Martin O'Neill will sign some players, eventually

Chris

I think the worry is, that we've lost so many already and a lot of the talk is about more players leaving.

Add to that, that Martin O'Neill is going to be a pundit on the BBC for Euro 08, then you've got to start wondering when is he going to have the time?

Our first competitive game is a little over 6 weeks away and while I don't know when pre-season starts, you've got to fancy that it is in 3 or 4 weeks.

But, again, it's where we finish next season that counts - as long as it is better than this one, then we can have no complaints.

But I love your optimism!

Damian mate, you sure MON is punditing with the BBC??
we;ve had it then, the only good thing is that he will be watching all the top players at euro 2008, but knowing he cant sign any cos he aint got the cash!!
i think we'll spend 15 million net max this summer, that is not significant at all! even teams in the bottom half of the premiership will spend that

[url=LINK]is says so here[/url]

may only be a game or two .. but well .. it'll be a game or tow where he's not doing nay business - unless he's trying to get shearer to pull on a shirt again

i hope can get ian wright to convince his son to sign for us!!

Does no one else see him being at Euro 2008 as a good thing? He will be there waching the players taht he wants and will surely be first in line to speak to them as he is where the players are!

Smart move if you ask me! Go to where the players are for the summer instead of waiting for them to get back!

I dont think there will be any major transfers until the Euros have finished. Surly MON has realised that theres a good chance Barry will go, its a case of who will replace him. He must have thought about this already I hope? I would be sad to see Barry go, but if some one such as Bentley or Downing were bough, along with a few other additions I'd be happier. It would be nice just to know that we have bid for players like Bentley just to give fans an idea that Villa re trying to get the 'big names' and not trying to do things on the cheap like the Ellis days.

Didn't Schwarzer go to Fulham?

Trouble is although the Euros are good for spotting talent prices rocket, most importantly who`ll replace Barrry?!! Get the hammer back :) he didn`t want to leave anyway, not going to happen though :( :)

Get the hammer?!?!? You mean the same one who couldn't make a tackle to save his life and scored a spectacular goal once in every 10-15 matches. No thanks leave him at Stuttgart, a team Villa would probably beat 8-0 if we played thme tomo they are that bad now.

First off - nobody can deny that MoN has done a great job so far - jumping 10 places in two seasons. Why then do so many off us have huge questions and doubts as to where villa are going? For the 'In MoN we have blind faith' brigade - here are some issues that cause anxiety.

Last season we had the smallest squad in the league - 6 of those players have gone allready, so we need numbers. MoN has continually spoke of the need to add quality and numbers. When exactly is this going to happen?

The club is forever sending out messages reeking of positivity and all the signings that will come, for two years we have listened and believed despite all evidence to the contrary - well now is the time to put money on the table.

Villa have a huge reliance on three or four players - if we lost them for any amount of time last season - well the consequences could have been dire as we have absolutely NO back up.

We finished sixth last year, a great achievement, and now the common consensus is that we will push on for forth. It will be 50 times harder to make the jump than what we have done so far and unfortunately 50 times more probable that we will drop a few places. Why - because there are about 8 clubs in the exact same position as us......Standing still is going backwards.....Spurs, Pompey, Everton and Man City are going out and showing that they want the top four - have we done that, except soundbites from our media spin department.

Time - its been three weeks since the season ended and six till pre-seaon begins. With the european championships - players wont be able to sign etc - so when exactly are we going to sign some players?

And then some fans we get delighted when we are linked with anybody.....'I know he cant make the birmingham team but he had a good season 12 years ago for norwich and is a typical MoN signing' Typical MoN signing - english and cant get into our competitors teams.

we didnt need a blog post to tell us this info!! it comes up everyother day in the forum. lol

I'm as relaxed as can be this Summer.
To me, i don't think we need that many players to kick on.
We need one, maybe two real quality players and about 4 back-up players. We just got into what would be a European place (apart from the two times we finish at 6th) with the smallest squad in the League. All we need is some more cover for the injuries and some quality in positions (right back, goalkeeper). We have changed our formation to 4-3-1-2 so we don't need a right winger. We have Young as a free role behind the front two and it worked to perfection in all but the Wigan game.

So, no panic from me. The only time i'll even think about 'this summer is a disaster' is September 1st if we have signed 2 players and it's Stephen Carr and Paulo Wanchope.

schwarzer moved to fulham not bolton u plank! even ma nan would no that! N to think u run a blog site!

Villasimmo said:
Didn't Schwarzer go to Fulham?

Yes, sorry don't know why I put that.

nicely put dizzy mugs, no panic at all from me either. MON isn't choosy about his signings he knows exactly what hes doing. He will definitely get the best deal for the club.

If (a big if) barry goes, MON will cause a crater in the bank balance of liverpool, not that we need cash anyway. I have a feeling that mon will make barry stay for the remainder 2 years, like it or lump it style.

Anyone else think we should have a cheeky bid for bentley if/when hughes moves to man city? signing bentley would be a great statement to other players and clubs of our intentions

I agree with the whole sentiments of the post, but i think damian is right! Our first competetive game is on 17th july or summat and usually managers like to have new additions by then!

But i think Villa fans are worried because we all know how quick time is going at the moment and we're all worried that tomorrow is August 31st and we're going into the season with a smaller squad than last season!

I must admit, i am one of those people! Because i know what needs to be done and i'm desperate for us to do well! And i don't want any reason to have to slate MON!

MON over Aus and Switz is a good thing i spose, running the rule over some players!

I suppose i'm just impatient! But i have faith in MON! And im sure the players will come!

Assuming Barry goes and there is a mish-mash of cash/players as MON put it - who do we get in return? Finnan, Benayoun £10m will do it for me. With the £10 (plus I guess £20m allocated for summer sales) I hope to see the club fulfill the spin and get the following;

GK - Juskalinen (cant spell), and Robinson = £3m
CB - Dunne £4m
RB - Hoyte £3m
LB - Shorey £3m
CM - Schweinsteiger £5m
RM - Wright Philips £8m
CF - Doyle £4m

we will sign players. mon isnt naive enough to let the summer go by without any activity. it is frustratin more then worryin

olof the other reindeer - Schweinsteiger £5m ? You must be joking ! try 3 times that amount

First things first, get the Curtis Davies deal done!
Sign's of a great player last season so it would be a disaster to loose him to somebody else now. Im not sure what the situation is with him at the moment but im sure now the baggies are back up they'd love him back and now they've completed the Moore deal no reason for them not to be cheeky or other top teams trying to nick him from under our noses.

If Schweinsteiger came in people would forget all about Barry next season he's a smart, tough tackling and prolific goal scoring midfielder, come on Martin "i'd love it if we got him" (in best Kevin Keegan voice)

Its pointless waiting after Euro 2008 to get in players who will be playing in this competition, one thing is if they do well at least 5mill is stuck straight onto there fee. Spurs done the right thing in getting Modric before the competition.

The problem signing players in June is that they are either at Euro 2008 or on holiday. I think this June will have the lowest number of transfers. Things will move in July and especially August. No need to start worrying until mid/end July.

Truth is, no foreign player playing will sign till after the euros as it may increase their stock. All the English players are now on holiday so it will have to be a case of talking to agents for a few more weeks yet.
On the brighter side as Barry was the captain for the second half against T&T that makes him the current captain until the next match, and as such that's gotta put an extra 5 mill on his price tag, so 20 mill for the current captain of England would not be overpricing him.
No player is bigger than the club, if Barry is going to go then for gods sake lets screw some fu*@er for a good price.
The clock is ticking!!!

Yes, no need to panic. MON doing the BBC might be a canny move, increasing his profile. I saw the other day that some young Bosnian had declined a move to Villa, preferring a deal with Lyon and CL football, I think. So, I do think there are things going on. It seems MON is trying to get top-quality players, but he's running into that CL barrier. I do think it's easier for non-CL teams like Tottenham to make a splash since they're in London. Everton and Man City might also have a glow from having CL rivals in the same city. Birmingham might just be a tough sell in combination with no CL...

And, it might also be the case that the UEFA qualification could need to be resolved successfully first. Most of the top players will be worried about their int'l careers. One hopes they'll feel UEFA will give them enough to maintain their Int'l places.

These are the few players Villa should be looking to sign this summerand how much we should be prepared to spend:
Deigo (Werder Bremen) - Attacking Midfielder - £20 million
Van Der Vaart (HSV)- Attacking Midfielder - £18 million
Doyle (Reading) - Striker - £7 million
Nelson (Benfica) - Right Back - £8 million
Farfan (PSV) - Attacking Midfielder / Striker - £14 million
Uche (Getafe) - Striker - £8 million
Gudjohnsen (Barcelona) - Striker - £14 million
Milner (Newcastle) - Right Midfield - £6 million
Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)- Left Midfield - £12 million
Brad Guzan (Chivas USA) - Goalkeeper - £2 million
Joe Hart (Manchester City) - Goalkeeper - £8 million

And finally i would like to say that Stuart Taylor is a brillaint goalkeeper and should be Villa's No'1 and Wilfred bouma is a legend! oh yh, n com'on lads lets get behind Gareth Baryy and keep our best player at the club!!!

Have some faith in Randy and MoN guys...They'll sort it out...Up the Villa!!!

O come on everybody the optimism is making me sick. It'll be same old, same old at villa park this summer. Dreaming of players that would not sign for us is not healthy and years of nearly there and oh my god what if were relegated has left me cynical enough to suggest Ellis sold to a man who really won't spend big just as a last laugh at villa fnas that criticised his policies.
There will be rumours galore and none will come to fruition, so get on and enjoy your summer before another season of heartbreak.

Martin O Neill has got to catch up on numbers from last season never mind this season

He get's rid of players like theres no 2moro surely when ur in a situation such as our's with very very low numbers surely keeping some of the dead wood players is worth it

He talks about a small squad and has the chance AGAIN to sign some players so get signing them martin makeing everyone wait till the last minute of transfer deadline day is no good for anyone espcialy when you miss out on the players half the time

Less talk more signing should be the moto the way these players are going out he is going to need to sign at least 15 players

And no doubt we will see about 4 signings wow

the signings will come.

they can't play for nearly 2 months anyway, so who cares when they come?!?!?

Whilst up to now, I have had total faith in MON, because the fact that we have improved doesn't lie, I feel that he [b]has[/b] to produce in this transfer window. It really wouldn't surprise me if what the pessimists are saying comes true, though.
If we don't do some very good business in this window (quality and quantity, that has been harped on about), I think it will be the last straw for many Villa fans. My personal opinion is that fans will begin to think that it's not that MON can't spend, it's that we don't have any money.
Given the charity announcement, i doubt that's the case.

I think we'll be ok

i want more quality players sooner rather than later too. i also hope we,ve saved a nice little treasure chest to get these players as its gonna take at least 50- 100 million to better last seasons finish. but whatever happens i have 100% faith in those chaps running the club. ps if gerrard wants to play with barry so much perhaps he should demand a move to villa