ThunderPower_14

I know this was a couple of pages ago, but care to point out where he has done that this season? He has been terrific. The games where we hade Kiraly in goal really made me appreciate how good a keeper we have in Tommy.

Hero for Villa. We never quite had the team to make best use of his talent. If he was 24 now and we signed him in the summer, he could have been that 20 goal a season striker every team is looking for.

I was 50/50 between Sorenson and Barry, went Barry, and i'm actually pretty shocked Sorenson hasn't gotten a vote considering Petrov and Angel both have. Not saying they suck, just saying Tommy was more valueable to the team this season.

Over here every bloody person is a fan of one of the big 4 teams. It's a joke. No-one bothers with family heritage, they just glory hunt. Over there it's even worse. Every person has a relatively local club, and unless you have parents or family who follow a different club, your local club should be the one you support. A brummy Manchester United "fan" is a joke. SHA fans may be scumbags, but at least they support the team that represents them, and not one of the big 4 just so they can support a team that wins a lot of silverware. Silverware isn't what supporting a club is about. Over here in Aussie Rules football we have a salary cap and draft system, so no club is ever up or down the ladder for too many years in a row. We like to say that if you don't support the club with all your heart during the bad times, you dont deserve to enjoy the good times, and they wont be as sweet anyway. The Brummy Manure fans decided they were too good to support a club that would have bad times, and I guarentee they wouldn't enjoy Man U winning the Premiership anywhere near as much as every member of this site will when Villa next win the premiership. Just out of curiosity, because my Brummy born Dad has an Aussie accent and my memory is foggy on the accents of my Grandma and Grandad, what makes a brummy accent a brummy accent?

Think it was dude, seeing it on MOTD; 2 players infact fouled him! Exactly, without rugby tackling him, I can't imagine a much clearer penalty. The player who caught his left foot just caught him (and we have seen penalties for less this season), but the guy on his right foot took him right out.

Hey, better a villa fan is shaking a claret and blue shaker than sitting down doing nothing IMO. It might get the fans actively supporting a bit more.

I will second that. The man devotes his life to helping others and supporting Villa. Very much agreed. Inspirational stuff.

God no, loan him out to anyone else for this month where we have no games, but not bloody SHA. He would be tainted. Unless he was just there to score own goals...

Based on his Pro Evo Soccer 6 stats, he's faster than Gabby But Gabby's pace is severely underrated in that game, still... fast.

I am biased as an Aussie but I think Lucas Neill is a gun. He is a very dogged defender and was by far our best player in the world cup IMO. It was reported over here that he had SIGNED with west sham, and I was disgusted frankly. He is much better than them. Definitely worth more than 2 mil if thats what they are paying for him!

I'd have a lazy, overweight Ronaldo in my team!! Same! He is a goalscorer nomatter what anyone says, and the shirts would fly off the shelves.

Its the kind of dreaming I can definitely get excited about. However he'd want to go to a bigger club being only 30. Damn.

Exactly.

If we get adidas as a kit sponsor, the 1st one, otherwise, the second one, whatever it means.

I don't think Viduka would be a long term solution, he is getting on a bit now. But he would do well as the CF in our 4-3-3 if we go back to that when Moore is fit. If he is just in the squad to compete for the CF spot for a couple of seasons there is no problems here. Provided MON and Randy are committed to signing a better striker in the summer that is.

Assuming you mean can't... He is a gun player, a big name who will sell heaps of shirts and bring a lot of media attention to the club, he will also potentially attract more big name players. But I would take him just on ability.

Randy Lerner has millions to spend. It shouldn't be automatically assumed that Villa have millions to spend. I'd be very suprised if we spent more than £40 million from january till the start of the next season. Randy hasn't got money that expandable, with a fortune of around 800 million, minus the club purchase it soon starts eating away. I'd say Randy has set asside an initial £100 to £200 million to spend on the club to get it turned around (including the purchase) You think Lerner would be happy to see a quarter of his personal fortune spent on Villa? If he's envisaging that amount of initial outlay, how long would it be before he could expect to see a return on his investment? Even if we post profits of £20m a season for ten seasons, with all of that cash flowing into Lerner's account, he'd still only be breaking even. He'd get a better return on investment by leaving the money in a current account! My assumption has always been that, after this coming window, our new management will be hoping to fund everything else from some hefty long-term sponsorship deals, increased TV money, higher league finishes and higher gates. At the time of the merger, I guessed that Lerner might be willing to spend a further £30 million of his own money to get the ball rolling - I still think that figure will prove about right. One thing you aren't taking into account in this summation is the club value. If he gets us to a position where we are posting profits of £20 million + then I think the club would be valued in the hundreds of millions which would ensure he sees a return on his investment. Exactly. The money he used to pay for the club has been converted to an asset, which is the club itself from an economic point of view. Plus, if we are making $20 Mil a season and Lerner wanted to sell the club he could sell if for absolutely bucketloads. The money he paid for the club isn't just gone, it's just been converted into an asset for now, hopefully one which gains some significant value.

That would be absolutely terrific. Klose is a great player.

OOOh hoo hoo That would be brilliant!!! Having an Aussie playing for Villa! I never rated him that highly until the world cup, where he showed just how dogged and talented he can be in defence. He is a hard worker and a very good CB, and I think with the work ethic MON has instilled in the team Neill would fit in very well and thrive. He would definitely sure up our CB stocks with Laursen being so injury prone. It would be a fantastic signing despite my Aussie bias. I'll be pre ordering my Lucas Neill villa shirt as soon as I have the chance to!

City fan?

I think Ridgewell needs to stay in the side. According to the Actim stats he's the 2nd best defender in the league so far behind Gareth Barry. Plus, he has shown how dangerous he can be up forward on set pieces.

I'd say the star would be reserved for the highest club honour in europe, undoubtedly the Champions League

If i find out we are getting a star on our shirt I will order the shirt that day. It is our choice how we celebrate our history, and this would be great to go along with the hall of fame Lerner has planned. As has been mentioned, it's not like there are 15 Premiership teams who have won a European cup and don't have a star. There are 2 others. Stuff Liverpool and their way of doing things, stuff ManUre and their way of doing things. We're Aston Villa, we are a traditional club that celebrates our history. Wearing that star is a privilege our great club has earned, whether it was 24 years ago or 100 years ago. In fact, I think you'll find that after we have a star on our shirt for a year or 2, ManUre and Liverpool would follow suit. I nearly bought a shirt this year, but I am gonna wait till next year when we have a manufacturer other than Hummel (damn those arrows!), and we have a star above our emblem.

Over here in Adelaide, Australia our biggest Aussie rules football stadium was traditionally known as Football Park, but was renamed a few years ago AAMI stadium after and insurance company. We all thought at the time we would always call it Footy Park, but pretty quickly people began to refer to it as AAMI stadium, and this is by far the more common name for it at the moment. That said, no one ever wonders what you are talking about when you refer to it as AAMI stadium. People were apprehensive at the name change, but the upgrade in facilities due to the revenue brought in was well worth it.