John

Christmas came early for Boro, as the match officials presented them with a seasonal goal, but our lads came back to earn a point that would have been 3 had it not been for the officials generosity to them. This was the sort of game we needed to win if we are going to maintain our lofty league placing but we lacked a spark yesterday. We also lacked someone up front who can convert chances into goals on a regular basis. Boor did what many teams will do against us this season, they came to stifle us, to get men behind the ball, to make it difficult for us to play and to hope to steal the points on the break. Not all of these teams will be helped by match officials who miss an offside that was clear to everyone but them, but in the end they could have left with all 3 points and our boys did well to come from behind and earn a point. Yes it is two points dropped, it’s the 2 points that we won at Everton lost, but we are a squad that are over performing and until reinforcements arrive in January and again in the summer sides like Boro that are well organized and work hard will make life difficult for use in the same way as we make it difficult for other sides who we meet away from Villa Park. Can I add the one thing that I think as fans we might need to look at? Early on there were the usual chants aimed towards the Boro manager. Now when he was playing that might have been OK as he was fare game. But has the time not come for an armistice? I like most of us was upset to see Gareth leave for Boro due to our then lack of ambition. But, he was not the first to do so (although he may be the last that can use that excuse). Players like Bruce Rioch left for the same reason before as did Danny Blanchflower. These players are now remembered as greats for what they did at Villa, with other clubs and on the international stage. Has the time not come to do the same for Gareth Southgate and to treat the former Villa captain as what he in fact is, a former Villa great? My player ratings from a day on which we stayed in the top 5 and missed Chris Sutton’s influence are: Thomas Sorensen - 6 – Rarely tested before his collision led to him being replaced by Taylor. Olof Mellberg - 7 – Did well filling in out wide and might now be asked to do the same until January. Got a little annoyed in the first half after a nasty challenge and just managed to control himself after that. He is not as effective here as he is in the middle, but fair play to him for getting on with the job and he was just wide with a typical full blooded effort on 66 minutes Liam Ridgewell - 6 – Another steady display. Gary Cahill - 6 – Won a lot of ball in the air and looks solid alongside Liam. Unlucky to see a flick go just wide on 33 minutes. Wilfred Bouma – 6 – Looking better with each game and forced a good save from Schwartzer on 32 minutes when he hit a screamer from 30 yards. Gabriel Agbonlahor - 6 – His speed is our main weapon but he was better marshaled than in some of our games this season by a defence that had done their homework. Gavin McCann - 6 – Another welcome return. Not quite at his best and had a hand to play in their goal, albeit not as big a hand as the linesman did. Stiliyan Petrov - 6 – Needs to begin to show us a bit more of what he did show at West Ham, but did earn us our penalty with his hard running and is unable to get as far forward as he might like in his present role. Gareth Barry – 7 – MOTM – Sent Schwartzer the wrong way during injury time in the first half with a well taken penalty. By some way our best performer once again. Isaiah Osbourne – 6 – Kept things tidy in the first half and might have scored had his header from a JPA flick on had more power on 22 minutes. Covers the ground a little like Vieira but needs to develop a lot more to bear any real comparison to his role model. Will need to show a little more of his undoubted potential to keep Davis on the bench. Juan Pablo Angel - 6 – Worked hard but little goal threat. Substitutes: Milan Baros – 6 - Replaced JPA on 61 minutes and did some good work and was just off target on 81 minutes with a shot that went just wide. Steven Davis – 6- Replaced Ossie on 61 minutes and did enough in half hour to show that he is worth a start I think. Stuart Taylor – 6 - Came on for Thomas, eventually on 70 minutes and did well enough in the available time. Up the Villa! John Lewis

Of course he is, let's get the cream of Wales as well! :oops:

I thought that "The Porndrome" was nearer than Villa Park is to his parents' home. I'm happy to accept anyone Martin wants to bring in. But, I would not say no to going the Spurs route by bringing the best young English talent into the club, such as Barnes from Derby, Bale from Southampton and Murray from Wolves. Up front you get what you pay for, I would be happy with any two from Keane, Defoe and Bent, I also like the look of Nugent and Eastwood does score for fun, but so did Guy Whittingham before he joined us.

I think we played Chelsea on the wrong night after last weekends incidents. They were up for it, did not field a weakened team and few teams could live with them at their best particularly when they lose their captain and MOTM from the previous game through injury. Let's hope this is a one off. Performances have not been so good as late and Martin had warned us that this day would come. We face another tough one next weekend that we might have expected a stuffing at last season, let's back the lads to bounce back (including Petrov, Davis & Bouma who have the ability to put this behind them).

Malcolm, I think we now need to hold a place within touching distance of the top 6 or 7 in the hope that the players Martin is able to bring in during the next window will provide the extra quality and depth to our squad that will enable us to maintain a challenge for a place in Europe next season. The previous chairman had thirty something years to show some ambition and the present board has already done more in 3 months to raise the profile of our club than he did in over 30 years. I would love us to challenge for a top 4 place sooner rather than later. But, the new manager and board face a big job and deserve sufficient time to do it. Whether by this time next season we are in a position to challenge for a Champions League spot or not, I'm confident that the hopes of this happening next season or the season after that are real and are something that would not have been realistic to hope for before the changes that were made at Villa Park this summer. I have every confidence that with MO'N and our new board in place the glory days will return. It might not happen this season or even next, but it will happen. Let's look at the signings we are able to make over the next 3 transfer windows rather than those Martin needed to make in a short transfer window and those players he was able to bring in after it had closed. We now have men in charge who we can trust and I am happy to trust them to come through in a reasonable time frame.

What a difference a new board makes. How positive it is that you and the board are willing to take on board the opinions of the fans in reaching decisions. Rest assured we fully support Martin and the board and are confident that you will do everything in your power to awaken the giant that is Aston Villa Football Club. We have a great history and now have a great future. Thank you for coming to the rescue General and please pass on our very best wishes to the board as a whole. If anyone should recognise a great leader than it is yourself. We are lucky to now have so many natural leaders of men at our football club.

Thanks for the mention John, are you sure it's not me? I am getting on now.. :winkold: Great news that the club is taking your suggestion forward in the past this would have been one for the waste paper basket whilst the former chairman waited for someone to suggest he have a statue made of himself. Still that is now in the past. We have a past and men from that past that I'm sure Randy and the new board will want to recognise and we also now have a future.

If we can get the money we need to build the playing side then I think we must. I would trust Randy to make the right decision. At least we can rest assured it will not be renamed Ellis Park and if it had been there would have been no money in it for the club anyway. :winkold:

Every AGM with Ellis in control has been a farce Ian. :winkold:

I can imagine it: Prospective New Owners - "We would like MO'N." Chairman (from the villa in Spain that he currently can be found at 24/7) - "David Platt it is then gents." Prospective New Owners - "The deal is off then." Chairman - "What a pity, can you keep quiet about that until the AGM?"

Is the AGM that near that we need to float a new bid story again or is this to replace the DO'L out stories before the pressure is really applied to get the chirman out of the club as well? Still Swede, Sven, Graham Taylor, Neville, MO'N any cobination of these would be better than what we have now. Let's hope this is the news we have been waiting for!

But will he be selling high and losing control of the club now? I think the wall is starting to crumble and the wolves are at the gates. :winkold:

No doubt his head will be frozen and placed next to Walt Disney's so that when the time comes he can return to run the club once more Ian. I wonder if the word "panic" is involved in these plans?

Didn't the Russians who were quoted as being interested before the Comer Bros. thing came to light refer to the prospect of their making a hostile bid? Where or where did they get to or were they only a figment of our chairman's imagination at AGM time? Ian, I'm not sure he does want to sell. By over pricing the club he can claim to want to sell it when the price he puts on it makes sure nobody will match it and if someone gives the impression that they might (as did Neville) he puts other barriers in the way such as needing assurances that money would be available from them for future transfers or that they are football people (barriers that would have excluded him in 82).

Yes John you have most likely hit the nail on the head he will need another bid to deflect everyone for yet another time. :roll: :roll:

In today's Sunday Mercury Graham Hill writes that our "takeover saga" could take another twist this week with fresh interest in the club expecting to emerge. He adds that it is understood that a fresh development could soon be made although Villa are not thought to be planning any imminent announcements. Would they not have to due to those stock market rules they often use as a reason to say nothing? So is it a new consortium who are about to show their hand (as Hill suggests)? He also claims that a number of parties have shown interest in the club since Rothchild's appointment. Or is Ray Ranson back or has Mike Neville now found the replacement backing he needed for the original bid? Time will tell but it seems that nobody at Villa Park are in a hurry to do so. Of course there are no direct quotes but let's hope the Russians or someone else is coming and the sooner the better. And if the chairman is not prepared to accept any reasonable bid then why not raise our glasses to a hostile takeover as I fear that is likely to be the only way we will remove the chairman pending the box.

If it were closed down it would depress me even more. It would mean there is no hope of a takeover and I still cling to that hope although where when once I thought it was around 50/50 that a bid would be accepted it now seems nearer 1 in a hundred or worse. :cry: Come on you Irish! Come on you Russians! Come on somebody! Let's be having you!

This thread appears to be all the hope that we have left at the moment. If it is closed because the chairman & CEO makes it clear that he is staying then it will mark the end of our club as we know it as well as the end of this thread. Up until then, the odd story gives us hope when deep down I think many of us may feel there is none. :cry:

And would they want to buy us or set their sights much higher? We can but hope but we have been let down so often it sounds much too good to be true.

He may be the self proclaimed "Mr Aston Villa" but I would never associate him with the term "real Villa man". How about selling the club (as you suggest for the going rate) and giving the balance between what he paid for the shares and his profit on selling them to the club as a summer transfer window spending fund or on his death leaving the bulk of his estate to the club in trust as Jack Walker did? Sadly neither of these are going to happen either as he has no interest in buying respect from the men of the terraces for whom he has none.

I wondered whether Ranson might be back. It seems things might just be hotting up now that we are 100 % safe from the drop. Make it happen someone!!

He may get his money eventually but he's not getting any younger either Ian and I would have thought that he would want to hurry things up so he still has some time to spend it (or does he also plan to live forever)? No, I think they have thrown their hand in Stewiek2. However, I think it is Neville who is still in the game and I think he is just looking to secure the funds from a source other than the Comer Bros. to be able to call our chairman's bluff. Whether those extra funds are coming from "individuals whose wealth would be exceeded in English football only by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich" or they are new players who have just come to the table is less clear. But, I just hope something does happen soon and whether their manager is David, Alan, Martin, Sam or Sven, is something that I would be happy to leave in the hands of new owners but not in the hands of the present CEO!

I wonder Ian, is someone making these decisions based on tablets of stone that are labelled "How to continue the destruction of AVFC" that were etched out from what remained of The Trinity Road Stand by the man himself after he had that pulled down and come with the instructions "only to be used following my death or upon my being incapacitated by my chosen sychophants"?

That would be nice. But, some money would be a change from what has been the case since our chairman came onto the scene, as would some forward thinking that would point the club forwards rather than backwards. But, icklevillan as you suggest there seems to be no knight in shinning armour appearing over the horizon to rescue us.

Point taken both, I just hope they gave us a mention before pointing him in the direction of their other client.