Pupkin

Who said anything about forgetting percieved ability Percieved ability is not the only determining factor in a transfer fee however, never has been, never will be. Zat Knight had plenty left on his contract, Collins doesn't, hence Collins is cheaper when relative abilities are taken into account. Zat Knight was much younger than Collins, therefore potential resale comes into play plus potential player improvement, Collins' will be much smaller and has probably peaked. We paid much more for Knight so were looking to recoup more on him. Transfer fees are a factor of many things not just percieved ability. Collins vs Knight as a defender in a Villa shirt, Collins wins every single time I think about it Also sorry for the delay in answering your question, I was busy So, taking that all into consideration concerning the points you have made, do you then think that we would have got more for Collins if say he was on a longer contract? I'm afraid i do not and thats what i mean by his perceived ability which i believe was the most important factor in this particular transfer! If Zat Knight had been 28 years old with a year left on his contract when we sold him we would have struggled to get 500k for him. Zat Knight was actually 29 when we sold him. Contract-wise he had two years left so not much longer than Collins (although it is a key extra year) Maybe they paid the extra because they thought he would mature with age like a fine wine.

Yeah, he has moved from around 7/1 to 2/1 on betfair over the past couple of days. It's interesting because I'm not sure what it's based on; there hasn't been much in the press about him since he said he was happy at Norwich.

TBF I don't think a single person on this board has ever said they want Bruce. I think his point was that Bruce finished much higher up the table than Martinez... yet nobody wants Bruce.

By playing negative football and being very forunate, as all of them could have scored three or four. They didn't at the end of the day, yet let's not act like Chelsea weren't outplayed in all of those games. Lady luck was with them in a big way... At West Brom he played very attacking football, reckless at times. At least the matches against Barca and Bayern show he is willing to adapt his tactics... and it worked! If Mourinho had won the Champions League with Chelsea in the same manner, people would be calling him a tactical genius.

If RL is seriously considering RDM over all the other plausible candidates he deserves torture. I'd take Gregory over RDM, no contest. I don't quite get all the negativity towards RDM. He's only 41 and just won an FA Cup and the Champions League. At West Brom he had a very good first season, getting promoted to the Premier League, followed by a good start to his second season (winning Manager of the Month for September). He then hit a difficult patch, which will be expected with any young manager (see AVB for example) and was harshly fired. He made some good signings for West Brom such as Odemwingie with the kudos of just having won the Champions League should be able to hire some. All this was playing attacking passing football, contrary to the myth that seems to appeared about him playing negative football (from people who have only watched the Barcelona and Bayern matches). He certainly wasn't playing defensive football when beating Napoli 4-1 or beating QPR 6-1. Is he really that much of worse appointment than Poyet or indeed OGS. Given time he could turn out to be an excellent manager. Harsly fired, you serious? Ask any West Brom fan what they think of him and you will see. If you hire a 39 year old manager, you have to accept there are periods where things don't go well. He had a very three bad months at West Brom, but did an excellent job before then. Most neutrals at least thought he was harshly fired at the time. All young managers (including OGS) will have bad spells. Look at Ferguson when he first arrived at Man United. If we hire a young manager we need to have the patience to give him 2-3 years, and over that time I think RDM could become very good for us. He is still only 41!

If RL is seriously considering RDM over all the other plausible candidates he deserves torture. I'd take Gregory over RDM, no contest. I don't quite get all the negativity towards RDM. He's only 41 and just won an FA Cup and the Champions League. At West Brom he had a very good first season, getting promoted to the Premier League, followed by a good start to his second season (winning Manager of the Month for September). He then hit a difficult patch, which will be expected with any young manager (see AVB for example) and was harshly fired. He made some good signings for West Brom such as Odemwingie with the kudos of just having won the Champions League should be able to hire some. All this was playing attacking passing football, contrary to the myth that seems to appeared about him playing negative football (from people who have only watched the Barcelona and Bayern matches). He certainly wasn't playing defensive football when beating Napoli 4-1 or beating QPR 6-1. Is he really that much of worse appointment than Poyet or indeed OGS. Given time he could turn out to be an excellent manager.

I've had it on semi-decent authority that he's been lined up for Inter, not that I'm ITK though. Just couldnt see him coming here, would be a big step down for him at the end of the day Probably the most likely outcome. Depends how much his reputation was damaged by the season at Chelsea. Seeing an average manager like RDM take over from him and win two cups doesn't look good for anyone... It's interesting that Liverpool aren't even considering him. Possibly that he wont want to work under Van Gaal?

My take on events: 1. Three young and "vibrant" targets were identified... AVB as an ambitious 1st choice , Martinez 2nd and OGS as a 3rd option. This ties in with MM's comments about having 3 targets that fit a certain type. 2. Liverpool sacked Daglish and appear to have the same top two targets as us. Lerner invites OGS over for an initial chat while watching the Liverpool situation. 3. TheTrees causes chaos in Norway and Villa fans start masturbating over a youtube video made for MUTV 4. Given the huge support for the appointment, Lerner decides we should probably just hire him instead of the other options. Meanwhile OGS decides this is all too much for him, so pulls himself out for his own sanity. 5. Liverpool decide not to interview AVB. 6. Villa appoint AVB as their new manager

Agree with every bit of this although would give Makoun another try to see if he can cut it. Delfouneso: is 23 now. If he was good enough he'd have broke through by now. Gabby: has went completely stale. Local lad who thinks he's a must pick. Move him on. Delph: had proven he just can't cut it. Even with the injuries he's had. Bannan: flatters to decieve. Good close control but no influence at all in a number of games. The whole back 4: Look at some of the goals we've conceded this season. Show them all the door. Delfouneso turned 21 in February... you've added 2 years to his age there. I would still very much categorise him as a "youngster". I think it's a bit too premature to write him off just yet. In total he has scored 8 goals in 41 appearances... 2 more goals than Peter Crouch scored for us, in 2 fewer games.

I doubt anyone at Villa has even heard of Quique Sánchez Flores!

Anyone suggested Quique Sánchez Flores? Young, talented manager who could build a legacy with us, plays attractive football and currently unattached. Basically a better version of Martínez as he's actually proved himself. Would be ambitious, but ticks all the boxes for me.

Any idea what Brad Friedel did to make Garth Crook's team of the week??

Zat Knight was a good captain at Fulham. He would get my vote.

Went to vote for dressage... but noticed it wasn't there! Surely thats the most ridiculous!