WEBFLASH AH AH: Gary Cahill set to join Bolton

megson has said they have had a bid accepted...its from the horses mouth. sad day

utv

Rapidly losing patience with Mr. O'Neill.

Would be unhappy to see him go; he's a versatile one who can play fullback and central mid, with decent pace, and an absolute cannon of a shot. However, he won't see a lot of first-team football over the next two years, as Davies and Laursen are better fullbacks than him (Davies' play on the Blackburn goal notwithstanding), and are both much better in the air, which suits Villa's tactics rather well. As for CM, I doubt he'd be breaking past Barry, Petrov, NRC, Gardner or even Salifou for first-team football any time soon. Unfortunately, this move does make the most sense for him, and better for Villa to get a fee for him than to let him go whenever his contract runs out.

Sad day indeed.

sad day for villa, i agree davies has looked pretty good recently but cahill is still miles better than knight

has anyone seen that yank lichaj play for the reserves yet? guess he's now the next in line

There should be a law brought into place that u cant sell players unless u have a certian ammount of them

And why we are trying get another goalkeeper is crazy why do we need 4 goalkeepers

If anything we need 4 midfilders 4 defenders 4 forwards that would give us a healthy squad and plus we would be able to rest players like poor knackerd gabby

Why Oh why do we need to sell our best young players when we insist in playing an over rated player like Petrov....better trying to get offers for this waste of space...how many chances does he need to re-ignite his Celtics form??????????

He is a centre back .... not a bloody right back or central midfielder ... what the hell was that guy on about!!?!?! :-S

It's a shame but decent enough price for a player not currently playing first team football (even though some may think he should be). Be nice to see some players coming in but I ain't gonna get all worked up because I still think we'll qualify for europe.

Damian, I understand your frustrations at the club website, especially when your running a good one yourself but, in the interests of balance and a sense of relief from it all, give us a couple of things you do like about it(and I'm not trying to be sarcastic, i just think it'd be nice). :)

WEBFLASH AH AH (DUM DUM...) HE SOLD EVERY ONE OF THEM...

I think £5Mn is verg good money for him if we had a bigger squad but we dont, we shouldnt be losing any players in January if we are not bringing any in. Now I think we need about 4 more players after he leaves for the rest of the season. Then in the summer we will need a hell of alot more.

This transfer window has been a let down since day 1, we should have all known it would be like this after last summer.

Still we are 5th in the table so we cant moan that much.

We are 5th in the league people, FIFTH!!! Have faith in a man that has been a football pro his whole life, very successful as a player and as manager! Where is Steve Davis now at the bottom of the Table with Fulham I think Reo Coker is going to be top quality Petrov has some good touches and is coming to terms finally always improving. If Cahill is so good why is it bottom 6 and Championship sides are only trying to buy him, 4.5million, Id snap the hand off the man that would give me that for him. He is good but he aint great, but most importantly he may not want to sit on the bench here, he might be unhappy. Knight will sit on the bench and be happy. O'Neill has always said if a player wants to leave he can leave. Try to be happy about where we are in the league and our constant improvement whats the point in spending millions and being 12-16th aka Newcastle!!!!

At least we havent just appointed denis wise our no 2 (the tactical genius that newcastle are lacking) or have our manager hailing milan baros as a "coup"

the prems gone mad

my predictions are as follows:

IN
Risse
Routledge
Hutton
That american Goalie
Defoe

OUT
Cahill
Mellberg (In the summer)
Moore (Rangers part exchange for Sutton plus about 3 million??)

nick ... i'll wake you up out of your daydream when the window closes and i'll tell you who we have ACTUALLY signed!

Hello my friends,
id just like to comment on the apparent lack of transfer activity, do you think mons busting a gut to get the players in, he seems to have a very casual attitude, but you never know, maybe hes on the phone seven days a week, busting his balls to get players in. It would be great to hypothetically do a fly on the wall documentary to see just whats going on in mons office during window time.
Secondly, when i was watching the liverpool game, i felt a tinge of sadness when i saw marlon harewoods big shiny homer simpson head come on. I feel that this lad has been hard done by. As David O leary would say, hes a good honest lad, and when he scored i was beating the roof, i want Mon to give him a start, dare i say it in place of big john, who seems to have the mobility of an 80 year old war veteran whose just been neutered.

What you guys think??

Paul we might be fifth now but we won't be in a few weeks unless 4 quality players are brought in. As for NRC turning out to be top quality not a chance. The guy can't pass and that will always hinder us as a team. 5th is as high up the league we can go with the quality of players we have and we won't improve by signing players that can't get into other Prem teams. MON need to get his finger out and start taking a few gambles on players from Europe.

There's a few on here treading on eggshells, must be otherwise why else have'nt I heard plenty of uproar about the situation with that O'neill bloke and transfers in general, I mean what the **** is happening? why are we constantly selling from a so called thin squad(I say so called because mr o'neill himself has said this a few times already)I mean what is going on???, everyone else is buying even though they did not have an already treadbare squad, we obviously do yet we have sold off in this window more than everyone else put together. I FOR ONE AM WELL P****D OFF WITH MR O'NEILL AND AM NOT AFRAID TO SAY SO. we like someone said are the clubs valued customers and not only do we have financial interests we also have emotional interests and mon is just winding me up no end, someone better tell him not to carry on like this because we almost already have an anti-climactic situation developing here and he (mon) is also dampening our enthusiasism for our beloved club, finally somebody please teach o'neill how to field/answer questions like any self-respecting manager should, because every time he is being interviewed he just does not impress me or my girlfriend for that matter!!! RANT OVER

AK28- Mate, your are the human embodiment of negativety, as well as showing how fickle fans can be. Rather than moaning about being 5th, why dont we celebrate the fact that we are in 5th with a threadbare squad, i mean, we would be quick to call for martins head if the results were poor, so lets give him the credit he deserves, hes gonna have us rite up there and as far as im concerned hes a god. Remember the days of david o leary, and smile, thats what i say.

Paul keep up that positivity, its whats needed

K4; I never said he was a right back, but Cahill has been used as a CM once or twice when he hasn't been out on loan.

What are ye guys on about? 5th in the league coming in to February and all ye can do is moan about how MON is not doing any good in the transfer market. Yes the squad is light but remember it has been light for 18 months now since MON has taken over. Relax a little and be grateful for the position we are in. Exciting times and some of the posters here (it appears) want to lynch MON for not buying a few. MON will buy when he see fit and will not let us down. Sit back and enjoy the football & the challenge for Europe.

AK28 on one side you have people giving out that we are selling a top young talent. Our top young talent is Gabby thats about it, we aint selling him. To imporve we have to sell what we dont need and bring in what we do, which is hard in January. People here are very impatient, we have a relatively easy run in and everybody can beat everyone in this league now. I reckon we will finish 5th or 6th I was hoping for top 8 which would be a 3 place improvemnet on last year, 11th which was a 3 place improvement on the year before. If we go up another 3 places next year we will be top 4. The higher we go the higher quality of player we can attract and alot of our players are less than 25 years old and will improve. Get a grip I would like to sign someone but a squad that is too big is no better than a squad that is too small, so signing for signings sake no thanks, again Id take fifth or 6th and no signings over 10th and 10!

If you'd told me in August we'd be fifth at this point in the season Id've been over the moon, and I think we're all really pleased with the progress the team has made this season, so I'm not trying to second guess the great man. BUT it's well documented that we have one of the smallest squads in the prem and MON himself has said on a few occasions that we're essentially buggered if we lose a few players to injury. So I'm puzzled as to why we're selling Cahill, a player with a lot of potential, (although 4-5 mil is quite a good price) but still haven't got any players coming in. Saying that I'm sure MON is working furiously behind the scenes and he'll hopefully prove us all wrong before thursday! Overall I agree with you Damian, we invest a lot emotionally into the club, and the transfer window is a hard time for Villa fans!
P.s.
I agree with mcgurt12345 harewoods looked hungry when he's come on and I think he's done enough for a start against fulham.

lasgidis- Mate, what with ranting like that im surprised youve got a girlfriend!
If my girlfriend ranted in the manner that you just did, id tell her to hit the road

I'm with the positive side! as in we're fifth in the table with a small squad , everybody under us is buying like mad! woodgate , Baros , it'll get them nowhere! Mon knows more than any of us who he needs to sell or who wants to go , and at he same time knows who he needs to buy! he may not get them but he Knows! i hardly think he's sittin on his ass all day playin fantasy manager??? the man has done wonders so far and long may it continue!

mcgurt12345 with your super comfortable acceptance of things as they stand, i'm suprised you can write,(bear in mind that villa are right now on the verge of something truly outstanding if well overdue) come come man, where is your edge? are you happy with spurs fans convinced they're totally better than us and everton and pompey believing we're not even on their level? or have you become so well adjusted to mediocrity that you won't contemplate greatness?? >:(

Spoken like a true prophet flowershopboy. God bless you

Im for one are very satisfied with Martins coaching, but I think that if we're aspiring for a european tour the coming years we need to have people like GC on the bench. here is were I dont blame MON but Learner, he should give the financial support so that the club don't have to sell if it's not an absolute must. I mean, we still have room for yet another one back there, and this have nothing to do with what the players want. I dont think a club like Olofs Juventus think about the players feelings but ONLY the clubs interest. that (and a fiat full of money) is what have taken them to a world top 10 position.

At lasgidis
I'm not too bothered at spurs fans , pompey fans or everton fans thinkin they're better than us , because they're not! as i said above Woodgate , Baros ...............We've learnt in the past spending big money on big names ( and not so big ) gets you nowhere! may i mention Baros again? MON knows who and what we need spurs pompey and everton fans are Sh***ing themselves waiting for MoN to spend , just going by my own mates (being Irish most of them are l'pool and Man u!) for the first time ever they are heaping praise on Mon and Villa!
UTV!

Avis ... do you even support villa?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Lerner has constantly backed the club with millions of pounds!
training ground, always no limit on transfers!

It's MON who is too cautious and doesn't spend the money that is offered on a plate to him!

You literally could't be more wrong about who is to blame for the lack of activity, im sure Randy wants MON to spend some of his money as well as we do!

Open message to MON - You simply can't win, even when you are...well, winning. Fifth in the league simply will not do!!

How dare you stuff the words down the mouths of all the doom merchants that were around at August. You simply cannot continue this successful run without signing some real quality players and buying back the ones you have let go.

If you and this small squad of players dare to qualify for Europe and make us all look like a bunch of clueless donkeys there will be some serious trouble. It, simply, will not be tolerated. Now, sign some quality players, lose a few games and give us all something to sing about. >:( Some people!!!

flowershopboy, you're asumming i assume, that i said anything about buying any names big or small, i wouldn't buy baros?? or woodgate?nevertheless there are 1 or 2 names out there i would be interested in whether they're big,small or what i couldn't care less as long as thy're really good and would make immediate impact as well as in the long run, for your second point, 'you said it',you don't know what it's like to have friends who support the likes of those three..

ya he is good but is he going to be the quality that helps gets us into the champions league if he was Man Utd would be buying him not relegation threatened Bolton.I think MON is right he knows what he is doing.

At least Cahill's not going to the Blues. Looks like Bolton is our new reserve team now that Boro aren't sniffing around. I can't really understand why Cahill has to go when we know Mellburg will be leaving a big hole. He must be better than ZN though I admit Davies has been a pleasant surprise. I can only assume either a]he and MON have had a bust-up b]His attitude has been poor or c]MON genuinely thinks he isn't good enough. We have to bow to any of these. On the bright side £5 is good business for a reserve player.

ghosthunter that is real quality,probably the best sarcasm ive seen on this site

Bloody h*ll. The whining never stops. Sitting 5th, and people still think they know more than MON.

Who cares about Cahill? Obviously MON doesn't rate him as high as many posters do. Since we're all Premier League managers who see these players every day, we obviously know more than MON about Cahill's potential. I've only seen him play a couple of times and he looked very average, rather stiff. He's not as good as Laursen or Davies, certainly not European quality. He's surplus to requirements, and if he wants to go, then he can go. This actually helps morale. Players know they can leave if they're unsettled, and it keeps want-aways from poisoning the dressing room.

Villa aren't selling because they need the money. They're selling because he isn't making the squad, wants to leave, and other, lesser teams are willing to buy him. How difficult is that to understand? If he's such an asset, he'd be playing, or attracting interest from teams who aren't battling relegation.

As to the website...Of course you're going to read about speculation or deals in the offing elsewhere first. The club is only going to make official announcements on the site when deals are done. If there's no announcement, then nothing has been signed, ergo, no official activity. It's not disrespecting the fans. Clearly, Damien, you don't understand the purpose and limitations of an official site.

What you're looking for is actually the provenance of the sporting press, or blogs like this. That's where questions are raised, potential deals bandied about and dissected, commentary offered. The official site should only be about schedules, buying tickets, offering up some re-caps, video, and so on. Which is pretty much what they're doing. I check the site to see if there are any announcements. If there aren't, then nothing official has happened. End of story.

What the club owes its fans is a good squad with ambitions of winning silverware, and fair ticket prices. They're consulting with fans, investing in infrastructure, giving us accurate information as soon as it's official, and looking to improve the matchday experience. You pay to watch good football, and that's what you're getting. The club obviously shares the fans' ambitions.

kohoutek

you're forgetting one vital thing here as far as i'm concerned; i'm not talking about rumour or speculation.

i'm talking about the manager of bolton coming out saying he has agreed a fee with villa for 'gaz' cahill

so, what i'd like to know is, have the club (using your term now) 'officially' accepted an offer for gary cahill. if they have, i think that is news - if you don't think it's news then that is where our opinions differ

as for understanding the limitations or purpose of an official site - i'm fully aware of what the potential is and truly believe the policies used by the club in dealing with the media (all forms) is stuck in the 90's and while i could claim that based on just viewing the site - i'm claiming it on a lot more

but i hope we'll agree then that the official site is limited only by potential - or lack of knowing how to run an official site

shame to see cahill go, but if chelski, manure, arse n scousers arent lookin at him, then surely £5mil can go towards a good signin

He wanted away. Not good enough for starting line up. MON only interested in team players. That would be why we are 5th.

We are in a bit of limbo at the moment. We are not yet big enough/consistent to attract truely top draw players or quality players to warm the bench. That will be next season after good trip through Europe.

Who do you boys want to replace MON? Maybe Hoddle, he's good with the press.

Damien-I think the Bolton manager's comments are one example of all the silly talk we hear around transfer windows. Not saying that a fee hasn't actually been "agreed"...may very well have, but it doesn't mean a deal is done. So, I'm just basically saying that it seems Villa's policy is simply not to comment until something is signed.

The wiggle room in this is manager or player comments, and we do see those on the site. MON talking about Olaf or Laursen, as we know.

I have a very limited expectation of what an official site is going to provide, so I'm not often disappointed. Most sites I visit for different sports (like the NFL and NHL), don't really offer much more than the Villa site. (What I'd really like is free video highlights, but I realize that everyone always tries to make money off of everything, so I don't worry about it.)

So let me ask you in all earnestness, what is it that you'd like the site to provide?

Dont really understand this argument going on here. We've all recognised or at least i hope everyone has, that up to now this season we have massively missed a right side of the team and another striker. This means then that we need to sign at least a couple of players surely to solve this problem! If MON doesnt end up solving this problem in the next couple of days then he hasnt fully done his job.

We all no the problem areas and there are plenty of players out there to sign!!! It isnt even about the squad its about the first 11 which is why alot of people are a little pissed.

However i do believe MON will sort things out with a couple of signings and we will continue to fight for a european place!

i am disapointed gc has gone,i think he had potential but mon wont keep a player who is unhappy and not content to wait his chance.i believe mon knows what he is doing and will not just buy for the sake of it.i think he made that mistake with petrov who the vast majority of fans think is rubbish,he wont do it again,so lets keep faith in possibly the best manager in the land.

£5M is a good deal for us. Cahill always looked to be like every other ten-a-penny centre half in the PL. He's average no more, no less. Yes, he's young and can learn - but I've never been overly impressed.

Thanks for the goal against the Blues Gary. Time to move on (for both parties).

Spot on Juan Pablo. It might sound like negativity but this complaining about the lack of transfer activity is really just frustration. 4th place is there for the taking. I really believe that if we sign a RB (Chimbonda), RW (??) and another striker (Gudjohnson)that we could do the unbelievable and be in the CL next year. This chance might not arise again so lets have a go at least. To do this we need to win all our remaining home games to be in with a shout and i just don't believe we can do that with the current players we have.

sorry mr, but my point may have passed over your head?
it is a financial weakens to have to sell when you do not get anything back. we should have enough money to keep people like that in the freezer. BUT if he is trouble this was the best option, although we all know we had one of the thinest lines in the league to start with.
but enough about that.

kohoutek

your expectations of what the club site should offer are controlled by the club - you are so used to getting what we get that you just accept it

it's not about what i'd like to see on the club website - the website is just a vehicle, however do you remember when the club said it was changing and asked for suggestion? i spent 10 minutes putting something together and emailing it in - what was the point in asking the question - its the exact same website with a different design and a couple of content additions

general krulak then came out and said - it's not a simple 'wickering' of the old site - well it was

he then said it was an 'entirely new site' - it's not

he then said, telling us what we should think here, 'far more fan appeal' - no it doesn't

like i've said, the website is a vehicle - its the media department that needs to change

i'm not sure how much they paid for this new site - probably very little or nothing, but for £50k they could have had something really amazing - with all the existing content and all of the services - but in 6 months the site would still be crap because the media department would destroy it - they're all amateurs

My expectations of the site are simply that it's a "propaganda" outlet. I think it could be a lot flashier and better designed, but as far as the actual content goes, it's about what I what expect, and that's really where my comments were directed. My expectations are tempered more by what I've seen at my own employer, which is a leading publisher of technical and trade journals. My magazine's website is sh*t and it's still taken more than three years to do anything about it, truly incredible given that nothing is being leveraged regarding advertising and traffic despite the fact that the global downturn in print advertising has had a marked effect on revenue.

I can't disagree with you about the media dept., as I know next to nothing about them. I would imagine, judging from my own business experience with takeovers, that Krulak & Co. probably left it in their hands, and left them in place, so as not to rock boats and dissipate the warm fuzzy feelings following the takeover. Probably the sort of the thing that someone might bring to RL's attention, and he sort of shrugs, realizing it's not all it could be, but figuring it isn't really hurting anything for now. I'm sure they were rather sensitive, from what I can infer, about alienating the locals, as it were.

But RL's experience in the NFL, which is as slick and media-savvy as any sports operation in the world, will tell him that you're right. It's often a bit strange what circumstances will produce. Anyway, I'm sure we've flogged this horse to death.