Bill Howell with an exclusive star signing: Marlon Harewood

3.7m for a boot washer - becuase thats all I would put him up for a the 'new' villa!

I wasn't over the moon with NRC and this certainly would lower my hopes for the forthcoming season...

faith is all but gone :(

if this happens i'll be shocked. harewood is a championship striker. hes not going to fire us into europe

let him have his 20 games but it will just prove it was a mistake

I just read this myself, im not sure to be honest, but would give him a chance before I slag him off as I haven't seen him play much.
Before everyone jumps on this article, we need to remember until we see him holding a Villa shirt it is not 100% gona happen. Apparently (if you read 95% of the tosh on the tinternet) there have been a handful of players at our training ground recently?? They might not happen either!!
I think this player might be useful, not the world class players we would like to see, but in all fairness we've got to walk before we can run, and we need european football for that. If Carew gets injured, Harewood can come in to cover, as physically wise he is similar. And as he isn't world class, and isn't going to be snapped up by the top 4, he will be happier to bide his time on the bench and take his chance when it comes. Can you see Defoe happy to sit out whild Gabby or Luke start in front of him? Probably not!!

20 odd games is half the season - it will be too late then if he only gets 2 or 3 goals like he did last season!

european hopefulls need big squads ....... he is a good big strong striker who would fit in nicely for games like derby at home and when carew needs a break.

he is fast and powerful and adds to the squad, dont think for one minute he will be in our starting line up. He will definately do a job as a great back up

This is a disgrace, we havent waited all summer for this, this is a typical Ellis signing and i thought he'd gone!

The reason I renewed my season ticket was to be able to see quality exciting signings next season, unfortunately harewood doesn't fit into that category. Although I suppose we will need to give him a chance but he will only be a squad player. I wish we was going after better quality. 3 goals in 30 odd games last season? Surely that wouldnt get us into europe.

I'd like to think I trust MON, but don't fancy NRC or Harewood - the dury is out

His goal scoring record is very poor i just dont get why martin would be buying such a poor striker.

Sorry but have to agree with most on here, if this is the kind of signing we can expect from here on in, then things really dont change at villa at all, dont want him in the slightest and I pray to god that this really is just a rumour!! Come on MON we really are trying to keep the faith in you and the new board but with this kind of signing (if it happens) its gonna be really hard!

I can't believe it. World class signings my arse.

25,000 season ticket holders have been made to look stupid.

what bout the season beffore last where he a pretty good goalscorer and look where west ham got!!!
an FA cup final ain't bad!!
lets give him achance i ain't pleased if we do get him, but why criticise before he's played!!!

last season was abismal for west ham because the tevez saga, and it would of knocked him back, also a good thing is NRC will have a mate so he'll settle even quicker!!!

so its not all bad news!!!

Jesus tap dancing Christ where are the world class signings we were promised?

There's a reason Harewood's so cheap.

Please God MON don't do it

World class signings my arse.
25,000 (to Be) season ticket holders have just had the piss taken out of them. I'm gutted.
Nothing ever changes we just buy our players from the West Hams & Leicester's of this world.

Just read this on sky sports. Im trying to be optimistic but Harewood wouldnt get a kick in a stampede. Im away off to look for a lenght of rope and an exposed rafter in the barn :(

I am sorry but this is an appalling signing. He does not improve the squad and is at a lower quality than we already have. I would view him as a reserve striker only. I am now seriously concerned about our future signings.
The only thing I can say is that MON has a habbit of getting the best out of players, but if he can turn this donkey into a stallion then sign him up for SHREK 4!

this story is now reported on sky sports website aswel, im not impressed. its not exactly showing were looking to be chellengers next season with sighnings like this, i just hope its not true, we can do much better than marlon harewood. one min were rumoured to b after to defoe which is a big signing and the next its harewood, whats going on!!!!

Please, Please, Please, No!!!!!!

You have got to be kidding me, i saw an article recently saying how we shouldn't sign Defoe because of how bad his finishing is, Harewood makes Defoe look like Ian Wright!!!

Having a West Ham fan as a best mate I have seen him play a few times and he is awful, Ok he's big and strong, but that's it.

Even if we are trying to increase our squad we need better than this, we need players who are good enough to push for a starting place not bench warmers.

I may well be proved wrong, but, i'll be very disappointed if we are linked to players like Bellamy and Defoe and end up with Harewood.

This is supposed to be our season, we were gonna do something big this summer, so far, Pompey have made us look stupid.

Ouch, that hurt to say, but feel either Bellamy, Nugent or Utaka would of been a step forward not backwards.

Oh my GOD! Its on Sky Sports News now too..... NOOOOoooooooo!

anyone remem september 13 2005!!!!

harewood scores hat-trick against villa, as west ham beat us 4-0!!!

Well I visibly blanched seeing this on NewsNow; but I think it would be too easy to start kicking off over this signing (if and when it happens)when we don't know what else is round the corner. Given the choice I'd rather not see him in a Villa shirt, especially at the reported price, but then it depends on the bigger picture come kick-off time. On it's own with the chequebook shut afterwards is a move more Ellis than Ellis itself; but 3.5m worth of fifth-choice back up cover is reassuring enough - to lose an ageing Chris Sutton and getting Harewood is not the worst thing in the world...I think :'(

As a WH Supporter and follower of all things claret and blue (not ashamed to admit a secret admirer of some of the Villa teams over the years), Marlon would be good for you. I liked him, he always gave 150%, never complained, always got penalized for being big and fast against lightweight defenders by referees and always just picked himself up and got on with it and apart from his dry patch last year always scored in double figures. You've got the best manager in England and he'll bring out the best in him.

NRC could go 2 ways, he's either going to carry on the prima donna act in which case Martin O'Neil will eventually lose patience with him or he'll knuckle under and realize he's got an opportunity to iron out the wrinkles, improve on to another level, and become a consistent performer. I hope it's the latter, we need someone to challenge the 4 at the top and England need RC to become quality. The fact that he hasn't slagged off WH (when it is easy to do at the moment and he could have) is a good indication. The only consoling factor if he takes the first route is that if Martin O'Neil can't get him to knuckle down, then no one can! Good luck!

the baby bentleys are slowly relocating to villa park- what next, mullins, ferdinand, and cole. i hope you do sign mullins and cole!!

on a more serious note, i'll give you a bit of info on harewood from a season ticket holder. 'vicehead' is a confidence player, who can score shiteloads if high on confidence. he is strong like an ox, and can cause defences many problems with his speed and strength. however, his commitment to the cause can be uestioned, not chasing after balls that he could make, etc. he is of poor intellenge also, and when low on confidence, cannot finish to save his life. give him a snapshot he will score, give him one on one with the keeper with 20 yards of space and he will miss as he has too much time to think!

With Angel and Sutton now gone we only have Carew with any real physical presence up front at the moment. IF Harewood were to sign (and that is IF) it would be as Carew's understudy, and i think that we could do a lot worse that him.
I remember being very underwhelmed when we picked Sutton up last year, but after watching he do his part for the team I realised just why MON had brought him in. We keep moaning that MON's let lots of players go and is leaving our squad very thin. Now he looks like he might be adding a player to our squad that will be coming in pretty-much knowing that he's back-up for Carew and some of you have all of a sudden lost complete hope in MON and his judgement!?

IF this signing does come off then let's give him a go. There will be several more signings to come too, we can be sure of that!

IM SICK OF ALL THE NEGATIVE VILLA FANS!

YES YOU BUY GREAT PLAYERS WHO ARE IN YOUR STARTING 11 ... BUT IF ONE GETS INJURED THEN YOU NEED A LESSER PLAYER TO COME IN AND DO A JOB WHO KNOWS THAT THEIR PLACE IN THE TEAM IS A BACKUP BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD AS THE STARTING 11.

WE NEED A SQUAD ASWELL AS A GOOD STARTING LINE UP AND WE AINT GONA GET THAT IF WE DONT BUY BACKUP PLAYERS ASWELL.

SURELY PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND THAT? AND IF U CANT SO WHAT, MARTIN O'NEILL KNOWS MORE THAN ALL YOU WHINGERS

Yeah, we all remember that game, a 100 year old could of scored against us that day

Amazing! looks like we (west ham) are going to trouser £10m for two players surplus to requirement at WHU ...both fine physical players with plenty of gas but both with appalling first touches and no vision when it comes to passing... marlon is the type of guy who will have a purple patch now and then, when the ball will go in really bad. NRC a good tackler - if the crowd gets behind him and the manager loves him but otherwise..watch out..good luck and thanks for the cash!

whats going on guy's, can't be true!!!!!!!!!!!!!! keep the faith

@ Claridge - OK, so show us the QUALITY SIGNINGS!!!!

Its fine buying backup players... But dont we need a strong 11 first..!! We need the team fixed first before we start buying cover..

another donkey probably worse that emile, gabby and carew need not worry yet

Whats the point in having a big squad if all the players are average..?

I have only seen him play the once, Last season when we beat WHU 1-0. They only looked like scoring after he came on and he put us under real pressure. If he can do the same for us he might be a decent signing but it does smack of desperation.

Are you stupid?

We are trying to progress, that means better players not more reserves, if our 1st 11 wasn't good enough last year the same 11 aint gonna be good enough this year.

Claridge - your point is very valid but i would have preferred to buy a decent striker like Defoe/Bellamy/Nugent who has a realistic chance of pushing into the starting 11 and maybe then one of our existing strikers would become the backup. I really feel that we need a striker thats going to bang in more than 15 goals a season in order for to push up the table. With regards Harewood, i really hope im proven wrong about his ability to do a job for Villa but my gut tells otherwise

i have to agree and say i think MH would not be that bad and he did pull us apart when they beat us 4-0! he is strong and will fight and there will be games when we need to get stuck in and i would rather a lesser player giving 100% fight than a 15m player hiding!!! give him a chance if it happens. i would still rather yakubu!!

Oh dear....I bet O'dreary is having a right laugh.

If we are gonna go for experience i would sooner bring Folwer to Villa as a squad player than bring another West Ham reject.
If we are looking for Carews partner why are we not in for Owen...thats a chance i think most Villans would like to take.

Come on MON!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Its on the official site.......we are in talks with him!!!!

its official!!!

oh well!! lets wait and see if he performs!!!

anyways we have one of the smallest squads in the prem, so we do need numbers!!!

Being a Hammer fan´and being a MON fan I seriously think that MON will get the best out of Harewood and he will improve dramatically. Don´t slag him off just yet because he will certainly do a job for you, his pace is incredible and his strength second to none.

I´ll eat my PC if MON doesn´t get him going and scoring goals. A good buy for Villa

anyone fancy heinze from man u?

I bet Nike feel great knowing there world class designs will probably be unveiled tomorrow with the 'not' so world class Marlon Harewood.

why are we buyin west ham rejects when we are a bigger and better team that west ham, by the looks of things its gonna be west ham challengin for europe this season not us with these sort of signings

Why are we looking at another quick striker? Gabby, Moore, Young and Carew are all quick, OK Carew takes a bit longer to get into full stride but all have pace.

Where is the clever little goal hanger that can steal a yard and finish accurately?? We desparately need a striker who will convert chances not spurn them

in my head i keep thinking NOOOOOOOO!!! what are we doing!!but come to think of it would not be so bad!Carew cant play every game and in some games were going to need 2 get physical!!! imagine big john n marlon gettin stuck into the blues back line!! bring it on. we still need a quick poacher to go with carew but marlon wud'nt be that bad

Gutted!!! As has been mentioned by a few of you guys before, NRC didn't enthrall me at all but i've come to live with him and the idea of him as our combative midfielder has grown on me...especially when you consider the net spend on him is 3.5m (5m for mc cant and davis). However im drawing the line here at Harewood and im laughing at all you displaying this blind faith that hes being signed up as a backup striker...no hes not. Get into our heads villains, all we're gettin is same old same old.

The amount of comments that have been asking how we let bellamy slip thru the net is laughable too, had avfc signed craig bellamy i'd end my association with the club - fact. the man is a disgrace.

all this talk of wesley sneijder, royston drenthe, kim kallstrom, jermain defoe, shaun wright phillips - dont kid yourselves - count yourselves lucky we didnt get koumas to add to these world class signings weve made.

pathetic randy

I can't believe that MON would be so blind or stupid to sign the donkey that is Marlon. What a waste.
How different is this to the Doug Ellis Era? Promise of big signings, fans shell out for season tickets and then fans are let down? Looks like the promise of World Class players was bait to draw us in and now that they have us hook line and sinker we are left high and dry..............
Please MON if you have one ounce of decency in you, then leave this donkey to Wigan

ALL YOU NON BELIEVERS, I KNOW ITS HARD AFTER THE YEARS OF HURT, BUT MON IS ONE OF THE, IF NOT THE MOST, INTELLIGENT MEN IN FOOTBALL.......

HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING AND MORE PLAYERS WILL COME, ANYWAY IF HAREWOOD PLAYS FOR THE VILLA LIKE HE DOES ON FOOTBALL MANAGER 2007 FOR ME I WILL BE HAPPY!!!!! 21 GOALS THIS SEASON ;) ;) ;)

I HAVE COMPLETE BLIND FAITH IN YER MON.....DOESNT EVERYONE???

WE HAVE THE BEST MANAGER, THE BEST MOST CARING OWNERS, NEW STATE OF THE ART TRAING FACILITIES.......

ALL THIS IN 1 YEAR ISNT EVERYONE BEING GREEDY AND UNREALISTIC TO WANT ALL WORLD CLASS PLAYERS STRAIGHT AWAY ESPECIALLY AS WE ARE NOT IN EUROPE....

HE IS STREGNTHENING THE SQUAD WITH HAREWOOD, BRINGING IN A BACKUP PROVEN PERMIERSHIP GOALSCORER.....WE HAVE CAREW, MOORE, GABBY, MALONEY ALL OF WHOM I AM HAPPY WITH PLAYING IN THE PREMIERSHIP, HAREWOOD CAN ONLY STRENGTHEN THAT.......

EVERYONE WHO THINKS WE SHOULD SPEND SILLY MONEY ON A STYRIKER IS INSANE, AGREED I WOULD PREFER DEFOE, BUT IF THE LAD DONT WANT TO LEAVE WHAT CAN YOU DO......

Tell me I didn't buy a season ticket just to see players like Marlon Harewood? I want a refund >:(

i dont understand why you are all moaning for he will be a great addition to the squad hes strong got pace and can score goals for us. He may not be world class but we will not be signiing defoe which could be the reason we are going for harewood. He nearly scores against us every game he plays against us. When west ham got promoted he score 20 goals in his first season. Nigel reo coker is not a reject he was west hams captain and found out if he wanteed to be in the england squad he would have to move to a better club. You are moaning that we haveent signed anyone and we are signing a decent player who is not over priced and your still moaning you dont get satisfied easily do you. Harewood 4 villa. Cummon you villa boyz!

if we're trying to improve, then why to we keep getting players from a team mired in a relegation battle last year?

Harewood In Talks

HarewoodVilla have been given permission to speak to West Ham striker Marlon Harewood as Martin O'Neill continues efforts to bolster the squad.

The 28-year-old visited Villa's new £13million Bodymoor Heath training complex today.

And O'Neill told www.avfc.co.uk: "We've been given the go ahead to speak to the player and we'll take it from there."

Harewood has scored 47 goals in 123 league starts since joining West Ham from Nottingham Forest in November 2003.

He scored 16 goals as the Hammers returned to the top-flight two years ago - scoring four against Villa, including an Upton Park hat-trick.


from official site

its now on the official site, jesus wept it looks to be true, eskey plyed for oneil at leicester, he must love donkeys!! losing the faith now, happy with a top 10 finish the way things are going, forget europe for another year >:(

lol another so called world class signings lol

He's obviously a replacement for Angel, as backup for Carew. There are other positions that need strengthening more than centre forward. Luke Moore is back and he will be our natural goalscorer next season - just wait and see.

I'm much rather get someone like Harewood on the cheap as backup, rather than spend £10-15 million on a potential dud.

Lets keep the money for a quality keeper, defender and midfielder. This is smart business by MON.

In all honesty, I can't see what the problem is, he's a big strong lad, who can hold the ball up. The fee is nothing in comparison to most transfers and we're not buying him as a star striker, the intention will be to have someone to replace Carew should he pick up an injury, because we need someone with strength. Everyone was all for Sutton coming to Villa to do a similar job at an older age. What's the point in slating someone without giving them a chance in a good young squad and under a fantastic manager, everyone is so negative about the lack of signings, you have to take into account that Villa aren't going to be able to attract huge name stars at this moment in time, because we can't [b]promise[/b] European Football. We'll see what happens, with it all, knowing the Villa it'll amount to nothing, but if it all goes through then I for one welcome him. Instead of in 6 months time being one of the hypocrites who didn't want him here now telling me how great he is. Stay positive, when you're getting frustrated, just be glad we don't have Steve Bruce in charge, works for me.
Andy.

Let me guess the next world class signing or so called world class signing will be muzzy izzet or emile heskey or maybe

Don't lose faith. I must admit that Harewood is not the player I have in mind when i'm clicking on newsnow 50 times a day, but rest assured that this is 100% MON's choice, and I sincerely doubt it has been influenced by a lack of budget.

I think many of us (myself included) are suffering post traumatic stress from the Ellis regime. MON gets the best out of big men (Heskey, Sutton..) and this move, as baffling as it may seem initially, works to convince me that he has a master plan in place. Look at the bigger picture. MON and the board are well aware of fan expectations, and that we are spending 4 million on a man who is clearly going to be second choice should be seen as a gesture that the manager has a clear idea of what he wants to do tactically, which is refreshing.

I am hoping that this is simply a matter of awkward timing, as one of MON's lesser targets just happened to be on the verge of signing for someone else, cue the rush to sign him up. This makes me think. If Wigan have been the active pursuers of Harewood up till now, MON must have been busy working on something else, the results of which I have faith will be pretty special.

In a round about way I would rather see news of Harewood signing now than Defoe or SWP, as that may indicate that we have very little idea who MON's top priorities are. Fingers crossed.

It didtn take long for the negativity to sneak back among the Villa-fans. Why all the negativity? All this moaning is making me sick, and is quite frankly pathetic. Give the man a chance, and as PaulIE said, Id rather sign Harewood at a relativly low price and use the money to buy defenders and midfielders. Luke Moore will deliever the goals. Bring in an attacking right back to feed Carew (and Harewood). This club was a wreck when the takeover took place. You cant expect MON/Lerner to make Villa a CL-club after one season. Harewood is a decent replacement for Sutton/Angel. And besides, who is to say that Villa wont sign another striker in addition to Harewood?

Some considerable time ago, the new owners told us that we would be signing world class players.
This is the reason why so many of us are feeling disappointed at the kind of players being linked with Villa ie Harewood, Gardner etc. especially when we see our rivals picking up such quality (Babel, Utaka etc)that we could easily afford.
Someone on this thread said that we're all behaving like kids who don't like the present they had for Christmas. Well, if your mom and dad promised you a brand new bike and you ended up with an Action Man, you would have every right to feel a bit pissed off !
If indeed Harewood is being brought as back up then so be it, but where is the quality that we were promised to go with it? Then again, why would Marlon want to join us as back up when he'd probably start most games for Wigan?
I hinted the other day that the people at AVFC probably read these posts. I hope they do because they would see that most of us are getting a little dispondent and if Harewood were to read them, he'd probably want to stay away anyway !
I really do hope we won't be let down and we get the kind of players that will set Villa Park alight this coming season.
UP THE VILLA

AV33 does the transfer window close tomorrow then????

or does it close before our TWO DAY tour of america.

stop bein such a baby and get behind your team. you sound like a spolit little kid

Claridge...i probably do sound like a spoilt kid. Just like most of the other people on here today who feel disappointed with the lack of activity.
I wrote the other day that MON clearly stated that he wanted the squad together for the tour and i voiced my concerns that if we wait until the Milan game to unveil new players (as someone suggested), the team would have no time to gel before the start of the season proper. Surely, you wouldn't argue with that?
If you're happy with numbers down to -7 from last year when we were thin on the ground anyway and happy with adding the likes Gardner and Harewood, i can only suggest that you are a little easily pleased !
I mean no disrespect but I was just trying to get the point across that we were promised world class...and world class we ain't even rumoured with.
I really do hope matters are in hand though and hope that we're being kept in the dark for good reasons.
UP THE VILLA

I just think it is too hard to keep things quiet these days and, therefore, we have nothing in the immediate pipeline. I like some of the articles on here saying lerner and o'neil have something up their sleeves. I do not believe that they could keep it quiet if they do. Surely the clubs we are buying the players from would not want to keep news of the sale of players from their own fans ? A nice thought but I think we are still a long way away from our 'class signings'.

when were we promised world class?????????

id rather us sign him than gardner anytime so its not at all a bad signing for us...

bt tbh im a bit jealous of other clubs..
i mean look at pompey, surely we cud signed dave nugent for 6 mill..but why didnt MON signed him?!?!
or man city, they signed Rolando Bianchi...



:'( :'([quote][/quote] :'( :'( :'( :'(

"why are we buyin west ham rejects when we are a bigger and better team that west ham, by the looks of things its gonna be west ham challengin for europe this season not us with these sort of signings"

LINK

According to the the latest Deloitte football rich list West Ham are currently the 19th richest club in the world.

As it only does the top 20 I can't tell you where Villa are...[u][/u][u][/u]

I don't think it was so much 'world class' but rather 'quality signings'.

To my recollection, Richard Fitzgerald is the only man to mention 'world class' players.

Harewood is not to bad of a player, but we was never promised world class palyers. Lets just hope Martin will start putting his money where his mouth is and get spending!!! ;)

I do have to say to AV33... when were we promised world class players? I don't remember being promised that, I certainly don't remember being 'promised' anything.

Anyway, I've found it difficult to make up my mind about Harewood. He didn't have the best of seasons last season, but the season before that he was pretty immense (remember the hat trick he scored against us?), so he's certainly got the ability. I don't think it's possible to make a judgement of him based on last season because when the whole team is underperforming it's much, much harder to score goals as a striker. It's an interesting one really, he could be awful, but then again he could surprise everyone, re-discover his form and score 20 goals. I wouldn't mind seeing him come to be honest, he's yet to hit his prime so who knows - could be a steal at under 4m.

Perhaps we should ask for 20 mil to do up a delapadated old pub and go and by sm 1 instead.We tend to spend more money on property assosiated with the club rather than players.

imagine you are a defender and you have carew and harewood running at you 30 stone of muscle i would be scared
marlon harewood is an athlete and is capable of getting us goals
3.7 mil is not that much nowadays my only concern is that he is 28 least we are signing somebody

I do apologise for getting the term "world class" mixed up with "top class". It seems we're really splitting hairs today but to me it amounts to the same meaning. I'm sure most people knew what i meant and i am not the only person to be thinking like this. Just look at some of the other posts on this site and others.

Madarab...I think that you were right regarding the origin

MAY 8 - Birmingham Mail
"VILLA chief executive Richard FitzGerald believes the opening of the club's new training ground signifies real intent of the club's ambition.
And he promised some "top class" players are expected to arrive at Villa this summer."

I am sorry that my post upset one or two but i'm only voicing a genuine concern and don't think i deserve to be slated for it.
Sorry lads, i'll try to be a bit more up beat.

UP THE VILLA

Well he can score in the PL as he proved the season before last. Is he the type of player to take Villa foward? I dont think so but at £3.7M that is not a huge mistake and i think he can score goals for us. If the rest of the signings hopefully coming im not too bothered about this but if this is a indicator of the quality of player who is going to be coming to VP then i am abit worried.

I wouldnt pay anything over £4M for him and even that is a bit expensive. Like people have said its not a done deal and if he does come at least give him a chance. WHU must love us picking up all the players they want to get rid of.

I can't describe the thoughts that flashed through my mind when i was sat on the bus on my way home from work tonight flicking through the days football headlines on my phone. "Villa In Talks With Harewood" If Martin is looking for backup surely there are better players but as other people have said Martin is a very intelligant man and at the end of the day we're all 100% Villa so although i'm far from happy with Harewood we must give him a chance. Let's keep the faith and pray we still sign a Defoe or Owen.
Up The Villa

I've just read the thread above this on the home page and had a little chuckle. The thread is called "World class signings are coming, i know because we've been told they are".
The phrase "world class" is used on several occasions by different members. I wondered where i'd got the term from !!
Anyway, i'm trying to be positive now so let's draw a line under who said what and when and concentrate on what's important...our beloved AVFC.
UP THE VILLA

when randy took over the villa he talked about a 5 year plan to get us to the top level, not a one year plan. 05/06 we finished 16th and only stayed up because of how bad blues and sunderland were, but we still never attemted to improve under ellis. that all changed with lerner, we signed petrov and almost milner and defoe aswell. 4 months later we signed another 3 players plus bardsley on loan. now because we haven't signed wesley sneijder or riquelme etc. people are complaining, finishing 11th wont sign you the best players around, but it gets you a little closer. people saying we signed a west ham reject in reo coker dont know what they are talking about, he was the captain for gods sake. we are improving, just not in one season but in 5. keep the faith......holte enders in the sky...

Defoe??? So when did we sign him?

Harewood would be a good signing. he may score about 10 to 15 goals for us, but don't forgett we don't know the true calibre of Carew yet, he may come out and score 15 or more.

well i dont think this is a way forward for villa. if were signing a player from west ham that they dont need they must be aiming alot higher than us. :(

I've now sat back and thought about this for a few hours and can only draw the same conclusion that in my opinion harewood is not good enough to wear the villa jersey, but this is only my opinion and not the most important persons, MON. MON has always been a fan of at least 1 big target man and if he is a back up for carew then so be it, but i've also just seen that everton are prepared to let beattie go for £4m, again just my opinion but i'd rather have him as back up.

At the end of the day folks we have to keep faith with the new regime and the 5 year plan as miracles aren't going to happen overnight and if perhaps defoe has said no then we have our 2 nippy strikers in gabby and luke, so now if we do sign harewood that is the frontline covered so lets just wait and see who we get in for the rest of the team, maybe a couple of world class players in those areas?? Heres hoping!!

UP THE VILLA

Nice one Jammer...ain't you just a little bit worried though? ;)

Must admit i do have my concerns, but still trying to look on the brightside at the moment!!! Actually i did swear quite a few times when i heard the news, but like i've said now i've calmed down i do believe we have quite possibly two 20 goal a season strikers already at the club in gabby and luke who with the right service will reach these kinds of targets. Now i think that if we could sign 2 midfielders like swp and kim kallstrom who can provide this service then we could well be on the way.

I think Harewood would be a good signing. He can score goals and is a strong centre forward - along with someone like Luke Moore, Agbonlahor or Ashley Young upfront it could be a good pairing. He'll also add some good depth to the squad.

OUR TRANSFER BUDGET WAS BELIEVED TO BE 30 MIL SO NOW THAT WE HAVE SOLD PLAYERS LIKE DAVIS,HUGHES,AND SMILER PLUS WE HAVE HAD RECORD SHIRT AND SEASON TICKET SALES DOES THAT MEAN WE WILL HAVE MORE MONEY TO SPEND ON SOME QUALITY SIGNINGS

ALSO I THINK OUR DEFENCE IS A BIT LAME SURELY WE CAN'T RELY ON MARTIN LAURSEN WHO HAS PLAYED AS LITTLE FOOTBALL FOR US AS BOSKO BALABAN AND DELANEY WILL ONLY PLAY A HANDFUL OF GAMES BEFORE HE IS INJURED AGAIN

AND CAN WE HANDLE ANOTHER GAME AGAINST THE BLUES WITH SHAKEY SORENSEN IN GOAL

Hammers fan here, i feel that if you sign harewood, it will be one of the bargins of the year! He will garantee you goals, and a change of club is just what he needs! Problem is if he gets off to a bad start, you may have to wait for a while to get your moneys worth!

We often call him Marline, as he often pussies out of challenges that he should go into, and often doesnt run down what he should. May i also comment that he is one of the most fustrating players you can get! Also Reo Coker is the most overated player in the whole of the Premier League, 8.5mill YOU MUGS!

youve chnaged ya tune Damo!

LINK

Not so sure about Harewood myself but the fact of the matter is we have lost half our squad and need to sign a few fringe players. Maybe harewoods not the answer but lets not get hung up on signing the best players in europe, we also need a few lesser players who can do a job when needed. Reckon we'll sign SWP and Young, add a quality CB and maybe a keeper and im happy enough. Europe this year then the bigger players will come!

Stop moaning! We could finish top 10 with the squad we've got now. What some of you dont understand is that we cant automatically bring in TOP CLASS players. If there are top players out on the market, BIGGER clubs are also interested in the player. Luckily we have MON and he can attract the likes of Petrov, Malloney, and all the other quality signings we've made. I for one believe Ashley Young will be one of the top players in the league in years to come. I really believe we have 5 players that are capable of scoring 10 goals. Barry, Gabby, Carew for 15, Luke Moore, and Ashley Young. With that quality finish to the season, I know all villa supporters are pumped up and roaring to go. So are the players. The morale is superb on the traning ground and the US tour will really prove to be vital as it will build great chemistry for the lads. We just need a few more bodies for the moment. Personally, I think Marlon would be a great addition. I know for a fact he is a terrific worker and a fantastic person to have in the dressing room. MON is a magical man. He's got everything together. So, stop thinking you know more than MON. He'll take us to Europe. Just show some patience.

West Ham Sam it wasnt that long ago ur club was trying to buy bent for 18.5million now whos the MUGS u MUG

Weswt Ham fan here, I posted a couple of weeks ago regarding NRC, wishing you well with him. Once again I wish you well with Marlon. Like NRC he had a poor season last year but I can honestly say that he gives 100% in every game, unlike NRC who goes missing in games when you have to get stuck in. I was pleased to see NRC go, purely because he had given up on west ham & just wasn't trying, but to be honest I'll miss old pee-head. Good luck Marlon

at SSAMMY
not really changed my mind. i said something like i'd take some convincing and i think at £3.7mn. i can be convinced if after 20 games he's done the job ... £3.7mn is nothing these days and martin o'neill got the best out of hesley at leicester somaybe he can do the same with marlon at villa ...

Harewood might not be the classy striker you all wanted, but we don't need one, we just need a cover-striker, and Harewood is the perfect one. He's strong, he's a poacher and he has the ability to power through defences. Definetly going to change some games round next season if he signs on the dotted lines. Good luck to the lad.

Personally I don't mind this signing, Harewood is certainly a big boy and would definitely be good cover/competition for Carew. Given the choice I'd take Harewood for 3.7m over Defoe for 10m. Defoe is, in my opinion, not as good as Gabby and Moore anyway - just look at the composure shown by both Gabby & Moore in 1 on 1 situations - Defoe always seems to fluff those!

Relax everybody, this is all about context. As he is (likely) only our second signing we are all a bit concerned, but there will be plenty more to come. If we were looking at him after having made 5 or so quality signings then we'd be more than happy to say lets chuck him into the squad to bully a few bluenose defenders!!

Looking forward to the kit launch . . .trying to get my head around what a "major media event" really means. Not sure it will be a new signing but must be more than just the kit launch!!

i am rather concerned about this!!!
not about harewood to much but about players rejecting us to stay at ther cubs where there no longer wanted or go to other clubs that are supposidley smalle than us!!
such as-

bellamy- rather go to west ham than join us.

nugent- rather join portsmouth than join us.

defoe- would rather stay at tottenham where he is the 4th choice striker behind - berbatov , keane , bent , than come to us.

owen- rather stay at newcastle than come to villa.

bent- coudlnt meet the askin price of this proven goalscorer even though he garentees at least 20 goals a season if fit, and with decent service from, barry , young , carew's flicks, and petrov if he lives up to expectations, as well as maloney.

that goes for all of the srtikers i have listed.

then the best we can prize away from a club is marlon harewood!!!
to be honest i would actually count on milan baros taking more chances than this guy!!! cover yes, first choice or even first 16 no and seriously doubt it!!!

UP THE VILLA!!!!!!

also we say he is a big strong lad with pace, but ecaxlty the same was said about baros, and baros even had the golden boot at euro 2004 to his name, and was a first choice czech republic international, and played in the champions league final, and played for liverpool, and scored some spectacular goals, and was known as the maradona of czech republic in his home town!!!

i cant bare to think what the people of marlon harewoods home town sompares him 2 - maradonna NO WAY....

more likely to emile heskey!!!

so all that was said about baros when he camed to us, and look how excited we where then look how it turned out!!! so if a plyer like that cant do it, what makes all you other villa fans beleive 4 goal-a-season last season marlon harewood will do any where near what he did!!!

think about it villanns!!!!!!!

UP THE VILLA :(

Jesse, there has been no official word that we were even interested in Bellamy, Nugent etc.. so how can you say they would rather have gone elsewhere than to Villa Park?

Calm down!

everyone new that MON was interested in those strikers, as he has always said he was a big admirer of defoe, keane , bellamy and nugent, but still they chose pomepey or west ham over us!!!

so to amke it worse west ham beat us to bellamy, so they need to get rid of a striker so they said, guess what why dont we sell this 4 goal a season striker for 4m- to villa, seenin as ballamy would rather come here, we will send are cast off to them!!!

dissapointed not of any of the strikers in the previos message i posted even wanted to sign.

no fear however, the prolific marlon harewood [heskey wannabe] will save us!!! I DONT THINK SO!!!

UP THE VILLA!!!!!

Who is everyone? I don't remember reading anything but denials about those players from MON. The rest has been paper talk.

No-one has touted Harewood has being our saviour but you. I swear some of the people who post on here are about 12.