Sunday rumours: Paul Robinson and Emile Heskey
Sunday, 22 June 08, 03:17 AM · Comments (53)
The other day, Martin O'Neill told us all that it was going to be difficult to get the players he wanted because they were "key players at other football clubs", which pretty much confirms for us that these two links will remain, hopefully, as wild speculation.
It's not that they're not decent, it's that they're probably not considered 'key players' at their existing clubs or a move to Aston Villa would be seen as a huge step up and I don't think it would be a problem getting any of these two players.
Now, I'm not going to stretch this out, if they came to the club would you be happy? Would you think the club was moving in the right direction or standing still?
I think we all know the answers to the above two questions which is why you've got to fancy they're not really on the radar and we're after, as Martin O'Neill has suggested, players that are going to add real quality to Aston Villa.
It takes a bit of time. We've got targets in mind of course and want to do business as promptly as we possibly can. But the people we want to try and improve this club are players you can almost automatically assume are key players at other football clubs. These are people it might be difficult to prise out of their current clubs.
We need to improve our squad and I know that. But it's a fact that improving the squad gets harder as you progress. We've just finished sixth in the Premier League and I think the supporters will agree that we have progressed over the last two years. To improve on what we now have means bringing in even more quality and the competition for quality players can be fierce.
Martin O'Neill June 19th 2008
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53 Comments · Add yours
emily heskey is the worst striker in the premiership no doubt id rather have harewood anyday like he could break us in the top 4
stupid speculation is p*ssing me off
Agree with 03rodgersm, Heskey is Harewood without the speed and application, hes a lazy git!
I actually think Robbo would be a good signing for less than £5M, as long as he isn't being brought in to be unquestioned No 1, i remember me and my friends saying Robbo was coasting cos there was no one pushing him for the No1 Jersey at Spuds then Ramos came along and said 'Cerny looks better to me' and gave him a run in the team to wake Robbo up.
If he was brought in alongside another GK then that would be nice, say Guzan and give Guzan the league cup matches.
Heskey won't happen, so there's no point in deliberating. Robbo would be a good signing. We need 2 keepers, so why not? I really think we should be breaking our necks to get Shay Given. Outstanding goalkeeper, despite being shielded by the worst defence in the Premiership. He looks pretty cheesed off with it all up there too. Don't think Taylor will ever seriously be considered for the no.1. Big week coming up i think. Sidwell tomorrow and wouldn't be surprised to see 1 more by the weekend.
If Heskey signs I think am gonna cry. We shouldn't be looking at people like him
This speculation on Heskey is the biggest load of rubbish so far this summer, just does not fit the bill. Not even worth the mention. Come on the villa.
Emile Heskey? What next, Ian Ormondroyd? Tony bloody Cascarino?
It's summer 2008 but it's beginning to remind me a lot of summer 2007..less BBC and more ASAP Martin.
heskey no no no
robinson tho i think would be excellent. Wouldn't be too expensive, english and still has a fair few years in him
jonnyw - not sure it would be wise to get guzan in to be second choice. Being american he would have to play a certain amount of prem games to keep his visa going, league cup games don't count. Altho i do like the look of him on youtube. don't think robbo would be signed to be our no.2. guzan or robinson? thats a tough one
Bosko Balaban did more for us than Heskey ever would. My wife doesn't know about football but she ever hears the name Heskey she says "donkey" as I say it every time he is mentioned and that isn't fair on donkeys, so as way of apology to donkey's here's a link to a great place.
LINK
Thats desperate.
is this what its come down to...linked with ANOTHER bunch of rejects..Heskey,dont make me laugh, this is just desperate... whats next...bringing Neil lennon out of retirement?? Get the wallet out and sign some WORLD CLASS PLAYERS..we still haven't signed anybody and its nearly July, i can't see us signing more than 3 players imo..
I think Paul Robinson would be a good signing he is low on confidence at the minute but Mr O'neill would soon get that back.
As for Heskey this has got to be some sort of joke, I cant honestly think of one positive thing he would bring to the team, yes he was a good player in his day but his day was 10 years ago at Leicester!
We won't sign Heskey. If fact I don't think we will sign anyone before the end of July. I think this because the players we are after will wait until all their options are on the table before they make a decision. We will just have to wait. I would buy a much younger player than Heskey and I think MON thinks the same way.
vogra dont be so downbeat! I dont think any of our rivals have signed anyone of note as of yet (apart from spurs), so be a bit more patient, and this heskey malarkey is pure specualating from lazy journos. wouldnt mind paul robinson tho.
Sorry, this is totally unrelated to the article. I'm a brummie expat living in korea and I go watch FC seoul when they play. Park Chu-Young is class. should get him on the cheap. loads better tham Heskey you could pay him peanuts. Would be good cover up front as a 4th striker. Get MON out here!
heskey is way way better in the air than the hare ( who i think is brilliant )
;D ;D ;D ;D Btw, what was that fantastic england combination NOT SO LONG AGO? emile heskey and owen
heskey is still a good player, on the last day of the season 2 years ago he beat chelsea single handedly to keep wigan up
a squad player maybe, but deserves some respect
i also don't buy this bullsh*t that it takes time to get these players, everybodys got a price, so what if we spend a bit over the odds, get these players in now instead of maybe bitching about a mill here a mill there....Remember Robbie Keane!! half a frigging million extra he would have cost...
Villa_tommy, just looked at Park Chu-Young on Utube and he looks very gifted, however I am not sure what the standard of oposition he is up against? Heskey would not be that bad, however, would rather not. The whole thing rests on the Barry deal, as it hurts me to say but that will be all our spending money!!! Mon and RL will not push the boat out for anyone.
Villa_tommy i lived in korea for 2 years and followed incheon. The standard of football in korea is shocking. How guus got them so far in the world cup is amazing. I don't know why but korean footballers lack power and pace, although they make up for it with their passing. Never heard of Park Chu-Young tho so might listen out for him.
Enjoy your days in korea its a great country, i really miss it. give me shabu shabu anyday
need better than both of these. gk-rob green . cf-bent .plus milner and sidwell.good start if you ask me ;) need to get a move on though or else they will go to portsmouth.we have the cash so lets spend some. ps nelson for rb i think we need one of them aswell ;)
If we sign Heskey, im moving to Bridgend with a peice of rope
LINK
That South Korean fella looks decent enough. Worth a punt if we can get him on the cheap. Plus think of the endorsement revenue!
how is heskey not a key player at wigan???
Having said that, wouldnt like to see either of them a villa
Have to echo most of the sentiments from above. While most of the criticism of Heskey is way over the top (he's in no way the worst striker in the Premiership, he's not a bad player), he wouldn't improve our team.
Robinson on the other hand I'd be more than happy to sign. Before he was labelled as a blundering buffoon I thought he was actually a very good keeper. His confidence took a knock and I don't think he's been quite the same since. But he is still young, and if anyone can inspire that bit of confidence that he needs it's going to be MON. He could make him a top keeper again I reckon. And he's probably be available at a knock-down price as Ramos clearly has no interest in retaining him.
rossa
he is the vice captain (i believe) but with 3 or 4 other strikers at the club, i dont think he is 'key' in so much that we would have liked the word to have been used
i guess what i mean is when martin o'neill said he was after players that were key for their team, i had hoped, that he was talking about players at the top of their game and for big clubs - not emile heskey from wigan
going for key players could then mean we look at teams from the championsip and league 1 - no doubt we're only going to be going for their key players and not players that cant make the team
maybe i didn't explain my position properly - but if we look at his gaols last season, i dont think many wigan fans would say he was key for them and its not really how i interpreted it when martin o'neill said it .. so. hope i've sort of explained myself now although i suspect i've just made it worse
well, if we are speaking based on pure definitions, heskey is a ''key player'' at wigan isnt he?? they struggled when he got injured after the england game didnt they??
and, well isnt a keeper one of the most ''key'' players on the field??
maybe we as fans are approaching the concept of ''key'' differently to MON??
i hope im wrong, but technically speaking, these two are ''key'' players in their ''current'' teams.
then again, the players like diego, henry and bentley are also ''key'' players!! two sides to every coin i guess!! guess a ''key'' players is defined by which teams we look to buy from!
okay. let me put it another way
if martin o'neill came in for these two players, i dont think either wigan or spurs would be that bothered, if say we offered £5mn. for each one - so, not really 'key' as maybe berbatov is at spurs or even chris kirkland is at wigan - they'd be two players i considered 'key'
but it doens't matter. they're only rumours
There both rubbish in my views.
All though its silly season, more and more other teams are getting rumours of top world class players and the villa get stuck with these two kind of players Emile I cant stay on my feet heskey and calamity robinson.
I hope we have some kind of transfer kitty, with these kind of players top four more like bottom four.
:(
who wants or even like heskey nobody??? let him stay at wigan where he can be their "key" players, as for robbo he can come to us but only 2 sit on the bench as far as im concerned? He is not going to help us get 4/5 place next season, why oh why does villa get linked with all the rubbish lazy terible crap players???
I think villa are getting a bit desperate to fill the squad up how long do we need to wait, people keep mentioning no one else has bought any new players in. That probably cause their squad is NOT THE SMALLEST IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE even smaller now
Get them in MON obviously we dont offer incentives at villa cos good players just dont wanna come Why???
Other clubs like spurs man city & porthsmouth can attract the talent villa is not that far from london so we are rewally not doing something right? in my book if they dont want 2 come dont force em
This could be a load of trash, but we are not known for buying top player(TIGHT, i think we will end up with robbo though
Remember the 24th! Tuesday we'll sign someone i think
I hope to goodness that we don't sign Paul Robinson. He is garbage. He was a laughing stock last season. I'd prefer to take a chance on Guzan.
Id rather sandpaper my retinas than watch Heskey at the villa
Id rather sandpaper my retinas than watch Heskey at the villa
Heskey would be a poor signing, there is alot better out there that would come to the villa. Robinson is another Carson, same kind of goal keeper. Think we should go after Boruc from celtic, big keeper good shot stopper. Sidwell, Wright Phillips, Boruc, Bentley, Ferdinand and Miguel would be great additions so less of the delays and get out there and buy them.
MON said:
To improve on what we now have means bringing in even more quality and the competition for quality players can be fierce.
I TELL YOU WHAT MARTIN...... YOU HAVE TO APPROACH AND STOP PENNY PINCHING IF YOU WANT TO EVEN ENTER THAT FIERCE COMPETITION.
30,000,000 for Villa.... that would be a nice surprise. could at least make the bid to see if it would be accepted..
Im no fan of Crouch but i rather see him than Heskey anyday! Heskey is a has been, only made it in Leicester thats it!
If we are talking about players to move us forward and then have names like Robinson and Heskey then is somebody trying to be ironic - because these two are CRAP.
Did anyone see Russia last night - Arshavin, Zhirkov, Pavylechenko and many more were pure class and played football the right way. Go to there clubs, ask how much they want for the players and sign them up - and give them extra money to sign straight away.
Q1. No
Q2. No
I wouldn't mind Paul Robinson as cover and if he didn't mind fighting to become number one. But there is no reason to get Heskey when Harewood is already much better. If we go for another big striker (which we dont need) it should be at least someone up to the standard of Yakubu or Oba Femi Martens
I hope this is just the papers with nothing more to write - Robbo said no thanks to us before so I wouldn't invite him to our club what so ever I think MON would pi*s off a lot of people with this one. As for EH he's just a cart horse that spend more time on his back than a whore.
Once again martin talking bubbles instead of doing some signings
Martin we have heard all this crap in the past you probley say it about every 2 months
Forget talking about it and bloody something about the situation im sick and tierd of hearing the same old rubbish you talk about the squad size you talk about the need of more quality all the flammin time
Now then martin shut up and sign some flippin players
Quality ones aswell NOT Emiley Heskey's
From Henry to Heskey... AHHHH ;D
27 days till our first competitive game then and its 5 players out and none in. and that is from the smallest squad in the premiership by far last year. pre season starts in 10 days or so. FFS Mart get some players in. so unprofessional again!!!
I think Gabby on the right wing with Heskey playing behind Carew wouldn't be the worst idea. Perhaps Carew would benefit? Still think we should be looking at far better options though. Pavlyuchenko please.
erm i wud like us to pass on heskey. a few years ago maybe, but now he is just a journeyman. if we sign him.................... >:(
I love all the people on this blog who love to tell MON how to do his job. Most with the far fetched assumption that he is sat on his arse, not looking at any quality players, and is only intent on signing rejects from other clubs...... :D
It really is an absolute joke. He is simply one of the best managers in the game, bar Petrov and Knight, his signings so far have been fantastic. Do people really think MON and his team cannot spot a quality player??
He has improved our club dramatically, and most fans in this country would give their right arm to have him manage their club.
Contractual negotiations do take time, especially if the player is a key member of another team's squad. That is a fact and his explanation was crystal clear and makes perfect sense.
Furthermore, we donâ€t want to end up like Leeds or Wet Spam. The former is a clear example of what can happen if you just offer all the money in the world to teams and players and they don't perform.... You can end up with league one football, and your club in financial ruin.
The manager and chairman at our club know what they are doing. Just let them do their job.
By the way I'm not condoning the signing of Heskey! He is crap!
I just don't think it will ever happen. Robbo on the other hand could be a great signing if we get him on the cheap. The experience he has would be invaluable to our new younger keeper....
I agree, its a far fetched assumption - but they're working on the fact that the club has the smallest squad in the league and past transfer windows.
It's just over three weeks to the first competitive game and while Martin O'Neill has stripped the club down, to quite literally, the bare bones, he hasn't exactly - at any time - looked like he was ever going to fix that.
This is his fifth (I think) window, it's not as if it was a surprise when it opened and he's leaving it all to the last minute?
It's not a good idea to make assumptions, especially as Martin O'Neill said that he could sign 7 in one day recently, but football is emotive - people can not be blamed for being a little nervous - based on what we know.
Heskey - The walking shed - no thanks - also was with our near neighbours
Neither are good enough! Robbo is just a damsel in distress and Heskey is just well. . . . Heskey i suppose!
No way Jose! Not on your nelly!
at Damo
I see what you are saying, but again all the talk about three week deadlines and small squads really frustrates me.
Do people think that MON cannot count, or that he has no idea when the next competitive game is? Of course he does, he writes the team sheet every week, he knows what players have left and he knows exactly how may players we need next season to progress.
Hopefully we will be playing a European campaign next season? Do people really think MON hasn't considered this?!
I'm not expecting him to get all the players we need before the Inter two bob cup. I would much rather he took his time to get the quality reinforcements that we really need.
This current squad got us in to 6th place and am I sure they can also secure us qualification to Eufa in three weeks time.
He's striped the squad to a minimum and we now have a core of quality players to add to, most of those that have now gone, bar Mellberg, simply were not good enough. Would you rather we have those players back???
I love this club, but people need to be a little more positive about things. Stress and worry is nothing but counterproductive.
As I said before, MON knows what he is doing...
That's why he is the football manager and not the people that comment on this blog ;)
at chesirevillian
everyone is getting stressed because all the good players worth signing are gonna go. look at spurs already bought dos santos and modric. we were no-where near. bosingwa to chelsea (thought we were in for him). Then we look at players we're being linked to. The likes of Robinson, Heskey, Ferdinand, milner for 8 million when we were gonna buy hin for 4m 2 years ago. we want Quality as well as quantity >:(
The Heskey link is just pure bad journalism - wouldn't even entertain talking about it
As for Paul Robinson??
He has been linked a few times now through various different media - and to be honest i am bit worried about it now...
Can't believe some Villa fans seem to rather disturbingly think that he would be somehow a good signing......er....can i just ask - why???
If you think Scott Carson looked liked a nervous wreck at times last season (only after his England howler i might add) just wait to you get a load of Paul "Robbo" Robinson .
Robinson has always been dodgy , proper dodgy on any type of cross (like Carson) but he has been playing even worse and making even more routine costly errors than Scott Carson has done !
And Paul Robinson has been doing it for not last few months but the last 2 years now.
Yes Robinson might only cost £5 million or something but seriously he has played worse than what Carson has done in the last few months over a much longer period of time and Carson to be fair is still 22 not 28 or whatever Robinson is.
This idea that Robinson can get his confidence back and magically become half decent again is actually more silly than sticking with Carson.
By the way im NOT actually suggesting buy Carson especially at the stupid money Liverpool wanted .And O'Neill seems to have made his mind up there . Look elsewhere by all means but not at Paul Robinson .
HESKY
y would we sign crap
And y would we sign anyone who played for the scum
he only scores 1 a season
we should get zamora from west ham
he can actually score or even better
bring back ANGEL