symmouk

This - if he hands in a transfer request what can we do? Its crap. Modric is a perfect example of how you deal with it. You come out straight away and tell the fans and the world he is not for sale. The manager says no way he is gonig anywhere. the CHAIRMAN says he is not going anywhere. What happens? Modric is gonna stay at Spurs, and he will honour the contract he signed. Will he play bad? Of course not, he is bigger than that. Whereas with Villa, the CHAIRMAN says nothing. the manager says he isnt for sale, then he says he wants to go and we just roll over and say ok sure. You always say Randy isnt a public person. Well in the premier league, the fans here from their board regularly and someone needs that job. We see chairman and directors from every club talking to papers, Sky Sports news etc telling their fans what is happening. This privacy thing doesnt work anymore, you are losing the fans and fast. There NEEDS to be a PUBLIC figure at the club who talks to the media and does press interviews etc. Not hide behind AMc and Faulkner. What the board needs, is a couple of fans to consult, to give them a REALISTIC view on how things are going - as its seems the board are so far away from reality its pretty shocking.

Trappatoni compared him to Buffon 2 years ago!

Anyone live in London who has a season ticket? PM me as just bought one for next season...

I think he will be an amazing player for Villa - him with a CM like Delph maybe would be a pretty decent CM pair.

He does need to learrn that you cant 2 footed fly through a player to win the ball. He was out for 3 games for that, then his next game back he did exactly the same thing but luckily only got booked!

Just to let you know, Downing is 1/20 to join Liverpool with SkyBet before the end of the transfer window.....

Im not being funny, but if i had a choice of £15m for either Mata or Downing, its Mata every time!

Wow really? What a signing that will be - where you get this from?

I can normally picture a player in someone's kit - Like i cold easily see Ash in a Utd shirt, I could see Barry in a Citeh shirt. But for some reason, i just cant see in Downing wearing the Red of Liverpool.

I think this season is the Fonz's make or break season. He wasnt that impressive at Burnley last season (1 goal in 11/12 games i think). I hope he gets some chances this season as whenever he has started for Villa, he has looked impressive.

colourblind? anyway, looks real but club say fake....I guess we'll find out soon enough. Looks like claret to me? Looks like a West Ham scarf? Yeah, I thought that. Looks nothing liek the liverpool badge. Also, there are four left hands in the picture and only three people Im not sure if you have been to one of these holiday resorts, but their football shirts/scarfs are of pretty bad quality.

Can you post image here as work wont let me click link...

I very much doubt though, when this Brian Doodle called Downing, he would turn round and say "Yep, its real, my bad."

It's a trick of the camera. His hand is closer to the camera than and part of anyone else so it looks bigger. Fisherman do it when they are showing off their prize catch. They stretch out their arm in front and it makes the fish look bigger. Yeh i can see that, but the distance from his watch to his bottom finger is tiny, so i cant see how his fingers would reach the top of the scarf... It COULD be camera trickery, OR Downing's head put on someone elses

Downings hand is far too spread out on the side of the scarf. Carroll's hand is Round her and in the air Her hands are holding the scarf by Carroll and the top of the scarf Downings are pouring himself a beer and holding the left side of the scarf, but there is hand above his too. Look at his watch, there is no way his hand can stretch that high.

I am EVEN more annoyed IF the following article is true from the Mirror... Aston Villa turned down the chance to install former Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores as manager. I know its the mirror, but the article goes into a lot of detail about who he wanted as his Asst Man, he has studied the villa team, only needs 2 or 3 signings to make us top 6 etc....

@AVFCMysteryMan Offered him a £10 bet that Moyes wont be Villa manager - if he is, i pay £10, if he isnt, he pays..... He gone mysteriously quiet....

General, I was intending to buy my first season ticket, travel from South London every single game home and away, not go on holiday next year so i could use my holiday days at work to follow AVFC. THIS was the season I was planning on putting all my future plans on hold to watch the Villa, week in week out. It would have cost me god knows how much money to go to each of the 38 games plus all the cup games, thousands, but it was something I wanted to do to show the club i have loved for every second of the 26 years and 1 month of my life, that I love AVFC. If Alex McLeish is given the job at Aston Villa, then my dream of watching this new, passing game that we started last season might as well be thrown in the toilet. What the board are doing, by even THINKING of seeing Alex McLeish, actually makes me feel sick. It upsets me and its making me increasingly scared where this club is going. Aston Villa is my life, my heart, and apart from my family, there is not one thing in this world that i will ever love more than this club. Its something my girlfriend has to accept. PLEASE pass this on to Randy and Paul Faulkner, and ask them to give me a call if they want to speak to an honest, sensible and understanding supporter of AVFC. If they wants a summary of the fans REASONS for not wanting McLeish, I will happily explain its nothing to do with him being an ex Birmingham City manager and his premier league ability. I will listen to everything they have to say about the role and will try and summarise this to everyone on this board if you dont want to or both Randy/Paul Faulkner dont want to. Thanks for your time. Mike

If we look at his performance with a team finishing 5th/6th in their league, he took them to winning the league in his first season there. If he can take a team normally finishing 5th/6th in their league like us and push us on, then it would be good.

So if Hughes upgrades to a Villa, who will get his Cottage? Sorry robbed off Twitter!

Rumour is that Sky Italia have said that Ancelotti has turned down Roma and will become Villa manager.

Hi General, I see a newly promoted team in France, Evian, are advertising a friendly against us on Sunday 17th July. I know being in France it is a fixture that quite a few Villa fans will want to go to; but having checked out the transport, it costs £320 on the train and over £500 to fly there. Is there any official travel the club would put on such as a coach - although this would take longer I am sure it would be a lot cheaper. All the best, Mike

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Squillaci, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Song, Wilshere, Walcott, V Persie, Arshavin.

So just Delph for Heskey... So much for a few players getting their chance!

Team line up in just over 5 mins on Twitter.