GaztonVilla

I am in Bolton. There is no fog here at all. Maybe not, but the flight from Manchester to Jersey is showing as delayed by two hours from 1215 to 1415. Someone call Manchester Airport and ask them to page Mr Martinez to a white courtesy phone

Welcome Paul Grant? I'll get me coat..

I agree, but I think it's harsh to suggest that fans give these players plenty of abuse based on rumour and supposition.

Who are these alleged troublemakers in the team? Please support your accusation with evidence.

I should add that, in my opinion, the problem lay with the manager of the time and also with either MacDonald or Cowans. There needs to be communication between Manager and Reserve/Youths managers. Keeping Cowans/MacDonald for purely sentimental reasons is the wrong decision. If the new manager wants to make a change in the Youth/Reserves setup, I'm all for it.

:!: :!: Not so much coaching, but general cohesive strategy and tactics. Also, expecting the reserves and youth teams to play a different style, with different defensive/marking systems, and expecting them to come into the first XI without fully explaining the systems employed has led to the disaster we have seen.

Nope, nothing. And, just in the interests of full disclosure, I am unlikely to have any more info until July.

Spot on BOF, even Gazton was sure it was OGS....He also still thought it would be him when the papers were saying he is staying at Molde because he didn't want to move his family. So something must have been said to all these ITK's to make them sure he was coming to Villa. If I may fight my corner for a moment.. Personally, I hate the term "ITK". I don't claim to be "in the know". What I can say, with confidence, is that I hear stories from someone very much at the heart of AVFC. When this person tells me something, I make a very conscious decision to remove the emotion from what this person is telling me and then, if appropriate, report as much fact as possible to VT. My history of these kinds of stories is, if I may say so, pretty strong. I don't remember exactly how much I've told VT but this person was spot on about the timing of Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland signing for AVFC. He was spot on, so I said "Welcome Richard", and he was also spot on about the delay to RD signing on deadline day. When all around us were wringing their hands about the registration forms being delayed, he was absolutely confident that it was done on time and that was borne out. With the Stephen Ireland deal, I told VT "Welcome Stephen" when it was complete and confirmed hours before it was made official. I was confident enough to do this because he rang me and physically put SI on the phone to me. With all the upheaval of Gerard Houllier, I was privy to a lot of the internal strife. I took as much of the emotion out of it as possible and report back. Any emotion I added in was my own, and I was feeling a lot of different emotions about the whole Houllier situation. With Darren Bent's signing, I heard about it after MYSTERYMAN (I think) but there are 2 people on this board who I met for a pint and to watch a match on TV. Tony and Paul will vouch for me, they knew about DB signing before it was even a sniff of a news story. As for OGS, I was told that it was done. My source (another phrase I hate) had been told it was done. For me to come on here and say "Welcome Ole" wasn't a tough decision given the track record of this guy's information. For one reason or another, it didn't work out. I don't yet know why, I will hopefully find out eventually what happened. If it's appropriate, I'll pass on that information too. There's been many times I have heard news and chosen not to tell VT about it. We don't need to know it, and putting it into the public domain would do a lot more harm than good. It would also lead a very definite trail back to the source of the information, so I keep it to myself. That will continue, as will any bits of relevant news that I pass on. Am I embarrassed about being wrong? Not in the slightest. I give info on here in good faith. What anybody does after that info, or how they choose to bet their money based on what some bloke on the internet says, is up to them. If people don't want to believe me, that's their right. I absolutely accept that "some bloke on the internet" is more likely to be a spoofer than a genuine conduit of information. Just don't call me a liar, I don't like that

How the mighty have fallen...

Careful Rob....

I'm in the market for a media player to hook up to the tv. Ideally, it would have a built in HDD and be capable of 1080p playback. Not averse to hooking up a NAS drive if needed. Would LOVE it to have netflix, iPlayer, 4OD etc built in. I like the UI of the Apple TV but don't like having to have an iTunes computer running at the same time, I'd like it to be standalone. Anybody got any advice? Ta muchly

I'd disagree.. Remember when RL called off the talks with Ellis and high-tailed it back to the US? At that stage, all bets were off and we on VT were distraught. Randy can play a good game of poker, of that I'm sure..

To everyone who has sent me PM's, I'm not going to reply to you all individually so I'll just say this... I've said as much as I know in this thread. I'm not holding anything back. I won't say who my source is but you've probably all worked it out by now if you've read my previous bits of info. However, it's unlikely that I'll get clarification from my guy on anything before the weekend. I've told a mod who my source is and he'll understand why I won't have more info. If I do hear anything, I promise you'll all know very shortly after. Sorry

Ok, people are asking why am I still hopeful. Yesterday I was told it was done, but that there was going to be drama attached. Hence my comment yesterday about a charade. Now, I have not had it confirmed or denied that last night was part of the drama I was told to expect. News broke late and I can't contact my guy right now. It's possible that it's over, but it might not be; hence me saying 'don't lock the thread' rather than 'it's still on'.

Ok, I'm sticking my neck out here.. But here goes. Do not lock this thread yet.

Sorry VTers, I pass on what I'm told in good faith. I hope I've got enough of a record to show I'm not a WUM or attention whore. However, I'm still not giving up on this.

Nah, this is the one you want.. Trolololol

You are all utter words removed.. That song will be in my head all night now

Nothing has changed, as far as I'm concerned. There's a charade being played out.

I was just about to post, quite cryptically, "Where's Faulkner?"

No need to give him abuse, he's a Southampton fan that should be enough for him. Edit: Hi Mr Trees, Hi Gazton. Hello Nothing has changed since my last message on the subject, my guy has been told OGS is our new manager.

Not at all as far as I can tell. He will fly in for an interview tomorrow, but he's clearly first choice and it's his to lose now. I think it's more than that to be honest. I don't think you send a plane to go get someone without conducting interview and discussing a few terms in advance. Yes, it could still fall through with some finer details, but the guy wouldn't be getting on a plane for just an interview, and I don't think Lerner would waste the time and effort to send a plane to get him without talks being rather advanced already. I wonder if they met back in, hmmmm, maybe March or April time?

pajohnson have I got your right number!

Not yet. :!: :!: :nod:

Welcome Ole.