wif

Hi General

I'd also like to say, can we never again have another 7pm game please? There were hundreds, if not thousands, of us walking or running down Witton Lane at 7:05 last night because of the traffic. My normal journey on a Saturday gets me to Villa Park half an hour before kick-off - last night I missed the kick off even though I added on another hour to my journey.

With an exuberant style that combines dazzling technique and sophisticated use of harmony, James Milner is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.

James became the 8th Earl of Rotherham after his father was declared missing presumed deceased in November 1996, but he chose not to use the title.

James Milner sometimes logs on to VillaTalk and posts off-topic comments using the alias "JonathanFear"

For all anybody knows, Liverpool may not have bid for Barry at all.

Does Rafa Benitez exist?

Do Liverpudlians have free will?

Is Stevie G the highest form of life in the universe or merely an insignificant speck in infinite space?

Tune in after the break for more metaphysical musings from Redman, our favourite Scouse agitator...

I think we can consider O'Neill's letter to be more of a ransom note than a starting point for negotiation.

OK, so you're not willing to discuss this seriously I take it? First the problems were with MON refusing to negotiate, now they're with MON not negotiating in exactly the way you'd like him to.

I really can't see what else you are proposing here apart from: 'We are Liverpool, so you must sell us this player at less than the value you have placed on him.'

I am willing to discuss it seriously.

I haven't seen the contents of O'Neill's letter but I'm fairly sure it offers Liverpool no encouragement whatsoever and was not designed to spark a round of negotiations.

I fail to see why Villa need to offer any encouragement to Liverpool - the only thing that needs to be offered is cash. If Liverpool don't have the cash, then why should Villa care?

That's the whole point - some are claiming that O'Neill's letter was designed to open negotations. To do that, it would have to offer encouragement.

I don't remember O'Neill claiming that he wanted to open negotiations. Have I missed something?

I think we can consider O'Neill's letter to be more of a ransom note than a starting point for negotiation.

OK, so you're not willing to discuss this seriously I take it? First the problems were with MON refusing to negotiate, now they're with MON not negotiating in exactly the way you'd like him to.

I really can't see what else you are proposing here apart from: 'We are Liverpool, so you must sell us this player at less than the value you have placed on him.'

I am willing to discuss it seriously.

I haven't seen the contents of O'Neill's letter but I'm fairly sure it offers Liverpool no encouragement whatsoever and was not designed to spark a round of negotiations.

I fail to see why Villa need to offer any encouragement to Liverpool - the only thing that needs to be offered is cash. If Liverpool don't have the cash, then why should Villa care?

Redman, you keep going on about a refusal to negotiate, but I fail to see any evidence that this is actually the case. I've no doubt that MON has been difficult to deal with throughout all of this (I wonder why?) but to suggest he's sticking his fingers in his ears and going 'la la la la la' is frankly ludicrous.

The latest reports point to MON putting a proposal to Liverpool last week some time. As far as I know, nothing has been heard back from Liverpool since. So who is it here who isn't negotiating?

I think we can consider O'Neill's letter to be more of a ransom note than a starting point for negotiation.

On what basis can we consider that? Do you know what's in that letter?

History shows us that the grass isn't always greener.

Whether or not Barry makes the best decisions for his career, it's still his career and those decisions should be his to make. But of course, there is more to consider than just what Gareth Barry wants.

What I would say is that O'Neill is walking a bit of a tightrope. Although he has every right to demand the full asking price, if his unwillingness to negotiate is purely a matter of pride and principle, it'll be the player who suffers and unfairly so, in my opinion.

O'Neill's ability to negotiate has been impaired by the actions of first Benitez (for leaking the initial derisory offer to the Liverpool Echo), and by Barry (for his ill-advised rant to the NOTW) who want to conduct negotiation in full public view. Any tightrope O'Neill may be walking is not entirely of his own making.

You seem to want to paint O'Neill and Villa as the only bad guys in this whole deal, on the basis of your unfounded assumption that O'Neill is spitefully acting out of pride and principle. In any case, Barry and O'Neill shook hands on a contract two years ago - Barry wasn't coerced - so if he wants to be fair to Villa he should see out his contract as a matter of principle.

In the end it's a three-sided deal and has to be fair and beneficial to all sides, not just Barry. I hope the silence means that Barry and Benitez are now behaving fairly with Villa, and conducting their private business in private.

Hold your horses guys.

If you were to ask Gareth Barry who is damaging his career the most, I think his answer would be Martin O'Neill, don't you?

I'm talking from Gareth Barry's point-of-view, not Villa's or Liverpool's.

What the ****? He is contracted to the Villa.

If he don't like that, he can stick a transfer request in. He hasn't.

Okay, I'll type it in bold then.

I'm talking from Gareth Barry's point-of-view, in response to a poster who was also talking from Gareth Barry's point-of-view.

Clear?

I imagine that Gareth Barry is kicking himself for signing a four year contract that he can't get out of easily. If he had not tried to get himself a transfer to Liverpool, his career would be doing fine - with a team on the up, and breaking into the England side again. Who is doing most damage to Gareth Barry's career? Gareth Barry.

To be honest I'd put it at 1 in 3.

Here's why.

Sunderland are down. I really don't think that either of the other two places are certain yet. Portsmouth with their new team will be giving it a go and I can just see sha getting out of it. The other four teams are WBA, Us, Middlesvilla and Newcastle.

2 places, 6 teams. 2 in 6 or 1 in 3.

You pessimistic lot should get down the bookies and start putting your savings on the 16/1 or so that you can get.

Look at our home games after tonight - we've still got to play Blues, Albion, Sunderland, Fulham, Portsmouth, Man City & Newcastle. It's hard to imagine an easier run in than those...

McGrath was the only defender I've seen who regularly made you think "how the **** did he do that?" when he made a tackle. He knew what the attacker was going to do before the attacker did.

...Oh Lord, Paul McGrath...

Jlloyd Samuel. he's quietly getting better and better every game and is turning into a top class attacking full back. (I'm a left back anyway so I'm biased).

I wouldn't buy a shirt with a current name on the back though - you're just asking for Alpay / Savo type behaviour which means you can never wear the shirt again.

When was the first year that names were on the back of shirts anyway? I was thinking some unlucky bastard might have a shirt with "Hodge" on it, but I think he's pre-names on the back.