Amo69

The good news for us is that both Lerner and Lambert will probably be hoping they don't have to be all that concerned with what happens next summer - so there's not a lot of benefit in picking up £3m now for Vlaar rather than just letting him run out his contract. I think he'll leave on a free next summer so we'll get another year out of him. In a way that's good news, we're forced at the moment into thinking in the short term on the pitch and he'll be 30 by then so his residual value wouldn't mean a big hit..

It's not so good news on Delph, who we'll be giving up for nothing instead of for £15m.

I don't think Delph is worth anything near 15 million but I see your point.

Out of interest does anybody know of other Saudi owners of football clubs. Is it only Shefield United?

I said if a while ago and the way he plays in this World Cup won't change my mind. Vlaar will very likely be a Man United player next season and it's something we need to start getting used too.

Yeah let's all get used to something that is barely being discussed other than on here

Nothing wrong with being prepared for the inevitable.

I said if a while ago and the way he plays in this World Cup won't change my mind. Vlaar will very likely be a Man United player next season and it's something we need to start getting used too.

I don't know about "very likely".

With the money they've allegedly got to spend I'm not sure if they'll go for Vlaar, as much as I rate him. Think a lot of this is just based on the Van Gaal connection.

Which is quite a big connection as Van Gaal clearly rates him. If Man United needed one centre half then you could argue that they would be looking for somebody better than Vlaar. But the fact they need 2 or maybe even 3 or 4 suggests they can't blow all their kitty on centre halves and will look for some cheaper options.

I said if a while ago and the way he plays in this World Cup won't change my mind. Vlaar will very likely be a Man United player next season and it's something we need to start getting used too.

Hope it is him. Clearly wants to Wynn things.

Coral offering 2/1 on Brazil to wear yellow on Thursday. £10 maximum stake and for new customers only but that's free money

Bumping this 'cause it might've got lost at the bottom of the previous page.

£20 free bet too.

You can only have one or the other.

Well I've done it and had both so...

I didn't get the free bet

Coral offering 2/1 on Brazil to wear yellow on Thursday. £10 maximum stake and for new customers only but that's free money

Bumping this 'cause it might've got lost at the bottom of the previous page.

£20 free bet too.

You can only have one or the other.

Well I've done it and had both so...

Fair enough.

Arent Brazil wearig their third strip tonight

You kidding?

Is Mr Lynch F'ing with us?

Did this go under the radar on the 7th June?

Mr Tevfik Arif has today asked us to make it clear that other than being an avid sports fan himself, he: has no experience of running football clubs; has never met Randy Lerner; and neither he, nor any members of his family, or anyone acting on his behalf has any interest in acquiring Aston Villa Football Club; in addition, he has no involvement in any sports related businesses. We are happy to set out Mr Arif’s position.

He WAS a very good player. He isn't any more.

He might stand out for us. You never know.

Looks like an article by Russell Lynch will be going up Thursday night/Friday morning.

The dodgy Kazakh again? Hope there something in it.

Ability wise he would probably be one of our best players!

confession time,i work for bill hills,don't hurt me....

a monitored customer in one of our shops 2 yrs ago was about 30 grand down.in the euros he started to bet on corners/points instead of games/goals/goalscorers.by the end of the tourno he was only about 1500 down.the spread for points(bookings/red cards) and corners is more generous,why i don't know but this market could be more profitable if you do a bit of studying,eg an attacking team will inevitably get corners and if you have 2 teams who are attacking then the chances are the spread will be under what it should be.also.also a team like greece will give away more fouls and in the early stages refs give out cards more easily so this is a way to make a few quid/euros.corners/points tend to be standard for most games.just a thought,

Cheers for that. Any more?

Coral offering 2/1 on Brazil to wear yellow on Thursday. £10 maximum stake and for new customers only but that's free money

Bumping this 'cause it might've got lost at the bottom of the previous page.

£20 free bet too.

You can only have one or the other.

Well I've done it and had both so...

Fair enough.

Does anyone think there is anything in the Bendtner rumours? The only real links are from twitter so I personally can't see it happening

Nah. Even if we were in for him I get the impression he considers himself better than a relegation battle.

I am probably the only one who thinks this, but I don't think Brasil's squad is all that great. Don't see them winning it.

I agree.

Joe's injury record, according to this site.

Clearly has a knee and groin problem!

Anyone else noticed whenever they discuss classic moments, classic goals, classic images etc or even controversial moments, 2010 World Cup has none whatsoever. Truly the worse world cup in history.

What about the Suarez handball and subsequent penalty miss? Or South Africa goal in the opening game. Or, or, ok it was pretty shit.

Edit: the Barca players that had been sent off sitting together was a nice image, or was that 2006?

Just a feeling Dave just he's never really impressed me that much after initially threatening to set the world alight

Facts > feelings.

I respect your opinion and I do see whereabouts you're coming from, the initial hype had him down as a little more. But he's had a fantastic career, was integral to one of the best sides of the last 15 years or so and has world cup pedigree to boot.

Lee Hendrie he was/is not.

You could make the same argument about Michael Owen though. Fantastic career for club and country with Liverpool and England, but utterly hopeless at Man U and Stoke due to being washed up. Joe Cole is treading a similar path. He's been ineffective for ages now, and getting steadily worse.

Chipped in with a few big goals for United but I see what you mean.

If Cole scores one winner this season and we stay up by 1 point then he will be worth it.

Coral offering 2/1 on Brazil to wear yellow on Thursday. £10 maximum stake and for new customers only but that's free money

Bumping this 'cause it might've got lost at the bottom of the previous page.

£20 free bet too.

You can only have one or the other.

Borini on loan would be a good signing for us.

I thought he missed a lot of last season due to injuries. Somebody mentioned that he hasn't had injury problems for the past two seasons. If that is the case then I think if he could really help us next season.

Not really. Lerner's statement was very vague (probably deliberately so) and there was speculation over whether it pointed towards an imminent sale or not.

I agree with the vagueness of the statement, but if you look back at the third paragraph it pretty much confirms that the takeover will not happen imminently. Lerner wrote - "On a practical level, the Club will continue with its normal operations and plans for the summer." - This has been backed up by the Senderos and Cole signings. I do not think there was a deal lined up when that statement was published.

That doesn't confirm anything. It's just common sense really. You always plan things as normal no matter how sure you are about a takeover - it would be absolutely stupid not to.

In fact, I think the brevity of that statement is a strong indicator that a deal was close. If there is not deal on the near horizon, you MUST emphasize in your statement that the club will continue to.....work efficiently toward a more successful season next year.....staff and player needs will be assessed and addressed.... resources to improve the team are better having held down costs..... blah, blah blah. even if it's all BS you MUST say it and emphasize it in order to keep at least an appearance of stability. The fact that he didn't emphasize the steps being taken to keep the club moving forward was, to me, solid evidence that he didn't expect this limbo to last long. In addition to the fact that the rest sounded like a sad, sentimental farewell..... not a business announcement of a sale.

Or maybe. Just maybe, he doesn't give a shit!

Lerner just confirmed to the world what his actions have been telling us for a while.

I can't wait until the day this man has no association with the club whatsoever.