villabromsgrove

Delph and Gardner will be the dream team. You heard it here first!

Delph was highly rated by scouts in the season before we signed him (one respected scout described him as the best prospect that he'd seen in the last ten years). Other clubs thought they could get him for less at the time, but Mon backed his judgement as he did with Ash, and paid a big fee. I think he's now ready to show us what all the fuss was about!

Hmm? :? Fabio Capello doesn't agree with you. Heskey may not be ultra talented but he does a tough job which frees up his team mates. You really wouldn't want to mark him for 90 minutes.

Every manager that Heskey has played for thought he did a good job for their respective teams. They've respected his contribution for the last 15 years, so I think he deserves a little bit more respect from us non-professionals. He always gives total commitment to the shirt. Good on yer Emile.

The pass was to Albrighton I believe, and it was a right cracker.

General, I'm excited about the season kicking off tomorrow. I'm fully supportive of the common sense approach that Randy is now taking towards the sustainability of Villa, and I also appreciate Alex McLeish's plain speaking about our current intentions. There are a lot of realistic and moderate Villa fans out there, but unfortunately not a lot of them tend to publish their thoughts on fan forums. Are you buzzing, and ready to don the claret and blue for the coming season General?

The average age of the Man U team today in the second half was 22!!!!! If they're good enough then they're old enough. Cleverly was excellent!

General, I believe that Randy is absolutely 100% right in his actions this summer. I have supported Villa since the 1960's and I hope to cheer AV on for a few years yet. The financial health of the club is the key to future success, so will you please tell Randy from me that tough decisions taken now will pay dividends in the next few seasons.

Thought he was one of our worst players in the first game, did well in the second game though. Showed he's a central player, can't play wide at all. If Bannan plays, he has to be involved all the time. I thought he was one of our best players in the first game apart from two or three loose balls, funny how opinions differ.

I agree, he's looked really comfortable on the ball. He has a great first touch and good vision, if players around him make themselves available we'd benefit from BB's play making.

Whenever I've watched him he's looked genuinely comfortable using both feet and shoots with both, unlike GB and a certain one legged wonder who has just hopped off to L'pool. Thinking back his brother Craig could shoot powerfully with both feet as well.

Barry was physically mature at the age of 19 and so is Gardner. Barry read the game well at this age as does Gary. Gardner is two footed which Barry definitely was not and Gardner is quicker and has a much better shot. Barry went on to maximise his distinctly left sided talent by sheer level headed determination, and Villa were a better team with GB pulling the strings. If Gary gets the same regular first team games that helped develop Barry, Gary Gardner could be (and I'm going to get ridiculed for this ) the next Steven Gerrard!

I watched Craig Gardner come through the ranks and loved his attitude, ability, tackling and powerful shot. Even back then, watching Craig in the reserves it was apparent that his problem was always going to be his total lack of pace. Gary Gardner is an example of God getting the design right at the second attempt. Gary has Craig's best attributes to which has been added more pace, more height, two very good feet and a real football brain. He's a touch more laid back than Craig but he is still aggressive enough. If Craig had been bigger, quicker and more technical he would have been worth multi millions. If Gary can stay fit over the next couple of seasons he will become one of the best midfielders in the Premiership imo.

Gardner is a diamond. He hasn't just arrived, he's been gaining rave reviews at graduating age levels, and every time I've watched him live for both the youth and academy he's looked like the real. I don't expect him to be a Villa player in three years time, so enjoy watching him in the next couple of seasons. That's how highly I rate him!

Very pleased.

Anyone actually been able to access this "link" yet?

I'm excited about this bit of news! Zog is the most important missing piece of the Villa jigsaw imo. We should be a handful with the likes of Zog, Makoun, Gabby, Delph and Albrighton buzzing about under the watchful eye of Uncle Petrov. Bent's going to grab a bucket full of goals this season!

Very true, but conversely there must also be questions asked when the situation dictates. I've said it before, but I honestly believe this haggling over the N'Zogbia fee would not have occured if we'd brought him in before selling Downing. Not for the want of sounding like a broken record, but we needlessly weakened our own bargaining posture and have had to pay cold hard cash as a result. Fair enough that it's "only" £500k more and it can quite rightly be stated that the deal as a whole might represent good value given the player's potential ability, but this is coming at a time when the mandate from above is to save, not to splurge and I find it somewhat galling therefore, that through the club's own naïveté we have been forced to fork out more than we really should have. Gareth you're often spot on with your posts but not this time (imo of course). If we had bought N'zogbia before Downing was sold Liverpool would probably not have stumped up 20 Million for Downing. It would have seemed likely to them that a bid of approximately 17/18 Million with a final agreement of 19 Million after negotiations would have got the deal done. With Randy's sustainable wage bill policy being common knowledge, also knowing that Villa had bought the Zog for 9 Million before SD's sale and AM already talking up Albrighton, would very likely have meant that L'pool would not then have felt the need to pay the extra premium for a possibly "irreplaceable" player. (which was SD's status at the time he was sold)

The fact that you say we've done nothing for nearly a week with regard to N'Zogbia suggests that you are on a wind up OnlyOne. Do you honestly believe that there has been no communication between Villa and Wigan in the past few days?

It's not just me though... Die Hard Villain got his information about McLeish may not be flying out to HK until tomorrow because of his daughter's graduation (unconfirmed) because Mat Kendrick has tweeted that info from Hong Kong However people's snobbery on VT over Twitter means he's not going to mention where he got the info from! Are people really saying it's OK to post a B'ham Evening Mail article from a journalist, but it's somehow a guilty pleasure posting a tweet from the same journalist. It's ridiculous! Keep up the good work Julie. You've been one of most upbeat posters on here for years, and your twitter posts give us a wider look at what the world in general is thinking about Villa related subjects.

"second in the league and unbeaten" is a bit of fun we have alphabetically every season. Are we not allowed to enjoy supporting Villa any more? Just to keep on thread, I have a feeling Zog will be itsotp very soon.

It's stopped annoying me that a few Villa "supporters" are determined to hate everything that our owner and manager does. If it gives some of you guys a buzz then carry on by all means, but please leave us more reasonable fans to patiently watch and wait without the mud slinging. Thank's very much.

Especially as he can become "King of the Midlands" if he plays as well for us as he did for Wigan last season. How can Sunderland compete with that?

Julie knows something! He's not locked in your bathroom till he signs is he, like Ashley Young and Nigel Reo Coker were back in 2007? C'mon Julie, you can tell us, we won't tell anyone, honest!

I think your right, and in the absence of Mysteryman, its time for one of these....... :!: WOW!!! It must be true then!