Ooh-Ah

Once again, amidst the 444 pages of speculation, bickering, puns and lies, thetrees comes through with something real. It's funny how he and Kwan don't have any tangible link to the club, yet they're the only people who have provided us with any concrete information regarding the takeover. I think that goes to show how little anyone at the club knows and how privately Randy Lerner conducts his business. It's tough not knowing what's going on and I'm as frustrated and impatient as anyone here but I think we should be grateful that our outgoing owner isn't a (pair of) very creepy, smut-peddling attention-seeker(s), or a geriatric, media-hungry mainstay of Sky Sports News, or a fat, jersey-wearing "fan" who changed the name of our stadium to an e-mail address, or a moustachioed Bond villain who changed our colours and crucified our ex-manager in the press, or someone who tried to blackmail the club's fans into allowing him to change our name to the Aston Villa Lions. Or a criminal. There are lots of bad owners out there and although ours has made some bad decisions, I still have faith that his heart is in the right place and that he'll do his utmost to leave us in good hands.

What makes him a 'waste of space' exactly? He was a great keeper and the club gave him (and others) a big contract. What was he going to say? "Hang on Mr Faulkner, you buffoon. Five years is a bit much." The club realised that what they were doing was unsustainable so they changed their ethos, freezing him and a lot of other high-earners out. Granted he under-performed for us but he still made an incredible save at the Hawthorns that more or less kept us in the league. His attitude has never once been called into question by anyone, and everyone agrees that he's a really nice guy. Did he once kick up a fuss about being dropped? I've no doubt that he has been a massively positive influence behind the scenes since Day 1. I for one hope he gets a permanent role at the club regardless of what happens this summer. No call for this random comment IMO.

And 14 - 12 = 2... Yeah. 2.30. You should have said 2.30.

I meant to preface my post with "At the risk of reigniting the Kwan pun-fest..."

Kwan hasn't been on since. I'd say he's either doing a very good impression of being itk, or what he said is about the only reliable info in this thread. I agree. Can anyone testify to his behaviour up to these posts?

Not Marc Albrighton!

Detroit declared bankrupt mid-last year, but was only confirmed in December. This fits in with the general timeline of rumors leaking of a sale in February. Although I said it was Mike Ilitch, I don't think my contact said it was Mike. Could have been one of his kids. Anyway, he said it was NAILED ON. #itk #fosagmagadh For those of you who don't speak Irish, allow me to illuminate. #nilsinfior = Níl sin fíor = That's not true. #fosagmagadh = Fós ag magadh = Still taking the piss.

That quote has made me so happy. Is it not obvious that Lambert's quote should be translated as "Nothing is going to happen right now"? Just after that he says "Unless that changes when Randy makes his speech", presumably referring to the statement Lerner will make at the end of the season. I think Lambert is trying to stay on message, i.e. focus on staying up, deflect attention from the takeover. He isn't much of an orator and when his interviews are transcribed they read very poorly; he tends to speak in circles. I think he tries to be coy/evasive and he ends up sounding weird.

If Gabby didn't have pace he wouldn't be a professional footballer.

Not to nitpick but which is it? Is Gabby playing poorly because we're rubbish or are we rubbish because Gabby is playing poorly? It can work both ways but realistically if he is to be our highest earner he has to take a lot of the responsibility for the team's poor showing. He certainly has to take responsibility for his own performances, which simply haven't been good enough. You'd imagine that a player in his late 20s who has been at the club since he was a kid, and is the highest paid member of the squad, might be expected to serve as a leader, someone who can take games by the scruff of the neck and inspire his teammates. He might be a positive influence behind the scenes but it's plain as day that he has neither the mentality nor the ability to do this on the pitch.

Has he actually come out and said this? Either way it doesn't really matter. Jamie Carragher was an Evertonian as a kid. Gabby's been here his whole career and he says he wants to stay til he retires. That makes him Villa through and through in my eyes. As for him leaving if a big club came in and offered him a fortune, that's the mootest point ever.

Well we were down 1-0 at home in a vital game when his teammate scored our goal of the season. And it was 20 something minutes in so he was hardly jaded. I can understand him not celebrating the 4th, in fact he should be commended for NOT celebrating and for picking up Bassong, but I can't understand him being anything other than delighted about our first two goals. I just found it weird. edit: Gabby didn't pick him up but he did console him.

£1.1 billion isn't wealthy enough.

Like Samir Carruthers?

Is it me or did he not look very bothered when Benteke scored his goals? They were quality, and very important, but he didn't seem too happy. Could be any number of reasons behind it, maybe he was just in bad form personally, but I thought it was strange.

I live in China. First of all it's important to realise that although there are 1.4 billion people, which is a lot of people, the market for football clubs who want to make a quick buck here is nowhere near that figure. There are a couple of reasons for this. Around half the population still live in the countryside where poverty is rife, so those people are probably too busy trying to feed their children to worry about how fat Grant Holt's arse is. Even among the growing urban population football isn't that important. That's not to say there aren't any football fans or there isn't any money to be made here, of course there is, but I wouldn't get carried away by the 1.4 billion figure. Secondly any Chinese people I've met who actually watch football support the obvious teams (United, Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Barcelona), and their reaction to hearing that I support Aston Villa is generally "Oh yeah, I think I know them," when what they really mean is "Who the f*** are Arston Vanilla?" I have no idea how our Weibo account has attracted so many followers but it certainly isn't indicative of any groundswell of support for Aston Villa in China. I hate to make broad, sweeping generalisations about 1/5 of the world's population but they're really not that knowledgeable when it comes to foreign sports. The atmosphere at sporting events is weird. I think Beckenbauer or someone like that said the same thing about playing in the States back in the day. They get excited at the wrong times and question the wrong decisions... They just don't really get football. Even basketball is the same, and basketball is bigger here than football is. I saw the Lakers and Warriors play pre-season in Beijing and for 70% of the game the arena was completely silent. You could hear the players talk to each other. The other 30% of the time they were chanting "Kobe! Kobe!", and Kobe wasn't even playing. We can market the club and promote ourselves on Weibo all we want but there's only one thing that's going to make Villa big in China and that's success on the pitch. That's what the Chinese are interested in more than anything else: winners. I've seen plenty of people around here in Chelsea gear. Do you think anyone in China knew who Chelsea were 10 years ago? I've even seen Dortmund tracksuits. They only care about successful teams. There's Miami Heat merchandise everywhere, and in five years it'll be next big team, and five years after that it'll be someone else. Like I said, they don't really know a whole pile about foreign sports, they just know the players and teams who win. As for signing a Chinese player, that would have an impact. The Houston Rockets are still really big here since the days of Yao Ming, and it doesn't hurt that they have Jeremy Lin at the moment too. But remember: Yao Ming was really good at basketball, as is Lin, and they both play(ed) all the time. People would only take notice if a Chinese player was actually playing in the Premier League (they're not idiots) and I really don't think Villa, or any club, would be willing to shoehorn some mediocre Chinese lad into the starting line-up in the hope of shifting a few shirts in Beijing. There's a reason clubs haven't done it thus far and it's because the talent isn't there. The standard in the Chinese league is dreadful and the national team are terrible. If this country is moving up in the footballing world it's doing so at the speed of a particularly lethargic glacier. Why is the talent not there? There isn't great money in sports in China for a start, and the number of footballers who make it big abroad is tiny. Sport isn't seen as a way out in the same way it is elsewhere in the world. Parents put enormous amounts of pressure on kids to perform well in school. Most of the kids I teach wouldn't have the time to play football even if they had the interest (which in most cases they don't) because they spend all the live-long day doing homework. The China we know today is still in its infancy. Personal gain is a new phenomenon to them. To a man, woman and child they are utterly obsessed with making money. Children who spend all day playing football don't perform as well in school, and so they don't get into college, and so they can't get a good job, and so they can't make lots of money. The parents run the show in China and that's all their parents care about. It's no coincidence that the majority of the top footballers in the history of the game came from poor backgrounds. Football was their way out. The same can be said for many of the top basketballers in the NBA. Basketball was their way out. Football isn't the way out in China, education is. Which I suppose isn't exactly the worst idea in the history of mankind, if you really, really think about it. So to sum up, we can social network our balls off but it won't make a blind bit of difference. If Villa want to make it big in China they'll have to either unearth the Chinese Messi or start winning trophies. So to sum up, Villa are not going to make it big in China for a long, long time.

VILLA FAN: I hate Chelsea and City. They were sh*t until some bored billionaire took over. That's not what football is about. What soulless clubs. SSN PRESENTER: This just in... Aston Villa are officially up for sale. VILLA FAN: OMFG SAUDI PRINCE LET'S SIGN CAVANI LOLOLOLOL. Football is so depressing.

No you play long ball Regards Mourinho Well you hate football and stifle your attacking midfielders. All the time. Paul

It's not "lazy journalism" to focus on Benteke when talking about Villa. He's our best player by a country mile. It's all well and good saying Gabby has been playing well, but we don't depend on him the same way we depend on Benteke. In as far as any team can be described as being a one-man team, we are a one-man team.

Rosicky made a really great pass to Jiracek who delivered the cross. Jiracek is a really good midfielder but he has been injured for nearly a year. You guys looking for a new manager now as well. I hear Trapattoni is available We will likely go Czech but I honestly wouldn't mind Trapattoni. Anyone would be better than what we had. Bilek was disliked heavily in Czech. I would not wish Trapattoni on our worst enemies. In fact if he did go to England ( ), it would almost be as bad because we'd still be subjected to his "football" and we'd still be listening to people talking about him 24/7. That's obviously a moot point but be careful what you wish for Czechlad!

Stoke... The Republic of Ireland God can we not talk about that shower. Does Hughes still have Stoke playing 4-4-2 though?

Who even plays 4-4-2 anymore? Who put in that cross for Kozak's goal? Quality.

Re: The "It's one of his friends" Theory: I find it hard to believe that someone Gabby is close enough to send videos to would then go on and pretend to be him. And not only pretend to be him, but be so controversial. Surely they'd know that this would be very damaging to Gabby's career? Re: The "Stolen Phone" Theory: He posted a video on Keek of him accepting followers on Twitter. If it was someone who stole the phone, how could they then continue posting new videos clearly taken by/featuring Gabby? I think if he's innocent he needs to come out and explain it. At the moment it looks like the club's defence is total bullsh*t.

Gary Charles was alright. Phil Bardsley was dreadful. Still think Hutton is the worst though.

What's the opposite of 'LOL'?