Silvestre, Barry isn't isn't isn't going to Liverpool and the UEFA Cup

A little off point and not the most authoritative source, I dare say, but a bit of negative news from the De La Red direction

LINK

I think the obvious reason for Silvestre comingin on a season loan is that MON doesn'tt feel the need for a replacement. Bouma and O'Halloran are injured but will return.

Obviously this means that we need someone in there now and Silvestre would be a good stop gap and nothing more. He is 30 but has loads of experience.

I also suspect he wouldn't want to move permanently at the moment because he is due a testimonial and we know how much players prize the money raised by testimonials...

One question I haven't seen answered is if Barry stays, and it is an if, will he still be captain?

but some fooking players oneill!!!!! I am gettin seriously peed off with him.

Most Liverpool fans do not want Gareth Barry! Im sick of hearing about him. Hopefully he will sustain an injury that will rule him out until September 1st so no deal can even be concluded. It is the most boring transfer story in HISTORY. Barry is an excellent player but our money needs to be better spent on other areas of the team.

The reason he wont sign Silvestre is he's only got 1 year left on his contract. If Silvestre completes his last year he will get a testimonial has he will have been at united for 10 years. If Oneil can get him on a seasons loan, he can go back at the end of the loan and get his testimonial, then if he likes it and villa like him, they can sign him on a free.

I think its a good bit of negotiating from Oneil, as or Barry he made the choice with Oneil and his agent that if the deal was not done by 5pm wednesday that would be it.

If he wants to still go he should put in a transfer request and show that he's got a bit of a spine in doing so.

I hope barry stays woulfeman but i dont think he shud be captain,I personnaly wud like to see martin laursen as club captain.

I think the term you're looking for is Ockham's Razor.

Robbie - you're spot on (although did just have to do a Google search), but what is the most obvious reason why we're not spending loads of money on players??

Forget about the PR ... what's the most obvious reason?

I think you know where I'm coming from ...

Woulfeman - spot on. It's all well and good spending £5m on Nicky Shorey, but what happens when Bouma is back to full fitness? No half decent player is going to want to come to us and play for 6 months before turning into second fiddle, so a loan deal is the perfect solution. Personally I reckon getting Silvestre would be a great deal.

Am i the only person who actually thought that Bouma wasn't that great of a player? He was solid in a tackle but he must have been one of the worst Dutch players ever with the ball at his feet. Would much rather Shorey delivering good crosses into the box for Carew rather then watching the ball hit the first defender like it did most times with Bouma.

Damien,
Sorry you've lost me on

"Robbie - you're spot on (although did just have to do a Google search), but what is the most obvious reason why we're not spending loads of money on players??

Forget about the PR ... what's the most obvious reason?

I think you know where I'm coming from ..."

It's the obvious reason why we are not spending money bit.

Sorry to be a thicko but please tell.

ak27

You are not alone ... but after that horror tackle, people are feeling the love for Bouma at the moment.

I must admit I'd have Bouma in my team every week for his defensive skills, but like you suggest, it would be nice for a little more attacking flair.

I'm not entirely sure what I would really want but I like the idea of having both options.

Ok, wild stab in the dark here, is it:
A: He has someone lined up
B: Bouma is to have a miracle cure
C: We really have bugger all money and are on a budget
;)

what you have to rememember Silvestre his a top class centre half aswell as left back.

Thats if he his still has good has he was, it was not long ago until he was injured and the emergence of evra that he was playing every week for united.

i know i am seeing this from the south of france where i live but i think that mon and our chairman are playing a clever brinkmanship game
i still think that the barry deal is on
however remember that the deal has rissen from under 10 to 19 mil
at this price i feel it is good business and we are now very much in control - change from our leaving stars to 'larger' clubs in the past
i see a hint of the teaching of brian clough in mons harder attitudes
what do you think
ted

Damian you keep banging on about your opinion that MON hasn't got the money. It's your opinion and it can't be proved otherwise until much is spent. I concede that. But to say it's the most obvious conclusion is flawed and also pointless.

Consider the facts.

1. It may be obvious to you - not others myself included. The obvious reason to me is that he can't find a player fitting his long term profile.

2. MON has said he has the financial backing he needs.

3. The club have said the finance is there.

4. The club have demonstrated that they are prepared to pay over the odds when required - NRC, Young, Davies - but ONLY on players with LONG TERM potential.

5. Lerner has proven liquidity of assets.

6. Finally this isn't a fact but everything I have seen to date suggests Lerner has a long term plan to increase the capacity of VP and be playing Champions League Football in front of big crowds.

This is MON's third season of a five year plan. Unlike many managers before him it actually seems that he has the stability and backing to carry out such a plan without worrying about the short term flak he is going to get from people like you who think any club can sign any player and build teams without any regard for the dynamics of man management and motivation.

Holte1970

If we're not spending money it's because we don't have any.

I'm not saying O'Neill doesn't have a few quid to spend this summer, I'm sure he does, but it's not huge amounts.

If Lerner was here to make Aston Villa great again he'd be spending the money and he wouldn't need some former marine General running round the forums building his PR and putting everything on the manager.

Actions speak louder than words ... we need to spend at least £80mn. this summer - only because we didn't spend £15mn. last January, £20mn. more last summer and £10mn. more the January before that.

AVMark

I don't mean to sound rude but all I'm doing is bastardising someone elses theory ...

[url]LINK[/url]

but you've got to dismiss the pr and spin

[quote] The reason he wont sign Silvestre is he's only got 1 year left on his contract. If Silvestre completes his last year he will get a testimonial has he will have been at united for 10 years. If Oneil can get him on a seasons loan, he can go back at the end of the loan and get his testimonial, then if he likes it and villa like him, they can sign him on a free.

I think its a good bit of negotiating from Oneil, as or Barry he made the choice with Oneil and his agent that if the deal was not done by 5pm wednesday that would be it.

If he wants to still go he should put in a transfer request and show that he's got a bit of a spine in doing so.[/quote]

That's why he's going for a [b]LOAN[/b] deal :)

would anyone be happy with
justin hoyte
shorey
david odonkor
jefferson farfan

Mon has never really been a big spender in the transfer market...

But, I believe he has spent so much time wrapped up in the GB saga that he probably hasn't had much time to do anything else (besides finding time to be a pundit during the Euro's)...

Most probably pick up a few free transfers nearing the end of the current transfer window...

Occam's razor is not simply about looking for the most obvious solution, it's about arriving at an explanation of an event that requires the least amount of assumptions.

The only clear cut evidence available to us is our expenditure, which has been comparatively low. The explanation that requires the least amount of assumptions is that we don’t have the money to spend.

MON prefers a bargain; MON doesn’t like getting big egos to destabilise the mood in the camp; MON is wary of big money flops – these are all assumptions.

MON hasn’t spent a lot of money – that is a fact. And [i]if[/i] Occam’s razor is to hold, it is because it is not available to be spent.

How fucking retarded is that muppet O´Neill?!? Geez, you must be proud

I think the obdvious reason is because MON is looking for a Bouma clone.Good defenively,prone to clumsiness and can't really offer much going forward.Plus if Bouma shaved his head they'd look the same too.
Silvestre would be a good temporary replacement for Bouma, but wouldn't really be much of a step forward would it?...

Who was the last wing back we had with a bit of pace and style?

Can someone please help me out, Gareth Barry has 2 years left on his contract. Someone said to me that although he is contracted for 2 years to play for the club he can leave for free next year, 1 year before his contract is up.

Is this correct? Why?

Falco, do us all a favor, go pull your bottom lip over your head and SWALLOW :)

the_flabster - he can buy himself out of the remaining year of his contract and sign for someone on the free >:(

AV Mark - Lerner may have liquidity but he certainly hasn't shown it at the Villa. We have a major problem that either we can't spend (see Randy) or we won't spend (see O Neill). The bottom line is we aren't going to be troubling the top 6 on a regular basis, if at all. I think it's time to accept we've been had again. Reminds me of when Doug sold Platt to Bari and told us how great he was cos he negotiated 2 friendlies instead of an extra 500K! If we only want mid table then fine lets keep things how they are, but I would like a lot more than that and so would most others. As long as we all keep droning on "keep the faith", "In MON we trust" etc... the club will just take the money the same as they always have. 5 year plan - Silvestre, Finnan it's a piss take. Is Mark Viduka available???

Like someone said earlier MON his building a team, he doesnt need to rush out and buy and to be honest i think hes looking for good young players like davies, sidwell and reo coker who will be the future of this club.

Everyone was moaning he spent to much on Ashley Young but look at him now, infact MON has spent a lot on young players, when Alex Ferguson took over Man Utd it took him a few seasons before he got it right, and he never went out buying players just because people think he should, he made his own purchases and now look at them.

I think what Oneil is looking at his having the majority of his squad in 2 years time being between 24 and 30 and all playing at the top of there game, then we will see how good MON HIS.

@ Flabster

It's only if he buys out the remainder of his contract.
Technically he goes on a free but the club actually recieves the equivelent to what is left on his contract

the_ flabster; A player over the age of 28 on on a contract of 4 years or over can buy out their contract in the last year. Therefore it would be possible for Barry to buy out his contract for 2.5million pounds in 12 months time or leave for free in 2 years

Damien

You may recall but me and thee have discussed this "cash" subject before.

My opinion is that MON would not have joined AV if there was not a substantial amount of cash in the kitty to spend.

MON is a winner and 5th or 6th in the Prem is not going to turn him on. We all know to break into the "magical" top 4 you have to spend serious dosh and obviously MON is no exception to this given criteria.

MON will also have his personal career path pencilled in. He needs to succeed big time with AV to pursue his own ambitions which hopefully includes international football and MUFC! (say in 7-8 years time).

If now there is no cash and Mr RL has told porkies to MON then MON would be away from AV quicker than Gabby can run 100 yards!

So if you consider this scenario why has not MON not spent the money?

I think AVMark and myself are on the same lines.

MON is improving the quality of the side in stages. He has not taken the Harry Rednapp route (thank god).

MON has now been quoted as saying that AV can now offer UEFA football that foreign players find important. (Have you noticed that he has only been quoted on this point since we managed to get into the InterToto).

Perhaps now we may see a few quality players from the continent.

The buying out your contract thing is funny as barry signed a new contract in august 2006 and im sure as he was under the age of 28 he has to be 3 years into his contract before he can activate the buying out of his contract.

Barry signed his contract on august the 17th 2006 and i think he has to wait 14 days after, so the earliest he could give noctice is the 17th of august 2009, then you would have 14 days so he still wouldnt be signing for anyone until january 2010 at the earliest

hogie 1
Id take Farfan.Odonker would be the pick of the others but id sooner go for someone like SWP or Dario Srna in that position, though it would be good to see a race between Odonker and Agbonlahor.
I'd love to see us take Kranjcar for CM from Pompey though.
kaboul
Silvestre
Miguel
Kranjcar/Lucho Gonzales
Srna
D.bent

Its not just because of the horror tackle that we feel the love for Bouma, we feel sorry for him yeah but you must remember, Bouma had 38 games in the league last year, you could count the times he wasn't his usual dependable self on one hand! Ok he's not the quickest, he's not Ashley Cole neither. But how many times have we had to admit he's had a bit of a 'mare? ]

He's solid, dependable, consistant and a good defender, which is his job. And as long as the attacking threat is coming from other areas of the team then i'm happy!

Silvestre would be good as a cheeky loan signing! He's not bad! He's managed to cut it at United for the best part of 10 years!

Last post typo error

Should read
"includes international football and NOT MUFC! (say in 7-8 years time).

It seems more obvious that he doesn't need to buy a player for that position, he already has it covered, so a loan makes the most sense.
I don't buy this no money story, MON is not the type to keep his mouth shut, no way would he take the flack for Lerner withholding funds.
I don't care what Ockham's machII has told him, you are taking theories off a guy who talks to his shaver! remember a theory is just that, a theory.

philbob88 he (bouma) also the first point of most attacks as the ball more often then not is played to the FB as they are generally free to recieve a pass. I agree with you on bouma's consistency but he was in my mind the main culpret for hoofing long missles up to the front 2 because he just wasn't good enough on the ball. You will never make it beyond 5th with players like that in your team as you can't afford to give the ball away so often.

Holte1970 how can you say anything negative about the way Rednapp is managing Pompy? They were in the relegation zone when he took over and last year they won the FA cup and beat us twice. If we were to put both first 11 down on paper and pick the best 11 palyers i would have 7 or 8 pompy player on the team with only 3 Villa player making it.

Bloody hell Damian! Occam's Razor? Credit mate.

I believe the truth to be somewhere close to what AVMark suggested. Silvestre is like a Friedel, in that MON knows he can fill a gap competently and probably be a great character to have around the club come European games and for the younger players.

Seing that Silvestre can also play a multitude of roles, it wouldn't surprise me if Shorey is also in the picture.

It does seem like De La Red has turned down our advances though. Bugger. I only hope MON has a short list of 2 or 3 of his type of player to aim for.

Someone should get that razor and cut through this negative nonsense...

I'm with Holte1970 and AVMark - I believe the reasons why the squad has not yet increased are not money related.

1. Bentley didn't come because he's a Spurs fan - he said as much yesterday in his press conference. Admittedly he's not likely to say at that conference: 'actually I really wanted to play for Villa but turns out their chairman is a miser so I guess I'll have to play here instead!' but it was reported in the press long before the Spurs move happened that he wanted to go to London not anywhere else. The answer with the least assumptions is he wanted to play for Spurs not Villa - nothing to do with money. I still think, as I said elsewhere, that once O'Neill realised that he didn't up the bid.

2. O'Neill does not always go for the bargain. Young, Petrov and Reo-Coker were all decidedly expensive! (Though so far only Young is starting to look like a bargain). Petrov and Reo-Coker might not have been the best buys but it shows he will risk the money if he thinks it right.

3. O'Neill has said he is looking for quality players not quantity. He has elaborated that this means first team players elsewhere. There are two issues: those clubs involved won't want to sell and the player might not want to come. Consequently it will take time - probably all summer - to get those players in. Even if the club does want to sell and the player wants to come, the selling club may insist on getting a replacement first, which is fair enough.

4. The logical necessity of the panic buy syndrome sweeping the site is that we end up with 'quantity' players of dubious quality. This is what the Bluenoses did last year, as did Man City. The tactic backfired for the Bluenoses (shame) and was decidedly mixed for Man City (Petrov, Corluka and Elano were decent enough whilst Geovanni and that Italian striker were pretty useless).

5. But say Villa did have no money for players. In that case, would we not have bitten Liverpool's hand off when they offered us decent money for Barry after he made it clear he wanted to leave? Surely O'Neill has only been given licence to make a principled stance because that money is not required for his summer spending.

Everyone has the right to an opinion and the theory that Villa have no budget to buy players might seem plausible but it is only one theory and certainly not the most obvious. Apologies if I have repeated anyone else's points.

Everyone ready to go on an adventure to Iceland then?? ;D

Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar from Iceland in the UEFA.

Iceland here we come. God the beer's pricey up there....

The Sun says that everton are looking to sell leighton baines
he's young, english.....

Why so serious?

sorry ouldn't resist...anyway...a team in the uefa cup who i cant really be arsed to spell or even attempt to say there name....1st leg at VP

Damian, that's very clever of you. I may not be as intellectually gifted as you but I think most people on this blog understand your oft stated point.

You don't address my argument though which relied very little upon any PR or spin as you put it.

Going by the same theory let me ask you this - why did we do the Acorns deal? Am I not right in saying you suggested it was because we didn't get a big enough offer for sponsorship? Doesn't sound like the actions of a board needing the odd million. Sounds more like the actions of a board saying if we don't get quality we are not interested in short term, returns.

I suggest it is you who is missing the blindingly obvious because you are perhaps the kind of guy who likes a conspiracy theory. Going to see the new X Files movie?

I would suggest the same applies to our transfer policy.

Guzan announcement today isn't it?

DO we have any money to spend I ask myself? Well, we were quite happy to sell off players, players that in my opinion were not far away from players we are either linked with or have purchased (Friedel aside). Either MON is truly pathetic in the transfer market (which is my opinion) and has lost it in his old age, or we have a stack of players coming in that the papers have no idea about - i'd love to be proved wrong here, but I think the former is true. Even if we had no money, we had players a year ago that we could have made better dealings with when we sold them, Aeron Hughes is better than gardner at right back and we let him go to Fulham for practically nothing and didn't replace him - makes no sense at all, absolutely bonkers. Gary Cahill was worth keeping as cover or developing as a young player, but for some reason we gave him away for pennies…

I have seen managers with no money do better business than O' Neil has done, I have said it before but I personally would much prefer Harry Rednapp any day of the week. Abuse this way please…

ak27 - spot on, completely agree with you

Erm... did Damian just call Barry a Tool? ;)

i agree with you The Sweeney, Leighton Baines would be very welcome at VP, for the right price of course. Everton paid £6 mill for him last year, so i reckon a bid off £3-4 would be fair!

Holte 1970-AVMark-Paul MV, you are all spot on.

Sorry Damien i usually go with what you say, but mate you are well off.

Sorry to be blunt but you are turning into all of those negative fans that get on my nerves every day.

Wake up and smell the truth, we wont attract big young players until MON takes us into the top four the hard way, and that is not going to happen in three seasons. (I realise you have not said we will be there this season).

AK27

Please don't forget that Harry is being investigated by the police. See article 18/7/08:
LINK

Also Harry has been mentioned extensively in a book I read about Premier league corruption several years ago. Sorry can't remember the book's name.

I certainly do not want Harry ever associated with AV.

So again, thank god we have not gone the Harry route.

well this whole transfer shambles gets more embarrassing by the day!!! it is now 2 weeks till our season starts. my view is that even if a miracle happens from here and the players come in oneil has failed!!! we have a smaller squad than last year and any new signings from now on will barely get one friendly game or any time with the squad to settle in!!! its a joke - unprofessional bollox from the irish tw%t again!!!
we have no full backs (please no one come back saying we have gardner and barry - they are not full backs), we have only 2 fit central defenders and no right winger and the smallest squad in premiership history by some distance!!!
we are in Europe ffs and could have many more games than last season. there is a reason all these other teams have large squad oneils because its needed to cope with a european and league campaign!!! Surely he has been in football long enough to realise this!!! there is no point been in the uefa with our squad cause we are 10 players short of having a squad that can cope. And the right back he eventually signs had better be the best in the world as he has been saying for 2 years he wont bring someone in just to fill the position an wants to wait for the right quality!!! if after 2 years looking he brings in some reject i will be fuming
we are 2 weeks away from a crisis.... make some fuck&#xin;g signings!!!

AV Mark - at last someone who talks sense. ;D ;D ;D

Holte1970 I honestly couldn't care less how he did deals as long as they were done and the players were in place and they inproved the team. . Here are the players that Redknapp has brought in over the last few years which were all available and would surely have to come to this club over Pompy if MON had a clue in the transfer market.

1.Distan
2. Johnson
3. Defoe
4. Diarra
5. Crouch
6. Muntari
7. Utaka

Everyone of these players would get straight into our team at the moment. I for the life of me cannot understand why MON did not go for Distan on a free transfer but opted to buy Knight for £4m. Tells me that he hasn't a clue when it really comes down to it. If he had brought in some of these players when they were available i don't think Barry would have been thinking of moving to Liverpool.

wouldn't it be great if Barry moved, and then Liverpool didn't even qualify for the CL. ha!!!!!

GUZAN WORK PERMIT - woo woo.
To be honest, other than the Sidwell deal....MON could be implementing a build from the back policy? Starting with keepers then working his way outwards perhaps? Best form of attack is defence and all. Would make sense, I bet theres a smaller pool of decent keepers than any other position? If the pools smaller it will dry up quicker? Huh?

Keepers shorted, now onto full backs is my thinking!

Guzan gets work permit!!

I understand the assumption, Damian, and as you say, it seems the simplest explanation.

But, as many others have pointed out, I really don't think a lack of funds is the issue given the Acorns deal, the spending on training facilities, etc.

That said, perhaps there isn't the money for £50m swoops on two players...But overall, I think MON's got the necessary resources. The most obvious thing is that since MON's reputation is on the line, he'd find some of way of indicating that "there's only so much money, and we'll spend it as wisely as we can."

Plus, I don't read Krulak quite as cynically. A lot of his comments are rather blunt. The other day, he was getting a bit fed up answering the incessant "what's happening in the transfer market" question, and started getting a bit sarcastic.

I think Lerner believes MON is capable of handling things on his own, and it fits a lot of the American model, where the coach/GM (depending on how responsibilities are initially laid out) is given total responsibility and lives or dies on the results. Some owners are very involved (which the coaches/GMs never like), others sit back, pick their men, and let them have at it.

MON's comments about Utd being the goal, etc., seem to be setting himself up for failure if he doesn't produce, and MON seems too cagey to go saying those things if he didn't have the funds and backing.

Damien

I've just picked up your response to my first post.

If we stick by your theory that we never had any dosh then MON joined AV just to float around the middle and upper middle of the Prem and take his salary without even signing a contract on his appointment.

Sorry, can't see it myself - MON has been an out and out winner all his life and he ain't one to be content with second best.

On Silvestre, at first I thought "A loan? FFS!" Then I thought about it, and realized it makes a lot of sense. Good proven player with bags of experience can be had on the cheap, but MON doesn't pull the rug out from under Bouma, which sends a good message to the players, especially after the Barry saga.

And MON feels Bouma will be back, intends to give him a new contract, and has another player being groomed for the position. So a quality loan seems to make more sense than spending £4-10m on a player that MON doesn't feel he needs long term.

Guzan's got his work permit through! At least we won't be linked with any more goalkeepers now!

OK the goalkeeping situation is sorted - we just need a defense to put in front of it now :) :) :) :)

Both clubs have requested the H and A legs be switched.
Does anyone know any possible reasons for this, and are they likely to be disclosed.
One can only assume the pitch condition is the reason (A premiership game 3 days later to be staged)., but from a selfish point of view, it means missing both legs due to holiday and work, whereas originally, I could go to both legs.

ak27

As a matter of opinion you have a fair point on the player front however you cannot shake me from my opinion on Harry.
UTV

Mon is IMHO the best Manager we have had since Saunders so why are we panicking? who doesn't want to see more players signing but let's not forget we are still number one in Brum and we are in Europe. The boat isn't sinking and only Barry wants to bale out.

I'm not a betting man, but at 33/1 to win the UEFA Cup i could be!! Incidentally, Mattock from Leicester would be a nice back-up for Bouma/Silvestre. He can play left wing too.

Guzan seems a good bloke on AVTV. He and Friedel will form a strong basis at the back. Great to see another player in. Hopefully they'll both be at Reading tomorrow. Can see a clean sheet and a lot of shouting at Zat! Thats all he needs. Zat is a Villa Fan, a shrewd signing that passion, along with Gabby & Craig Gardner's, can only increase the passion in the other players. So get off his back. He won't be a first pick come the end of this transfer window anyway!

Great Goalie position is sorted now !!!

Somebody mentioned Farfan earlier this would be a great buy!

But we need to buy a right back, left back & Centre back before the end of the week to give them time to settle in before big kick off.

Great news to see Curtis play last night - I rate this lad big time and apart from the Cup Game he's one for the future. To come back so early from his injury is amazing!

at least we ain't everton. like us they have a small and in europe. but they haven't signed anyone. so we should consider ourselves lucky we have super sid.

Sorry, i wrote my first response in a bit of a rush, but Ockham's razor is generally a good way of going about things, and a good demonstration of MON in the transfer window. We all sit here and postulate about why MON hasn't bought any big players, why we bid £10m for Bentley only to give up and so forth, and we go all around the houses to dismiss the idea that Randy HAS set MON a limited budget...look how we prefer to accept the notion that Bentley wanted London as the reason why we gave up. The fact is, we wouldn't have made a bid in the first place, if we didn't think he would come to us. The fact we gave up, is simply because we couldn't afford any more. We haven't signed, or attempted to sign, expensive players or players with big wage demands. We can postulate as to why, but the most simple answer with less assumptions, is that we don't have the means to do so. We don't have the money that the PR men say we do. I tend to agree with most of what Damo says, mainly because he talks sense, and this time isn't any different.

Damien - MON has stated that he has the money to spend. You were certain that Ince wasn't lying and now it seems certain that MON is.

AK27 - bloody hell I agree with you!

the_ flabster - A player over the age of 28 on on a contract of 4 years or over can buy out their contract in the last year. Therefore it would be possible for Barry to buy out his contract for 2.5million pounds in 12 months time or leave for free in 2 years. This is a Euro law. HOWEVER, there are employment laws that are relevant in this country regarding breach of contract that do not apply in Europe. Therefore the first player in UK to attempt to buy out the last year of their contract would become embroiled in a drawn out court case.

@keef said a player of 28 on a four year contract can buy out after 2 years, however barry signed a 4 year deal 2 years ago when he was 25 and fifa state that a player that signs a contract when he his under 28 has to wait 3 years, not 2 years like a player who his over 28.

So like i said earlier, he then has to wait 14 days after giving notice, which if done, Barry would not be able to leave Villa until January 2010 and then he would still have to buy out the remainder of his contract, having said that its a long time for Liverpool to wait for their top target, will they still want him?

just seen the weather report for saturday,lots & lots of rain so mcgrath you had better stay in again bab so you dont get your hair wet like your nappy.and like your nappy you are full of it yourself,say something different to me little boy and stop copying my comments,if you cant ask someone to do it for you and has lazytown finished yet and is it very dark being in my shadow you goldie lover ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

has the draw been made yet?

cockneyvillan - we are panicking because we have a piss small squad and less than 2 weeks away from the start of the season with no right back, left back and huge amount of uncertainty surrounding our captain. MON can't get on the pitch and play, so given the amount of games we have to play in a regular season plus the European games, it's fair to say that the current squad is not going to cut it. Also, we have not signed any outfield experienced quality players which we desperately need - filling the squad with cheap young english talent is not going to get us into the top 4 or into the latter stages of the UEFA cup - so if that's not enough reason to panic, I don't know what else is

It's Friday, big news day, and no avfcblog! shame on you lazy gits!

Does Mon realise that playing all those extra games in Europe with a treadbare squad could leave us in a relagation battle.

Anybody agree? >:( >:(

Whats he doing??????????????????????????????????????????????????

The man with the world on his shoulders is back, determined to pass his burden to all.

andy5759 what was that?

cockneyvillain, just my reaction to the return of atlas. My post must have been delayed, otherwise it would have been right under his comment.

Anyway, on topic. The General has said that MON can count, meaning that he knows that we need more players. So I reckon we'll be seeing about 5 or 6 in the next couple weeks.

A question to all you who still honestly believe that we have the money. WHY ARE WE NOT SPENDING IT?? Enough said.

im betting by the start of the season we will have to new full backs, maybe 1 that can play centre half, and a right winger.

We could have gone in for Bentley and he would have been a great signing, but he always said he wanted to go to spurs, but we did make an offer and it was obvious he wanted to go back to the capital.

You can't make players join your team, but im sure by the start of the season we will have a bigger squad than last year.

Im guessing Milner will be one of the signings, but to be honest i would prefer wright philips or lennon from spurs.

As for the full backs and centre half, i would love silvestre to come on loan and finnan would have been ideal, but the only way we will get him is if we loose barry.

have faith and you will see

Jimbo learner has definitely gotthe money - I have just paid my credit card.

to andy5759 you maybe a prick but you are original not bad 4 a beginner mind you you could not be worse than queeren has the twitcher been grounded from all from the villa youth gb. :'( :'(

Atlas, you miserable idiot. We're all Villa fans. Seriously, no-one wants to read it fag.

This is all subjective. People are going on about Okham's Razor as if it's some kind of proof that MON has no money. The theory is massively floored for reason which I can't be bothered to go into. I'll demonstrate

1. MON likes to spend his money carefully/wisely - 1 assumption based on historical evidence
2. MON likes to do deals close to the end of a transfer window - 1 assumption based on historical evidence
3. Money is available for ivestement into AVFC - 1 assumption based on historical evidence.

You see, there is not a 'most obvious/lowest assumptions' solution. It's all about personal interpretation which is subject to your life history - but that's all Freud stuff and far to big a subject to get into. Personally I beleive the money is there but if you want it spent in the way some of you suggest then the only solution would be to ditch MON and I don't think there are many that would seriously consider that a viable option (at least at present).

Just picked this up from The Mirror - a very thoughtful article more like the Times.

LINK

Ghosthunter i agree with what you say there but here is the thing about the way MON acts in the transfer market. By the time he makes his moves all the best players that are available to move are gone by the time the end of the transfer window comes around. Any good player that is wanting to move on to a better club will know this at the start of the window and the last thing they will want is to have to wait until a week or less before the season starts as they miss out on pre season with their new club. So come the end of the sumer all you are left with are the cast offs which the other clubs have left over because they have gone out and got their first choice players earlier. 5 transfer windows in and MON has not learned a thing about how to operate in the transfer window and i can't believe im saying this but i wouldn't be too upset to see the back of MON. I honestly don't believe he can ever (due to his obvious weakness in the transfer market) make Villa a top 4 club. We need a manager who can spot and top player and then actually have the conviction to go and pay whatever that costs the bring him to the club. We will finish behind the likes of Spurs, Pompy and Man City this year.

sack the irish pric now yes thats right sack him. if we have the money we are led to belive get someone in that has the ability to attract quality players and is not utterly pathetic and embarrassing in the transfer market!!! godbye oneil u r a joke!!! 2 years in same stories been fed to the fans. exactley the same as odreary. nexy season will be a disaster. SACK MON BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

Go on Tonebone...you give it to them sheep ;)

We are a club Full of Hot Air.
All talk about how the Club is going places Promises about players that then turns to just Hope
“Gareth is staying the club says” only to be told he is going a few days later we cant Keep him.
We have a chairman that has invested in Property but not the team.
He has made it clear the Property is By the way he treated the Trinty Rd Fans
The Team is not in a fit state for the Prem or Europe
If this was Ellis; fans would be up in arms; yet his PR men keep the Sheep at VP Happy

Fans talk about how Randy Has Spent Money
Lets Not Forget he came in when the Club was on its knees & money needed to be spent on the team.
We took on board he could not do this straight away due to timings, but we have not been prepared fro either of the transfer windows since.
I feel he has spent on the infrastructure & I thank him for that.
But he is the man that chose a frugal manager in Martin.
I Still think we are lucky to have him & if we were a club instead of just a Rich mans toy I would not be expecting serious investment in the Team.
Look at all the press articles talking about this Great Man.
At Players Awards last year No Sign of Randy
Well will the real Slim Randy Please Stand Up
We need action Now

I see Barry is off again. Martin O'neill and Randy Lerner are taking the p@*s out of us fans they knew all along he was going but publicly came out and said he was staying just to push Liverpool into paying the fee.

Im sick of all these lies, Lerner is milking our club. What has he invested in terms of players?? Even that pathetic bid for Bentley was just to push season ticket sales up to 'show the fans we are trying to improve'.

Its all lies and I for one have no trust in either of them.