villa1968

and they also sold £50m worth of players.

cost of [player] registrations at 01/07/08 of £121m.

cost in the year to 01/07/09 of £119m.

Plus approx Crouch (£9m), Bassong (£8m), Kranjcar (2.5m), Kaboul (£5m) and Naughton/Walker (combined £10m). Total = £34.5m"

They're the best figures I've got. Taking into account your £50m (what was AVFC comparable amount?), it's still an awful lot more than the cost of the squad at Bodymore Heath isn't it?

I do not think there is anyone else who could work alongside Randy or who Randy would want.

I think a new manager will want to spend mega bucks, I don't think MON would make the same demands and is happy spending what he does. IMO we need to spend more.

Completely disagree, but then I'm sure we've had the discussion before somewhere...

I think Randy runs the club perfectly, it's down to the manager to make the most of what he has - which is more than most.

It is more than most but most importantly, it isn't as much as our competitiors at the top of the Premier League and he started from a much lower squad base than all of our competitors except Man City.

I think we do spend as much as many of our competitors: Liverpool, Spurs, Everton, Arsenal.

I accept the point about starting off at a lower level than some of them, but that's why he has been given time and its why I think he should have another season. If, after 5 years, he doesn't look like being good enough to be a real top 4 challenger, maybe it's time to move on. Spurs have built a decent squad in recent years but weren't able to mould a fluid team together. Now Rednapp has come in and shown that he could be the man.

No-one is saying we have more right to be in the top 4 than anyone else, but if we have a manager who looks unable to do it, why not try somebody else who might, rather than simply accepting our lot for time immemorial?

As I said earlier...

"Take a look at page 48 of the Spurs accounts.

They show a cost of [player] registrations at 01/07/08 of £121m. They show an additional cost in the year to 01/07/09 of £119m. Since then they have bought in Crouch, Bassong, Kranjcar and Kaboul."

In what way is that the same as Aston Villa's spend?

I do not think there is anyone else who could work alongside Randy or who Randy would want.

I think a new manager will want to spend mega bucks, I don't think MON would make the same demands and is happy spending what he does. IMO we need to spend more.

Completely disagree, but then I'm sure we've had the discussion before somewhere...

I think Randy runs the club perfectly, it's down to the manager to make the most of what he has - which is more than most.

It is more than most but most importantly, it isn't as much as our competitiors at the top of the Premier League and he started from a much lower squad base than all of our competitors except Man City.

He can still take us forward but it will take another huge amount of money

And that's why I think Randy will get rid. He isn't going to want to see his money being wasted indefinitely.

His money hasn't been wasted at all, we've paid good prices for some excellent players.

Take a look at page 48 of the Spurs accounts.

They show a cost of [player] registrations at 01/07/08 of £121m. They show an additional cost in the year to 01/07/09 of £119m. Since then they have bought in Crouch, Bassong, Kranjcar and Kaboul.

All football clubs at this level are spending enormous sums of money but Martin O'Neill has spent nothing like the amounts that our competitors have been spending.

Find another stick to beat him, this one doesn't work.

I think 70 - 74 points.. Be interesting to have a look at where that would get you in previous seasons...

Last 10 seasons, Premier League 4th place

2008/9 Arsenal 72 points

2007/8 Liverpool 76 points

2006/7 Arsenal 68 points

2005/6 Arsenal 67 points

2004/5 Everton 61 points

2003/4 Liverpool 60 points

2002/3 Chelsea 67 points

2001/2 Newcastle 71 points

2000/1 Leeds 68 points

1999/2000 Liverpool 67 points

Average 67.7 points, 1.78 points per game

***

Last 10 seasons, Premier League 5th place

2008/9 Everton 63 points

2007/8 Everton 65 points

2006/7 Tottenham 60 points

2005/6 Tottenham 65 points

2004/5 Liverpool 58 points

2003/4 Newcastle 56 points

2002/3 Liverpool 64 points

2001/2 Leeds 66 points

2000/1 Ipswich 66 points

1999/2000 Chelsea 65 points

Average 63.2 points, 1.66 points per game

Current Premier League points per game

Chelsea 2.28 points per game

Man Utd 2.06

Arsenal 2.06

Aston Villa 1.94

Tottenham 1.83

Man City 1.71

Birmingham 1.56

Fulham 1.53

Liverpool 1.50

I think we learned a lot last season (13 games unbeaten, 7 consecutive away wins, too many home draws, the slump...) and I fancy us to get 70+ points. We'd be very unlucky not to get at least 4th with a total like that.

I'm not even sure what their requirements are. Two points away from 3rd position with a game in hand after quarter of the season, seems decent to me.

The football we play is truly dire. Play for free kicks and corners and create 2 chances a game from open play, boring! While we're scraping results and scoring from set pieces the masses will be happy, but when our little bit of luck runs out and we stop scoring from the set pieces thats when the trouble starts. However theres noone else out there that we could realistically get so stay for now, a bit of passing wouldn't go amiss though.

I thought the goal we scored yesterday was superb.

sorry if i sound rather silly here but the Villa Villain, is supposed to be a villain isn't he? otherwise it doesn't make sense

considering the main mod on H&V spells it Villains, and he's wrote books on Villas history, surely it goes without saying that Villain is the correct term?

Weren't H&V told they mustn't spell it Villan, something about Villa holding the copyright on the word? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

In the 70s we tended to talk about Villa, and you didn't hear much about Villains or Villans outside of newspapers. The Sports Argus writers used to keep the Villa(i)ns thing alive in the same way that Albion were always referred to as the Throstles, even though Albion fans to a man called them the Baggies.

The only other time I used to hear Villains/Villans in those days was

1. in the voice of the TV commentator Hugh Johns. He used to come out with things like "The Villains of Villa Park".

(He also used to come out with a lot of pseudo-American crap about it being "a whole new ball game" and when the ball went out for a corner he would say "Whoa! Corner ball!" Don't know whether he copied Brian Moore or Brian Moore copied him or whether it was ITV policy for everyone to sound "nice and transatlantic".)

2. A song sung by the Holte End around that time. The Dubliners had had a hit with their version of an Irish folksong, Black Velvet Band and to the tune of the chorus of this the Holte used to sing "We are the Villa Villains..."

The Villain/Villan, spell it how you will, was pretty dormant around this period and the late 60s too. I often used to wonder where he had got to, because my earliest football memories are of the buildup to the 1957 FA Cup Final and the funny chap on the badge (in briny-ear's post) was in evidence around that time. Though again mainly I think in the Sports Argus and the long, long defunct Birmingham Mail "Blue 'Un".

Briny-ear mentions Villa'n as a spelling. I don't remember that but it seems very very likely to me. The Villa ones > The Villa 'uns > The Villa'ns. Makes sense. And it what would also make sense is The Villa'ns > The Villans.

FFS someone ask John Lerwill!

I wouldn't argue with any single point you made there, just about spot on I think.

at least now we can rest easy that being called Villains isn't equivalent to been called paedos. Agreed?

Not according to Wiki, and not as long I have been a Villan have we ever been called Villains, apart from people that don't know better.

Invoking Wiki during a debate should be akin to invoking Hitler, whereby you automatically lose the argument. "not as long as I've been a Villan" doesn't carry much currency either, how long is that?

I like to use villainians or villaphrodites myself. I'm no more a Villan than a villain, I'm an Aston Villa supporter.

I can understand why someone would call a Villa supporter a Villain, it's a simple play on words. It isn't anything like calling a Villa fan a paedo, it just isn't.

Tonight I have been watching Spanish footballl on TV (Almeria V Real Madrid) Almeria had really impressed me as they had a real go at Real Madrid from start to finish and beat them 2-0 a nearly promoted side beat a team who are 9 points clear on top of the table, and beat Sevilla, Valencia and Real Madrid in last 4 games. Their coach Emery Unai is one of top young coach in Spain at 36. I think we should be keeping an eye on Almeria for possible talents for Villa and watch Emery Unai career with interest as he could be an ideal person to take over Martin O'Neill in 5 years time or whenever he retire. I have not heard of Almeria before.

Thought you might be interested to know.

General,

do you think Spanish football is a bit dodgy?