RandyLion

General, many thanks for your fulsome and forthright response. Your efforts and those of Randy and MON are greatly appreciated. As i put in my post, everything that is being done by you all is very positive and bringing a vibrancy to Villa Park, the like of which we have not seen in lots of years. I know the transfer situation from the outside can be a time when fans worry and see other teams buying any tom, dick and harry.....but I know that MON is on the ball and is working hard to get the right targets into Aston Villa football club....players that will benefit the team and fit into his explosive mix of youth and experience. General, thank you once again for being so open and honest. you are a top man. Have a good trip to Omaha and Cleveland and i hope one day to meet you in person. Randylion

General, Both yourself and Randy have been magnificent in the way you have handled things recently and also with how you have redeveloped Villa Park into a vibrant and buzzing football ground. It fills me with pride as a Villa fan to know we have two such great guys in charge along with a brilliant manager in Martin O'Neill. I know you won't comment on transfers specifically General and/or names etc and I totally understand that. But with the fact that as it stands we have no left back (best wishes to Freddie) or right back (now super Olof has gone) and we as fans are a little apprehensive about going into the new season so light on numbers; though may i add i am sure MON is constantly shaping irons in the fire. How busy are you and/or Randy expecting the next two and a half weeks to be on the player front? I am (as i am sure a lot of Villa fans are) hoping for another 5 quality additions before the transfer window closes, as well as touch wood, keeping Gareth Barry. Do you think this is possible? Again General, may i thank you for being so responsive on these boards...it is truly magnificent that we have such a great ambassador of Villa like you. Have a great evening General.

General, as a regular user of Villatalk and a season ticket holder..... Can I say how amazing i think this type of communication with the fans is....as some clubs get more and more corporate and ignore their fans...I think the job you and Randy have done is fantastic so far..... It is so refreshing to see how our club is run by people (you, Randy, MON) who have common sense and business nous in abundance and the people skills to be able to take Aston Villa onwards and upwards. And General, I was unable to get a ticket for the Arsenal away game....(the tickets sold out in under 3 hours on the first day of sales)....due to the phenomenal demand from our magnificent away support ..of which i have been a part of at wrexham, st andrews, blackburn, wigan, sunderland and fulham.... It was going to be an integral part of the wedding day, going to the Arsenal game.....and so the party were gutted when we found out that they had all gone. However, thank you the magnificent girls at Aston Villa...Nicky Keye and Nicola Salt.....they have managed to get 3 tickets for us...and we are absolutely delighted. Could you please pass on my very heartfelt thanks and please please commend them on the great job they are both doing (and give them a little bonus because they are both excellent - not my decision I know General...I just think they both represent Aston Villa FC so well). And finally, here's to another great weekend and hopefully 3 more points for the Villa!!! Thank you General

I have to agree Ryan. It will be a tough tough game.... Determination, passion, local pride....and some composure and quality.....a draw would be fine away from home.....would be ecstatic with a win!!!

I very much hope so!!!

Can you guys on VT please calm me down , as i am a little jittery (only 30 years old!)...I need some positive news on the signing front. everyone else seems to be putting in their bids whilst Villa are in the background....... Think we need to make a big splash sooner rather than later or risk losing out on the majority of targets MON has in mind. We can't keep waiting forever....I see Small heath are after Tuncay on a free.....would be a good signing and now Fulham have put in a double bid for Koumas and Kamara. This may force our hand...if indeed we are interested in Koumas. And we need to make sure NRC is signed and sealed as soon as we can after the U21's or during if possible to stop others from hijacking it. Thanks RandyLion

And as if by magic, MON tells all Villa fans to stop worrying......signings will happen and we are looking to bring in quality. The site is eatsleepsport........I have copied the article. MON you and Randy are the men to take us forward. We will get the quality signings we need. O'Neill cool on transfers Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:15 Martin O'Neill has told the Villa fans to stay patient and not panic as new signings will be arriving at the club this summer. The Irishman is armed with a large transfer kitty but so far he has yet to make a signing and the club's supporters have only seen players head for the exit door. Gavin McCann and Jlloyd Samuel have both signed for Bolton and despite Villa being strongly linked with the likes of Craig Bellamy, Nigel De Jong and Wesley Sneijder, O'Neill has yet to make a signing. However, the gaffer is calling for calm and says signings will start to happen. "We can't have what happened to us last November - when we were scratching around for players - happen to us again," O'Neill revealed. "We have a fairly decent idea of what we're going to try to do. "The whole reason I've come is because I want to try to fulfil the hopes, dreams and ambitions of the supporters. "It's not easy, but that's part of the whole excitement. Randy Lerner has been very supportive and he wants to try to lift the club from a position of non-strength into one of strength."

Anyone else worried at the moment??? NRC deal seems to be dragging on , though remain hopeful he will come to us by weekend or after U21's. Sneijder may well be off to Spurs.............why? they have 27 midfielders already!!!! Spurs really annoy me!!! And now WHU (they are another club i dislike) are trying to gazump us for Bellamy! Get lost Egghead.... We don't want to gazumped with our targets all the time, otherwise we could end up with none of our intended purchases at VP. Come on MON and Randy get to it and get those quality players to VP as quickly as possible!

No it's not the same as the 606 person. I hope to be able to confirm how imminent is imminent tomorrow. I am not lying. Just keeping up with the contacts......I would not post unless i had held the conversation. I really hope to have something exciting to report soon on these boards, which will make everyone realise that there are some of us who want to post information that is correct.

Mazrim, apart from what the 606 poster put on , which i have to say doesn;t sound particularly credible...... I have now also had a conversation with a very reliable source, which has also brought up the european signings and it's potential imminence.

On the 606 boards, someone has said that O'Neill has set up a Buiding society account yesterday through his PA. The guy at the building society has then pressed the PA for any information as he is a Villa fan obviously........and she said that MON came home early from holiday (he should have been away this week too) to push a couple of deals through. She said that there were a couple of European targets that MON wanted to bring in to Villa in the next 7 days. I would hazard that one of these would be Schneider....the other Mertezacker........ No, I know I am excited like the rest of us to see who we get........so I am simply passing this on. It may be totally wide of the mark.......but then again.....you never know!

I have no doubt that if we were to get Schneider, (which is highly debatable considering Valencia are favs), then we would not also sign NRC. I think Koumas is being signed to play a creative role.......him and Petrov will vye for that position. Up front, we have to go for the likes of Defoe or Bent. Either one would be a signing of intent.

Nick, don't be a fool! Even with sarcasm. it ain't funny! Anyway, I hope NRC will sign this week.... I believe Bellamy or Defoe may follow........ And either Gordon or Boruc....... Luke Young may also be coming to VP. For me, the stand out buy would be Darren Bent............why not come to Villa and play most weeks, alternating with Gabby...?

Who does everyone want? Barton or NRC? Vote............. Mine would go to Barton over NRC........Barton bosses games. good passer, scores goals and has passion (yes too much at times!).......

Actually i tend to differ from this view. I think there may be one foreign signing but the majority will be British based players. How do I know this? Well , I have done some investigating. I have some inside info from a very reliable and respected source. Now i know there is paper talk and it is silly season and the majority of names have already been stated in the paper........I mean for gods sake we have already seen Villa linked with 45 players (OS). So, Villa are definitely working hard to get their targets in. They are not going to be fleeced and Martin O'Neill has an idea of the value of each player he is after. Bellamy is a definite target, now where this £10-£12 million comes from is beyond me..........I believe this transfer is down to Liverpool and what they want to do. If they insist on that price, then O'Neill will look elsewhere as Villa are conscious about being ripped off by Liverpool again (aka Collymore and Baros). But this one is definitely in the melting pot. Also O'Neill wants a new No. 1 GK, right back, centre half, Left mid, centre mid (as well as one striker). There is some interest in NRC, but as yet we don't know how far this goes............and contact has been made about Barton. Schneider is a target as well but not for the £10 million that Valencia may well pay for him. O'Neill does not rate him in that bracket and thinks there is better value elsewhere. So RELAX people. We will get good signings in, and this time won't be fleeced on the price.