jt

Yeah and read the Sky Text its even funnier...reckons Nevilles heading AV06 Bid & Padfield heads another consortium. Loads of errors! Muppets!! Yeah i saw that last night, how i chuckled. You'd of thought they'd of corrected their shoddy journalism by now though!!!

Yeah, but you can bet he heard it on the telly last night and would try to use it in a scentence today somewhere to make himself sound clever!!

Of the many reasons this might have been leaked, this is quite possibly the least likely. Note the word "leaked" as opposed to "invented" Why is this unlikely?? It's only unlikely if DE is willing to give up power,. What is perfectly plausable is that Doug thinks if he gets MON then he could ride out this storm and stay in charge, would you not agree?? So if you were Doug release a story to your favorite lap dog, build some interest, sell some tickets, get some extra cash to give your new messiah. And hunker down once he's in?? In all honesty i wouldn't be suprised to see this happen!! Thats the nature of the man who controls AVFC.

After listening to Peter Cooley from SSN, he made some very relevant points. Why would MON come in with no garuantee of a takeover on the table No money to spend A clearly dissatisfied squad of players who finished 16th in the league. No one, particularily someone as clever as Martin O Neil, would be likely to commit under these circumstances. He also stated that the story was probably leaked to sell season tickets, which is, in my opinion, quite clearly the case as Baggie bill is in Dougs pocket. He also stated that he doubted he'd work with Doug "knowing Martin as well as i do over the years". My opinion, for what it is, is this, I believe Lerners man are the ones at VP and Bodymoor, and I would expect that Villa will make an announcement tommorrow that the board of AVFC PLC have recieved a firm offer from Randy Lerner of £64 million. After discussions between the board we are willing to reccommend this offer to the shareholders of AVFC PLC as we believe it is in the best interests of the club. Further more AVFC PLC would like to announce the retirement of Chairman Doug Ellis, who will now move into a purely figurehead role at AVFC. The appointment of a manager will be the subject of a future announcement from the new owners. Thats what I'd expect, however I also wouldn't be suprised to see this: AVFC PLC have rejected all bids connected with the club as the lord and master DE feels the people bidding are just not "football" enough for him. He now hopes the shareholders will kindly shut up and allow him to wibble in his office whilst wasting £500,000 per year!!

Whilst I admire your optomism, I can't help but think that Doug will appoint MON and try to ride out the storm without selling the club. He's terrified of someone else winning something other than him!! Not to throw a downer on it or anything!!

Where does it say that?? Sorry aledgedly there, US billionaire Lerner hots up Villa marketJul 25 2006 By Ged Scott The race to buy out Doug Ellis is hotting up nicely after it became clear that Aston Villa are being eyed from as far away as the United States. Reports of lifelong Villa fan Michael Neville's renewed attempt to buy the club, ten months after first showing his hand, has awakened new interest from American billionaire Randy Lerner. Villa chairman Ellis is due to return to the Midlands from his yacht in the Mediterranean today to meet Lerner, who already owns a major American Football club, the National Football League's Cleveland Browns. After having contract with Irish property developers the Comer brothers through Neville last summer, the Solihullbased businessman is confident of acquiring fresh backing. But he faces competition, as Lerner is also reported to be willing to meet Ellis's reduced asking price of about £57million, which has dropped by £7million from the initially mooted figure of £64million following Villa's recent sale of land. Lerner is believed to be an admirer of California-based Jurgen Klinsmann, now free after resigning as Germany coach following the World Cup. But, more pertinently, both parties are fans of Martin O'Neill, who has emerged as the hot favourite for the manager's job. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT While the appointment of O'Neill is what Villa's fans most anxiously crave, the one thing he would need is the green light to manage without unnecessary interference from boardroom level - and he may still need convincing that those working conditions would be available under Ellis. But, reluctant though he would be to step down, the 82-year-old chairman may finally have sensed that the time is right - 24 years after returning to the club for his second spell at the helm. Last week's statement to the Stock Exchange confirmed there had been approaches from abroad and the United Kingdom to buy Villa, who are badly in need of a massive cash injection. An unnamed Saudi Arabia-based consortium is also understood to be considering an approach but it is the new involvement of 44-year-old Lerner, who has an estimated $1.2 billion fortune and is chairman of credit card giants MBNA, which has created most excitement. Speculation has abounded that Lerner actually visited Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground yesterday in the company of Steve Stride, the chief operations officer, but the club refused to comment, other than issuing a short statement that said: "We have nothing to say over renewed speculation about the future of Aston Villa." Meanwhile, Villa continue their pre-season preparations against Hull City at the KC Stadium tonight without four of their foreign contingent. Injury-ravaged Patrik Berger has already suffered a blow, having picked up a calf strain in the first fortnight of pre-season training. His compatriot Milan Baros, whose future at the club is still in doubt, has returned from World Cup duty still suffering from the foot injury he sustained in the Czech Republic's final group match in Germany a month ago. Both are being targeted for the week-long tour to Germany and Holland, starting in 11 days, so will miss not only tonight's match at Hull but Saturday's Steve Bull testimonial against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Sweden captain Olof Mell-berg returned to training only last Wednesday and is being saved for Molineux on Saturday but Martin Laursen is still being nursed along, having not yet been given a date to return to action. "He's been out ten months," said caretaker manager Roy Aitken. "We've not even thought about when he might start a game. "At the moment, he's just sticking to the programme given him by Dr Richard Steadman, the specialist he saw out in Colorado, alternately doing a day's training with the first team, then going back on the weights." n Villa's home match with Newcastle United scheduled for Saturday, August 26 has been put back a day to Sunday, August 27 (2pm). Which side James Milner will line up for on that day remains open to debate. Despite the departure of manager David O'Leary, Villa remain keen on buying Milner and are understood to be ready to solve Newcastle's search for a striker by offloading the unhappy Juan Pablo Angel in a swap deal. Link: www.icbirmingham.co.uk PLEASE ADD LINKS

Icbirmingham reporting that Lerner was at Bodymoor Heath yesterday with Steve Stride.

Oh look the AGM is coming up and Villa have another statement out to deflect questions on the company accounts come AGM time!!! B**locks

I have recieved no pm either!

I have absolutly no doubt that the appoint of Rothschild's has been taken out of HDE's hands. If it was HDE's decision he would never of appointed anyone so big and expansive, he'd of gone for the co-op down the road, because the kind of money this lot will take will give him a minor heart attack!! Isn't this Norwegian chap the same person who owns the group thats been buying up half the high street stores???

I can't see much of a role for him with DD x2 and Davies both being singled out as having vital roles to play this year.