iancharlie

i am really hoping for a change in manager in the summer regardless of what happens. McCleish is not a bad man but he is no Villa man and i just think that although randy and he made a brave deciison it has not worked and a fresh enthusiastic villa man is required

Bit of a random question but why did we have to pay houllier money?

Was thinking about the £12 million paid to houllier and MON and just wondering why houllier got anything. He himself eventually admitted he wasn't physically able to go back into management so why did he get such a large pay out?

Maybe the wrong thread for it but it just got me curious.

Houllier would have got something from a contractual perspective (cant remeber how long the contract was) - they had to terminate his contract. subject to villa taking the right tax advice they should have been able to get HMRC's clearance that it is a payment in relation to ill health and disability and would not therefore be either taxable on Houllier or subject to NIC on Villa or Houllier in its entirety.

Also, as much as I'd love to get Lambert, we'd not only have to pay Norwich off, we'd have to pay McLeish off as well. Thus leaving no money for players, thus **** us over for another season.

TBH I wouldn't be to concerned about the pay off's, it would be worth it. I feel that with some of squad we have he would get more out of them than the current clearing in the woods in charge.

I also now am at the point of hating Mcleish and listening to the crap he spouts boils my piss

would love lambert - he wouldnt need to buy anyone - maybe tinker in the transfer market as he has for norwich but as our young crop will have had a proper season (more or less) under their belt they should be able to really crack on next year under the right leadership....

2-2 weimann, gardner. or maybe 2-3 with agbonlahor scoring a last minute header....dreams...

andres villas boas...he could do with villa what he was attempting to do with chelski without changing much as our youth is there already...

spartacus vengeance is marvellous stuff. everything a growing man could hope for in a tv show plus a great storyline as well!

as long as he is hungry and plays well as part of the team and has the necessary desire then he will be a good signing. time will tell!

we need Andres Villas Boas he is the man to take us forward. he was never going to do well at chelski with all the player power but at villa he could bring back the glory, the deisre and the passion. the board need to move quicker than ever and make the appointment!

its difficult the reserves are so good as is the youth set up - it would be great if kenmc or sid could have taken the reigns but it doesnt appear to be the case. I cant see how ken mc could do a worse job really (well a less entertaining/hopeful/atmospheric job). we just need the atmosphere to grow again but mccleish doesnt have the big ron charm or the ron saunders effect....

is just really frustrating being a villa fan at the mo. for past employer reasons no one has really given the manager any time or encouragement and a lot of the players have if they are being honest not performed for him regardless of whether it is him or them. they should take some of the blame and this leaves mccleish not knowing his best team but worst of all how to gel players together. I mean the Man Utd model is enviable and built up over many many years but fergie can basiclaly play anyone anyone at all and becuase the system is so automatic they all know where they are playing and what their jobs are. vill are clueleess in that dept at mo and have been since MON left.

It is the youth system that needs to be mapped on to the first team as that system is working. Mccleish also needs to be brave and take a risk in games. we'd ratehr lose 4-3 and die trying than lose 1-0.

So, he's innocent. He's also still a candle faced fat mouthed temperamental wheeler dealer spastic though.

I'm not going to question the judgement, this isn't the OJ trial and I want on the jury. Neither was anyone else on this board, before the gloating begins from the Spuds PR.

I'm deeply concerned for the direction HMRC are heading in though. You wouldn't bet £80 for the chance to win 40p, yet recent stories in the news suggest they are going to great lengths to challenge people for relatively minor amounts, at far greater costs than any fee involved.

Anyway, **** Spurs.

But they have to. If you don't enfore tax evasion more people will avoid it and revenue goes down. There needs to be an assessment of risk/reward but they absolutely have to pursue tax dodgers where they find them.

agreed. evasion is illegal.

in other tax news...

Reed Recruitment might be facing a £158m tax bill for putting in a salary sacrifice arrangement incorrectly. eek. expect this to go through more higher courts!

Harry Redknapp - next England Manager - prob be announced tomorrow now!

I going to work for free and get my employer to give me an annual 'gift' equivilent to my wages. F#ck you, taxman. Apparently you can't touch me for it.

He payed tax on his wages.

This was a one off payment with no paperwork showing it was work related. It is hard to make a case without evidence that it was anything to do with work.

agreed i work in this line of tax and i have not read any detailed excerpts yet from the case but will be important to understant if it was a personal payment form mandaric or from Portsmouth FC his employer - likely to be personal payment from mandaric otherwise HMRC would have won. his wages would have been paid by the employer, Portsmouth FC. Mandaric did not "employ" Arry personally. thats the crux of it.

i bloody love the reserves - it shos you where the disjunction between success and failure occurs - the first team - if they could replciate the youth model that final step we would be some home grown force i tell thee!

we are going to win i dont know how or how much i just know we are going to win. or get absolutely thrashed. either way it'll be a journalistic dream!

only one jimmy milner.

villa win 2-3 (ever the optimist) keane to score at least 1 and nzog/ireland to return and haunt (alright ireland only had a brief soiree there as an extra on geordie shore but still...)

he is an ego and wants to be adored. Perhaps the fans giving him a warm reception now is boosting his confidence.

I am sure if we thought of a unique chant for him he'd become van basten.

Ireland is a dream tra la la la la

like the boney m song?!

van basten us up ireland!

Aston Villa: The only PL team yet to have scored from a corner this season. They have also let in the most from corners, conceding 10 goals

THAT is our issue, nothing else.

We need to find someone with presence to head in a goal.

Our midfield is quite small, nzog, bannan, albrighton, petrov, Ireland, how many of them can get on a cross?

Collins and Dunne are the only ones beef enough, add to that bent you have 3 people who can head the ball. Two of which are defenders, a position not known for smashing goals in.

get herdy in! didnt he score a hattrick of headers in the reserves. granted the oppositon were arsenal u-9s but still....

Someone get some stats up on the top midfield players who score headers.

or even a striker.

I didn't even watch, let alone go to the game; I went to the Black Country museum for a 'Santa Hunt' guided tour. My ratings are thus:

Tour guide - 7 Started well, but lagged in the final 3rd.

Coach driver - 7 Played his part well, buts a mark knocked off for saying the word 'sod' in front of a load of little kids.

Coal Mine proprieter - 8 Made some great jokes about 'nutty slack'.

School Teacher - 6 Not disciplined enough.

Woman in house - 6 Getting too old for this game

Woman in cake shop 7 mmmmm cake.

Blacksmith - 10 showed us how to make a reindeer shoe. Some skillful touches.

Woman in street - 7 Nice tits, but didn't do much.

Man in National Elf Centre - 8 Really funny guy. Very entertaining.

Father Christmas - 7 He was big and fat but the beard was clearly not real. Good with the kids though

Chips - 11 MOTM. Fried in beef dripping. Outstanding.

In conclusion, I'm glad I didn't watch the football, this was much better. Would recommend to anyone with youngish kids.

nutty slack jokes are bound to be a winner

he would most definitely be riding a pig. and smoking a cigar

like the team with weimann in could be a go-er...

one thing about mccleish he seems to get bogged down in tactics and team discipline. he seems to drain the fun out of it. he's not been helped by the poor displays of the team but they need a spark

i'd play this

guzan

hutton clark dunne warnock

bannan petrov herd

nzogbia

agbonlahor bent

if nzogbia rubbish take him off and put ivanhoe on or give albrighton another shot....

they have made a mistake and im generally an optimist unless the atmosphere around the club changes winter is most definitely coming and it is here to stay for quite some years (reminds me of the Venglos era without the spectacular vicroty over inter Milan)

i would welcome GT back for a third spell to be honest! what a great manager and man.

villa 3 utd 1 - draper yorke and whoever else scored that day! i seriously can see bannan inspiring us to a rip roaring victory in HD.