Ralphy

You bring up the most important point with regards to our best players leaving: 2) " EVERY Club needs to watch the timing of the contracts of their players or they will see them go at almost no price." Why have our best players not been awarded with contracts mid season? What is the need to delay and wait until the Summer? I'll take you back to late January 2010, we had just beaten Blackburn to get to the CC final. James Milner was in the form of his life, had just under 2 and a half years left on his contract and declares he would be happy to sign a new deal. Ashley Young was in a similar position with just under 2 and a half years left. Why, when the club is at an all time high, when both these players had just under 2 and half years left and would happily sign 5year deals, do we not offer them new contracts? Summer came, clubs had seen how well Milner had played and his head is turned. You would think we would learn a lesson from this but NOOOO. Stewart Downing states he wants to sign a new deal with the club and feels he owes us in Febuary. Gerard Houllier says he is calm regarding contracts and wants to wait until the Summer and KABLAM...Summer comes and his head is turned. I guarantee you we would still have all 3 players at the club if Ash and Jimmy signed 5 year deal in Feb 2010, not just 1 very unhappy one. And atleast if a bid came in the club could say 'NOT FOR SALE' unless 50mil is offered. P.s. Not one other club in the Premier League has sold their best players 3 years running. FACT. Everton manage to keep hold of their best and they are in worse financial difficulties than us, atleast i hope they are. It doesnt add up, you cannot deny that we are not selling our best players year after year.

I may be in the minority but if I'm giving Big Eck a chance then I'll give Ireland a chance. I've heard he has been mountain walking with bricks in his backpack trying to get in peak condition for pre season. Weird way to get fit but seems he is a man on a mission to prove himself.

I hope we play hard ball with SD. He deserves it. He either hands in a transfer request or signs a new contract, one or the other. If he doesnt let him rot in the reserves next season, like we did with Warnock and Beye. It will ruin his biggest chance of going to a major championship with England. Thats how i would spell it out to him. Its time the club got some control back from the players and their agents. We have been a soft touch for quite some time now and if we are to progress we need to put the foot down. Players would think twice about f**kin us over if we set this example.

General, Spurs leading by example tonight. A segment from an article with their chairman Daniel Levy: Levy is adamant money is not a factor in the decision, insisting Spurs will not change their position if Chelsea or any other club come in with a higher bid. He said "It would make no difference. This is not about money. We're not selling our best players." The last sentence speaks volume about where we are as a club and where Spurs are. This is the reason they are still challenging for CL football. It a shame because 3years ago we were better than them but then...we sold our best players.

Have we even been linked with Kuszczak? Why are we even talking about him? Its getting me annoyed thinking about him in goal for us. Ive been through enough the last month.

You could have posted that about Freidel and he did fine for us. Kusczkak on a free.. no thanks. For people giving out about Given not playing last year, this guy hasnt played in about 4 or 5 years. With the exception of last year, Given was in the top 4 keepers in the league. He is proven class. Kusczkak would be a massive risk. Given not so much, at least we know what were getting with him. We want to do well in the league dont we? Given will win us more points than Kusczkak..no doubt about it. He will also get the best out of Dunne, they do wonders for Ireland together, a huge amount of clean sheets for the team they have. And his last pay day??? Surely he would stay at Man City if he was just out for money. He will have to take a big cut to join Villa so therefore this move would not be motivated by money for him. He has something to prove again. He will be hungry to prove City wrong. I'd imagine he will join Celtic if he leaves Man City, he has also been linked with AC Milan and Roma to answer your question.

Many felt he was undeservadly dropped as 1st choice keeper last season. I remember being baffled by Mancini's decision to go for Hart. It proved to be a successful decision but shows how highly most thought of Given. As many have said, 1 year on the bench doesnt make him a poor keeper. He is still one of the Top 5/ 6 keepers in the league. Will definitly improve the Villa side. Better than Friedel imo.

Plenty of players GK's out there. Kuszak, Al-Habsi, Kameni, Ruffier. None of those are unrealistic. They are all younger than Given and they all have the advantage of actually having played football in the last year. Signing Given makes no sense I'd have him over Kuszak, Al-Habsi, Kameni all day long. Dont know anything about Ruffier so cant comment on him. Kuszak barely played last year, 2nd last game of season sticks out for me. He was disasterous and I've yet to talk to a Utd fan that rates him. Al-Habsi- average, would struggle with more pressure on him at a bigger club. Wigan is his level. Kameni- decent but not quite at Given's level

N'Zogbia would be a great signing, just not as a replacement to BOTH Young and Downing. I'd welcome him to the fold but we still need 3 great wingers to keep them all on their toes. Thing about N'Zogbia is he can make something out of nothing and scores some cracking goals. Definitly a player to get us off our feet at VP, Get him in Eck.

I really dont think wages will be a stumbling block. Given seems very genuine, more interested in the football than money. He has been sitting on the bench with City for a year now and will be itching to become a regular somewhere again. He will definitly push for the move. Met him about 8 years ago and asked him to sign for Villa, he laughed. Nice bloke and has been a top keeper, has 3 top seasons left and will be a great signing for us if it happens.

General, You absence is alarming, still no word from the board, even though the negativity continues to spread. All whispers concerning Villa seem to suggest cut backs and fans are rightfully concerned. Yet, nothing from the board. Paul Faulkner couldnt even be arsed to sit beside McLeish at his press conference. The club i love are a shambles at the moment because of momumental errors made by your board. I have read about Randy's leadership of the Browns from articles in the US and before his appointment of Mangini he was slaughtered by the media there too for a lack of communication with supporters. When MON left we were told the reason was 'they no longer share a common view of how to bring the club forward'. What is this view? Dont we deserve to know Randy's future plans for the club? 4 managers later and we still havent been told what this view is. In the past 4 transfer windows we have sold Milner 24mil, Young 17m, Gardner 3m, Davies 3.5m, Shorey 1m = approx 48.5mil. We have also lost Carew, Reo Coker, Friedel, Sidwell as their contracts ended. We have bought Bent 18m (rising to 24m), Makoun 3.5m, Ireland 8m = 29.5m(rising to 35.5). The managers we have had HAVENT been backed like you say. Thats 9 first team members gone, replaced by 3. It was clear last season a number of the younger players promoted were simply not ready for the premierleague. We cannot rely on youth. It is becoming obvious Randy's view for the club has changed recently, it seems he is happy to settle for mid table mediocrity judging by his bemusing managerial appointment. It seems McLeish was the last option for the job. Its worrying that so many others are believed to have turned us down and we were left with a proven failure in the premierleague (so much for premierleague experience). We are now led to believe McLeish will not receive all of the money from the Young sale. Isnt it obvious he needs atleast 20mil on top of the Young money to help us compete again? We are now missing 4 players from our 1st team last season, 5 if Downing leaves. That is a team which flirted with relegation. These 5 players were our stars last season, along with Bent. McLeish will not be a success at this club without good feeing going into the new season. The moment we lose 2 games in a row he will be hounded. He needs big name signings to change fans opinions, to show he as a manager can challenge and compete with the best. It would give us fans some major and nuch needed encouragement. Big investment is needed but my faith is waning at a rapid pace. And it's no wonder Stewart Downing now wants out. Who could blame him. He joined a club he believed were challenging for Top 4 (which we were) but in that time he has had to watch all these incomings and outgoings. We are going backwards very quickly and Randy is the only person who can stop this. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO LET US KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AND WHAT OUR AIMS ARE FOR THE FUTURE UNDER RANDYS OWNERSHIP. Ralphy.

Ralphy here: An extremely disgruntled fan here after listening to our manager giving an interview on radio... 1) Big Eck says our aim is to finish higher than last year...Top 8. Where is the ambition in that?? 2) We have to 'carefully' trade. Sounds to me like its a sell to buy policy this Summer? Its certainly what he is implying. No other club is worrying about 2013, this Summer. Just look at Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City- they will all spend BIG. Its the last chance to do so before the new regulations come into force. If we dont spend BIG we will get left further behind. 3)Eck's tactics- he doesnt believe he was negative at Birmingham. 37 goals says they were. We will not accept bland, boring football. We want to be excited, entertained especially if the aspirations of Top 4 are no longer there, which he suggested. 4)Paul Faulkner- where the hell was he today? After the most turbulent few weeks i can remember as being a Villa fan, the CEO cant be bothered to be there to attend the press conference and address the media and FANS. It seems to me that he is out of his depth. Since his arrival at the club, it seems we have regressed to the Ellis days. Can you explain exactly what his job role entails(maybe im being harsh) and the positive impact he has had on the club to change my mind? I am willing to give it a chance after Big Eck's disappointing arrival, i really am. However, if Randy is no longer willing to spend 30-40mil(net) on transfers which Eck suggested, if he no longer believes we can get or even attempt to get Top 4 and his CEO cant even be bothered to show for the press conference...What message does all this send to the fans???

General, Proven premier league experience essential? So be it. Then why employ a proven failure in the premier league? 3 years experience, of which 2 resulted in failure. Surely for this requirement to be essential, the manager incase should have been a success. Lost all faith in this board. The date our dreams died- 16/06/2011. And Paul Faulkner, everything has gone wrong since he walked into the club. Whats are his credentials/ qualifications to merit him CE? So many questions need answering. I feel physically sick at the thought of McLeish managing Villa. I just hope nobody does anything stupid, this club means the world to thousands of people. Dont know how you sleep at night.

Please, please don't do this. There's no going back if you do, bridges can't be rebuit. All hope gone in one act, half empty stadiums for Randys tenure. Nobody wants empty stadiums- us or the board so make the correct decision. I urge you, for everyone involved... NO TO McLEISH

I agree, from the outside it seems everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong since he joined. I dont like what ive seen from him in interviews either, seems like a smug git.