Sidmon

The barometer of whether we're getting reasonable value for money for Ings will be if Chris Wood goes to Forest as rumoured. Six months older than Ings and whose scoring record of late has been abysmal in comparison.

Totally agree and we seem to always be pushovers in the transfer market, even when it's desperate relegation candidates buying our players who are desperate to bolster their ranks in order to stay up. Ignoring players brought through our ranks like Jack or players purchased as youth from other teams academies the last "profit" we've from a signing I think was Ashley Westwood reputed to have cost us £2m but sold (although not clear) for possibly £5m.

Michael Beale on Talkshite earlier stated he's tapping up Villa for a loan signing so sounds like it could be QPR he's off to.

Think people forget speculation was we were in for Coutinho back in 2013 at the same time Liverpool bought him when Lambert was manager unfortunately we could only go to £6m for him and Inter wanted £9m. Take was we had first refusal over Liverpool but we just wouldn't pay the money as it was the Lerner pulling the budget days. Ended up signing Sylla the same window for £1m. Lambert also allegedly wanted John Stones but again wasn't able to bid as much as Everton so another one that go away....story of our club sadly (remember the talk of Klinsmann negotiating in Doug's back garden but he tried to take £5k a week off the contract he wanted so went to Spurs who paid it on the spot). Under the financial circumstances Lambert did OK and ultimately lost his good reputation within the game in managing us.

Just reading his wiki page it seems he's a Cleveland Browns fan so maybe through Lerner's previous association he's a Villa fan just as some Villa fan's become Browns fans back in the distant past.

Is anyone else looking at Ross and as much we want him to succeed here and become a fan favourite, keep seeing his anonymous performances and think "Jack Rodwell" if we signed him permanently?

The concern is and it backs up the "play if fit" clause claims, is that Ross wasn't put on the bench like you'd expect when nursing someone back to fitness. As soon as he was even half fit he was back in the team taking AEG out who was so on form was a nomination for Premier League POTM. While I agree with the feelings that such a clause sounds like a Champ Manager theory, these kinds of actions do little to stop the suspicion of it. We had the same theories on Drinkwater last year though when he was continually picked despite being unfit and shite, but that (fortunately) proved unfounded and now Drinkwater plays on the other side of the continent!

Anyone else get the feeling this could come back to haunt us ala Cahill? Hope we get at least £2m and a 25/30% sell on clause, just the sort of player you could see having a blinding season and being a target for lower Premier League teams for £10m+ next summer.

Think they're old pals from both their Walsall days.

Understanding was when we bought Hourihane despite him being out of contract soon was worth way more than we paid. Barnsley were keen to avoid losing money on his sell on clause to Plymouth Argyle so we agreed to load the money on the Bree deal in order to keep Barnsley sweet. To be fair Bree was a quite highly rated youngster at the time and I think his stats for Luton while he's been on load (especially given they've been struggling) have been very good. Fingers crossed we don't give up on him too soon only to see him become another Lowton. Kid could at the very least act as a good squad cover regardless of the league we're in.

Sadly Green Man was closed just prior to kick off so they could clean up. Ended up in Flannery's on the High Street (well they call it High Road).

Going down tomorrow despite not yet having a ticket. If I don't get one in the meantime is anyone else doing the same and just wondering which pub would be best to watch the game? (Real ale would be a massive bonus).

Great fine, and is it me or is the keeper wearing gloves?

Born in Liverpool due to his mum I believe, but moved to Brum when very young so definitely a Brummie.

Big Ron was a Lea Village lad who supported us as a youth and played for the youth team. Said it was his calling to manage us when he took over in 1991.