GaztonVilla

That's very easy to say from the outside looking in. However, he's 36 and at the end of his international career. He's travelled with the squad and worked bloody hard to try and get himself through the injury he picked up. He's been pretty instrumental in getting Ireland to the tournament. The whole squad (and the country, really) are holding their breath to see if you can play. The manager, player and medical staff all agree it's touch and go. But he can stand and kick. With painkilling injections, he can play. He's not perfect, far from it, but the manager asks him to play because, on balance, an unfit Shay Given is still better (at present) than a fit Kieron Westwood in terms of ability and the effect on team morale. Given is the most senior player in the squad. 120+ caps. He's seen by everyone (except Robbie Keane) as a better leader than Robbie Keane. His manager asked him to play and you don't say no to playing for your country in an international tournament.

In his own words, less than 10% fit at the moment. He was rushed back from injury when, in normal circumstances, he wouldn't have played. He'll have a few weeks off training and some intense physio before pre-season. If thats the case then surely should sit out the Italy game? Quite possible/likely that he will. Also don't think he will play for Ireland again after Monday.

In his own words, less than 10% fit at the moment. He was rushed back from injury when, in normal circumstances, he wouldn't have played. He'll have a few weeks off training and some intense physio before pre-season.

Ireland's plan to let Spain wear out the leather on their boots out before exploiting their socked feet appears to have backfired.

Try highlighting all of line 9.1 and then click on the Format Painter button . Then click on line 10.1 and see if that fixes it.

I just did... A fundamental breach (or repudiatory breach) is a breach so fundamental that it permits the aggrieved party to terminate performance of the contract. In addition that party is entitled to sue for damages. What's your point? Edited to add: If the decision of the innocent party is to terminate, the key element here is not to delay in making that decision known to the other party in the form of a clear and unequivocal communication (preferably written). Case law has shown that there is definitely a danger that if sufficient time passes without the innocent party making an election, they will be deemed to have affirmed the contract. As one would expect there are no hard and fast rules about the length of time that the innocent party can take in making its decision but what is clear is that they should do so as soon as possible.

Maybe his girlfriend told him to quit...

Lie to us Rob. I wanna hear the stories

No it's not. Alcoholism is a disease. Would it be funny to show a pic of Stan undergoing chemo. One Friday night instead of going out and drinking 10 pints of Carling, stay in and read God's book. Or get someone to read it to you! Seriously get a life. The greatest player to wear claret and blue in my lifetime. Show some **** respect. FWIW, I totally agree. I had the pleasure of asking Paul some questions recently.. I asked him "Holte End or Stretford End". He answered "Stretford". Also asked him why, given the fact that the Holte sings his name every game. Said he appreciated it, but the "On the piss, my lord" is something he struggles to listen to.

So does the Republic of Ireland Olympic Team claim it represents the whole of Ireland including the North? Sounds a bit incendiary to me. There is no Rep of Ireland Olympic team. Just like there is no Northern Ireland Olympic team. Just one team for the island of Ireland.

Theres a general confusion about that in Ireland too actually. Turns out its something to do with the fact that the Irish Olympic team covers all 32 counties, 6 of which are in the UK. So, the torch goes off-piste.

Dublin. Docklands I think.

Is it Villatalk or is it Off Topic? I don't know but here's God running with the Olympic torch this morning.

You can't expect the Villa to write anything meaningful and detailed about something so trivial as getting a new manager when there is far more important news to write about the ginger prick getting onto the FA Council! http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2796022,00.html They've appointed Lambert, that's as far as they probably feel comfortable going in the statement. There's still a potentially sticky legal situation with NCFC. As for someone else's question about whether RL would do business with Muslimss given his Judaism, I think we can all agree that given the fact that RL isn't a f**king moron, his Judaism is unlikely to get in the way of him conducting business. In fact, didn't stop him doing business with Manchester City or Fulham did it?

Did I miss something about poetic postings? Haikus, iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter. What's going on?

At the end of the day Lambert signed a 1 year rolling contract, if you quit your job there is likely a clause where you should give say 4 weeks notice (whether you uphold that or not is up to you I guess). Lambert's notice I guess would be 1 Year (if accepted), If he doesn't like that he shouldn't have signed a rolling contract. Luckily for him football contracts now favour the person and rarely work to the clubs advantage. It's not an ordinary job, he signed an official contract (and likely received a signing on fee for doing so) to say that every day he is in the job he is effectively committing himself to that club for another 365 days. From the clubs point of view he should uphold that. That said if they have broken a clause in his contract then it's their own fault and we can do as we please. (my ASSUMPTION is that this clause is something to do with him being allowed to talk to certain clubs and it was very well planned out that Villa would force their hand i.e. starting with our CEO leaking to Sky - I could be wrong but we clearly tapped Eck up in a similar way and tried the same thing with Blues). P.S im not against the Lambert appointment, very much in favour of it I just hate the contracts in football and how all the power is with the player (or manager in this case). Whether it works in our favour (like now) or against us (like every summer when somebody forces a move) I **** hate it. Thank you for saving me the time and effort of typing that explanation up on an iPhone.

Lambert out? Not yet. Let's have at least one home game where we can demonstrate our dissatisfaction at his previous poor record of foreign signings. Then sack him.

You said that with OGS! Just kidding. I think it's been obvious for a while now that we're getting Lambert. Ever snce my welcome paul on wednesday lunch time Wasn't trying to steal your thunder Sir Just wanted to say welcome.

Then you'll be pleased and delighted. Ok, that's enough.. Stop it. Just. Stop.

#roflcopter Oh, by the way, Welcome Paul.

That's incredible insight.. :bonk:

But why have people learning on the job when we can have qualified, experience people doing the job and hitting the ground running?

Imagine Petrov and Laursen somewhere in our coaching setup We can all dream I think we need to avoid soppy sentimentality when it comes to having "Villa men" in the coaching set up. Laursen has very little coaching experience, Petrov has none. To suggest they should be shoe-in's to our management setup is asking for trouble, IMO. Similarly, Sid Cowans is a playing legend but I remain unconvinced about his coaching credentials. If the new manager wants to replace him (for footballing reasons), I'm right behind him.

Paul Lambert has this evening spoken on the phone to at least 2 senior AVFC players.

Only 3 posts and he thinks he can come on here and make sensible, reasoned arguments.. Fecking Canaries Welcome Smithy. More people like you are always welcome.