AntrimBlack

Even though he signed a new 4 year deal a few months ago? Yes I still thing he will leave. Who do you think would buy him, taking into account his salary?

I think he is a decent squad player for where we are at the moment, but I maintain that it would make a big difference to our team if we had reasonable quality left and right backs.

You are able to choose one! There have been so many in recent seasons that I cannot actually choose one.

I am not sure any club will cough up £32m after today's performance.

Come on. lady, we know you are on VT, own up. We need to know who you are.

We were humiliated by a very good team playing at the top of their game. But it should show Sherwood where our inadequacies lie, and give him an indication of what is required over the summer. Too many players were poor today. Benteke was to be the guy to give us a chance, but he was outplayed by Mertersacker. No one will be coming in with a £32.5m bid on that performance. But the service to him was poor. N'Zogbia is not good enough, and Grealish was ineffective against very good players - a learning experience for him. Sherwood should surely have started Bacuna in lieu of Hutton to get service into Benteke. And his substitutions; Sanchez for Westwood? Why? Agbonlahor for N'Zogbia? Rubbish for rubbish! Needs to buy in for that position. Thought Vlaar and Okore were ok, but we really needed Clark. Given and Richardson, I thought were our best players. A lot of re-building to do by the manager - hopefully he is up to the job.

Whatever happened to the good old 3 o'clock kick off. This waiting is bloody interminable.

God that is inspirational I saw on FF all the messages from fans behind the players seats in the changing room. Brilliant idea.

It is fantastic for us, a lot more people will know why we lay claim to a `proud history'.

I was 12 in 1956 when I started supporting Aston Villa, so the 1957 Final was fantastic for me, made even more special by the great Peter Mc Parland. So come on, Villa, do it for me, so that I can say I saw it happen twice.

Just a theory, but is it a possibility that Sherwood was unaware of a buy out clause, and was looking to hold him for another year to massively increase his value, for Sherwood to invest in transfers. Having found out that there is a limit to what he can receive, he wants it now to invest, to kick start his re-build.

Presumably it would not be a player as well, but a player as part of the £32.5m

I think that was the point people were making. it wasn't a 'proper' buy out clause and more of an agreement which probably wasn't binding. I think the best we can hope for is that he takes Sherwood's advice and stays for one more season. Hopefully we can then get him to agree to a new deal on more money but with a higher release clause...... Dream land right? The BBC article above suggest that John Henry just decided not to sell, he admitted there was a £40m buyout clause but still rejected the offer from Arsenal, but as others have said, it was probably more of a gentlemans agreement and liverpool came out of the situation looking strong. buyout clause or not... I just dont want Benteke going to Liverpool. seeing him in a black armband every other week would really get to me.

And Paddy. Now go find us some more.

At the very least it will be a £150m return surely We would have been playing Championship football at some point if it wasn't for Christian. Of course. But I just went for round figures, as a talking point really, did not even allow for salaries. I do agree with what you say, although it is theoretical it is probably correct. Anyway, we can certainly agree that we have done well out of it, and should have the profits (hopefully) to rebuild when/if he does go.

Because of the comments by him at the time, I have been waiting for him to go ever since he arrived. To be honest, I am getting really bored with this charade every window. It is a shame that there is a buy out clause, but I think a £25m return for a £7m outlay is pretty good, especially as we have managed to retain his services for as long as we have. And at least there will be no ridiculously cheap bids for him. And I can understand that Sherwood may think he could start rebuilding this team with that money right at the beginning of his tenure, so giving him more chance of success. Don't get me wrong, I would prefer him to stay, but that is just postponing the inevitable, unfortunately, and we have to bite the bullet some time. I am a `glass half full' guy, and I prefer to look for positives in any situation.

He has stole upwards of £10m out of this club, I am sure he will be happy to take a paycut. He stole nothing. He received what it was agreed in his contract that he would receive.

Yep, just ignoring the club that actually owns him as if we do not exist. If Fox and Sherwood felt the way I do, he would not be sold just to say `we will not be ignored'.

He was with us prior to that when we signed Benteke and Vlaar.

Very much this. So long as he keeps doing the business for us, he can say anything he wants and stand on as many toes as he likes, and I will not care one jot. If, however, he is not doing the business for us...............................that would be different.

BTW, welcome back, "foreveryoung". Missed ya! Are you now in a position either to validate or withdraw your claim that Sherwood said in an interview that Kozak and Gil were to be sold in the summer? Cheers chap. I couldn't validate the claim as gospal so I didn't try. Not seen the guy since who told me so we can take it as rumour........at present. No we cannot.

Not probably - definitely.

I am not a big fan of N'Zogbia, but the team were playing some great stuff when he was up there with the three you mention.

We don't need as many as 6 in my opinion, 2 or 3 quality additions and we'd be set in my opinion and could finish in the top half. We can't just scramble for survival each season, it's gone on for too long as it is but Europa League will add 12 games plus a lot of travelling. Cant imagine Delph or Benteke able to play 50 games with the intensity Sherwood wants Let's worry about that after we have beaten Arsenal.

That's interesting - where did you see that?