Barry disciplined and no third Liverpool bid

not the model professional we all thought he was, let him rot in the reserves that will damage his england chances, funny that a fella that wanted to play champions league football could be playing reserve football next season.

13, unlucky for some.........

With GB suspended, does that mean our squad is down to about thirteen players. Is everyone feeling confident for the comming season. Come MON and spend some of Randy's money.

I agree with Darryl! Lerner's got the money but MON aint got the courage :(

If true - This is more like it !!! I would also fine him an extra week for every comment in the next few days he makes unless he moves to Liverpool - Hey Barry I'd even drive up from Devon and take you to Anfield myself you arrogant tw*t. I think you've also blown your chances with England now. I'd change your agent after you move as he's done you no favours and comes across as a bigger idiot than you!

Liverpool have made a "fine and respectable" bid. £13 million is a more than generous offer for such a troublesome individual.

I reckon there has been a third bid, but, MON is fed up of all the hassle, GB will be gone by the end of the week.
I don't think MON is scared I think that he wants the right type of player. look at Curbs at WHam, spent for the sake of it and is now looking to off load players, some to us.

We'll be ok under MON, just watch him do the right business, reminds me of his old gaffer, Cloughie, without the public attitude. very cute and astute

all the English players are overated by greedy mangers. english team was beaten by croatia easily. in comparision with other teams in europe, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal etc. are much better than englsih team. the fact is that english players are overated and lavishly praised by the media. MON is a greedy manager. he should be realistic. his asking price is just too high. MON should remember that if he is stubborn like this, he could not trade with liverpool any longer, because liverpool will demand a high price for any player wanted by aston villa. Let him go for 15m pounds. don't be too greedy. he should respect the service to the club by barry.

I'll share the driving and fuel cost with you Ben,
he is an arrogant TW*T

He's not worth more than £15m. He wants to play for a big club, what's wrong with that? Liverpool won't pay over the odds for him, that's for sure. MON's put the final nail in the coffin by discipining him - it's played right into Liverpool's hands.
As for England - what's changed? Nothing. He'll still be picked whatever

Please can you tell me what planet you are from?
you're obviously a scouser who wants something for nothing.
;D

Ban em, ban em all Damian, send em all home without there lunch the little urchins. Then sign em back, sign them all back up and em there lunch back.

jack - i doubt that he is a scouser tbh, he is a liverpool fan!

This crap with L Pool has really opened my eyes up to the idiotic fans that follow them. Some of the idiots have even posted on the Sun's forum....Mind the article in the sister paper (NOW) about barry must have raised some eyes in L Pool proper fan base, Gareth Gareth, Gareth you really are a bit dim. UTV

I find it quite funny that Barry has been bitching about 'Villa have done nothing to keep me, they have offered me nothing new'. Well he keeps saying he only wants to leave for CL football, what is it he expected O'Neill to say... 'ok Mr Creative, we will give the Intertoto a miss this season and swap our place with someone in the CL'. What he basically meant is Villa never offered me 100k a week and a pair of gold leaf boots, laced up for me by Reo-Coker before each match.

ha ha, something for nothing! That's Aston Villa, who have had the player for 10 years and still want an inflated price for him!!
We're in the final throes of this protracted episode. I'll be glad to see it finished. Fact is, there are better players out there for the money, but he's English so we pay more.
Is he better than Xabi?

Let the money grabbing bas---d walk and crawl all the way there. We can abuse him soon enough.

i think it is a well inflated price, considering we LPool only paid 20M for Torres!!

it needs sorting out so that MON can pick up the toys he's thrown out of his pram and concentrate on next seasons campaign!

What a shame this turned out so sour. Villa hero becomes Villa hated. He'll be gone by the end of the week, and that's the end of it. I just hope MON gets to work quick because we just don't have the numbers in the squad - we'll be lucky to field a 5-a-side team at this rate.

I will tell you something about the England manager he doesn't like players who speak out of turn and also one of his big hates is disloyal players - Well Barry comes into both of these.

I know there's a couple of people in this forum that are pro Liverpool but from what I hear Barry really isn't wanted by most people.

On that note though I'm split i would like him to go as it will be a massive move (Backwards) for Barry - But also I'd like MON to teach him a lesson give the captaincy to somebody else make it public b4 Barry hears .... And let him play a few games for the reserves and then sell him. I would just think it fantastic if players are brought down a peg or two.

In regards people saying English players are over-rated I could agree more. We do seem to produce good wingers who I think are the pivot of any team. But apart from that I wouldn't give you much for most of the players out there.

MON - I really would sort your scouting system out and start looking in countries such as Spain, Germany, Eastern Europe and players from Sweden, Norway always seem to do well over here.

As I mentioned before if Villa don't buy anything at the end of this week. I really would be worried as its almost to late with Europe around the corner.

i think thats barry as good as gone. i think we wil take the money that parasitepool an that cockroach benitez hav offered

MON knows what hes doing. I dont know why fans are criticising his transfer decisions... he doesnt just buy for the sake... if there is a player he wants.. he will wait to get him!! he has turned this club around out of nothing and people need to remember that. as for barry, cant believe a legend has turned out this way... i back whoever said id expect his behaviour to come from someone like ashley cole and not him!

I love it, well done MON we dont need to be dictated by these clubs. If Pool want him then they pay the money, this is the same club that rejected portsmouth offer for crouch saying it wasnt enough (double standards i think). Had him or his agent kept there mouth shut it would all be over by now with us taking 15m, He says that its not about money yet he hasnt handed in a transfer request i wonder why? maybe its the money that him and his agent will miss out on. I hope it all falls through and you end up begging for your place back in the team by then it will be to late. Just to go back to the offer side of it in the next week or so we will have to pay WBA 10m for davies should we have paid 6m or 8m, No we paid what it took to get him, also this is the same liverpool that want 10m for carson no room for negotiation as we apperently agreed the fee last summer.

Sorry rant over but it p*sses me off

Can we stop this boring crap related to Gareth Barry, I am sick to death of hearing this every day - (Gareth Barry 13 / 14 / 15m - Gareth Barry traitor - Gareth Barry is disciplined today "so fu~king what?")

I accept that club are currently doing nothing to fuel our imaginations,however we should still be able to focus on something more interesting than a player that we have known will be leaving for the last 10 weeks!!!

F~cking drop it... and while your at it stop talking like a bunch of overgrown kids who believe that Lerner genuinely wishes to invest large sums of money, "when we sell Barry" the net spend will be virtually zero, if anyone missed that it was ZERO!

Apologies if I have offended anyone but I dont believe in ghosts or aliens either, its called managing your own expectations and those who dont understand exactly where I am coming from probably never will.

Barry has spent 10 years keeping a mediocre club aloft. At least have the decency to allow him to move on to pursue his own ambitions. You can't possibly expect more of him than what he has given to Villa already. The reactions from the club and the fans are disgraceful.

I have said all along that Liverpool FC should hang their heads in shame at the way their once proud club has been dragged through the mud by Benitez. His agenda has been to destabilize the greatest threat to their CL position - Aston Villa. He has succeeded. Our squad has lost one of their most influential players, his actions (encouraged by his agent?) have obviously affected others around him. I hope that AVFC have taken legal advice on this. BECAUSE IT STINKS!

Get a grip you sad muppets, Barry serves your club for 10 years, never causes you any grief and then decides he wants to move onto a bigger club and play in the Champions League...please explain how that is disloyal??? Is it any different than your Manager ditching Leicester for Celtic?? No, he just wanted to test himself at a higher level. MON should accept Barry's decision and let the lad leave and start planning for the future. Good luck to GB, no doubt he'll be an asset to LFC and will enjoy playing for a top 4 club.....players only have 1 short career, he has to make the most of it and I think if most of us were in his position we'd do the same.

This would be a poor tactic by MON for two reasons. 1 FIFA have rules against this and the player isn't playing can buy his contract out - 2. He will walk away for 0 at the end of his contract.

15 - 17million is a good fee. Should take a go and buy a couple of good players from aboard. MON knows his players!

MON is not the real deal or is Randy not interested?
I bet we end up with a few third rate or half decent swquad fillers. I will guarantee that MON will not sign anyone who has the potential to take us up the league or into Europe. He does not spend money. Why not?
We apparently have a rich owner?
Wheres the money?
Will Randy not spend or will MON not spend?
Who has the least ambition....Is Randy just in it for the investment or tax purposes or something?
Or is MON the serial underspender?
Over to you guys.........

Loan him to the filth!

Sorry to hear you've been banned from training Gareth, but I've got a bench in my back garden if you want to get in to training for what life will be like for you at Liverpool.

If you were Raffa wouldnt you say well its 15 mil or he can rot in your reseerves.Tables turning in Raffa's favour.

Realist, I'm not criticising Barry or his loyalty. I am criticising the "New Liverpool FC". Like Derek Hatton, they have lost credibility by abandoning all morality. You and fellow supporters should be calling for the heads of the board and management to be stuck on your famous gates.

I am a Liverpool fan (and I am from Liverpool).

I would like to point out to you Villa fans that O'Neill is just the same as Gareth Barry...He looks out for himself and screw everybody else. Hasnt he always followed opportunities when they presented themselves?

While he was manager of Celtic he frequently went to "smaller" clubs in Scotland and took their best players and wasnt apologetic about it all in an interview I saw on Scotsport (I now reside in Scotland).

I would be interested to see if man ure or chelski came along next year and asked O'Neill to join them how he would react.

Its also a fact that O'Neill has twisted every little aspect of this transfer saga and made LFC out to be the bad boys.

Frankly I find O'Neill's behaviour quite laughable. As soon as we made a bid the Birmingham Post had the news even before the Liverpool Echo! So that leak almost certainly came form the Villa end. Then Rafa said he had "been talking to O'Neill" and O'Neill made out Rafa had said more than that.

O'Neill hasnt been slow to state his position and if you Villa fans (honestly) take a second to look at this saga. You'll see all the talk has come from O'Neill. Lierpool's one utterance in public was Rafa's and was then turned into a circus by O'Neill.

At the same time for sure Gareth Barry's interview in the Sunday scum was transparent (and really poor).

But until I see O'Neill refuse to join a "big" club because he wants to stay deliver another European Trophy to the Villa, I wont be applauding O'Neill holding a high moral ground.

His job history isnt one of any greater loyalty than the player he now castigates...WILL MARTIN O'NEILL BE THE ASTON VILLA MANAGER IN TEN YEARS?

I bet not.

At the end of the day I think it's the way Liverpool have gone about trying to get Barry thats p*ssed off the Villa management. I presume this player who has served us so loyally for 10 years apparently (my missus has worked at the same place for 25 years and never even got a bunch of flowers) has still not put in a transfer request. Strange how nobidy else has come in for him though. As for players coming in I am worried and right now feel that next season is going to be a huge anti climax , we need players quality players.

i remember when chelsea were first interested in barry. i dont see why we dont have some talks with chelsea. they might offer more money! :o 8) ;D ;) :D

It turns out there was a third bid. The club have changed the original story published on the official club website - removing comments from the manager and releasing a club statement, contradicting the original statement made by the manager

barrys a tw*t!! he aint no professional, we can abuse him. thought he was loyal not anymore!!

HahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHaha

Small little club Villa can't keep their players..

HahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHahaHaha

Let him buy his own bloody fuel and crawl all the way there.He will soon be back to abuse.

andy5759, my point is GB has served AVFC longer than MON and RL put together and regardless of the price you get for him it will represent a huge profit. I actually think MON has come across as a little childish especially when you consider he did exactly the same thing during his managerial career by moving to Celtic. No one really knows what has gone on behind the scenes but Rafa seems to have the upper hand now, if LFC do not take him, what are you going to do, sit him in the reserves?? Come on, football unfortunately is a commercial business now and all about money.

I can't see what Barry has done wrong. I understand the reaction by people as supporters pledge their loyalty with the same club for life, but this is not true and will never be for players. We all like the idea of a one team players such as Raul, Maldini and Giggs but the truth is that is a dying breed of players and it seems like we tend forget this. We can't expect that a player stays at the same club for the entire career. The talk about Barry being disloyal is bullshit. Barry is no more disloyal than the average player, in fact I'd say he is more loyal than the average player. What I don't understand is Villa fans wanting to see him put on the the reserve team next season and rot. It's Barry's life and it's his ambitions and he has the right to want whatever he desires in his life. If that is to stay at Villa and help his team than that's admirable, if that is to move to Liverpool to play Champions League than that is called ambition which is also an admirable quality. Unlike Villa fans Barry has never promised to stay with Villa with life. In fact you can question the loyalty of Villa fans when they want one of their finest servants to rot. You can argue that Barry has promised to stay the length of his contract, but would it really be anymore loyal to keep on signing one year contracts and then leave for free when he decides it's time to do so. This is simply the nature of the transfer system.

Yes, Barry probably shouldn't have gone public about O'Neill not having talked to him. I can understand his complaint as everyone wants to be recognised and with his position in the club you'd expect that there would be some efforts made to make him stay. If you appreciate something or someone you fight for it, the fact that nothing has been done has probably disappointed Barry a bit. The only thing is that Barry should have kept those feelings private.

Another broader issue of letting players rot on the reserve team is the transfer system. Football is already struggling to maintain the current transfer system, if it were up to the people at EU football players would already be moving freely between clubs, I don't think any of us want that to happen. Letting players who are clearly good enough for more rot on the reserve team would be a very damaging practice as it would only give people who want free movement of players more ammunition. One of the main argument for free movement of players is that footballers should not be denied to perform their job, that is exactly what you're doing by letting a player like Barry rot on the reserve team. It's short sighted and it's not doing football any favours if it becomes practice.

kopite --- cant keep their players?? U f*cking fool, most of us wouldve delivered him ourselves for 17 million even before his idiotic comments. Liverpool scrabbling together pennies to pay this WAY overpriced amount is the real comedy here surely...!

I agree with a previous poster. This situation is a massive shame. He couldve left a legend, still respected by villa fans, but he's ruined all that just because of a handful of stupid, petulant comments.............

Plewsy said: I agree with Darryl! Lerner's got the money but MON aint got the courage

Your a star, the first one to come out and back me up.

I think MON is a bottler. He wont spend the dosh and Villa will go the way of Leicester a bit of short lived glory by a few half rate players playing out of their skin then he realises that it all is going pair shaped and he will scarper. We need to invest, speculate to accumilate. It's not the 1950's Martin it's a scary world of big money, big investment and yes BIG RISK.
Maybe he's worried he cant manage the 'big personalities'. How has he handled the Gareth Barry situation.
HEAD, BUCKET AND SAND.
Come on MON spend Randy's Money.........

What about this for an idea? Barry still playing for the villa and when the pool visit villa park on our second home game he puts a couple of goals past them. Mint! Talk about coming back from Zero to Hero!!!!!! ;) ;)

Small little club Villa can't keep their players..

well kopite...

'Huge' club drivelpool, can't afford our players? Maybe you would like a season loan of barry bannan, you may scrape the funds together for that.

What an amazingly intelligent post from kopite.

If he had something intelligent to say then he would have said it, rather than writing 'haha' over and over again and then attempting to taunt us with the childish remark - 'small little club villa can't keep there players'.

Is that what you say to the villa fans in your school when you're in the playground kopite? What a clever thing to say.

1. Liverpool should never have made their bid public (which they did) because it causes exactly the kind of issues we are now facing (which is probably what they wanted).

2. If Barry wants to go to Liverpool then I'm disappointed but would have accepted it and I'm sure he would have got a decent reception on his return. He has been a decent servant for the club but I do think he should have considered that MON put a lot of faith in him (let's face it he wasn't exactly on fire before MON came!) and helped him regain his England place. I wouldn't go as far to say that he should have remained loyal but he should have had the decent to respect MON for that.

3. Barry should have had his discussions in private with the Manger or RL (and don't tell me that he tried - exactly how hard would it be for him to speak to MON if he really wanted to!!) He has come out publicly because he knows that Liverpool probably won't reach the valuation we have on him and therefore he has to force us to accept. This tactic will probably work (who wants him at VP now??) but it's a cheap one. If for any reason it doesn't happen then he's really shot himself in the foot!!!

4. My heart would say ship him out on Loan or leave him in the reserves but in all honesty I think that hurts us just as much as it would hurt him. If we can get 15m for him then I reckon that's a decent bit of business and we should cash in now. I honestly think that we've had his best days now and after another season I think he'll drift into obscurity.

5. I've said it previously but I really don't think Fabio will be impressed with his behaviour.

6. The stick Barry is getting now is purely because of his unprofessional approach to this transfer. You can say you want to move for CL football and we might get a bit shirty but when you try to twist and turn so as to force your way out then it becomes a sign that you have little care for the club. This will be an unsettling period for the players you leave behind and that's not good for the football club.

7. and Lastly. I think MON has a right to be a bit annoyed. He talked Barry into staying and gave him the captain’s armband. Barry is a decent player but I really don't think he's a good captain and probably wouldn't have been MONs first choice. He has helped him regain his England place and has gotten Villa into 6th place (which would ordinarily give us an automatic place in the UEFA cup). To then be told that you no longer want to play for us is a bit of a kick in the teeth. He has pretty much done what he said he would do and his only thanks is to lambaste him in a national newspaper. Nice one. Let's take the money and end this fiasco. Time will tell who wins!!!

When Villa had a megalomaniac for a chairman, few players wanted to go there, now they have a megalomaniac manager, do the Villa hordes really think other players will sign without thinking twice? GB was never worth the money MON demanded and the deal was never so public till he made it so and kept it so. I hope GB stays with you lot and then has to move for peanuts in January or next summer. That would be a really go lesson taught to Rafa :-D

When Villa had a megalomaniac for a chairman, few players wanted to go there, now they have a megalomaniac manager, do the Villa hordes really think other players will sign without thinking twice? GB was never worth the money MON demanded and the deal was never so public till he made it so and kept it so. I hope GB stays with you lot and then has to move for peanuts in January or next summer. That would be a really go lesson taught to Rafa :-D

Perfectly said, Ghosthunter.

Blame Liverpool, blame Benitez, blame Gerrard

Its obviously planned to destabilize our club and to make GB take the bait.

now blame GB for taking the bait and pushing the move further.

Players come players go but how they go is always gonna make fans hate them or love them. Melberg is loved!

Realist,

You talk rubbish - why should we accept it and sell him at anything less than our asking price. That is £18 million. He is better player than Carrick and he cost £18 million. He is a better player than Alonso and Lpool want £16m for him.

Of course you lpool fans accepted it so well when Gerrad wanted to go to Chelsea - a bigger club that could actually challenge for the title - didnt you? Burning his shirts and apparently making threats to the player as I recall.

Why dont you actually go and support your local club in Bournemouth or wherever you live - cause most of your fans (and I am guessing you) aint from Liverpool. What are you a 1980s glory hunter? - oh yes from the days when you actually challenged for the title!

MON has handled this well. He's dug in because of the tapping up and because he wants to let teams know it won't be easy to prise players (Young, etc.) away from VP while they're under contract.

If Barry had just kept his yap shut, a deal probably would've been done by now. He could've been quiet, and MON would've got the best deal he could, depending on how he felt about doing the deal at all. But the way it's become so public, he's got no choice but to hold his ground.

Barry leaving isn't the issue. That would be "disappointing". It's Rafa's tactics, Barry's big mouth, and MON not wanting to lose the other players he's building the team around.

I also meant to say, what's the best tactic for keeping a stranglehold on CL football, and thus the money and the players? Buy the most important players from the teams pressing behind you.

CL places mean being able to offer something no other teams can. Staying in those spots is everything to those teams. MON is standing behind his stated desire to challenge and not surrender.

Are you completly insane, even if barry stays he will be playing and improving our club, he will not be rotting in the reserves.

you need to stop your childish hatred of Barry because it beging to get pathetic!

okay he came out and did and interview he shouldnt of but oh well, he is by far one of the best footballers at villa park and we need to keep these players, not be trying to sell them for a good price as you always seem to be stating.

Barry is at the prime of his career and he wants to be playing champions league football, fair enough. so stop getting on his back and if he stays, support him like none of this ever happened

Pay what Villa want for their best player, deal done!

Liverpool have killed what credibility Barry had left at this club(Villa). He has been great player for Villa and I think he deserves a bigger & better than Liverpool, but deep down I wish he was still passionate about still playing for Villa.

Liverpool are a great club but leaving on past glories, I'm not having a go at scousers because I find them to be infectious people (good personalities). What Liverpool fans should be asking themselves, are we ever going to win the league again or do we settle for a good run in the Champions League, I think this is starting to dawn on Rafa. Liverpool can't buy from the big three because they won't sell & the nearest rivals to Liverpool are Everton, Villa & Spurs. Everton won't sell to their closest rivals so lets get Villa's best player and Spurs best striker (Keane). Torres is a great striker but lets see after next season what he has done, this guy is going to be a marked man.

Dan_villa4life - It'd be great if we could pretend none of this happened but it has and it will affect the dressing room if he stays. How would you like being kept out of a team by someone who has so openly criticised the Manager and has made it clear he doesn't want to be there - this kind of stuff starts to eat away at the dressing room spirit which affects performances on the pitch.

This is one of the reason MON is so careful about the type of characters he recruits. There is no doubt in my mind that MON will be right p****d off that someone he put a lot of trust in has upset the apple cart!!

Better stadium ('new anfield' if it gets built will make villa park look like a championship stadium)

Better manager (2 champions league finals 1 win, fa cup win, carling cup final, super cup win, league positions over 4 years 5th,3rd,3rd,4th)

Better players all round (possible england captain in gerrard, probably THE best striker in the world at the moment)

Champions league football

Premiership title aspirations (rather over confident but hey LFC are always talked about putting a challenge in, dont think it will happen like.)

Whats wrong with a player wanting to move to a club boasting these attributes?

I will add my little bit.
18 mil for an almost 28 year old player is a bit mad ( but that is how football is going). Both parties have gone at bit mad on this. Steven G has chased G.Barry & has had alot to do with this. MON has lost the plot & has done his bit in the past at Celtic. If Man U lost Fergie & asked MON to take his place I know where he whould go & then he will start taking your players. GB has done a good job at Villa & its a sad day when a player wants to move on but it happens ( M.Owen at Liverpool when he left. We was not too happy about that but it happens). Don't give the guy a hard time & he has done well for your club ( Not all players are like MATTHEW LE TISSIER). We have Alonso who is a very good player & we don't really need GB. But what Stevie G wants & he will get. I would take the money & move on. Players come & go but your club will still be there.

Anyway good luck this season.

He isn't Mr. Quiet, loyal and model pro we all thought eh?

"If i had a gun, I'd shoot him"

Is it me or is it getting really boring!

How can that dirty brummie scouse Riccardo say 'New Anfield' will make Villa Park look like a championship ground!!!!

Thats the biggest joke all year! Anfield is a championship ground mate! Villa have one of the best grounds in the PL and one of the biggest!

You know you're just jealous!!

About time some of the reds posting on here think back to when Gerrard nearly left to Chelski.. You think he stayed through loyalty?? No, it's because the local liverpool mafia threathened his family.

REALIST, your'e right, football is now all about money. Although I would have hoped for some of clubs' top personnel to behave a bit better than [i]BOTH[/i] sides in this drama.

I can't remember how MON's departure from Leicester was handled by either club or by MON, so I cannot comment. I am sure that if Man U wanted to talk to MON about becoming their manager they would "go through channels". Something which appears not to have happened here. Whilst I have the utmost respect for the achievements of Liverpool FC there has been an apparent lack of gentlemanly behaviour from your club. Sure, I will agree with the above remarks about MON's naivety, but that is a distraction from the question; has Liverpool/it's agents/it's players tappped up Barry? I believe there's a case to answer.

As for Gareth, I cannot blame him for wanting to progress in his career. His recent statements do look a little rash. Was he advised by his agent? Was he encouraged by his "close friend" Steven Gerard? Ok, so he wanted to force MON's hand, dangerous game to play.

If Liverpool walk away now they will have succeeded in putting the "cat among the pigeons" at VP. Such a scenario would suggest to an observer that this was the main aim all along, hence my hope that AVFC's lawyers are looking at the whole sorry mess.

Kipite

Small club Liverpool can't afford our players

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

As a bystander - firstly I believe it was a newspaper that publicised Liverpool's interest in GB and this followed certain conversations between MON & RB.
You cannot blame GB's desire to seek CL football or to want to play fora top 4 side. He's 28 now, and let's be honest, AV are not likely to be able to provide this for him before it's too late.
Since the original leak both clubs have done things correctly (proper private faxing of affers, rejections etc.) You cannot blame MON for trying to get the best price he can, but now to publicly dicipline GB the way he has is playing right into Liverpool's hands. What will he do now if RB says 'no that's too much money. Thanks but no thanks.' (and £18M is a huge amount for a 28 year old anyway) AV will then have an unhappy 'star' player who has not trained, possibly not even considered for 1st team selection who in 12 months can buy out his contract for about £2.5M.
Crazy move by MON.

No its not Logical Fan. Buying out a contract is not straight forward. There are loads of legal implications and punitive sanctions, such as a possible 2 year transfer ban for the club the player goes to. That's why players don't do it. If it was that easy players would be doing it all the time. There has yet to be a test case in England and its obvious that Barry and his advisors are not up to being the first to test this.
Also no matter what way you look at it Barry broke Villa rules and his contract by giving that interview and his punishment, given the circumstances, is wholly and substantially appropriate.
And even if we don't sell him then we're not selling one our best players to, and therefore strengthening, a team we are competing with.
But in fairness MON is generally somewhat crazy. :D

The Liverpool Beanpole Slouch sorry Couch has now been sold to gulible Portsmouth for 10 pounds or was that 10 million..So Rifa should now have a deposit to put down on Villa's ex Captain Garreth Barry!

Gareth has brought all this upon himself...He was idolised at Villa and could have become a total legend at the club. But No!

He had his head turned, whilst playing for England and with the encouragement of his International colleague Gerrard; his Agent; and possibly some of his outside friends; whisperings from Liverpool's boosters in our National Media no doubt, has decided to turn his back on Aston Villa and Martin O'Neill. A man who put his faith in him to help guide our club back to glory - even made him club captain and thereby helped him to resurrect his faltering International career.

And as if his desire to abandon us wasn't enough of an insult. He then has the cheek to suggest that the club have done absolutely nothing to persuade him to change his mind this Summer...Ha!

Who is this guy trying to kid? He'd probably already made up his mind to leave well before his mini-tour with England and had let the club know this. On his return from Trinidad he reiterated his desire to leave and play for Liverpool once more.

I suspect his Agent who was probably getting a tad anxious a couple of weeks ago that Liverpool might pull out of doing a deal, suggested to his client that he try and push things along a little more publically to stir the pot and make his position even more clear.

Well their calculated move has back-fired. And he is now paying the price for such foolishness...

Barry can leave us now. But it won't be with the warm blessings and grateful understanding that accompanied Olof Mellberg's graceful exit at the end of last season.

Barry has let all the fans down BIG TIME here at Villa and he really ought to understand this. His desired departure to one of our main EPL rivals on the eve of another very important season at the Villa is a huge kick in the teeth for the club. He's saying in effect, that Aston Villa arn't good enough for him and we can never, in the short term at least, match his ambitions... A very sad indictment on us is that kind of judgement from our former hero...

Villa's asking price is immaterial insofar as I really care by the way. (it should have been higher in my book) The £18m is merely a marker; a benchmark figure to test Liverpool's resolve and to properly compensate Villa for the loss of one of our best players...