BOF

Not a chance in hell, especially for the £3.5m mentioned in the rumour.

The Bell-end votes were posted before the Baros option was available.

I've added Baros as an option.

I voted with who I THINK will be dropped as opposed to who I think SHOULD be dropped. I think DOL's ideal partnership is Angel and Baros, so I think Phillips will initially be dropped to make way for the dream team. I do however think that DOL will not be patient with Angel knowing he has a livewire on the bench, and I think we will see a Baros Phillips partnership before too long if Angel doesn't re-find his scoring boots pronto. Hopefully this signing will spur all 3 into finding the net more regularly. Remember Baros only scored 9 for plop last season playing in practically every game yet moaned when dropped, so he will have to start banging them in too, although I suspect he'll be given plenty of time to settle.

Denilson has just gone on loan from Betis to Bordeaux. I love this player and although he hasn't lived up to his billing when he first moved to Betis, would surely have improved us greatly.

Baros added.

Aston Villa have today been linked with a €6.5m bid for Atletico Madrid's attacking central midfielder Gabi. He is 22 and according to my Atletico supporting colleague is a cracking little player. Story here in Spanish

I know what you're saying Tarjei, and maybe they are the most extreme example of destructive football, but they are in Europe and we can't argue with that. From that position of relative strength, they COULD bring in the entertaining players that we all crave.

I went for #3 but if there was no #3 I would go for #1. A boring 1-0 is still 1-0. Winning is much more important than entertaining because you can eventually buy the entertaining players with the money earned by being successful. Look at boring boring Arsenal now.

Definitely Dwight Yorke. Best forward this club has had for a long long time.

It all depends on whether we get Baros. It's as simple as that. If he goes and we don't replace him then we will regret it and it is bad for the club. If we get Baros then Vassell will not be missed and it will be good for the club, so ask me in 2 weeks.

Nibbles I think you got your "Bolton Wanderers" key and your "Aston Villa" key mixed up

Arse, I'll have no time to do any work then !

Sarcy sh*t

Ouch Kiddy. That's pessimistic for us. Spurs above 'plop ? West Ham staying up ? Spurs in Champions League, I feel ill.

It's OK John, we could use UDLC-Delaney-Hughes-Samuel How does that grab you ? 3 right backs and a left back *lol*

But remember Pete, Angel has already basically told the club that it is Europe next season or he's gone. So we're not only investing to improve, we're investing so as to prove to what we already have, that they're not wasting away !

And this is exactly the worry I had at the start of the summer. With the club coming out with such positivity and then failing to deliver - and with Angel saying he will take stock of his Villa career at the end of the 05/06 season I think we will see the departure of our top players. Angel will be the first, and I would expect the likes of Mellberg and Solano to follow if we don't do something this season.

Rich, I just think that with Fulham already losing Cole and possibly losing Boa Morte before the kick off, they will do well to stay up. They have no-one of note up front. At this rate Malbranque will be a striker for them. With us clearly neither going down or winning anything, I'll probably be more interested in WBA's fight to stay up, which I hope they win with ease. And if they were to finish above the noses ? Well wouldn't that be sweet.

1 Chelsea 2 Manchester United 3 Arsenal 4 Liverpool 5 Tottenham Hotspur 6 Middlesbrough 7 Bolton Wanderers 8 Manchester City 9 Blackburn Rovers 10 Charlton Athletic 11 Aston Villa 12 Everton 13 Newcastle United 14 Birmingham City 15 Fulham 16 West Bromwich Albion 17 Sunderland 18 Portsmouth 19 Wigan Athletic 20 West Ham United

Yeah Jez, although it wont be much of a surprise. Most people have Spurs as a danger team next year. I think Everton will be a surprise (in a bad way) and Blackburn will be the team that improves on where most people think they will finish.

I think that answers the question. It's 30-9 to Baros as I type.

I'm trying to convert to FireFox. I use it all the time, BUT I am finding it unreliable when using online purchasing (Villa site as an example) and when using any kind of really gnarly techy websites.

Good man drat, that's that sorted then

PB that's actually the wrong way around. It drives me mad how the English call (for example) Kevin Moran - Mor Anne. The emphasis should be on the 'o' as in 'More an' instead of on the 'a'. In Ireland Cahill is pronounced Cah-hill instead of Kayhill. Usually the English have trouble with the soft 'H' surnames like how they pronounce Carragher using the 'G' (instead of ignoring it) or Haughey being pronounced "Hockey" because they can't ignore the 'G' and say "Haw hee" if you get what I mean.