sutherland

All right then Randy Lerner. Why is it that we put in a bid for Dempsey on deadline day as well then?

We did have the whole Dempsey saga. We were never really after him

We made a bid, fulham said yes and gave us permission to talk to the player.

Player says No Thanks, I dont want to talk to them... The End!..

All done in about 40mins!..

Just shows how clueless mcduff is!..

Pays £4m for a player but then 12 months later turns down the chance of getting him for free!

Seriously you couldnt make it up, Just how incapable these two men are at there jobs.

If they worked for free it would be to much as there nothing but a complete and utter waste of time and space!..

HOPFULLY THIS IS NOW EVIDENCE!.. THE PENNY SHOULD DROP WITH LERNER THAT HIS ADVISORS SHOULD FACE A PUBLIC STONING!!!!

Mirror linking Bent with Fulham at £8m. I've heard rumours that he may be off to Fulham. However at £8m, i will be pretty pissed off. Want at least £12m. The guy has pretty much scored 1 in 2 for us and is proven.

I dont think given will start as he will be cup tied for his sale...

Another mystery back injury type thingys...

Good thinking there. Really good. Very likely. But, then he wouldn't have said yes. IF he'd come here and had an agreement he would've said yes and they couldn't claim that we couldn't reach an agreement. He would of course had come out and said that if he'd said yes in the first place. I think you're clutching here.

We couldnt get dempsey & makepeace in the hole suite on the big screen!,,

We can forget about any big names signing in january for sure...

What kind of quality player wants to sign to a contract with a clause written into it with a potential 50% pay cut involved if we get relegated!

Saying that though it wouldnt suprise me if our astute chairman & CEO have forgot to implement it in the latest contracts!..

What if he'd said yes?

Couldnt agree terms blah-blah-blah

How do you know he has been tasked with reducing the wage bill. Is it not that its Lambert's philosophy to purchase youth but he did nevertheless put in a bid for Clint Dempsey who would have asked for wages on a par with Bent and Ireland.

We could bid £50m for rooney knowing full well he wouldnt come but it makes some fans think we mean business...

Hell we could even safely bid £250m for messi knowing full well, jack shit aint gonna happen.

Apart from what lerner and faulkner wants... Back page of the mail / express & star to help shift a few season tickets!

Can someone explain to me what Lerner is meant to do if he just cannot afford it anymore?

Saying 'sell to someone who can' doesn't count, as its like me saying why i dont have more money, just win the lottery!

Lerner buys a £5 scratch card and if its any good cashes it in then buys a £1 scratch card!

No defoe links yet?

BREAKING NEWS MESSI HAS JUST BEEN SEEN AT BODYMOOR HEATH!

Yep.

rumours on net that says this about Pierre-Emerick Aubeyamang wanting to come:

After conceding seventeen goals during the festive period, you might have thought many players would be put off by the prospect of a move to Paul Lambert’s side. But St Etienne striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is hoping the Villans make a move for his services after stalling on talks with Italian side Fiorentina. The player is rumoured to be keen to prove himself in the Premier League and is willing to help Villa improve on their lacklustre season.

According to talkSPORT the Gabonese international, who joined the AC Milan youth team in 2007, has been catching the eye of scouts from all over Europe after netting eight times in sixteen appearances for the Ligue 1 side. St Etienne are keen to hold on to the forward but a fee of around £7 million is rumoured to be enough to secure the player’s signature. With Darren Bent seemingly set for an exit from the Midlands club, Lambert is searching for a goal scorer to support the impressive Christian Benteke."

So yes, For that reason we will get him

And? My point is that at the time they were kids, some who were making; or had only just made; their debuts. The fact that years later they are now more senior and some are regulars is completely irrelevant to the discussion.

With players out injured or on loan, from those available to come in or who are making; or only just making their debuts would be williams, johnson, carruthers, bowery and burke.

No way on gods earth will all those be in the squad let alone start.

So comparing the moscow squad to the pottential bradford squad is pretty pointless really.

I'd have quite a large bet with you that

a ) the amount of changes Lambert makes against Bradford to his first team will be fewer than the ones MON made in Moscow

and more crucially and it's the point I've been making

b ) the team Lambert puts out against Bradford will have had a lot more Premier League appearances this season than the one MON put out in Moscow that season (taking time of league season into account obviously).

In short, I'll eat my left nut if Lambert does 'a Moscow' to the same extent as MON did 'a Moscow'. That doesn't mean he can't make any changes.

Subs Not Used: Pomazan, Odiah, Daniel Carvalho, Mamaev, Erkin, Ramon, Ricardo Jesus.

Booked: Dzagoev.

Goals: Zhirkov 61, Vagner Love 90.

Aston Villa: Guzan, Luke Young, Davies (Osbourne 84), Knight, Shorey, Albrighton, Gardner, Salifou (Harewood 46), Sidwell, Bannan, Delfouneso.

Subs Not Used: Taylor, Lichaj, Clark, Lowry.

Booked: Bannan, Albrighton

Five of that lot are now first team regulars.

The point is not that we can't afford to pay these players it's that whilst we are paying them we can't afford to add more players to the squad. No club would just keep loading players into the squad at risk of financial ruin. Obviously though if you've got players like Dunne and Warnock, who have contracts expiring in 6 months, you would hope that the Chairman would allow a bit more flexibility to sign additional players without offloading some first, especially if the club is in a relegation fight.

I dont hope for nothing anymore off randy lerner and paul faulkner!..

I wouldnt put hope into dumb and dumber to organise a piss up in a brewery mate.

A proved pair of charlatens, Thats all...

Who says we can't pay those sorts of wages for 5-6 players?

Our coward of an owner and his little yes man / customer service manager turned CEO

Problem is we still have CNZ (60k estimated), Ireland (65k), Bent (65k), Given (60k), Hutton (40k), Warnock (45k), Dunne (55k) all still on the books. 7 players all taking up nearly 400k/week on the wage bill, although it's probably closer to 350k/week given the loan deals for Hutton and Warnock. Would be fine if they played every week but they don't. I can only dream about who Lambert could sign with 50% of the total wages made available.

Obviously it's not at simple as that but once those players are out of the club and replaced with players that Lambert wants to utilise each week we will be in much better shape on and off the pitch.

YOU WONT BE IN THE LEAGUE FOR VERY LONG!

Of course. Guzan, Lowton, Clark, Bennett, Westwood, Benteke and maybe even Weimann would all make it into our best 11 right now.

Lamberts first choice weakest 11 right now is?..

It'll be interesting to see how he prioritises the Bradford and Southampton games. Merson made the point on Soccer Saturday that the Saints game is now 100 times bigger than the cup game and this makes his team selections awkward. Do you risk going out to a League 2 side by putting a weakened team out against them? Or do you go into both games with the same team and hope they're not too tired on the Saturday*.

*remember you don't necessarily need to be tired, you just need to be more tired than Southampton.

Guzan, Lowton, Clark [c], Bennett, Herd, Weimann, Delph, Stevens, Westwood, Benteke, Albrighton

maybe benteke aside, Is it possible for us to start with a weaker 11 than that?.. Serious question like...

So I can't be unhappy with Lerner unless I'm prepared to start a boycott revelation? I assume you said the same to anyone who was unhappy with Mcleish and houllier?

Team Pld Total Highest Average Capacity Pct 1

Norwich City(12) 10 266254 26840 26625 26034 102.2% 2

Manchester United (1) 10 755085 75603 75509 75769 99.6% 3

Reading (19) 10 241040 24184 24104 24200 99.6% 4

Fulham (13) 10 255585 25700 25559 25700 99.4% 5

Arsenal (5) 9 540851 60111 60095 60432 99.4% 6

Swansea City (8) 11 224145 20650 20377 20500 99.4% 7

Tottenham Hotspur (3) 11 395626 36180 35966 36310 99.0% 8

Chelsea (4) 9 374480 41792 41609 42055 98.9% 9

Liverpool (10) 10 446960 44942 44696 45362 98.5% 10

Manchester City (2) 11 515955 47386 46905 48000 97.7% 11

West Ham United (11) 11 380611 35005 34601 35647 97.0% 12

Stoke City (9) 10 270640 27529 27064 28384 95.3% 13

Newcastle United (15) 10 496841 52385 49684 52387 94.8% 14

Southampton (17) 11 335459 31944 30496 32689 93.2% 15

Queens Park Rangers (20) 10 178342 18304 17834 19148 93.1% 16

Everton (6) 10 369830 39613 36983 40394 91.5% 17

West Bromwich Albion (7) 11 275882 26039 25080 28003 89.5% 18

Sunderland (14) 10 401967 47456 40197 49000 82.0% 19

Aston Villa (16) 10 342427 40538 34243 42551 80.4% 20

Wigan Athletic (18) 11 205248 21754 18659 25138 74.2%

We don't need another keeper. That is a waste of funds. Hope Stephens signs in time for Southampton

Guzan or our reserve keeper will be playing on sat, so shay is not cup tied!..

Guzan will also start in both semis now!

I'd agree that Bannan is the best midfielder we currently have.

In fact, here's today's quiz - put the following in order of best:

Albrighton

Bannan

Delph

El Ahmadi

Gardner

Holman

Ireland

Makoun

N'Zogbia

Westwood

Depressing isn't it?

Think we should play the kids in that one, oh wait!