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They wanted £10m for Carson and accepted £3.5m. They now want £2m for Finnan. Offer them £600,000 cash, split over two years. Would make a good back-up.

Do you really think Barry is going to try in any of these games? He won't risk getting injured, anymore than Yorkie did a few years ago when we played at Everton. Do you think that Barry wants to risk sitting in the stand for two years too? I don't think so. Has he asked for a transfer yet, or does he want his loyalty payment? That will be several million. Barry wants out. At £17m (£16m plus Finnan) plus Barry asking for a transfer and thereby bot being paid off by Villa, get rid.

Thanks for the updates

General, How are the ticket sales for the Intertoto Cup match going? i have a few mates who might come down on the day. One report says the game will sell out. Another says the ticket sales are poor, so the club reduced the prices. Are tickets going to be available on the day? A 420 round trip is a long way to travel if no tickets are available. Thanks if you can help Stephen

Excellent thread - come on you Giants.

It is great that you both enjoyed the game like we did General ... but did you remain seated? :winkold: Seriously, I want to thank you, Randy and the rest of the Board for having the sense to appoint a great manager who can run the team whilst you sort out all sorts of issues for the fans relating to the club, supporters, tickets, transport, facilities, training ground, Holte Pub, Mosaic, etc. The list goes on. Thank you. As for the result and performance against the scum, it is a dream. It is nothing compared to the previous regime. 5-1, I still cannot believe it. :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

General, Thank Randy for us for the Mosaics. The pics look great. Can't wait to see it on Sunday. Also, General, can you let me know on Monday if you managed to keep sitting? There is no such thing on derby day. Like the Marines, I am sure you will be up and at them (peacefully mind) like the rest of us. Come on you Villa Boys!

For me, we have the chairman, manager and facilities. But we are not a big club and have performed well, nor played in Europe. Top players go to big clubs or for big wages. Our top player I think is on £50,000 per week, less than half of that paid by Chelski, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham and others. We need to build each season. World class players will join clubs in the Champions League. We are not in that league (yet).

General, On the transport theme, is there any chance of letting the supporters club know of fans in their area who regularly travel up to games? I help run the Eastern Counties Supporters Club and we might be able to encourage fans in our area to travel together, even if we cannot arrange a coach. We have done that on a few occasions now, especially those living around Cambridge. Also, Villa merchandise has started to appear on the odd shop in Suffolk. It has not been seen there in over ten years. Thank the merchandise team for us. It all helps to spread the word. UTV Stephen

Now it does not matter. So sad, so sad.

You were wrong - Giants, Giants, Giants

On ticketing, you make a choice on whether or not you want to go to the game. I am a season ticket holder who did not go, not to do with tickets but because something else came up. Don't blame the club. Our ticket prices are one of the best in the top flight. Man U were going to charge up to £47 if there was a replay. General - Being ever mindful of the parking situation near Villa Park, I know from the Supporters Consultation Meetings that the club have set up a working group on this to look at options. I believe the four bus routes were set up as a result of those discussions. Is the club looking at a park and ride scheme for motorists? if so, do you have any idea when the issue may be progressed. Finally, thank you very much once again for taking the time to answer fans queries. Much appreciated.

seconded would be awesome if you were to join the madden 08 team in the browns and nfl section Yes, General. You and Randy should join the boys.

Sorry General. Several of us stayed up to cheer your boys on, but to no avail. The Colts second string QB let you down big-time. He was hopeless. Please pass on our commiserations to Randy too. Happy New Year to you and your family, Randy too and everyone else at Villa Park.

General, Good article on the official site about you and great that you are still posting on this one. Are there any plans to expand Villa Park in the near future? Getting nearly 41,000 in for the Derby game was great work by the club. With the seats reserved as you say, what is the maximum number of season tickets that we can possibly sell in a season? I would also like the thank Randy, Martin and you, General, for giving us our faith back in Villa, and also for you speaking/responding to the fans and helping us out. It is very much appreciated and I know you are a very busy man. The fans of some other teams I know locally are very envious. For what it is worth, the new Board and manager have given me back my belief. I nearly quit being a season ticket holder after following the club at nearly every home game for 15 years and alot of away matches too just days before Randy took over. I was utterly depressed with the way things had been going for several years under Ellis and O'Leary. With driving 400 miles to home games, it had become a chore which I dreaded. Now, I am buzzing again. THANK YOU P.S. I like the new website.

General - We are one of the chosen venues. This may help: From www.london2012.com: The 2012 Olympic football tournament will be played throughout the United Kingdom with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales staging matches in the preliminary rounds if London's Bid is successful. Some of the UK's most iconic football grounds have been selected by London 2012 as preferred locations for the 2-1/2 week tournament. The proposed stadium line-up is: Hampden Park, Glasgow Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Old Trafford, Manchester St James's Park, Newcastle Villa Park, Birmingham Windsor Park, Belfast Each stadium will hold matches in the preliminary rounds on a similar pattern to England's successful staging of the 1966 World Cup and Euro '96 tournaments. Under existing rules 16 men's teams and 10 women's teams compete in the Olympics. The men's tournament, open to under-23 teams who are each allowed to field three over-age players, comprises a preliminary round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, and the women play quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. Wembley will stage the men's and women's finals. In line with London 2012's policy of spreading the Games as widely as possible around the UK, the venues were selected on the basis of location, the quality of their facilities and the need to meet the minimum seating capacity of 20,000. Three of the six grounds, Millennium Stadium, Old Trafford and Hampden Park, hold the maximum five-star UEFA rating. Millennium Stadium, built on the site of Cardiff Arms Park at a cost of £130 million and opened in 1999, has state-of-the-art facilities and the largest seating capacity at 72,000. It features the first fully-retractable roof to be constructed in Britain. Old Trafford, dubbed "The Theatre of Dreams," has a seating capacity of 67,000, followed by Hampden Park and St James's Park with 52,000 each. Villa Park seats 43,000 and Windsor Park's capacity is 20,000. FIFA has offered no objection to a GB team playing in the Olympic Games, but has said the home country FAs must decide how such a team would be selected e.g. the home countries could play off against each other for the right to represent Team GB or the highest finishing home country team in the European under-21 championship represents the nation.

Has any progress been made on MON's contract? I have fears when news of Wenger giving Arsenal ultimatums about leaving arise as to whether MON might leave. He is an outstanding manager and will therefore be in great demand, except by the FA who are a bunch of idiots.

Glenn Johnson has gone back to Chelski apparently but not seen that anywhere. Papers have linked us to Luke Young. Villa are not commenting on any transfers. Annoying but good practice.

He went to the dark side and became a porn dwarf.

I think that is the 16 year old who we have got on trial. For sale for half a million if any good.

I know Im being facetious here, but are you really claiming Koumas will have the same impact at VP as Roy Keane had at ManUre? For every Roy Keane, there's a Gavin McCann For every Roy Keane, there are thousands of worse players. He was a fantastic player, just played for two clubs I dislike immensely.

I doubt it is true. Perhaps we can try to sign Strachan next. We need someone to sell the burgers next year.

Oh great, another "Villa in alleged Celtic player interest" story. Is there any Celtic player that we have not been linked with yet?

i'm not sure how you can judge a players class on wtaching just 10-15 games. 2 seasons maybe i base my Barry comparisson after watching him since he was 17 in the flesh but you have to admit. a foreign name always sounds more sexy. but as we all well know. it doesn't always work out that way Fans can judge a player on one game, never mind half a season. But that lad is a class player. I have seen him a few times on Sky in the Champions League games. I think he is too good for us at the moment. IMO, I think he is a lot better than Barry and has the potential to get to the top. He creates and scores loads , and his set pieces and passes are first class too. A dream signing ... but one we are unlikely to make, unfortunately.

Thank you. Oh, you mean Paul and not me. :oops: