The Doc's Diagnosis: The long and winding transfer saga
Saturday, 25 August 07, 03:46 AM · Comments (29)
So okay, I promised I would not get involved in transfer speculation. But debate has raged so heatedly on these pages for so many weeks that I have no option but to swallow my pride and chuck the Doc's twopenneth in.
For a start, I think we need to look deeper than this summer. Since O'Neill came in, he has captured Nigel Reo-Coker and Ashley Young, expensive investments in young British talent, massive additions to the pace and fire power of the Villa first team, and almost certainly full England players in the medium term.
If anyone doubts either the determination or the savvy of O'Neill, those two signings in themselves should make them think again.
Secondly, some of the fringe dealing by O'Neill has been - in my view - very clever indeed. Very few on the Holte End would contest the fact that the swap of Baros for Carew is a pretty smart piece of business.
O'Neill was extremely quick to suss that Cahill is a better prospect than Ridgewell and that Gardner is a better prospect than Davis: I expect time and the demands of the Premiership to prove him right.
We may have all been sad to see JPA leave, but £40,000 per week is a mighty weight off the weekly wage bill and gives MON immense room to play with young players looking to sign new and improved contracts. Our ability to keep Gabby, Luke Moore, Craig Gardner and Gary Cahill should be as much a measure of the manager's clout as his ability to bring in new blood.
And now to my traditional and to-be-expected attack on the Villa Park cynics and knockers.
Let's say O'Neill brings in Curtis Davies, Liam Rosenior or Justin Hoyte and Jermaine Defoe next week - not, according to the media sources I have checked - an altogether unlikely prospect. Will we still be whinging and moaning then?
Okay, so the club may have set our expectations a little high in its attempts to sell a mass of early season tickets, but if we were to bring those players in then Steve McClaren may as well take a permanent room at The Belfry because a very large percentage of England's future talent will be training in claret and blue for the rest of the season and beyond.
Or perhaps we should be a little bit more like West Ham or Newcastle, chucking our millions around as if there were to be no more opportunities tomorrow. I don't see either of those clubs tearing the Premier League to shreds this season - do you?
By the way, in case anyone needed a reminder of how not to do it, you only need look at the CV of the desperate muppet who "managed" Villa before Martin O'Neill. I'm sure with Randy's millions behind him, and as he did at Leeds, he would have made us all sorts of promises and given us exactly the sort of summer the "cynics and knockers" have been praying for. Spend, spend, spend.
And where are Leeds United now?
O'Neill is known for doing his business at the eleventh hour. And I'm proud to have a manager prepared to play "chicken" with the clubs who are demanding over the odds for the players he wants.
Instead of diverting his attention to inferior players, he's stayed in the game for the players he needs to bring to Villa Park and he's playing hardball on the price. He's adamant he'll win - and we have to take his word on that.
My view from the inside is that Martin O'Neill will get his men - even if it's at 23.55 on 31st August. And at that point he will ram something quite big and uncomfortable up the backsides of all his detractors.
Come next week, the selling clubs will start to panic. They've played their game, but they've only got five days to get serious cash in for want-away players. That's when O'Neill will be vindicated.
Trust me on that.
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29 Comments · Add yours
Doc, no doubt he'll get his men and if they're not his plan a, we'll never know.
For me, it's not about that, it's about we're about to play our third match and we have one point. I know it was Liverpool and Newcastle but what's to say with five or six 'long term' signings in, we wouldn't have won those two matches.
It's just not very prepared ...
agree 100% just hope were right.mons bin a manager 20 yrs so he should know what hes doing.
:o I agree with a large part of that, but at the moment i'm thinking England = MON Sven = Villa.
I reckon if that happend last year you would see England with alot more success and Villa with some shreud signings...
38M = 8 players 9 points of out 3 games not conceded a goal, played Man Utd already..... Better Success rate than SAF......
MON better get atleast 3 more signings and quick.
Also Whats this about Cahill and a swap deal for Davies....
I also don't know why he has been playing an Ill Carew and leaving Moore on the ffing bench... Moore by shots to goals ratio is our best striker, And im also not convinced in Harewood i think you would have a better chance of hitting the net with Ridgewell up front lmao.
Doc, i am so glad someone has come on here and for once not moaned and moaned, i originally like this site and thought it was interesting but the more and more i read it the more and more i think 'is it me' or do people never stop moaning, like nagging old wives! We should all support our manager, not be like the tottenham chiefs and jump on there back as soon as we get a draw or waste all our money!
If we have been patient all these years why the sudden knee jerk, M'ON does not know what hes doing etc, i should image some fans are always like this 'fickle'! do what fans do, support your team, not knock it! If the players read this blog what would they think? They would be depressed thats what! No positives from people whatsoever, and dont come back to me and say well, my expecations are higher now etc etc! Just dont! it is so exciting compared to even a year ago, and its nice to have transfer talk and gossip, its fun to think about! but ultimately, MON is payed a lot more money than we are because he knows what hes doing!
Cheers Doc, your comments have helped we realise we still have positive fans, that do what fans do 'support' the club!
Well said Doc. I think you're being far too negative Damian,
even if we'd signed 6 or 7 before the Liverpool game I'd have still expected us to come away without a point as they're a bloody good team. Then to take a point home from St. James's! I can't argue with that. If we take 3 points today then I think it's pretty fair to say that it'll have been a good start to the season.
Perhaps if we'd have had other players who can make the correct decissions a certain ball would have be squared and we would have got all 3 ponits at Newcastle. Enthusiasm is all very well but experience is priceless
lookin at the villa site, is dean saunders fishin for a job?
I agree 100% Doc and I'm glad you're standing up to the perpetual whinging of many who read and comment on this blog.
None of the players sold would have got into our first team. Fact. Therefore selling of players like Ridgewell, Samual etc has to be seen as good business.
Secondly, as you rightly say this year, we've bought into the squad Carew, Young, NRC and Carson - all of whom are quality additions to the squad. Therefore, although the squad has depleted in numbers it has grown in quality. Another Fact.
Finally, if as we all hope MON brings in 1 or 2 players this next week, then for me it has been a decent Summer of transfer activity.
I really do think Villa fans need to think of the long term and the bigger picture instead of looking towards the next few games.
EVERYTHING at Villa Park is moving in the right direction. Can the same be said of Clubs like West Ham and Man City, both of whom have spent big? Look at it another way? At this current moment in time - who's squad would you rather have, Villas - full of young English prospects or Man City's or West Hams - full of mercanary journeymen footballers, most of whom are playing for their team with little or no passion and are just here for a quick buck.
Come on Villa fans - lets think of the long term future of our Club and the glory that I'm sure will be bestowed upon us in the next few years.
;)
MON will get some decent players in by next weekend, and for all the expectation we are at least moving forward and wholesale change is not required. MON's biggest acheivement is adding stability to the club, bringing on the youngsters but most of all making us difficult to beat (we havent yet got the knack of turning this into wins) as was displayed against two 'big guns' Liverpool and Newcastle.
I am content that we will improve this season and will continue to progress under MON. Friday should hold some answers, but if we only get a RB I still feel we will be OK, just progressing more slowly than we had hoped. Us fans are an impatient bunch!
I think this is an excellent diagnosis of the current situation and I am sure that all genuine Villa supporters would agree; these are the same Villa supporters who are called fickle in some quarters - its not fickle; it is dissapointment that other clubs are progressing at a faster rate, much of this mindset is driven by the media which in actual fact is not true...
There is a perception that transfers drive sucess but it is hard to point to a club who have enjoyed sustained sucess that is based upon buying highly priced players - even Chelsea who are the extreame have a home grown captain and are far from the finished article on the European stage.
We are stronger than this time last year; a win today will fill the team with confidence and we can kick on from there - if MON provides us with a surprise by month end then all the better.
Doc, what a great post. You have it spot on and it's so refreshing not to hear all the moans and groans of late.
Well done!
at Astonguerilla
i'm not saying if we had the players we would have won, i'm just saying, it's not very prepared. it's not as if the transfer window was a surprise ..
Spot on!
It has really frustrated me that the whingers would seemingly be happy if we went splashing the cash on inferior players now, only to find come the end of the window that our first choice has become avaliable again for a fraction of the cost.
Definetly right, although Gardner and Davis are relatively equal, other than the twos determination to stay and fight for a place.
I don't see our squad as depleted, we have kept the quality and most of that quality is very very resistant to injury. I would rather see our small squad just get through the season, nervous about getting injured, than see Davies, Rosenior and Defoe at the team. This is a 5 year plan and we're at the start of Year 2, getting to Europe (unless your name ends with Leary) takes a longer time than our demanding supporters expect. Stick with Martin for the next 4 years, you'll be singing songs about him whilst you sleep by then.
Up
The
Villa.
Villa 4 Ever are you having a laugh????? If you would prefer MON to be in charge of England and Sven in carge of us then i am wondering where your loyalty lies. Your post makes no sense, you might as well be a bluenose by what you have written. I personally think that MON is the best manager we could hope for, the man is superb! I bet that when Sven was in charge of England you were calling for his head too!!! He has made 8 sigings, none of which speak the same language as each other and all went for the money, nothing else!
MON knows what he is doing with regards to the starting 11. Carew is there to hild the ball up for people to get on the end of. Yes, that ball should have been squared last weekend but who says Moore would have squared it?
MON is going to get some players in, he knows what he is doing. If he only gets 1 or 2 then i am happy. We have a squad, albeit small, briming with quality. If you are that negative about the Villa then i suggest you follow Ridge to the dark side!
i dont rate young at all, i dont agree wid u, c its now fulham r 1-0 up as i write dis
You don't rate Young? Give me a break.
Lol didn't young set up the winner today?
he did and he had a good second half .. but it is the first time this season he's done the business. he's got to do it consistently
i think it will come but right now ... well, it's one game
Well said Doc, spot on.
Spot on, Doc. If MON hadn't made those signings in the January window, and instead made them this summer, everyone would be singing a different tune.
MON may not seem to have been prepared...but it's 4 points out of 6, really, and the Villa have dominated large stretches of the last two matches and really deserved to come away with 6. Lots of chances, and they'll start going in more frequently as players get used to the fact that they're going to be there, and there's no need to panic.
MON obviously made the right changes, and Maloney will feel great with that goal.
Villa have done good business to now, and will only get better.
UTV
although i agree with ur comments we are hardly gonna do a leeds,
1. leeds were bankrolled by investers to buy squad players
2. they brought overpriced players good enough for a few seasons at top flight, that left when the ship started to sway.
3.we are backed by a good young team that has been playing together for a long time in youth set up that cost f all to get into club.
4. we have mon as manager! nuff said!
not people like o'dreary, peter reid,(great player above his head as manager) howard wilkinson, kevin blackwell etc... none of them were or are top coaches without money backing.
5. leeds could not afford to repay the banks/investors back.
6. randy is a billionaire who dont need to lend money to bankroll a club, he will do so if mon feels its necessary to but mon dont.
7. mon has always worked at clubs with little money to spend and is used to bringing in players whatever the ability on little budgets. AND MAKES IT WORK OVER TIME!
8.we do have a good quality YOUNG squad (unlike leeds did) with time and mons ability we will be back in europe.
patients is a virtue people!
(but waitings a bit of a bitch! lol)
have faith people.
time is on our side we got money behind us if needed so relax.
Great article Doc, agree with all of it :D
TON23: You need to read the original post again - we're not going to do a Leads you right - and all your points and reasons basically agree with the gist of the oringal post!
Damian: You are the most contantly negative poster I've ever read.. There's always a BUT and always another reason why you not happy. If you were a Man UTD fan I've no doubt you'd be calling for SAF head right now! You really need to go on holiday, take it easy and start enjoying life cuz it must be bitch of a hard slog with your attitude.
Doc's post was fantastic and sums up how I've felt all summer. We're better of now than we have been in years and years. I can't believe how bloody negative the posts on here always seem lately!
Did people *REALLY* expect us to go and buy World Class players? Ok so some Yank in his 1st year on the game made the comment - notice the man actually in charge (MON!) of buying the players made no such comment! It's just not going to happen until we are contantly in Europe players are not going to want to come unless they're 35 and looking for a payout.
Of the players who have moved clubs this season that we could REALISTACALLY have been in for there aren't really ANY that I have been gutted to have missed out on, definately none of Man Cities (Maybe Petrov although I have a feeling he went to the highest bigger and was after tehe $$ since Spurs missed out) or West Hams bunch.
"[Young] did and he had a good second half .. but it is the first time this season he's done the business. he's got to do it consistently"
Young had a very good second half against Liverpool, when he moved to the left side.
Spot on Doc.
I would also add that the guys you mention have a "winners" attitude. This is the MON breed.
I agree with everything.Quality posting actually. I think that we need Kone of PSV. Ive been saying it for a while now. He is a physical type who can take a goal. Gabby and Maloney can rotate the wing. Kone is more creative than Defoe and can run all day and is available for about half the price of Defoe. More importantly, like everyone else has been saying, we need a playmaking midielder.Arteta is certainly not available (as he recently re-signed anyway)but he is the sort of player we should be looking at. Riquelme hasnt had a bid made for him has he? Ofcourse we need defensive help too but our attacking options need addressing aswell.
I definatley agree that we need more of a creative player in the middle. Barry is a class player but I believe he would be better playing on the wing, and bring In a attacking minded midfielder who can split defences's with his passing
Completely agree with you doc