dickyhell

You know, we would've qualified for the CL had we signed nobody at all, rather than Heskey. Nothing against the guy at all, he tried his best whenever he played, but we inexplicably changed a system that had been working to fit him in, and it failed miserably I know it's off topic but it's worth saying I completely agree with this. Comfortably the biggest mistake O'Neill made, even more so than Habib Beye. He signed Heskey when we didn't need another striker - well not the priority, he signed Downing when we already had Young and Milner. But it can be argued that we didn't need Benteke, ok he has been brilliant - but his rise has been Bent's downfall and that shouldn't have been the case. If we lose Benteke and inevitably lose Bent then what have we left? Lerner won't put all that money back into the club. You can play Benteke in a weak team and he is still a threat, you can only play Bent in a team that can compensate for his weaknesses.

The sale of Benteke is a certainty, he is just playing for the shop window now, which is a worry. Its just a question of how much and who to.

Am I missing something, I can watch the Goal in all its glory on youtube or watch a crap version of it on Pixel? Where do i sign?

Allardyce is a Villa fan?

They must have something that they believe is a strategy. A strategy can only be as good as the people that devised it, that is Faulkner and Lerner so dont get your hopes up.

If we go down, he will leave 100%. Seriously, there is no chance in hell he will stay. However, he will never go to Sunderland or Stoke. We are his Sunderland or Stoke, his stepstone to better clubs, which he said when he came here and I have no problem with that either. If we were 6th this season he would have stayed because of his contract and the fact that he would have played even better thus his value being 25M, but since we are not in a position to bargain he will leave for a club like Arsenal, Man City (as a benchwarmer, just look at Tevez at the moment), Liverpool or Spurs. His price if we go down will be 14-16M tops, and that is perfect for Spurs really. Liverpool too. That is most likely to happen if we stay up as well, at least we are doubling our money and then some. He is not a 25M player, and Lerner likes money apparantly according to most on here. A good player playing for a great team instantly gets a higher value, but a good player at a poor team goes for less than that... just the way the market rules in the Premier League. For instance, if Spurs signed him instead of us this summer and he had 15 goals right about now, he would have gotten a lot more hype and the value would rise. How good is he? Time will tell, I am always a bit hesitant to throw out superlatives but he can be a new Drogba for the footballing world. Lacks a bit of his acceleration (I think?) and smartness, but the latter at least comes with age and better players around him. As for Stoke and Sunderland? Never going to happen. The price we get for him will be dependant on who is bidding, not which Division we are in

This is a complete guess, but I reckon you have predicted that they will not win many more games this season?

What is suprising about a Black Bloke having a name like Dawkins?

One swallow does not a summer make and one decent free kick does not paper over an abysmal return on the investment.

Were you talking about today?

There is hope, but it is slim. Even that will go if we get beat this weekend.

The usual cliches about not being ready for the Premier League, why play him then? So he can be ready for the PL next season? Next season it will be he is not suited to the championship.

Its the class system, its all clear now, Bodymorr Heath is like scene from upstairs downstairs

To invest £200 million and reduce the value of the Business is failure.

and then reality kicks in, we have won 4 out of 25 and now we will win 6 out of 13? We wont, we are down.

i guess they are writing him off because he had been a disaster, this is the critical signing that has not worked, the central midfield player that we need but dont have, its not his fault that he is not good enough, but he is not good enough, pure and simple.

It also coincided with his divorce. I think that single event is a little down played. yep we have the same opinion of him as his wife. Dont know how they sort whom owns what during a divorce, but if she is awarded half of what the Lerner trust borrowed us, then she proably has a say in what happens to us? I doubt she has any say at all,

It also coincided with his divorce. I think that single event is a little down played. yep we have the same opinion of him as his wife.

Very much so look at Spurs they are now firmly embedded as top 4 contenders every year. I think the other thing we lost when MON went was that hard nosed I'll sell you when I'm ready attitude towards want away players. Lerner and Faulkner are just happy to sell whatever the consequences to the team and not worry about building a side.I think that this year we will see money made by the club and this will go towards paying off some of the Loans from the Lerner Trust. MON could not sell the players he bought because he paid too much for them, Villa will make a loss this year,

Its a bit of Chicken and eggs, if we had of reached CL it would have justified the investment, we didnt and it didnt.

Built on the sand of the myth of the legend that was Martin O Neill.

He hired the mangers, he set the budgets, he shaped the club. He has had months to deal with a failing squad. He chose not too. He has failed Aston Villa, we will never forget him.

Its maths for every £11 you put on you get £8 back so put £55 on get £40 back + your bet of £55, that is £95

If we were so great in the second half how come we still lost. How many times are we going to hear if we play we did in the ------ half we will be ok. We dont and we wont

Its not about tonight and its not about Lambert, it is about several years of Randy Lerner failing to know how to run a Football Club.