brommy

I assume we still have to pay Blunderland all the add ons even though some might not be activated?

No. I believe the add-ons were linked to the success of our club and therefore the only add-on paid was for staying up after we'd signed him in the January. I think the total transfer cost we'll have paid for Bent will be around £19m; certainly not the £24m that the media always quote (I think we'd have had to qualify for the CL to get near that).

Where the hell was the keeper on Westy's free kick?   Awful positioning. 

 He thought that side was protected by his wall. Next time he'll ask for more than TWO men!

I enjoyed his comedy very much right through my teenage years to my twenties. Sad to see him pass.

If we can get a good AM and sort out defending from corners - top 8 is possible. It's a big 'if' though.

I have a question. Now that Benteke is staying, will he miss the Arsenal game because of the Chelsea red card? Actually now that I think about it, he should be ok cause it was two yellows.

Correct - served 1 match ban against wigwam

Just had a £20 bet with a very bitter Baggies friend...."Benteke won't score 14 (yes...14) goals in all competitions next season" ......what a puddin!!! If I could do Gif's on my phone it would be the laughing Thinderbirds puppet!!!

Funnily enough I had a bet tonight with my blue nose brother that Benteke would score more than 9 Premier League goals next season....

Assuming he doesn't break something early on in the season, I think you're safe. I wouldn't dare to suggest that CB is guaranteed to score 16+ leagues goals, but 9 or less?! There's a chance you'll have won by New Year!

First goal conceded was unlucky, the second more concerning.

 

Good connection on the header and a very sweet strike for the free kick.

 

Away kit looks good imo.

 

 

Did he just say the stream is working? Cos it's still the same error for me.

It's working here.

I'm still getting the same error too!

 

No video for me. Still Jack said he's been told 'it's fixed so we'll just have to go with that'.

Someone posted 'Weimann's broken his leg according to people on twitter', Dan then replied 'I doubt it, I've just seen him walking down the tunnel, he appeared to be holding his ribs'.

BBQ or Chinese?

20% off golf material? Excellent, thanks for that Jack

I think you mean 'golf........    er.. material'

10 subs coming on at the same time!

So funny one of the posts on spuds forum talks about there being so many desperate deluded comments on this thread it was painful to read. looking at it now makes for very painfull reading!!!

Hate the London press so much though. His handing in a transfer request and speculation of a move to spuds or chelski is big headline news. Signing a new contract a secondary throw away story. T0ssers

 

The London press do seem to have played it down a lot - I wonder why?

 

Before I get too defensive the BBC biggest national news and sport channel, Radio 5, did have Benteke's new contract as their main football news this morning (ahead of citeh's £22m signing).

I'm normally a defender of AVTV and Jack but today has been truley embarrassing for a Premier League club.

I normally find Jack humorous but he is no radio commentator.

At one point he said in a single sentence,

El Ahmadi doing well there, Wycombe charging forward, Guzan plays it long.

Clear as mud!

You must have missed when Jack told us they are playing with 3 footballs today.

Jack celebrates the HT whistle like a last minute winner, he nearly burst my eardrums there.

Quickly followed by the conference call ending. I hope he remembers to dial back in after his pie.

Jack's promised to keep me 'in the loop' and guaranteed me highlights. I feel special but they should drop the last two letters from AVTV.

Listening to Captain Jack apologizing for 90 minutes

 

Fiver well spent

You should have a ST instead!

Why do we need video when we have Jack's perfect picture painting commentary? I mean what more do you need than "ball hit forward like the trajectory of a Lee Westwood 4 iron". The fact that he didn't mention which team or player shouldn't matter. I'm just happy to know it's tea at Lords.

I still don't know why those who thought he would leave this summer were so confident. Words like '"face it, he's off" and "if he was staying he'd have signed by now - he's gone" were common. Was it their dodgy ITKs or their unnecessarily negative hunches?

I'm not claiming I knew he was staying, far from it, just that I couldn't see any evidence that he was definitely off as many were claiming. It seemed more prudent to wait and see.

It may have had something to do with the fact that he handed in a transfer request?

Didn't Barry during his 'nailed on to liverpool' move?

Also many of the 'he's off' comments were pre-request!

I still don't know why those who thought he would leave this summer were so confident. Words like '"face it, he's off" and "if he was staying he'd have signed by now - he's gone" were common. Was it their dodgy ITKs or their unnecessarily negative hunches?

I'm not claiming I knew he was staying, far from it, just that I couldn't see any evidence that he was definitely off as many were claiming. It seemed more prudent to wait and see.

Watching Smalling bounce off CB was one of my highlights of last season.  Makes me happy every time I see it.

 

Weren't you concerned about Smalling's well being? The guy went in to spasm* for Christ's sake!

 

No nor me.

 

*Until he realised the ref wasn't buying it.

Putting my pessimist hat on here, but considering he told fans multiple times that he was staying both before and after his request, does anyone else get the feeling he was never going to spurs in the first place and this was all to make Villa cough up some extra cash?

There's a chance he's pulled a 'Rooney', yes. All part of the game, he'll have probably have gained an extra £10k/week over our best pre-transfer-request offer and we'll have retained a great player for next season or more.

 

Looking ahead at the following scenarios:

 

Scores up to 15 league goals - he stays with us for a third year as no other club offers more than his current contract;

Scores 15 to 20 league goals - could be same situation as this summer where Villa set a minimum value as he's 3 years left on his contract;

Scores 20+ league goals - well he's no longer a 'one season wonder' risk and I suspect we'll enjoy auctioning him to the highest bidder (£35m? £40m+?)

 

Either way it looks good for our club.

All this talk of the kid who said, "Tottenham" when talking to Benteke - the problem is we don't see what he is doing when he says it.  I kind of picture the kid holding his nose and doing the downward thumb sign, suggesting, quite accurately,  that Tottenham stink.  No wonder Benteke has a chuckle while the rest of the group join in with the spurs slating.

 

I don't think so. The kid says "mate, look at that. Tottenham, mate" asif he was showing Benteke something. I'm guessing he had something with a Tottenham badge on it. The other kids then say "nah, i'm not having it"

In any case, Benteke's reaction was an embarrassed smile. Could be anything from -

Yes, I'm joining them soon;

Yes, I'm a bit embarrassed at being left stuck in the middle by spuds not matching my value;

Yes, that's a word I recognise between the other words I haven't a clue what they are; can we go now please!

Brilliant news. Absolutely adore him.

I've say this a million times in a million threads but I think we have a genuine top class talent in out hands here. That performance against Sunderland in particular was the best I've ever seen by a Villa full back, one of the best I've seen from any full back.

Hope he's here his entire career. He'll go down as a legend.

 Id argue that the performance against Sunderland was up there with the best performances I have seen from any Villa player. I thought he was out of this world.

There's a chance it was because I'd been starved of decent play for a few years but I remember saying to my family and other ST holders sitting around me in the Upper Holte that I had never seen a full back run a game like that before. He was first class that day. More of the same please Matthew!

Did Benteke get Motm? Thought it was good that Lambert came out and said that Lowton was by far the best player on the pitch. Not to take anything from Benteke or anybody else that night.

I think so, although he did score a hat-trick so grabbed the headlines. I agreed with Lambert's assessment! Lowton was so involved and it seems everything he tried that night came off.

Brilliant news. Absolutely adore him.

I've say this a million times in a million threads but I think we have a genuine top class talent in out hands here. That performance against Sunderland in particular was the best I've ever seen by a Villa full back, one of the best I've seen from any full back.

Hope he's here his entire career. He'll go down as a legend.

 Id argue that the performance against Sunderland was up there with the best performances I have seen from any Villa player. I thought he was out of this world.

There's a chance it was because I'd been starved of decent play for a few years but I remember saying to my family and other ST holders sitting around me in the Upper Holte that I had never seen a full back run a game like that before. He was first class that day. More of the same please Matthew!

I hope that the fans will forgive him and don't boo him when he plays.

Depends what happens between the now and the start of the season. If he seen to have trained hard and put effort in to any pre-season games without his agent running to the media any further, the majority of fans will be okay with him. If he is still at Villa in September and playing well/scoring goals, I expect 95% of fans will be fine with him.

Unfortunately the best thing about the agent is Christian benteke and the agent is trying to capitalise on that as much as he can.

He doesn't look like he needs a meal ticket!