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villacross

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  1. Absolutely spot-on! I now regret renewing my season ticket - the dream is now dead. - Thanks Lerner. What price your 5 year plan now?
  2. A bit o.t.t for me. We must face facts. First, without doubt the 2nd half of last season was not all that bad. I think you will find that the points we gathered over the last 19 games were equivalent to finishing 7th if that had been achieved over the whole season. So allthough extremely disappointing, not finishing fourth or better, it was still an excellent performance overall. Second, despite all the hype from Krulak, I am convinced Martin is working within a very strict financial budget that does not allow him to "splash the cash". So it's obvious we're never going to attract world class players. QED
  3. General Krulak. We fans have waited more than two decades for someone like Randy Lerner to take the reins at VP (metaphorically speaking). Neither I, nor I believe, does any other fan wish to embarrass or undermine anyone at the Club. I just guess we become suspicious when we sometimes take too much notice of what we read in the press, we add “2 + 2” and get 5. At the time of writing my piece, I had no knowledge of the previous “lineage” on the “big-signings” topic otherwise I would not have raised it again. My main focus was simply on whether or not the HDE wage cap was still in existence. Your answer was unequivocal and very refreshing.
  4. HoltExile- I tink you have missed the point. My sole purpose in putting forward this post was to push for clarification as to whether or not the Club was being still managed on a controlled expenditure basis. And as more than 60% of virtually all Prem Clubs expenditure is player wages, this would be the main area of control if such strictures were in place by Randy & Co. You have seen the General's reply and clearly no such barried exists. MON is free to buy and sell who he wants for any price! That'll do me, we can;t expect any more from the owner - it's now down to O'Neill, it seems to me that he is in the unique position over all other UK managers of having sole responsibility for player acquisitions regardless of price.
  5. General Krulak - That is exactly the response that I wanted. But please try not to subjugate my argument as having no intellectual rigour. Any opinions or assumptions, I qualified as such andif not apparent to the reader, I apologise. However, the financial data contrasting Aston Villa's football staff spend -v- other Prem clubs was on public record until Randy Lerner's acquisition last year.. Current comparisons therefore have to be conjectural; there is no alternative. We now never hear or see anything officially from the Club about any finances (which is your prerogative). I am surprised to hear that Richard's comments were outside his remit. Perhaps it would have been wise to correct or qualify them immediately they became news instead of allowing the cynics to turn them back on the Club, as they have in the last month or so. As Chief Executive Officer , what else is outside Richard's remit? Incidently MON stated last season (I believe it was on the AVFC website) "I expect to be challenging for European football next season (or something similar, meaning Prem. League, Top6 or 7). So how doeas this "sit" with your time-frame of expectations? I felt at the time, that it was perhaps a little cavalier, if not foolish. I don't think any sensible fan has ever expected to see European football at Villa Park for at least 3, possibly 4 or 5 seasons. It must take time, as you have said. More important it must be enduring, not just a "flash-in-the pan". And to now have your denial that there is no "cap" on wages and Martin has got the Board's 100% backing on any aquisitions he may need - that is good enough for me. Thank you General. UP THE VILLA
  6. peterms-good points, we can obviouisly both see the pitfalls of "crude", inflexible pay structures and the inevitable "differentials" problems that have been the cause of so much industrial unrest in recent times. Also, I never mentioned in my post the views MON expressed earlier this year about a "performance related pay structure" that he wanted to introduce at the end of the season. Presumably it died? or was GB the only player that qualified for any bonus?
  7. Philosopher - I too think Schneider would have been a great signing but at certainly more than £45k / week. So if GB's contract has a "trigger" clause, presumably as "top-gun", he would be paid "top-dollar". I hope the other players would be happy with this.
  8. enigma-it may be that 1.2 or more players are lined up at circa 45k and as you say it is quite proper in my opinion for the captain to get top dollar. Let's hope that the case eh.
  9. Philosopher-I'm not panicing but just trying to get across to VT'ers where I believe the Board and/or O'Neill have got it wrong. I'm pleased to see that only a small % of total readers thus far, have "poo-poohed" a fairly contraversial post as being rubbish. I genuinely hope I am proven wrong on any of the main points that I have made but lets now just wait and see how things shape up.
  10. Blandy-so do you have the opposite view on the points you claim are conjecture? ie 1. after this transfer window is closed, we will not have the smallest squad on record? 2. Barry earns more than £45k per week 2. The Club does not have a ceiling on wages. 3. The Club is prepared to carry a wages bill of £60mill pa or more in wages and pay its top players up to £80k per week 4. Our pay structure is not a barrier to attracting top-class players?
  11. Hippo-interesting to hear your views, I too believe that O'Neill has to operate within a budget. There's nothin wrong with that, all well-run businesses operate that way. Ijust feel the problem is that the budget is too small, which I believe is the reason why he's sold before buying so that he doesn;t risk exceeding the budget. The problem now seems that he can't get sufficient quality replacements for the funds that remain.
  12. Blandy - the only conjecture in my post is whether the report was correctly reported in the media. I note that the Club have not yet denied it. Also it may be possible that top-quality signings are currently being lined up and will be paid more than Barry, but surely this is extremely unlikely; but who knows? Obviously if there was greater transparency in these matters such speculation as mine would be redundant, but whilst there's not, I believe we should question the Board on these issues. I'm not particularly interested in the typical trivial questions put to General Krulak like the price and quality of pies served at the Holte End. But I not yet convinced that our Club has a clear incisive policy to get back to a Top6 spot. However, as always I value you opinion.
  13. The only thing that will convince a player to move to to a Club like Villa at present is the wage structure and other benefits, which go "hand-in-hand" as proof positive that we're "reaching for the sky". Agents and players these days won't to swallow any bull**** of the glory we expect to achieve. If offered comparable pay (for comparable ability) with players at the Top6 clubs, they will come to us; especially if they believe they will play more regularly and therefore get more exposure to achieve national selection. SWP is such a player and I suspect many members on this site will know of others that fit this profile. Before any of you "poo-poo" this fact, why do you think Southgate, Ehiogue and Boetang left us for Middlesboro? It certainly wasn't the weather on Tyneside, their history or the what they had won -it was purely Boro's ambition linked to a much better wage structure than that on offer at VP under Ellis. Like it or not, if we want real success we must operate an open-ended pay structure related to what the market demands. Unless the "cap" is removed, we've got no chance for getting back to the top. We'll neither attract nor retain the "creme de la creme". And finally, I've not seen any evidence whatsoever that this pay principle has been accepted by Lerner & Co. I sincerely trust that I am grossly mistaken and we are now paying all our boys their market worth; and not hide behind their current contracts.
  14. JC -Well balanced piece. MON seems to be "digging a grave" for himself by making the commitments that you state. However, despite the frustration, as you say, we have got to give him another couple of weeks before making judgement. If we could land SWP, that would be excellent news. Ashley Young? - not worth anything near the asking price, so no. Craig Bellamy? -no, too much baggage. James Milner? -yes, if available. The Polish striker? -yes. Robbie Keane? -yes. Alan Smith?-yes. Any 3 of these, with or without SWP would take the pressure off until the end of the season, when there will no doubt be more opportunities. As PB also has said, we won't attract top quality players until playing in Europe, so the short-term strategy surely has to build a squad, as Spurs have done under Martin Jol. At present, they can rotate from 13 defenders, 9 midfield plus 7 strikers and they are still on the look-out to increase the squad. Comparatively we are 6 players short. I’m sure MON is addressing this..
  15. Yes, more professional management now in place and very much overdue. Yes, a first class team manager and support staff. Yes, attention to the infrastructure (Holte Inn, transport logistics, refreshments). Yes, more effort to communicate effectively with the fans. No doubt about it, an excellent start. None of us could have excpecteed this nine months ago. However, at the end of the day the key issue is whether Lerner is prepared to bank-roll his Club with sufficient finance over the next 5 years to bring player-spend in line with the other Top4 Clubs. ie increasing player spend by £20mill every year (minimum). The Club was losing £1mill every month when he took over and this has undoubtedly risen, possibly to almost £2mill every month. Is Lerner prepared to allow this to increase £4mill plus, every month, which would be eqivalent to a £50mill loss every year, for at least the next two years? That is the ultimate criteria. If not, we will always be the "nearly Club", top-half Prem. at best. That might be the point that Lerner plans to exit, allowing other investors to finish the job.
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