Ponky

Dica's got a dicky knee anyway and is out for 5 months.

I don't know much about England's socio-economics but do they have fax machines in Newcastle?? Should MON have some carrier pigeons on hand just in case there's a last minute deal to get done??

Sorry, I don't think we can compete with Newcastle, they'd get all the brave players and we'd be left with the cowards...

BBC rumours site says Diop has turned down a move to Wigan.

Ash "The Flash" Young. I like it!

Yeah but he can't play on both wings at the same time!!! :shock: And why not mister smarty-arse?? For 10 mill he should be able to play both wings, get down for goal line clearances, kick perfect inswinging corners AND run into the box to head them home, and put on a fool-proof academy award performance in the penalty area EVERY GAME!!

I think MON has been saying he can play either wing, centre forward, or behind the forwards. ie his versatility is one of his great values. I assume he'll play at right midfield but if we had another player who could do RM he could do LM easily enough.

Get with program mate. Villa IS the new Big 4 !!!!!

We could hoard all the central defenders just to piss off Mourinho! Hey Jose! We'll send you Ridgewell on loan if you sell us SWP on the cheap!

here's one report re neill And from the Blackburn vitalfootball site:

I'm with you Tricella. Lucas Neill is the captain of my country and he did us proud in the world cup and is a fantastic player. No he's not the best in the world but he is a damn sight better than many of the precious, over-rated prima-donnas most would put in his place. He is tough, uncompromising, skilled....and according to many women I know, "hot" :oops: ...and probably now even more so now he's on 50k a week

The following article has a snippet on Luke Varney from Crewe. It mentions that Villa are interested. here

Yeah but JC walked on water - that's a bit harder to do you'd think....

Just on Neill - from what I have read in the papers it may not be a done deal to WH. The deal Blackburn made with Liverpool was cash plus Warnock. Hughes will need to find a new fullback if Neill (note the two "l"s, just like O'Neill) goes to Hammers. Hughes has always said unless the deal's right for Rovers Lucas will have to wait til summer.

The fact that two top class right-backs have been available - Neill and Lauren - and we are not linked with either - could suggest that we have someone lined up for the end of the year. Or perhaps O'Neill still wants to give Delaney a bit of respect to see if he can make it back into the squad? Or maybe both? Or it could just mean no-one really knows who MON has in his sights....

Lucas Neill was one of the players of the World Cup. Hiddink played him as a sweeper, rather than a right-back, and he was outstanding for the entire WC campaign bar the final minute when he "appeared" to give away a "penalty" to that cheating scumbag Grosso. Liverpool were very keen and Barcelona were keen too, through Johan Neeskens who was asst coach of the Aussie team now Asst Manager at Barcelona. If a living legend like Neeskens thinks he's good enough for Barcelona then I think that's a pretty good reference. THAT SAID....I am pretty disappointed at his mercenary behaviour - shock horror from a footballer I know - but I'm a big fan of Lucas and it seems he pulled a fast one on his club. His original reason for leaving Blackburn was a dream move to a big club like Liverpool or Barcelona, and here he is going for the relegation fodder that is West Ham. Mind you, if someone offered me a an extra 25 grand a week i'd probably take it and run too. I'd love to have him in a Villa shirt but not if he was just coming to cash his big fat cheques every week. If I was the Rovers boss I'd say $@ you very much Lucas, but you can play with us for the rest of your contract.

avfc89 are you O'Leary in disguise?

DeepDish how do you know we are not in for Carew? There's only been speculation about our targets and Carew's departure, so there's nothing to say we're not after him. Or have I missed something?

Yeah, I was more noting that Werder are after Carew, someone we've been linked with. But if Werder want him in July, we might be able to nick him in Jan. Apparently he was left out of the (Lyon?) team on Sat, so he could be headed somewhere.

Sky sports site say Werder want Baros AND John Carew to replace Klose, but only at end of season.

Not mentioning the "R" word here. But the general said the "s" word teehee

I hope he's busy doing other stuff!

HE signed Petrov, Bulgarian international, for Celtic so I'd hazard a guess he knows about other high-quality Bulgarians. We can sit here wringing our hands all we like. But Martin has the extra benefit over us of a team of professional highly qualified scouts! So he is probably aware of many players - and their relative availability - probably many more than the lot of us put together. Seems very clear to me he is chasing very specific targets to begin with, and will look at slightly more risky players as time ticks on. Which is probably the EXACT reason he doesn't want to blow his budget on overpriced kids like Young, so he'll have something to spend on other targets later in the window. (Well I hope so anyway!)

Well if the Hammers reckon they can get Lucas Neill I reckon we can too. And Bardsley can just toddle off back to Old Trafford....

Something from the U.S. perhaps?