Could this be the best bit of football stage management ever?
Thursday, 28 June 07, 02:52 AM · Comments (38)
There's a degree of panic in these pages. Angel, Samuel, McCann, Hughes, Hendrie and Djemba-Djemba are all (effectively) out. Media reports suggest that Mellberg may be on his way to City, Ridgewell (God help him) to Blues, Cahill on loan to West Brom and Davis to Middlesbrough.
So you'd think the panic was justified, wouldn't you, with only a sniff of a signing so far and the words "Aston Villa" loudly absent from most rumour pages?
And with all that unrest, Martin O'Neill has been spending a couple of weeks drinking Planters Punch on a Barbadian beach.
Sack the board. Not...
As Damian hints in his previous article, the trickle of players out of Bodymoor Heath doesn't hint at incompetence or financial desperation. It shows us that what we have dreamed of all along is about to happen.
Villa have proved themselves a well-led and well-managed club since Lerner took the reins. Nothing has changed since the last season ended, and - given that the board have kept all their promises to date - the promises of "significant transfer funds" and "exciting signings" are - in my view - likely to materialise.
I strongly suspect that Martin O'Neill has had pre-contract agreements in place with a number of players for many weeks, thus earning himself his holiday. I also applaud the professionalism and confidentiality Villa have shown in keeping absolute hush over their transfer activities. It builds almost intolerable suspense for us, but it keeps the competition out and it keeps prices down.
Lerner, Fitzgerald and O'Neill are no "klutzes". We wouldn't be seeing the drain of players out of Villa Park unless robust, exciting and realisable plans are already in place to rebuild fast. O'Neill is known to want to have his new squad together as a whole, or as near as dammit, for pre-season training. I still think that will happen.
The reason the player drain is so exciting is that if you follow my logic above, we are fast approaching a point where Villa are going to unveil a whole bunch of very big signings in one go, throwing down a gauntlet to Curbishley, Moyes, Allardyce, Jol and Eriksson and sending shock waves through English football. I read the silence that way - the deeper and longer the silence, the greater and louder the impact of the noise that is going to break it.
Sleep soundly. Great people are in charge, with great vision and the talent, experience and means to make it a reality.
One day soon, we are going to work floating on air.
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38 Comments · Add yours
i think youre right ... and i also think that when these signings are announced my heads going to blow up from excitement ... good stratergy ;D
Totally agree with what you say and very much looking forward to one or two (ten) new arrivals sometime in the near future. Well done the board and MON for not blowing the trumpets before things are established. ;)
On the money.
Let the Lion sleep a few more weeks...:)
there is logic in there some where but i agree think we will see signings this week ;)
Come on the Villa..... how exciting is this, I think Im going to burst!!
Don't know why but I get a funny feeling we will hear some news today.
be great to see a press conference tommorrow with the lineup on the table being
wright-phillips - sneijder - owen - o'neil - reo-coker - carson - lahm
:) happy days!!
100% agree, may the floating day come soon !
(not impatient, just very curious and excited)
Totally argee, we have let two keepers go and it sounds like the two have left are not safe. We must have replacements set up as you can't go into the new season with only two keepers.
im still a bit worried,when was the last time you saw a club sign 4 or 5 players on the bounce,but hopefully it will be us!
I hope you are right !!!! ;D
O'Neil, You dont mean gary O'Neil do you? If you do he is definatly the odd one out in that list
Great article!
I'm so excited!!!!! C'mon!!!!!
I somewhat agree with the original comment. The players going out are no great loss, especially the likes of Djemba x2 and Hendrie as they rarely pulled on a villa shirt last season. I know O'Neill isn't daft, because to let players go without much-improved replacements would be suicidal but we do need about 5 top class players to firstly fill the gaps but also to improve the team.
I doubt we'll see 4 or 5 signings at once. May be a few by this weekend and a few more next week.
Personally, I'd like to see the likes of Reo-Coker, Sneijder, Lahm, and Boruc signing on the dotted line!!
Don't think we should be selling any omore players though.
Indeed MON likes to keep his transfers in the hush, and it works too.
The only player we've been linked with where inflation has gathered was NRC, and that's been dismissed, saying that West Ham only want 8mil and that the 12mil report was utter bullshit.
MON is back at work and he told the Villa site "The signings will come. We are looking to strenghten the squad in the next month and we want to be in a postition where we can challange"
Hope that means four or five players in the next few weeks and top 6 finish.
Here is the link to the MON interview
LINK
A quote from MON on Teamtalk.... "We are looking to strengthen the squad in the next month "
So sounds like nothing soon!
:( :( :(
tomorrow is in the next month. as is monday and tuesday of next week
i tink doc is spot on; this is all staged
Your right.....
That means signings in 2 days - I can wait that long!
:)
The suspense is killing me! I know we're going to add some quality but just how much is the question.
I'll be waiting too pop the bubbly next week as i celebrate the 1st Birthday of the New Aston Villa.
;D
I'm even more excited now. I expect new arrivals will start flowing into Villa Park in the next week. Don't be surprised to see Davis and Ridgewell to also move on but I wouldn't be surprised if Villa shocked a few people across the football world by pulling off a few transfer coups that will fire Villa back where they belong- competing with Europe's top clubs. I'm talking about the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Ryan Babel, Philip Lahm etc. The rumours of tomorrow's press conference has me really excited. I'm seriously contemplating sitting in front of my TV all day so that I don't miss a thing. Wouldn't it be great if the press conference took place and Villa announced the signings of Reo-Coker, Sneijder, Lahm, D Bent (I'd be delighted but looks like he's joining Spurs) Boruc, de Jong, Defoe/Nugent/Bellamy (not sure myself, you take your pick) and maybe even Michael Owen. Do you know what, I actually wouldn't be that surprised if something similar did happen.
My God I'm excited !!!!!
calm down jimmy ... you're getting me wound up now ;D
I've passed the point of excitement.
Anyone got any kleenex? ;)
I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas!!!
UP THE VILLA!!!
tomorrow's press conference will be the release of the new kit and no signings!
I hope i'm wrong and we see at least 2 quality players 2moro. Even if we don't Martin will have it all under control.
Jimmy D, dont bother that wont be happening, ofcourse we'll be signing players but not the ones your mentionned and no press conference with mass signings!
Would like to commment on Doc, im sure MON has players lined up but after his statement today im not so sure, why would he say the fans have nothing to worry about etc if things were going to happen any day now?? "Floating on air" i dont think so, Doc mate im sure even you dont believe that! But above all, i hope that you are right and i am wrong, UTV
Okay maybe I am getting a bit carried away. A press conference tomorrow announcing the signings of 3 or 4 top quality players is maybe a bit unrealistic but I still expect us to sign some great players in the next couple of weeks.Rick Eight, if there is a press conference tomorrow I don't think it will be the release of the new kit because [url]avfc.co.uk[/url]announced that it will be released in July.
Im told SWP will sign on next week :)
Look what you've started Doc.
i dont know whether i could handle all of the excitment in one go. i think it will be better for my old ticker for the signings to come in stages!!!! Oh F**K it, i cant think of a better way to go, well maybee with a 50 note hanging out of my nose in between two brass with a 32 EE cup!
Direct yeah!!!!
A little birdie told me that a few signings have already happend, but their going to be anocced when the new kit is unvaled ;)
Reo-coker and shaun write phillips to sign Monday, this is genuine inside info, not fat bloke down the pub!!! up the Villa, top 5 this season.... common
It better be Darren because the prospect of that double swoop has got me really excited! I also think the chance of signing Philip Lahm from Bayern Munich could be realistic, this rumour surprised at first when I heard the link but his name keeps popping up so maybe it's true- Would be a superb signing. Villa to sign de Jong, Sneijder and Gordon as well!
hope it doesn't stop there, need a striker, keeper and need to replace the crap at the back we have just sold, hope davis doesn't leave, he is a quality bench player!!!!
Excitement, yes! I cannot rememeber the last time I was so excited about our team. Yes we all want new signings, but all agreed MON is no muppet. I cannot believe England passed him on the National job, National loss, personal club gain!Definitely want at least 4 quality signings, so want Sneijder, dont you just love www. youtube.com with LINK and all just in 2006.
Am in Oz, so don' get to see all, is Koumas any good?
Nobody should worry we are just getting rid of some fringe players to make way for the big signings no disrespect to Mccan and co. I think MON is thinking about what players we need and fairplay to him not going for random players but we need a few defenders,midfielders and maybe a striker or cover for sorensen. Deco would fit nicely into our squad and this is the calibre of player we should be getting.
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