HalfTimePost

Lambert gave him a chance, despite not being signed by him, and he didnt quite take it. He tried hard though and couldnt quite make the step up. Shame but atleast he was professional whilst here. Good luck Brett.

We wouldnt even try for him now I dont think unless we sold Benteke, he's a ready made replacement for him. Depends if that would be what Lambert wanted. I'd love Bony but Lambert could just as easily want to pluck somebody else out of relative obscurity. He'd probably cost £12-15m. Which i suspect is above what Lmbert would want to pay.

On the OS. No fee involved i assume. Wonder if we paid him off?

Thing is a lot of other clubs' fans will currently be saying the same thing. Everybody wants to move forwards. Some will, some wont and some will move backwards. But everybody will currently be thinking an extra 6-10 points moves us up a notch. I think we'll finish 12th. But be very clearly around the 9th-12th mark throughout the season rather than trying to push up in to it come March.

Wanyama turned us down already before he went to Celtic because he wanted Champions League... Can't see us spending £10m on him. Like somebody else said, Lambert is more likely to go and buy the next Wanyama than spend £10m on somebody like this.

I hope not.

Carr was the one higher up that was doing some good for Newcastle. Pardew is just not good enough for a PL Manager. Cases could be made for Llambias going or staying. Carr is the one that they must keep. If Kinnear pisses off Carr and he leaves and Pardew hangs on then Ashley has royally **** up. Carr would be a great chief scout for us. I'd love him here. Cabaye, Santon, Debuchy, Ba, Cisse, Ben Arfa may not have been hidden gems, but to find those type of quality players available for the fee's he found them for (bar maybe Debuchy's) was superb business. And not many people had a vast knowledge of Tiote before he joined them. Carr will be a superb signing for whoever he joins

Reina going to Barca apparently which is just bizarre as I dont think he's anywhere near that level anymore. A great keeper a couple of years ago but has been poor or late. Maybe he's just a bit out of sorts with Liverpool not being the level of club anymore that he joined? Maybe Barca will pull his old form out of him? But I'm surprised Barca aren't looking for a younger keeper, like a ter stegen, de gea or courtois. Guess they may well have one coming through the ranks so they want somebody more experienced in the mean time. But it still seems strnge imo

Okore for me, think his passing range will be great for us, Lamberts teams like a long ball, we still played quite a few of them, I don't like them - at all - but can see the variance in our passing can do wonders for us playing in different styles. And as well as looking like he could be a very good defender, I also think we'll see him starting some great attacks with those long passes* *by the looks of the Chelsea video, they are just that, long passes, not the mindless hoofs that Dunne, Collins and to a much lesser extent Baker produce.

Marshall Warnock Dunne Makoun Petrov (Retirement) Holman Lichaj* Given Hutton Stevens* Ireland Bannan* NZogbia* KEA* (Although he didnt do much wrong, could do well next season now he's settled?) Bent Delfouneso Would've been my list of people to go this summer. (* only if number of replacements coming in were enough for us to cope) 7 gone already, only 5 of my 'definites' left to go. As well as 5 new signings and new contracts for 2 players is a great start to summer.

Now just need to see if they do a child's kit big enough to fit me.

Morena has just made 4 appearances (out of 5 games, according to WhoScored) for the Spain U21's in the U21 Championships, which they won overall. To get into that Spanish side you have to be a talented footballer, so it must be a case of Moreno being a very gifted footballer and two years younger than Luna Sevilla decided to opt for him instead. Especially when they can probably get another 3 or 4 years out of Navarro at LB too if they needed somebody to rotate with Moreno and somebody for him to learn from.

Any idea how much we got for him?

I very much doubt he is on 60k. Would be surprised if it was as much as 40. I thought it was quite widely accepted that Given and NZogbia were both on 60k a week. A quick search shows that a lot of newspapers put him on between 50-65k when he signed. Mirror - 50k (but with Nzo holding on for more at their time of writing) Telegraph - 60k Daily Express - 65k Guardian - 65k I know newspapers normally inflate the prices a bit, but I'm sure it was widely regarded he was on 60k

Looks like he'll still be here then, which is dissappointing, with his 60k a week wages I'd imagine selling him on could be crucial to signing another player in that CAM role that was kind of given to him last season. Hopefully just offing Ireland will be enough.

Think they should be able to, a lot of players go and get loans at that time, Wilshere, Sterling, Chalobah, Ramsey, Wickham, Zaha, Shaw i.e a lot of players have been making some kind of first team impact at that sort of age. Some of them have been stand outs in the Championship and others have done well in the Prem at that age. One thing we have usually struggled is to get out players enough first team experience to make a difference at 21/22. Grealish, Graham in particular as well as Burke, Robinson and Drennan could do with loan moves to the Championship or League 1 to get them that experience (or at least be given time here in the cups) Theres no point playing in the Development league for another 2 or 3 years because it wont do them any good

I think we'll surprise some people in those opening fixtures. We'll beat Arsenal, Lose to Liverpool (Think they'll have a better all-round team next year even if Suarez leaves) Chelsea postponed, Beat Newcastle (who are becoming a circus) Beat Norwich Lose to City Draw with Everton. First 6 games 10 points having played 4 of last years top 6.

Bar United, thats the nicest Christmas period we could possibly hope for. (I expect Everton to be pretty crap next year) 26/10/2013 15:00 Everton (h) 02/11/2013 15:00 West Ham United (a) 09/11/2013 15:00 Cardiff City (h) 23/11/2013 15:00 West Bromwich Albion (a) 30/11/2013 15:00 Sunderland (h) 03/12/2013 19:45 Southampton (a) 07/12/2013 15:00 Fulham (a) 14/12/2013 15:00 Manchester United (h) 21/12/2013 15:00 Stoke City (a) 26/12/2013 15:00 Crystal Palace (h) 28/12/2013 15:00 Swansea City (h) 01/01/2014 15:00 Sunderland (a)

So.... Newcastle, Norwich and Hull are must wins then

Steve Hunt @ASTVIL123 Arsenal (A), Liverpool (H), Chelsea (A), Newcastle (H), Norwich (A), Man City (H) are #AVFC's first 6 games according to the Birmingham Mail I hope this is BS.

Newcastle were on the verge of signing Douglas, the centre back from FC Twente, on a free transfer. Newcastle have been linked with him for ages, atleast 18 months back I remember seeing them being interested in him. Kinnear has instantly cancelled the transfer apparently, saying he has already identified other defensive targets. Absolute idiot. Oh and Derek Llambias just quit

You can't credit Arsenal any more than Arsenal should credit us for Crowley. It's natural talent. Carruthers came to us apparently because he thought there would be more opportunities at Villa. Crowley went the other way because... well, we don't know why. £££

Hoping for this formation (not sure on Bacuna yet but dont think Westwood + Delph/Sylla is strong enough) Guzan Lowton Vlaar Okore Luna Westwood Bacuna Weimann Murphy Gabby Benteke Personally think we'll see: Guzan Lowton Vlaar Okore Luna Sylla Westwood Delph Murphy Weimann Benteke

Given, good player, wants to move, will take a pay cut to leave and the fee will be very small. Easiest of the lot imo. Then Ireland, rumours a while back he had already got something lined up in the MLS, but he'll haggle over wages, us paying him off, us continuing to pay some of his wages etc. Bannan, Williams, Delfouneso, Stevens then. Somewhere in late July/Early August Bent will go after a couple of teams back out over his wage demands and we eventually pay him off.

This is the dawning of the age of Helenius. HEEELEEEENIUSSSSSSSSSS