Amo69

Doug wouldn't stand a chance in the modern game to be fair. Football has moved on very quickly in terms of finances and such, completely different to what it was even when Randy had first bought us.

I think the only way we'd be able to compete or be successful without a rich owner is if we got relegated and had time to rebuild from the ground up, outside of the Premier League. I still think it is incredible that we haven't gone down in these last 4 seasons.

He wouldn't but considering Doug has know where near the resources Lerner has yet we were in a better state under him surely shows how bad a job Lerner has done.

It's not all about having billionaire owners. The way our club has been run is a joke and the only reason we have really crashed and burned is we escaped relegation by the skin of our teeth 3 seasons in a row.

Just get out of our club, we were better off with Doug.

Doug was at a point where he had to go but his last year was better than the last 3 we've had under Lerner.

Doug was no billionaire yet he managed to run the club better than it is now. I'm not saying it wasn't becoming dark times under Doug but still what's all that about?

Fair enough. I've just never heard that before.

Why on earth were you injecting cocaine when you can just snort it?

Can't wait to see the 300k a week superstar Rooney in action again...ooh I'm so excited

So if his club paid him less would you look forward to see him then?

You know the fear that fans have about a rich owner losing interest and it destroying the club. That is what has happened to us to some extent. The only difference is our Billionaire owner wants to make his money back and we have some how managed to stay in the league so the damage hasn't been as great as it could have been.

I think this has been covered about 100 times.

It maybe has, but I've still to see one decent argument for the way we've bombed players out, thus reducing all their values to nil. I suspect that's a lot more to do with Lerner than Lambert, but it's still stupidity of the highest order.

It's wasteful, but even then was the wage more to do with the manager who identified them and bought them. None of them had much if any of a case to say they had "earn" the right to be part of the team. You could perhaps make a case for DB, though he didn't pull up any trees at Fulham when he went there.

I think it's a case of a manager (and board) faced with the need to cut costs (and yes, raise revenue) had hobson's choice - they could be part of the squad on a match day, not play, but still pick up the bonuses, or they could be left out of the squad/loaned out as possible/sold as possible. a few went on loan, selling them - no one wanted them, because of the wages and level of ability, with a few exceptions, where mostly we paid a fair chunk of their salary, still. Bent we got 2 million loan fee and his full wages paid. Which was a bargain for us. Not for Fulham.

There was not much else could be done, tbh.

Absolutely it was a waste and a mess, but mainly (IMO) down to the muppets who bought them - McLeish in the main. I don't hold Lambert responsible. I do think Randy Lerner bears some of the blame, via lack of advice on wages, and the Ireland signing. But it was mainly McLeish and Houllier.

But why should the manager be blamed for what the club has spent on the players? McLeish identified a RB and at the time it didn't seem like the worst signing in the world. If the club felt the wage demands were too high then the transfer should have been denied and McLeish told to find another target.

The same with any of Houllier's signings who again at the time we were all very happy about.

All managers will get some signings wrong. It's down to the club to decide what the wage structure is, maybe a football director to help the manager too decide which player is worth what they are demanding. I don't know how it works at other clubs but it doesn't seem right to blame managers because of the salary's players are on. Blame them for signing poor players but don't blame them for what contracts were negotiated.

Bradford, Millwall and Sheff Utd must have had really high wage bills, and sides full of expensive, experienced players when they outplayed us.

Yeah and arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool must've had really low wage bills, all free transfers and no experience for villa to outplay them.[/quote

Beat them and get a draw. Let's not get carried away and say we out played them.

My biggest disappointment with Lambert is our lack of plan B against weaker opponents, in particular the cup games. That semi final against Bradford for example. There was no plan for if Bradford scored. He just threw on loads of strikers and started to lump the ball up to Bentake. This was even tho we had a whole half to play.

Isolated incident but an example of what appears to be lack of preparation to various scenarios that could occur.

Heskey was definitely the most underwhelming one. I pretty much gave up on MON there and then as I knew we wouldn't finish in the top-four trying to accommodate a donkey like him in the team.

True but you have to remember Harewood was our first signing after the than chief exec had said expect big signings and MON was going to be backed financially.

Senderos is somebody MON would buy for about 5M.

Hey everyone. Been reading VT for years now, only really felt compelled to throw my two bobs worth in after the Senderos signing.

I can't remember ever being so discouraged by a Villa signing over the past 10-15 years or so. Don't get me wrong, I'll back him fully and I really hope he proves me wrong but I've always thought he's been a very poor player.

Alright, he's experienced. He's played for a top 4 club in the Champions League, but then again so hasn't Tal Ben Haim? The clubs Senderos has played for doesn't make him a good player. Arsenal haven't exactly been known in recent years for having the meanest defence, whilst AC Milan and Valencia have both being going downhill for a good few years.

Whenever I've seen his name on a team sheet I've considered him to be a weak link and more often than not, he's proved me right. Ask nearly any Fulham fan and they'll tell you what a distinctly average (at best), error prone player he is. Ok, he might just have been signed as 3rd or 4th choice but who really knows what Lambert's thinking. I for one would be surprised if he doesn't start first game of the season.

Prove me wrong anyway Phil. UTV

Really? What about Marlon Harewood. That blew us all away!

I asked a mate of mine, who is a Fulham season ticket holder, what he thought about him. Here is his reply:

Absolute garbage. In a bad team, he was one of our worst. Constantly caught out of position. And, without fail, one embarrassingly calamitous moment per game, guaranteed.

My mate who's an Arsenal fan said at first you'd feel sorry for him because his mistakes always seem to lead to a goal and be highlighted. But after a while you realised that the mistakes were happening way to often.

He may be an improvement on what we have but based on what others have said and what we have seen over the years, I can't see him really helping our cause to much.

This thread has gone all technical all of a sudden. Whats a flywheel ? Does it live under the bumpy thing in front of the front window. Where the noise comes from

I don't know but found out mine is actually a dual mass which should make it better but in fact makes it shit!

Brazil back four looks dodgy. Especially Luis. I bet Miranda is watching this wondering how the hell he is sitting at home.

Never fancied a Vauxhall.

£480 doesn't sound too bad, is that with a company that someone you know has used? May be worth googling for some reviews on line if not, just in case.

But I bet you knew that already!

http://www.autobutler.co.uk/workshops/b5-5pl-birmingham-district-b-birmingham-west-midlands-england/ace-autos

It's this place. Autobutler got me the quote. Sorry mods if not allowed to post links in this way.

DMFs seem to be around the £200+ mark for a pattern part so £50ish / hour labour makes it a 6 or 7 hour job. £480 sounds reasonable.

Does the clutch have to get changed at the same time?

Makes no sense.

What car is it, mate?

Astra cdti 1.9. It's only done 57K

Never buying a Vauxhall again.

"Some accountant bloke told me on Saturday night that all accounts, contracts, wage lists etc had gone over to Merril Lynch."

This quote made me hope something is going on again. I thought a takeover was off now for a while but maybe it just takes to much time for my patience.

I'm assuming jim typed £143m as that may be the amount the potential buyer has placed on the table following the alleged drop in price to £150m?

OK, so the fact that everything has gone over to Merrill Lynch, suggest due diligence might be being carried out. I've sold two businesses before, and when we agreed a fee for the business, a data room (basically an online portal of information) was setup for the buyer to view all documentation about the company, accounts, all contracts etc. Prior to this, they only got a copy of the headline numbers. Now I am not saying I am an ITK, but having experience of selling a couple of companies, this is the usual process. Merrill lynch would not go to the hassle of getting everything sent across unless there was a buyer - you just wouldn't waste your time.

Also, club secretary is in USA 'on work commitments', but who knows!

But aren't we basing this on an ITK from some accountant bloke?

Initial quotes I got were £780 and a couple around the £900 mark.

So you reckon £480 about right?

I've found a quote for £480 which seems to good to be true. I wish I knew more about cars.

In terms of his off field activity my only major bugbear is the lack of money received for players during his tenure.

I don't hold it against him entirely as it's difficult to know how actively involved he's been in the outgoings of players, but someone's dropped the ball because to get the money we have for:

Warnock

Collins

Cuellar

Lichaj

Holman

Dunne

Makoun

Bannan

Ireland

Albrighton

Not to mention the inability to sell:

Hutton

Bent

Is criminal. Spurs would have made about £30M out of that at least I'd wager

I doubt lambert has had much to do with negotiating fees for those players

And nor should any manager. He should identify who he wants and the rest is up the club. The problem is some managers expect whoever they identify to be brought in regardless of the cost and players demands. If it's refused they walk. Lerner learnt the hard way because of MON.

Lambert has worked under Lerner's terms. MON worked under his own terms with full owner backing. You have to wonder what someone like Lambert could achieve with the same kind of backing. I doubt we will ever know.

I'm disappointed with the telegraph.

Why?

That BS article they printed. Or was it like a gossip column or something?

Yes but they don't pretend it is anything other than that.

Anyone ever have to have a dual mass flywheel replaced?

I'm disappointed with the telegraph.

Why?

That BS article they printed. Or was it like a gossip column or something?