwell. Remember there's Routledge there who didn't figure at all, he's scored a couple in preseason and if he keeps the performances and confidence up he could play a part, maybe not week in week out but could do a job. There's also Delfouenso (spelling?) who seems to be getting closer and closer. Are things honestly bad enough that it warrants getting all up in a tizzy? I don't think so personally.

I acknowledge the criticisms, but they are a little premature if you ask me. Bentley was never coming to VP, hardly MON or RL's fault if the player is courting a move to Spurs all along. And £15m seems like an awful lot in hindsight.

One Cold Hand

Villa linked with Mikael Silvestre on a years loan in the Daily Mail today. Not a bad player, but would prefer someone on a permanent move.

One Cold Hand

PHB wrote: »

I'm still of the opinion that its unclear whether or not MON actually has the money to spend. Most of the criticism of him is based on that assumption.

Good point, but I feel he does. As I said, he has spent big. He just seems really, really, really cautious.

Villain wrote: »

I have to laugh at everyone complaning and the window still has a month to go.

It's not about the fact that there's a month to go. It about the fact that he's had 4 full transfer windows, and two months of this one, and the squad is the same size if not smaller than when he took over.

Plus we have UEFA cup and 3 premiership games in that month

Villain wrote: »

Some people want success too quick, that doesn't work unless you have a russian who wants to throw silly money away, Villa is financially solid with a good manager who has a 5 year plan, we have gone ahead of where we probably should be in that plan and now people expect big signings and a push for the top, we'r way off that yet, another season in the top 7 will be great imo.

I don't expect success immediately, but I would like to see the squad being improved. And I agree, another season in the top 7 would be good.

One Cold Hand

Savman wrote: »

Bentley was never coming to VP, hardly MON or RL's fault if the player is courting a move to Spurs all along. And £15m seems like an awful lot in hindsight.

Why wasn't he ever coming to Villa Park? Why are Spurs so much bigger and better? We didn't even try. We put a measly 10mil bid that was rejected. MON had to know he wouldn't go for that. He's not an idiot. 15m seems a lot, but put it in context. If GB goes to pool it will be for around 18mil. Robbie went for 20mil or whatever it was. You have Carrick and Hargreaves and tonnes of other players going for 15-20mil. Peter Crouch went for 11mil, Bentley is hardly worth less than him.

Why not put in a 15-18mil bid for him and show that we have the money? The more I think about this the more annoyed I am. Bentley would have been the PERFECT player for us. What annoys me most is not that we didn't get him, but that we didn't even TRY. He may have been courting Spurs, but at least get in a bid that's accepted, and sit down and chat with the lad. Don't give up after the first hurdle. Liverpool bid 5 time for Barry (I think, lost count at this stage!).

So what if it takes 15mil. If that's what it takes then so be it.

spiderdan

Re the Bentley transfer- I dont believe MON really ever believed we could buy him, the 10m offer was just to say Villa are interested if something goes wrong along the way- he's a big Spurs fan and stated they were the only club he would've realistically join. Maybe MON thought he wasn't worth the extra 5/7m, plus I've noticed a lot of Spurs fans questioning the signing- he does seem to piss n moan if things aren't going his way!

Shorey not Silvestre- makes much more sense!

Bounty Hunter

Just to pour cold water on one transfer link, despite VDV's arrival at Madrid De La Red doesent seem like he is going anywhere

"I have received offers from England and Spain, but I am very calm," De la Red told a press conference.

"I discard the option of leaving Real."

When asked if he felt like a new signing at the Bernabeu, De la Red replied: "I do because I played for another team last year and Real Madrid had to buy me back because I wasn't on loan.

"I'm ready to prove my worth. Us youth system players are always asked to play for other teams in order to gain experience and I played a lot last season.

"I think I've covered what the club expected from me and I hope to do what I did at Getafe now that I'm back."

De la Red also insists that he is not concerned by the possible arrival of Hamburg schemer Rafael van der Vaart in the Spanish capital.

He added: "I'm not worried about it. He must be a great player if the club thinks he must be signed. We would welcome him."

Neil3030

There's an interesting debate going on over at AVFCBlog.com, after one of the moderators tried to explain our transfer activity using Occam's Razor.

Is the simplest explanation of the available evidence, requring the fewest assumptions, that we simply don't have the money to spend?

DON'T SHOOT ME!! Just putting an idea out there...

Raekwon

The main thing about the Bentley deal was that Arsenal had a clause in place when they sold him to Blackburn so that when they sold him on Arsenal would get a large percentage of the transfer fee which is this case was £7m (with Blackburn getting £10m of the £17m that Spurs paid).

So when MON only bid around £10m for Bentley, Blackburn would have only got around £6m for him and that is a pittance for one of their best players. MON must have known this so I don't understand why he bid so low then walked away..........it doesn't really make sense.

Raekwon

Aston Villa vs FH (Finland)

Easy enough draw there!

Villain

Easy if we play well.

Savman

Didn't the General state the Bentley bid was a lot more than £10m?

Villain

He certainly did, I thing the whole thing about Bentley is his agent would have said he wanted to go to spurs, so no point wasting energy looking to try and sign him.

Raekwon

Savman wrote: »

Didn't the General state the Bentley bid was a lot more than £10m?

Well if it wasn't £7m more then everybody was wasting their time.

estebancambias

LOL atu buying Shorey. He's so overrated its untrue. He was probably Readings worst of their 'big name' players last season.

leninbenjamin

Raekwon wrote: »

So when MON only bid around £10m for Bentley, Blackburn would have only got around £6m for him and that is a pittance for one of their best players. MON must have known this so I don't understand why he bid so low then walked away..........it doesn't really make sense.

MON bid a lot more. Bentley made it clear he wanted to move back to London, that was the primary reason he wanted to leave apparently, nothing to do with the club itself. faced with that MON never had a chance and i'm sure he knew this, hence he never pushed the issue.

Raekwon

Then again Bentley is the 'spice boy' type that we don't really need at Villa so it probably worked out for the best.

Hopefully MON can pull some strings and get either SWP or Milner to Villa Park.........actually both would be nice

Villain

estebancambias wrote: »

LOL atu buying Shorey. He's so overrated its untrue. He was probably Readings worst of their 'big name' players last season.

Can't be worse than our right back .......

estebancambias

Well he does play left back......
and in that case your answe still applies, well sort of.

However maby MON can make him play good but his value should be 2-3 million.

JPA

Guzan Gets Permit!

Brad Guzan has been granted a work permit and can now complete his switch from MLS outfit Chivas USA.

The US international goalkeeper agreed to join Villa last month and has now been given the go ahead to launch his Barclays Premier League career.

Villain

Good stuff!!

Esse85

Another business week Mon - Fri, 9 - 5 passes and no new developments:rolleyes: If the money wasnt there i think MON would say so. I do believe the money is there, he's just too cautious about spending it.

At least the larger fees he did spend on players have been spent fairly well e.g Young, Davies, NRC

One thing for sure is if for whatever reason MON left us in the next few weeks, the next manager would have some mess to clean up.

We're not the only club up sh1t creek with no paddle at the moment, fans of Everton, Arsenal must be feeling it too. I just hope this transfer free for all starts soon.

Peyton Manning

Esse85 wrote: »

We're not the only club up sh1t creek with no paddle at the moment, fans of Everton, Arsenal must be feeling it too. I just hope this transfer free for all starts soon.

Arsenal splashed out on Samir Nasri, and the French U21 kid Bischoff. They also have Van Persie returning from injury, soon to be followed by Eduardo.