Aston Villa Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Tomthepost

Latest MON comments. Keep the faith lads I think this is encouraging.

O'Neill said: "I think we would be looking at it in the region of five players to help give us a chance. Personally, I think we can do it.


"The answer to the question 'Are we extremely thin now?' is, 'Yes we are!'



"Also the fact is that we have signed a player who will not be fit for some time.


"So, yes, on the face of it, it looks pretty small. I would prefer to start the season with some of these extra players on board.


"I think that would be pretty important. The heart of the squad needs replacing. Yes, absolutely - and it will take money.


"No-one says there is X-amount to spend but you are constantly asking what can you afford."

orourkeda

All going well we'll have something to discuss shortly

Time Magazine

Neil3030 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs2xCVcjaVE

I f*cking hate the "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaalllll" crap that Spanish commentators do.

Tomthepost

The Economist wrote: »

I f*cking hate the "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaalllll" crap that Spanish commentators do.

Im happy that they had to do it 3 times for Villa goals:D

Esse85

As much as I cant stand Harry Redknapp, I really do admire the way he's always on the lookout to improve his team/squad, he's really ambitious in the transfer market and whenever a top player becomes available he declares interest.

Just take a look at the following:

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp remains keen to sign Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar despite adding England striker Peter Crouch to his squad earlier this week.

Crouch completed a £9million move from Portsmouth on Monday and joins Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko in the Spurs attack, with Darren Bent seemingly poised for a move away from White Hart Lane.

Huntelaar was set to join German side Stuttgart last week only for the move to fall through due to the player's wage demands.

And Redknapp confirmed he remains very much interested in the Holland striker, although any move would be subject to Bent moving on.

"It is definitely not a no go," he said. "It is still a possibility. If you look at his goalscoring record, it is incredible.

"If he is available then again he is a player that interests me. I think if any top-class player becomes available then you have to be interested and if Darren Bent does go then maybe we will be interested.

"You cannot have too many good players. Competition for places is what it is all about. Look at Manchester United, you could pick two teams from their squad last year."

Should Redknapp successfully lure Huntelaar to White Hart Lane it would mean five top-class strikers vying for the places in Spurs' forward line this season.

But the former Portsmouth boss is unconcerned with upsetting other players in the squad, insisting it is up to them to fight for their place.

"I don't care," he added. "It's not about keeping them happy, they have to keep me happy and the fans happy - that is what they are paid to do.

"It's up to them as they have got to fight to play, it's all about competition for places."

Meanwhile, Redknapp was stunned to hear that Spurs target Patrick Vieira has been linked with a return to Arsenal.

"That is surprising but I had heard nothing about it," he said. "I am sure he will be a good signing whoever he signs for.

"He belonged to Arsenal, he was fantastic there so if an opportunity to go back there came along then I'm sure he would take it.

"But I haven't spoke to anyone, it could only be a rumour so I don't know." http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5461281,00.html

For a Spuds fan, that must be great to hear, a few days after you sign a £10m striker, which brings the tally of quality strikers to 5, your manager declares he wants to bring in another world class striker. No player is un signable in Harry Redknapp's eyes and thats a great quality to have as a manager. How we'd all love MON to show some ambition in the transfer window.

Another player I felt would of been a good signing for us was Elano, he's joining or has joined Galatasary for £8m. Again not a MON type player so that ruled him out but he would of offered class, a killer ball, experience and flair, something which the squad lacks.

Neil3030

Tomthepost wrote: »

Im happy that they had to do it 3 times for Villa goals:D

Beat me to it, was going to say something almost identical to that :pac:

Tomthepost

Esse85 wrote: »

As much as I cant stand Harry Redknapp, I really do admire the way he's always on the lookout to improve his team/squad, he's really ambitious in the transfer market and whenever a top player becomes available he declares interest.



For a Spuds fan, that must be great to hear, a few days after you sign a £10m striker, which brings the tally of quality strikers to 5, your manager declares he wants to bring in another world class striker. No player is un signable in Harry Redknapp's eyes and thats a great quality to have as a manager. How we'd all love MON to show some ambition in the transfer window.

Another player I felt would of been a good signing for us was Elano, he's joining or has joined Galatasary for £8m. Again not a MON type player so that ruled him out but he would of offered class, a killer ball, experience and flair, something which the squad lacks.

Appy Arry is full of sh1t
MON is a straight talking man who keeps his cards close to his chest in the transfer market.
Like isn't Phil Brown great for trying to sign Michael Owen:D
5 so called top strikers leads to a very unhappy dressing room by the way.
MON is a doer (I will be proved right by this day week)
Appy Arry says what he would like to do and little or nothing materialises from it.

Elano had 3 good months in English football and that was that!

Neil3030

Yippeeeee!!

Just had an article posted on The Villa Blog

http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/aston-villa-blog/aston-villa-views/randy-lerner-does-not-want-aston-villa-to-qualify-for-the-champions-league/

wynters

A bit off topic, but I see Alonso has handed in a transfer request...

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/07/30/liverpool-fc-s-xabi-alonso-hands-in-transfer-request-100252-24275822/

This time last year Benitez was trying to flog Alonso to fund a move for Barry and managed to p/ss both players off in the process. Now he'll end up with neither....

Karma's a b/tch.

JPA

Neil3030 wrote: »

Yippeeeee!!

Just had an article posted on The Villa Blog

http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/aston-villa-blog/aston-villa-views/randy-lerner-does-not-want-aston-villa-to-qualify-for-the-champions-league/

Well done, shame that it contradicts everything that has been happening at Villa and I completely and utterly disagree with it.

Neil3030

JPA wrote: »

Well done, shame that it contradicts everything that has been happening at Villa and I completely and utterly disagree with it.

LOL

Thanks mate

orourkeda

Esse85 wrote: »

As much as I cant stand Harry Redknapp, I really do admire the way he's always on the lookout to improve his team/squad, he's really ambitious in the transfer market and whenever a top player becomes available he declares interest.

Just take a look at the following:

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp remains keen to sign Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar despite adding England striker Peter Crouch to his squad earlier this week.

Crouch completed a £9million move from Portsmouth on Monday and joins Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko in the Spurs attack, with Darren Bent seemingly poised for a move away from White Hart Lane.

Huntelaar was set to join German side Stuttgart last week only for the move to fall through due to the player's wage demands.

And Redknapp confirmed he remains very much interested in the Holland striker, although any move would be subject to Bent moving on.

"It is definitely not a no go," he said. "It is still a possibility. If you look at his goalscoring record, it is incredible.

"If he is available then again he is a player that interests me. I think if any top-class player becomes available then you have to be interested and if Darren Bent does go then maybe we will be interested.

"You cannot have too many good players. Competition for places is what it is all about. Look at Manchester United, you could pick two teams from their squad last year."

Should Redknapp successfully lure Huntelaar to White Hart Lane it would mean five top-class strikers vying for the places in Spurs' forward line this season.

But the former Portsmouth boss is unconcerned with upsetting other players in the squad, insisting it is up to them to fight for their place.

"I don't care," he added. "It's not about keeping them happy, they have to keep me happy and the fans happy - that is what they are paid to do.

"It's up to them as they have got to fight to play, it's all about competition for places."

Meanwhile, Redknapp was stunned to hear that Spurs target Patrick Vieira has been linked with a return to Arsenal.

"That is surprising but I had heard nothing about it," he said. "I am sure he will be a good signing whoever he signs for.

"He belonged to Arsenal, he was fantastic there so if an opportunity to go back there came along then I'm sure he would take it.

"But I haven't spoke to anyone, it could only be a rumour so I don't know." http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5461281,00.html

For a Spuds fan, that must be great to hear, a few days after you sign a £10m striker, which brings the tally of quality strikers to 5, your manager declares he wants to bring in another world class striker. No player is un signable in Harry Redknapp's eyes and thats a great quality to have as a manager. How we'd all love MON to show some ambition in the transfer window.

Another player I felt would of been a good signing for us was Elano, he's joining or has joined Galatasary for £8m. Again not a MON type player so that ruled him out but he would of offered class, a killer ball, experience and flair, something which the squad lacks.

Being linked means absolutely jacksh*t. Just because certain managers dont put their business out there on the street doesnt mean they're not trying.

orourkeda

wynters wrote: »

A bit off topic, but I see Alonso has handed in a transfer request...

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/07/30/liverpool-fc-s-xabi-alonso-hands-in-transfer-request-100252-24275822/

This time last year Benitez was trying to flog Alonso to fund a move for Barry and managed to p/ss both players off in the process. Now he'll end up with neither....

Karma's a b/tch.

Looks like Real Madrid at the moment

MementoMori

Tomthepost wrote: »

Latest MON comments. Keep the faith lads I think this is encouraging.

O'Neill said: "I think we would be looking at it in the region of five players to help give us a chance. Personally, I think we can do it.

"The answer to the question 'Are we extremely thin now?' is, 'Yes we are!'

"Also the fact is that we have signed a player who will not be fit for some time.

"So, yes, on the face of it, it looks pretty small. I would prefer to start the season with some of these extra players on board.

"I think that would be pretty important. The heart of the squad needs replacing. Yes, absolutely - and it will take money.

"No-one says there is X-amount to spend but you are constantly asking what can you afford."

Even if Villa sign 5 experienced PL players, the squad is still going to be on the small side for a team competing in Europe.

orourkeda

Neil3030 wrote: »

LOL

Thanks mate

It's easy to spend other peoples money. I thinks its right that he adopts a pragmatic point of view with regard to the business side. The gamble should be taken out of it as much as possible. Even if there is a huge outlay on top quality players there can be no guarantee of success.

Tomthepost

MementoMori wrote: »

Even if Villa sign 5 experienced PL players, the squad is still going to be on the small side for a team competing in Europe.

I disagree strongly with this. 5 signings would give us about 24 players that are genuine contenders to a place on the team. This is more than enough , lets the younger players get game time and develop and leads to a happier dressing room overall.

Tomthepost

Neil3030 wrote: »

Yippeeeee!!

Just had an article posted on The Villa Blog

http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/aston-villa-blog/aston-villa-views/randy-lerner-does-not-want-aston-villa-to-qualify-for-the-champions-league/

Well done on getting it posted but it makes little or no sense to me.
I don't think any club would look at spending a net 60m -80m million in the hope of getting the club to the champions league for one season
Clubs harbour ambitions to become champions league regulars which has all the postive knock on effects that go with being successful.
Better attendances at games
More season ticket sales
More games which all generate revenue
More merchandise sold
More TV Revenue
Ability to attract top players to the club.
You think that MON and Randy didn't talk before he fielded that team the the UEFA Cup?
Champions League this season would have been premature for Villa in the Randy plan but boy would he have taken it.
The 'Rome wasn't built in a day' approach since Randy arrived is the best way forward for the club at present and is working steadily.

Esse85

Fair play on writing the article Neil, you may well be right about it.

Neil3030

Thanks for all the good thoughts lads. Just a theory I got the other day, that it may actually be profitable to forget about the CL and just concentrate on Premier League revenue, if bottom line is your only concern. Granted the title may look like a cheap pop at Randy, but I guess that's the tabloid part of my personality coming through.

Tomthepost wrote: »

Well done on getting it posted but it makes little or no sense to me.
I don't think any club would look at spending a net 60m -80m million in the hope of getting the club to the champions league for one season
Clubs harbour ambitions to become champions league regulars which has all the postive knock on effects that go with being successful.
Better attendances at games
More season ticket sales
More games which all generate revenue
More merchandise sold
More TV Revenue
Ability to attract top players to the club.
You think that MON and Randy didn't talk before he fielded that team the the UEFA Cup?
Champions League this season would have been premature for Villa in the Randy plan but boy would he have taken it.
The 'Rome wasn't built in a day' approach since Randy arrived is the best way forward for the club at present and is working steadily.

Well increased attendences and TV rights were factored into the figures in the Mastercard report for CL earnings.

Also, it's very important to remember that qualifying for the CL does not guarantee qualification for years thereafter. If anything, even more investment is needed after CL qualification in order to cope with the increased number of high standard games.

Granted, my figures are simplistic, they don't factor in stuff like brand value or increasing the value of the club by being in the CL, but gaining entry to the CL is a risky investment to make and which could and has bankrupted clubs in the past.

JPA

Neil3030 wrote: »

Thanks for all the good thoughts lads. Just a theory I got the other day, that it may actually be profitable to forget about the CL and just concentrate on Premier League revenue, if bottom line is your only concern. Granted the title may look like a cheap pop at Randy, but I guess that's the tabloid part of my personality coming through.



Well increased attendences and TV rights were factored into the figures in the Mastercard report for CL earnings.

Also, it's very important to remember that qualifying for the CL does not guarantee qualification for years thereafter. If anything, even more investment is needed after CL qualification in order to cope with the increased number of high standard games.

Granted, my figures are simplistic, they don't factor in stuff like brand value or increasing the value of the club by being in the CL, but gaining entry to the CL is a risky investment to make and which could and has bankrupted clubs in the past.

What I find quite odd about the article is that while you think that £60 to £80 million investment is required to get to the Champions League, you imply it needs to be all spent at once rather then over 2 or 3 seasons.

And yes the headline is very tabloidy. In a bad way.

Neil3030

JPA wrote: »

What I find quite odd about the article is that while you think that £60 to £80 million investment is required to get to the Champions League, you imply it needs to be all spent at once rather then over 2 or 3 seasons.

And yes the headline is very tabloidy. In a bad way.

Well, that's your opinion.

Also, I don't think, with the pace of improvement that is (and could) be displayed by other clubs, £20m - £25m spent on players each year for the next 3 years would get us into the CL.

Savman

It's a good read in fairness, hard to argue with the reasoning of it. All the signs point toward the club hitting a plateau in what it can achieve, banking everything on the CL a-la-man-citeh is not something I can ever see Randy doing. Nor his wee sidekick. The numbers just don't add up. Real are spending cash like it's going out of fashion ffs.

Ah well, us Villa fans are well used to mediocrity at this stage eh :rolleyes:

orourkeda

Savman wrote: »

It's a good read in fairness, hard to argue with the reasoning of it. All the signs point toward the club hitting a plateau in what it can achieve, banking everything on the CL a-la-man-citeh is not something I can ever see Randy doing. Nor his wee sidekick. The numbers just don't add up. Real are spending cash like it's going out of fashion ffs.

Ah well, us Villa fans are well used to mediocrity at this stage eh :rolleyes:

That attitude displays little sense of perspective. They have to try to overtake 4 of the strongest clubs in Europe on a consistent basis just to qualify for the Champions League. Thats the easy part. The club would be idiotic to gamble its long term future to placate the impatience of its fans. As i've said before a club that strives to be successful on a long term basis is built from the bottom up (as is blindingly obvious) and not from the top down. This does not happen overnight.

orourkeda

The top 4 cant do with out CL football. Even Manchester United would struggle to absorb the hit they would take were they to miss out however unlikely.

Considering the other three clubs are also saddled with massive debts would Villa be better just biding their time.

Neil3030

Fonz has scored twice so far for England U-19 today. I make that 4 goals in 2 matches?

Helix

yup, decent record innit

matrim

Apparently France ended the game with only 8 players too

Helix

where are you lads getting the scores from the u19? i cant find them anywhere

matrim

I'm just going by what's on villatalk

JPA

Helix wrote: »

where are you lads getting the scores from the u19? i cant find them anywhere

http://www.thefa.com/

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under19/index.html

Helix

JPA wrote: »

http://www.thefa.com/

http://www.uefa.com/

nice one

matrim

Here's his second goal

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/3077998/

One Cold Hand

Interesting point of view Neil, but not sure I agree with all of it.

I certainly think that Randy wants to qualify for the CL, but you're probably right in saying that he's not prepared to invest to the same amount as, for example, City.

Neil3030

An agent on SSN has claimed it's between us and City for Veloso, but we're actually 'in talks'.

Whether that means with the club or player I haven't a clue.

JPA

Neil3030 wrote: »

An agent on SSN has claimed it's between us and City for Veloso, but we're actually 'in talks'.

Whether that means with the club or player I haven't a clue.

:rolleyes: fupping ssn. If it's between us and City surely the money will turn his head, but then we do have europe, so I dunno.

Helix

first team football might win him over, since hes been sitting on the bench most of the last season hes probably sick of it

whos he gonna start instead of for city like? barry? thatd be amusing

Savman

One Cold Hand wrote: »

I certainly think that Randy wants to qualify for the CL, but you're probably right in saying that he's not prepared to invest to the same amount as, for example, City.

Who is prepared to match Man City though? Nobody can tbh. £100m worth of spending...the mind boggles. The only saving grace for the beautiful game is that ultimately money does not buy you success. The way I see it, I wouldn't fancy being the fall guy with £100m worth of flopstars and an empty trophy cabinet next May.

I truly hope that football wins the day in the power struggle, because the Man City model has kicked the game to a whole new level and not in a good way. It's car crash TV tbh, you just can't help but watch to see what happens next. Never a dull moment at Eastlands :pac:

Anyway, MON and his "five players needed" - go sign them Martin, talk later. Season is 2 weeks away :eek:

Esse85

Gabriel Heinze is joining Marseille, why didnt MON sign him??

JPA

Esse85 wrote: »

Gabriel Heinze is joining Marseille, why didnt MON sign him??

Will you say that for every transfer?

DSB

If we get in 5 good first team players, better than the 1s we signed last year, I'll be happy. Lets hope its not just empty words from MON.

Esse85

JPA wrote: »

Will you say that for every transfer?

No just the transfers that involve quality players who would of been an improvement on what we already have and would not have been out of our league.

JPA

Esse85 wrote: »

No just the transfers that involve quality players who would of been an improvement on what we already have and would not have been out of our league.

Probably be dozens of them.

Bounty Hunter

I thought Veloso was one of the few that the club officially said they had nothing to do with and that they werent sure were those stories came from. However should that not or no longer be the case then id be fairly happy with his signing as although ill admit i havent seen enough of him he is the style of player we need to replace Barry imo (that is should we go 4-5-1/4-3-3 next season)

Esse85

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

I thought Veloso was one of the few that the club officially said they had nothing to do with and that they werent sure were those stories came from. However should that not or no longer be the case then id be fairly happy with his signing as although ill admit i havent seen enough of him he is the style of player we need to replace Barry imo (that is should we go 4-5-1/4-3-3 next season)

Your right BH. John Robertson denied that MON had any interest in the player.

I wont be getting my hopes up.

Kinetic^

Time to........

Neil3030

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Time to........

Well, I'll wait and see how NRC and Sidwell perform tomorrow night against Porto. They were a pretty solid unit against the Mexicans but that's not saying a lot.

We've also discovered a very probably backup in the boy Albrighton to our wing-corps, so no real need to panic there.

Fonz is scoring for fun in the U-19 Euros, whether or not it be to the dismay of MON!

So despite our dearth in numbers, quality is emerging from other sources.

I'll panic.... August 10th. If we've made no additions to the defence. At this stage we can throw our hats at having all the new faces in with time to get a proper preseason under their belts, so I'm going to err on the side of naive optimism and put faith in that nordy tightarse to come good over the next week or two.

Neil3030

An ITK on the Beeb, posted at the bottom of my villablog article of all places by Rich... anyways, worth a peek if you're not slamming one off the wrist on this fine July evening:

I've pasted the post below. Remember it's not my source. I've just supplied the article. Everything below is written by 'The Gaffer' and can be found on BBC 606.

Rich

Transfer Update: Hmmm (It's okay)
Aston Villa
by The Gaffer. The Martin O'Neill of our 606 football team, expect late transfers! (U13642271) 30 July 2009

Well I found out who my Sources, source was and well trust me when I say the information I get is completly 100% truth (Danny knows who it is), I'll tell you the name in a few comments (where I can delete etc...)

anyway got abit more in depth news quite late last night:

Sylvan Distin -

Back in early june when we offered, he was only at a small price of £2.5 Million, Mon hadn't decided his full targets and when he decided Distin was the best quality for money, Portsmouth had sold Johnson and money weren't as big as an issue and wanted £4.5 Million, that in the last couple of days to £5 Million with Crouch going, as they don't really need to sell Distin, so basically Portsmouth are doing us over, but I'm expecting this transfer to go through sometime in the next week (not putting a date on it.)

Miguel Veloso -

Well I know we were after our "Plan A" midfielder, but 2 days ago we were offered by Sporting, Veloso for £12 Million, we will go for this one if we don't get our plan A, Sporting have however set a 5 day limit on this one before they offer him elsewhere, although with Petrov's injury, i've got a feeling this one might just go through, this one if it does go through should be done by next week sometime.

Fabien Delph -

This one is literally put on hold because Delfouneso won't move on loan to Leeds, this isn't dead but I think were after other targets first off, although if this deal goes through, don't be suprised to see Gardner off to Blues who are highly interested in him.

Darren Bent -

This is from another completely different source, so not sure myself how true this one is, although it's widely reported in papers.

David Bentley -

We were in talks with Bentley earlier on back at the end of June but he opened his mouth and Mon asked Bentley to deny it, Bentley didn't seem all that bothered about the whole situation, we cancelled negotiations and if he's still at Spurs by the end of the window, we MIGHT consider going back with lower wage and lower offer.

Stephen Warnock -

There's interest there, that's it though, I know nothing more.

Right Back:

This could be wrong because it's my own thoughts, but with our other target being an unknown, I'm guessing no "big" players I.e Hutton will be brought as back up, either expect some on the cheap or Lichaj to be back up right back.

Going Out:

Well we want Delfouneso to go out on loan to play regularly. Harewood obviously waiting to listen to offers and although O'Neill can't decide whether Gardner should stay or go, there has been interest in him, although they do expect brother Gary to becmoe as good as Craig.

wynters

Esse85 wrote: »

Gabriel Heinze is joining Marseille, why didnt MON sign him??

Champions League

Time Magazine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1AlMx3IO_A

Doodee

Any ideas on who the plan A is?