Ponky

Not sure if this has bindunne:

Maybe he should square up to Randy Lerner and Faulkner then as MON has said several times in the last few weeks that he is not part of the negotiations.

Milner would only be sabotaging himself if he doesn't recapture last season's form because there are Euro qualifiers coming up & he is the poster-boy of Capello's brave new world AND Man City or any of the other big money clubs won't look twice at him if he looks like a one-season wonder. Personally I don't have any qualms about Milner playing to his full ability if the move falls through. Getting him to sign a new contract will be something completely different though.

Could be 25m plus add-ons.

The little fella can certainly hit it from a distance

Not sure that will wash anymore as our squad will be the same size as everyone else's this year!

I don't know Jez - why don't you tell us what you think?

I think MON's comments are a message to Man City to say we are happy to keep James and have no concerns about James throwing a sulk to get a move so the ball is in their court if they want the player. I think the next move for the club if they want to show City we hold all the aces is to lodge a few mid-sized bids for a few players to show we are not desperate for their money.

I agree with this. I think Ireland would be the missing piece of the puzzle if we kept Milner, but if we bring Ireland in and lose Milner we still need another midfielder - a much better and less ginger version of Sidwell.

287 pages of this and I have not seen Onuoha spelled the same way twice!

Wow the NOTW are even more brazen with their bollocks than the Mirror! But I see they are also using the Redknapp quote proforma: I wonder if Harry has a copyright on that phrase and he gets a kickback every time it's published...

Without knowing the full facts it's impossible to know what MON's motivations were in speaking out. It will all come out in the wash I guess but since then MON has also come out and acknowledged that he needs to sell to buy - so he's hardly going to deliberately go out and jeopardise his one chance to bring in some new faces - unless of course he is actually trying to paint Randy into a corner and get him to get the wallet out.

All this speculating on speculation is doing my head in. I really don't buy this idea of Milner being so upset there's no way back. If it's such a big deal I am sure he has got at least one reporter's number on his phone he could ring and clarify his position to. He's on holiday for frig's sake, not in prison? As far as I'm concerned MON's little speech was basically a call to Man City to put up or shut up - if you come up with the money we'll sell and the player will happily sign for you. If City don't come up with the money Milner stays a Villa player and he will continue to do a fantastic job of doing that. He has only just cracked the England side - he is hardly going to go on strike and sulk when it would pretty much spell the end of his England career in the short term.

One would think that even if MON won't answer his phone Jimmy has the numbers of a few of the other staff (& players!) and might be able to pass on a message to MON to give him a ring about the contract. This MON won't answer his phone guff is just straw-clutching Jez. And as for MON being pig-headed and saying once you say you want to go youre going - I seem to recall that even after Barry slated MON in the media over the Liverpool transfer and Barry was fined and banned from the training ground Barry still played pretty much every match of that season.

12 months is a long time in football and who knows what the situation will be. Milner would have to know that this time next year Man City's interest is likely to be elsewhere and his ship will have sailed. So if he is so desperate to go to city that he refuses to sign a new contract with us then surely he will put in a transfer request to try and get it done. This 'no money' business has me worried now - surely if it were untrue we would have seen at least a little bit of action. Surely the best way to show City we are not desperate enough to cave is to go on with other business - stuff that doesn't hinge on Milner.

A few stories around about us vying with Stoke for Bentley. One would hope Bentley would see us as a better option than Stoke...

Well, technically Petrov in MON's first season was his first signing, signed in August.

That's attempted murder!!!

It's anyone's choice to be as skeptical or as gullible as they like. There's a dud peosting over at the 606 boards who claims to know an "MM" - same initials different bloke, supposedly high up in media circles - with some interesting stories, which I quite enjoy reading. Some of them are plausible some of them don't seem to be but in the end it's up to me whether or not I lose any sleep over them.

Do people buy these stories going around about us being unable to find buyers for the fringe players like Shorey & Young because of their wages & this blocking our ability to buy new players. I know this whole sell to buy thing has been a misinterpretation of Randy's words but maybe there is no smoke without fire? But why would you be not prepared to take a wage cut to go elsewhere if it meant you were actually playing?

Tribal football is basically where anyone can make stuff up isn't it? Most of the other reports saying he is waiting for Villa and City to agree a fee. My guess is that Villa are currently waiting to hear back from City and City are waiting to see how desperately we need some cash - if it's not sorted when Milner gets back from leave I guess they will be looking for him to push for a transfer.

I love City playing hardball over a player they seem desperate for and we don't want to sell. That'll learn us!

The thing is MON went out and paid good money for Warnock so he must be a fan of attacking fullbacks up to a point. I expect there was more to Cuellar being used in favour of Young than simply thinking Cuellar was a better right back.

This is exactly what he did to us last season at Man City. I don't understand the vitriol - he is a more than capable winger and while his crossing might not be the best he scores goals which is something that we are lacking from our wingers generally. Plus Barry Bannan would feel like Peter Crouch with SWP around.