Ambiguous article title number one: Frank Simek for £2 million

I can't imagine that we'll sign him. He hasn't looked bad in the limited time I've seen him for the US, but I couldn't see why we'd sign him for any reason but to make up some numbers.

Ive always said we dont have the money, reality is creeping in now, the yanks have taken us poor fans for a ride!!

Calm down fellow Villans! The transfer merry-go-round will start in earnest after Euro 08. And I can't see MON doing much business until the Barry saga is resolved. Personally, I don't think that Barry going to Anfield is such a bad thing...it will allow our beloved manager to re-vamp a rather one-dimensional midfield.

This is getting out of hand. Have a little bit of patience, we all know MON doesn't rush his transfers. Yes, its frustrating. Yes, we all have got the intertoto cup coming up soon, but that shouldn't be a difficult game (touch wood). To say the money isn't there is simply not true. We have spent a fair bit of money since Randy came and it was a massive improvement from the Ellis era. Ok, we might not have as much money as Man City, but the signings will come. Keep the faith. UTV

Paulo181
[quote]To say the money isn't there is simply not true.[/quote]
How do you know this?

What we've spent to date under Lerner isn't exactly huge sums of cash in football terms.

We've spent enough to be in the top ten/eight and Martin O'Neill has used his magic (turning average players into good players) to get us top 6. If we had spent enough to really challenge for Chumps league - we'd be in the top four.

I agree, relax - we could probably send out our youth team and win the first round of the intertoto cup. Plus im guessing that MON will want to wait until we have got thru the qualifying stages so he can use that as a lure to attract better talent.

I don't think we are far away from our first signing. Im going to stick my neck out and say that we will sign Boruc after Poland once they are knocked out of the Euro's. As that eejit in Big Brother would say 'Memba i told ya' :)

Boruc put imself in the shop window wih a display like that last night. We have been linked with him before but after that display i can see a few more clubs in for him. MON needs to act now if were anychance of signing him.

Just read on teletext that West Ham have let solano go, would like to see him back at Villa, even if it is only as a squad player.

we can easily get into the uefa cup with the players we have at the moment, maybe MON is trying to do this so he can then use the uefa cup as a bargain chip

sorry darragh i kind of just wrote what you wrote, but didnt realise until i refreshed the page

paulo asscuano has bought out his contract and were hot on the heals to sign him from porto.... realisitic buy and a very good brazilianplayer.... come on martin hurry up b4 he is snapped up elsewhere!

i dont see how wee could possibly have given away our sponsorship if we didnt have money, surely lerners got more sense

and as for simek, if he's cheap and he's considered reserve RB then why not take the gamble, we'd still need someone like nelson or miguel in front of him though

Damian- would we have? look at the teams around us that have "spent for Champions League"- Spurs, Newcastle, Citeh. Would you really trade squad for squad with any of them?

And Simek's OK. . . I'd definitely prefer him to Chimbonda as our cover for Nelson or Miguel

kayarcee

If Martin O'Neill had been at Spurs for he past two season I'd fancy him to have got them to 4th with the squad they have

so yes .. city and newcastle are different stories for me

brett

we gave it away because we couldn't get the level of sponsorship we wanted = it's also only for 1 year - so less than a million quid based on the 32red deal from the last 2 seasons and if giving it away for 1 season means we get a bigger deal for the next 4 starting next season - its good business - much like the holte pub is good business

damian i agree with the cynical view of why we have gone down the acorns route, however that still doesnt go against my claim that if we were broke we would have taken anything and then negoiated clauses for uefa cup etc

if villa really didnt hav any money why would lerner be giving so much away? and would he really be spending money on the browns and not us? cos they've brought in several new players

Well pointed out. Diego is an excellent player. He is a young playmaker and he has a good goal scoring ability. I thought a while back that he would be an ideal player to go for. Barry is unlyal he was nothing when martin O'Neill came here and now he's an england international and villa are sitting on european football. Let him go,then really strengthen our team with real quality. I'm sick of reading about us going for cheap british players. Randy Lerner said money wasn't a problem so lets buy some quality foreign talent.

we dont have the money its as simple as that. our net spend over the last 2 years is very small in the premiership.

just read on the LFC web site that liverpool are going to up there bid for brook side barry

I think Lerner has provided MON with all the money he needs. Unfortunatly MON is still working on his value for money theory. I don't belive that the club is poor otherwise Acorns would not be on our shirts! I'm confident that MON will realise he has to spend big this summer, i just hope it won't be too late.

We need to spend AT LEAST 60m to move forward next season assuming Barry leaves. Like you Damian I worry when I hear some names we are linked with, and I despair when I read fans blogs who think we should buy Solano! Are they taking the piss? We need first teamers who are going to put half of our current team on the bench, not squad fillers lke Routledge & co. To be honest if I were Barry and saw the players we get linked with I'd be off too because we appear to totally lack ambition, and only big exciting signings can change it now, not squad players.

You guys underestimate Martin O'Neil. You're frustrated that he's not signing big-namers, but when he finds you a good deal on a good prospect, you bitch and moan. Simek nearly signed with Everton twice last year and both times got injured. He's more than held his own with the US backline and just hasnt taken the starting spot because he's competing with Steve Cherundolo, captain of Hannover. He WILL end up in the Prem, whether or not with you guys, trust me

Liverpool must be in serious financial problems if they intend to sell Torres to Chelski to finance Barry's supposed move.

Rafa Benitez is an Idiot!

LINK

torres to chelsea? thats gotta be a jackanory! im not panickin, im jus frustrated. we jus need to make sure that we dont get left behind by the muppetts from manchester, shite hart lane an fatton park.

Barry to Anfield, Torres to VP in swop deal - that's the headline I'd like to see!

If there is no money at Villa ask yourself this. Why is MON still there?

I can assure you that if Villa were as hard up as some say and the yanks were having a laugh he wouldnt be there 5mins.

Hes one of the top managers he could have his pick of the top jobs.

He ststed on BBC 1 last night that Villa have the capacity to be a top 4 club that is all you should need to hear.

how many of u have seen simek play live non! but you have done nothing but moan about him you arrogant bastards you deserve all you get

2mil players,thats just desparte.Anyway i would class diego a way better player than his money worth and a hell lot better than barry!

16th to 11th to 6th. What's happened to in MON we trust?

Money isn't the issue but there's no need to manage the club badly.' They made a 5 year plan to get us back among the top teams...without "doing a Leeds." We're heading into the third year and now need to consolidate at the Uefa cup level before we can really kick on. Rafa will manage LFC out of the top four and in a couple of years time we'll be one of four or five teams fighting over third and fourth each year.

Don't be fickle. Chill out.

In MON we trust.

When the right players have come up we have competed and paid over the odds if necessary - Young, NRC and Davies. Some of you guys are in cloud cuckoo land. When are you going to realise we are building a club not buying a team? Personally I dont give a sh*t what RL spends I believe he has demonstrated his heart is in the right place and everything that has come out of the club has been positive since he took over.

We are not in London, we are not in the champions league we charge some of the lowest prices in the division. Get f*cking real.

i dont care just sign him!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i agree with you pongogidman, well said.
;)

I think I was talking about Liverpool not having the money - Alonso deal falling apart - Torres being sold - Rafa will be sacked before season starts ...... Gerrard will leave next summer and Barry will be on his own at Anfield or maybe Villa 2nd team. GB should have kept his mouth shut and waited for things to happen with Liverpool - He could end up with pie on his face.

MON, I've knocked you for your lethargec approach to getting numbers in. But I pat you on the back for digging your heals in with Barry - £20m min - I would even pi*s Liverpool off even more and up it again - They'll give up soon. As they've only got £15m to spend this summer and half has gone already. Opps I'm not meant to let people know that - Liverpool's Rafa has been told you must sell end of story.

Randy knows that money has to be spent - He runs the Browns American Football team and you would be shocked if you want to know what they fronted for contracts last year. This year they spent bugger all as he got the right men the year before. That's why I think he's got Villa 100% in his thoughts this summer

I must say I've not heard of this American either - But apart from the keeper we looked and a number of other keepers - American's don't impress me at all on a football front. Against England they were so bad we looked average from our normal poor.

I have heard Podolski could be coming on loan

Yeah, a bit of panic. As AVMark said, everything has been positive. If we need to sign 6-10 players to make up numbers and get some quality in, then some of the signings are going to be players like Simek.

Better we sign someone young with an upside and international prospects for cheap than overpaying for a player of similar ability who's not as hungry. The Yanks may not be the world's best players, but they're usually very athletic, smart, strong and full of running. The sort of raw material MON can do something with, the sort of player you can slot into League Cup games who will work hard in training and keep pressure on the starters.

Naturally I'd prefer to see a Diego signed first (or at all), but that's going to happen until after the Euros. And really, a Diego, a quality RB, perhaps another striker...You'd only really expect 2 maybe three big signings anyway.

AVMark,

I do care what RL spends and I think its time that we should build a team that the club deserves.The club is already built - great ground, state of the art training facilities, good history, good manager etc. Nobody has said we need to buy a team - just strengthen what weve got and get some competition for places which I dont think we currently have.

The Alonso deal has gone through for £14m but wait for it - Its not all up front by all accounts so Liverpool still need to sell 1 or maybe 2 to fund the Barry Saga

off topic i made a post earlier and occasionally do other times it says it my post will be authourised by admin of something like that and it never appears why ???

Don't look at the amounts spent in American Football and worry too much. Every team has a salary cap and with the contracts usually only about half is guarenteed money, the rest is clauses, performance bonuses etc. I'm pretty sure the money Lerner spends on the team is minimal, such is the amount of income every team brings in. We think the premiership has crazy money, NFL is next level.

And as for this Simek, I agree with some of the others, I doubt many of us have seen him and well it would be nice to be linked with a big name, we only have to look at Everton to see the impact lower league players can make.

I'll quote Andy Dunn (Columnist from News of the World) from last Sunday commenting on the Acorns deal.

'Remarkably, some web cynics are questioning Villa's motives. Nonsense. This reflects wonderfully on American owner Randy Lerner, who is surprising us all, and manager Martin O'Neill, who is as intelligent as he is intense. Both realise the sould of a club is its community...'

How sad that a columnist has more positive comments to make, about a great gesture, than some (and quite a few) people on this 'Fans' Forum. Isn't it time to stop being so cynical about everything and have a bit more pride in who we are, where we are and what we are doing. I am delighted at what is going on at VP and have complete trust in RL and MON to do the job that's required and to do it well.

I'll quote Andy Dunn (Columnist from News of the World) from last Sunday commenting on the Acorns deal.

'Remarkably, some web cynics are questioning Villa's motives. Nonsense. This reflects wonderfully on American owner Randy Lerner, who is surprising us all, and manager Martin O'Neill, who is as intelligent as he is intense. Both realise the sould of a club is its community...'

Ghosthunter

yes, it's cynical but its a fact

the club even said so

if they had a £5mn. a year deal available they would have dropped acorns quicker than they took the idea up

it's a lovely gesture, dont get me wrong, but it's for 1 year only because they're hoping over the next year that they'll get a proper sponsor

"yes, it's cynical but its a fact

the club even said so

if they had a £5mn. a year deal available they would have dropped acorns quicker than they took the idea up "

Ghosthunter - can you give me a link to that statement ?

pongogidman

it is here:

[url]LINK[/url]

jfourplusone: I understand your sentiment and yes I was being a bit dramatic - but let's remeber: -

1. For the past 10 years before before RL our club was sometimes a laughing stock, generally the most boring club in the League. I say club because you say we have already got a club built but I suggest it's a lot more than bricks and mortar. We were synonymous with boring football, drawing and lack of ambition.

2. Since RL took over we are synonymous with attractive football, goal scoring, young English talent, vibrant crowds and acts of generosity.

Now no-one can argue with the above. But you and others still want to whinge.

You know what? I think a lot of you guys preferred it under Ellis so at least you could whinge with a bit of authority.

I've got sympathy with Damian. He's an ideallist not a cynic. In his world he wants everything to add up and not make mistakes. If MON says he's gonna get world class players and fails Damian turns it into a conspiracy theory! Fair enough you need people like that just to add the checks and balances.

The season has not started yet. If MON doesnt buy at least 6 players I will be suprised and critical too - but then again he might still prove me wrong.

Damian I would like to make a suggestion. How about a thread to list everything negative thing that happened under Doug Ellis e.g. the Doug Ellis stand, the 2000 Cup Final, the resignation of our best ever manager. Perhaps then we will all cheer up and realise how good it is to be a Villa fan at the moment.

Ghosthunter - thanks for the link. I think the main message from the club statement is that the Acorns tie-in, for this coming season at least, is an "experiment". No doubt about it, Villa hope to see plenty of economic benefits from giving away the shirt sponsorship to a local charity - it will enhance current business relationships and attract new ones - but it's also an opportunity to strengthen the club's core message and heritage and build on the economic merits that that brings. So, it's not really fair to say that the club would have dropped the Acorns idea had a large sponsorship deal been offered from elsewhere - it's part of an overall grand strategy both on and off the pitch. Randy Lerner & his team should be be applauded.

simek has spent as much time in England as he has the States, moving there with his family at age 12 and being brought into the Arsenal system. he is a responsible and reliable right back and a stalwart at wednesday for the last two seasons. he may not be champions league material, but he is a reasonable and acceptable premiership player who would add depth to the villa side.