jasthevillan

Young aint all that! If the top bid is £7m then I hope it isn't us.

It just looks very dodgy mate, if you aren't a windup merchant than sorry to say that you are gullible.

Yeah Balaban is currently second top scorer in Belgium with Bruges. Couldn't even get on the pitch for us!

I'm glad that SWP was shit yesterday, it will help to bring his price down.

I would die if we resigned Alan Thompson!

There was always something special between me and Sue from Sooty, I acted like I didn't like her but would have done her back doors in. Lol! Can we lock the thread now I think kids might read this and get excited.

That would be no one wanting them

I didn't say that he had been quoted but it is nice to see that the papers think that we have more to spend than some of the other taken over clubs such as Wet Spam

In todays NOTW they reckon we have a budget of £25m to spend in January, only Chelsea having a bigger budget so hopely it will be a very big spending happy new year.

Anyway a proper question for the General! I recall you saying that you would be at Charlton in a reply to my good self last week, it now appears that you wont be, is this because of our bad form or circumstance? For all I know you are on your way over as we speak so I will wait and see on this one.

Could be good for everyone involved so why not.

We have 4 strikers, soon to be 5 again, which we can rotate - I find it deficult to believe a striker will be top of MON's list when we are despreately short in other areas.

We have strikers but the problemis that they don't score. Has to be the first priority.

Absolute bargain OBE, LOL!

Wardle at City said a few weeks ago that if someone offered money in January for Distin and he hadn't signed then he would probably be off. This was just after Pearce said he would let Distin run his contract down rather than sell him.

General Krulak here:

1. Ron had an absolutely brilliant day...except for the result. When he arrived in the Director's area he was a bit withdrawn but I think he quickly realized he was with friends....former members of his teams, people he knew from long ago, and the "crazy yanks" who now work for the Club...Randy, Directors, etc. I think he had a very good time. Right before the game, Steve Stride and I took Ron down to meet with Martin and Sir Alec....and more former players. This was an enjoyable time with much banter between the Managers...all very kind to Ron. When Ron went down to the entrance to the pitch, he was a bit nervous but when his named was announced, he took right off for the center circle. When he came back, he had tears in his eyes...he was very touched by the demonstration of love and affection and respect....the fans were great!! Ron remained with us after the game for an hour...talking with people in the box, with Sir Bobby Charlton, David Gill, Randy and others. All in all, it was a very good day except for the game. Even the game had one positive feature....it showed us where we needed to go.

3. We are currently looking into a possible move into our own TV station production.

Excellent news about a possible TV station, as well as getting the fans closer to the club it is also useful in that you get a captive audience who can't change the channel when I have the remote, a complimentary good rather than a substitute.

Ron wasn't the only one who was emotional when he went on the pitch, that was what most us felt, from those in the ground to those watching on tv or listening to radio. Saw you on Match of the Day with Ron too.

Did you get good feedback on what is happening at the club from those with experience in the business such as David Gill?

Happy New Year if I don't see yourself and Randy at the Valley on Saturday.

Right on mate, Defoe at his best is better than Darren Bent and has proved it over a much longer period.

I was standing outside the car park with a client from America after the Charlton game waiting to see the players so that he could take their picture and standing next to me was Bill Howell, how I laughed inside, to think that some people pay 40p for the Meaning Evil every day!

Bill Howell is as reliable as Najwan Ghrayib was a good left back.

That is what the Villa Fans are to Martin's Marines!!

I like it thanks General.

We have had "Big Fat Ron's Army" when Ron Atkinson was manager. Since then, the managers' have had a few names to associate the team but nothing stuck..

Martin's Marines... some people may think its very "americanised" but I think it sounds cool, kind of catchy...

An advert with Villa players featuring with marine outfits with Martin + General leading them maybe pushing it a bit but would capture headlines

Merry Xmas and Happy new year General.

I'm sure it would get more women down there, they may even chuck there thongs at the general in a sort of Tom Jones manner.

From my experience when someone says 'Honestly' they are generally lying. I think with Randy and MO'N it is very much a case of if someone comes along that you want then lets see what we can do. Not like the days with Ellis giving a certain budget, that cost us so many good players.

the problem i see with the ticket history is that alot of these man utd fans have got a ticket history cause they have gone to see villa man utd before. maybe it should be made so you have to go to three games in the season already or if it comes in an early game maybe three in the season before?

Or maybe looking at the history and if they only ever buy tickets for Villa Man U then banning it. No doubt a long line of supposed Villa fans would be complaining because randomly they have only been to Villa Man U for the last 3 seasons because of circumstance.

Amerry christmas to you and yours general! Regards to the rest of the board too, we are all appreciating your efforts!

I think he is spending his dads money to be honest, his dad is a bit shady too.

NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT BENT AT 5M !!!!!!!

I said risking 5M above his asking price at around 10M would be a gamble, which means 15M.

My point is; who are we to judge his value before he has ever played a match for us?

United paid 28M for Rooney, a kid that wasn't even better than Lee Hendrie at the time.

Absolute bollocks this is mate. Don't even think about Darren Bent being a world beater and why pay £5m more than his value? Gago is going to Real for £13m. £5M is a large premium for us to pay when ou turnover is around £50-60m.

You will know that price is determined by supply and demand, for £15m there are much better players around than Darren Bent. He could well be the next Michael Ricketts! Who?

Excuse me? Is it absolute bollocks when they said some months ago that 15M was the price they expected to get for him from Newcastle? I know they are pushing prices, but frankly does it matter? I am NOT saying we should pay 15M for Darren Bent, I think a reasonable price would be 11M or something. Not because of his value, that we do not know anything about before he has actually played and scored for this club on a regular basis. Based on what I believe we have available for transfers I wouldn't want to pay 15M.

I remember Louis Saha going to United for around 12m and he was kind of the same type of player, playing good for a shitty club like Fulham. As well as Yorke. Didn't he leave for 12M? I think Darren Bent was better than Saha, and probably better than Yorke when he left us. It was when playing for United he really became a world-beater. Darren Bent is going to be sold for everything between 9M and 15M, depends on who and how many that is bidding for his services.

Is it absolute bollocks? I do not believe so.

They could well get £15m from Newcastle because they have to pay well over the odds on wages or fees or both to sign players at the moment because they have been struggling. All agents love Newcastle. Yorke for Villa was a damn sight better than Bent has been for Charlton and Ipswich and for a longer period. And Villa weren't shit then either we were top 6 regular, Yorke weren't much better at United but he got more exposure than at Villa. I think Bent will go in the summer for around £8-9m after a transfer request when they go down.

Matt Taylor for £5million would defo solve our left back problem with ease. However I do not think Portsmouth would be likely to sell him in January, I hope they would though.

Still don't rate Crouch, let him go to Newcastle.

Regarding Darren Bent, Charlton will only sell him if they get an over the odds offer for him. They will not sell their best player (with the possibly exception of Young, who we should go for, should consolidate RB position) mid season and in a relegation battle. Only if they get extra money for him that can be used to buy other players will they sell. £12million would probably do it. Even though that is more than he is worth, it could be a good option to go for him now at that price instead of facing a lot of competition in the summer if Charlton get relegated (and I think they are now one of the favourites).

With Gabby, he is much more likely to be worth 10million than 2million. Yes he still requires improving but the potential is huge with him and that pushes the price up. Also I don't think MON and Lerner are interested in selling one of our brightest youngsters and therefore that will also push the price up. £10million is not an unrealistic value.

Bang on there cyrusr