danceoftheshamen

It was clear as day for me we needed someone fast as heck after the 6-0 last week... That was just too much of a whacking in my opinion & instantly destroyed a load of confidence in the team & also the teams belief in KM... Not looking forward to Everton at all! As for Hitzfield? well could maybe do a job for us a la what Hiddink did at Chelsea? 1 year to steady the ship whilst someone more long term becomes avaliable next summer?

Am i really watching us being totally outplayed at home with not far from our best side out against Rapid flippin Vienna?! Also out sung? ..... Errm ..... yep.... Thought so :shock: .... It gets worse & worse with each game! ................are we really the home side?

^^^ Have to agree here! For me it is the proverbial impossible situation... Nobody is to blame but Mr O'Neill for the timing... I mean could he have timed it worse if he had tried?.... Just before a new season & at a time when just about every manager worth his salt is safely employed elsewhere?! For part of being a Premier manager is to at least safeguard the immediate future of that institute even if you do decide to leave? Surely that is part of the responsibility that comes with the territory? That is why you get such massive wages as you have the burden of that responsibility? Well i don't care what the reasoning was he should not have walked at that time it was irresponsible. & by all accounts it was something to do with "speed of growth" or something along those lines which had no necessity to cause such an action at such a bad time for the club as a whole. So i do feel for RL as he does have an impossible situation.. or as near as damn it at any rate!

We now need a guy who will get the instant respect of the players & have the desired galvanising effect... Who? ...............Well goodness knows but it's gonna have to be some coup that's for certain!

So .... that was possibly the shortest honeymoon period i have ever seen for a "new gaffer"(well kind of).. Reality check people!!! This is quite scary actually... I mean ok the barcodes were always gonna be well up for it as it's their 1st home game & of course the fact we in effect sent them down... For me this performance was always gonna happen today.. The balance of the side has been upset with Milner/Ireland & lets face it there was not even time to prepare properly either.. Add to that we had the midweek game too so they would have been fresher than us anyway & also KM's relative inexperience with the whole set up & the disaster was always gonna happen! For me we now need a very quick resolution to this lack of manager thing before any more rot sets in. Each game that goes by will now surely make whoever gets the job's task more & more difficult.. especially if they have no transfer window left!! Any time we had to sort things has now been removed in my opinion!! Time to decide & act Mr Lerner!!

Huh? ^^ What Weimann? He was only on the pitch a few minutes :shock:

I stand corrected! Only got a glimpse of the tackle & maybe was over harsh on their player!! Was a bit wound up i guess at seeing the lighter thrown at Guzan & all that!

He was taken out for me... Within a few minutes of coming on they just clattered him!

Funnily enough i was in Vienna for a few days about 2 weeks before we drew them last season (Weird how things like that always seem to happen :shock: ) I remember thinking "you watch we'll draw an Austrian team now iv'e just left" & sure enough out their name came!!! Anyhow i must admit after going to one or 2 nightclubs in Vienna & touring the place in the day it is quite an odd though beautiful & very historic city with a very old & hard atmosphere in places. It was a major force for many years before the World wars & it has that nasty edge still lurking in the shadows although it feels like it's heyday has been & gone & it's now quite depressed & lost it's magic somewhat. I guess what i am trying to say is that the behaviour of their fans kind of reflects where the city is at. I did not notice this behaviour when we played them last season & like many was kind of hoodwinked into thinking they had fantastic support by the way the jumped around & sang but the reality is, apparantly, that this merely hides a dark underbelly just like the impression given off when you visit Vienna itself!! This i feel however was crossing the line tonight & if they come to Villa Park throwing coins at our own fans as stated by some on this thread then i hope something is done about it this time. It appears that this lot need putting in their place both on & off the pitch!?

Was somewhat disgusted with the antics of the Vienna fans tonight who were throwing & spraying our young players with goodness knows what? Guzan had a lighter thrown at him & he & Weimann (who was also taken out by the Vienna players within a few minutes of coming on) were sprayed with liquid of some kind? This was commented on by the commentators on ITV4 & the lighter was handed to the referee who stopped the game whilst he handed it in turn to the 4th official... Does this warrant a complaint from the club? I feel this was outrageous considering it was our youngsters who "got it" & the Vienna fans & players should be ashamed of themselves & hopefully expect a nice warm Villa Park welcome in the return!

Hi General! I would like to second the above post regarding the treatment of Andreas Weimann & also Brad Guzan who had at least one object thrown at him & was also sprayed with some kind of liquid by the disgraceful Vienna fans according to the commentator on ITV4.. The referee was handed the offending object (a lighter) so would be well aware of these incidents surely? Also it was clear that the Vienna team went straight for Weimann & took him out so maybe this should also be mentioned? Thanks.. Oh & i also posted regarding our overseas profile building a few pages back which you have not mentioned? Just wondered how active we are as a club with regards to this matter? Thanks again!

Yeah i would worry tbh.. he looks off his face all the time

Hi General, I was wondering what is being done regarding building the image / profile of the club abroad.. Especially in Eastern Europe where the Premier League has a huge following. I have recently exchanged messages on this site with fans in that region, Slovakia specifically, who say there is absolutely no "presence" from Villa whatsoever... EVEN IN THE NIKE STORES!! This is also backed up by my wife's family (She is from Poland & her family still live there) who had not been aware of Villa before i met her (Needless to say they are now lol). The thing is that having visited Poland recently & spoken to people from various countries in that region during my work as an international club DJ, which means i travel around a fair bit, i feel there is so much more that could be done to increase interest in our beloved club abroad... There is an abundance of marketing / profile building for the usual suspects of Liverpool, Man Utd & Chelsea in the main but nothing at all for Villa?! Is there nothing that can be done to improve this as it would after all help massively with revenue which is of course a very prominant topic at present & would eventually lead to better quality of signings surely? So is this being looked into? I know there is work being done in this area from some of your previous posts but it seems nothing is much happening "on the street" so to speak. Thanks for your time.

Yeah Hanson & co just made it look like what it is.... The MON pals act!! It was like "Yeah he was right to go as RL was refusing to give him the money needed to push on" ....ERM.. actually no he wasn't he was just saying "Hey... hold up a minute Martin can we just get the wage bill down a touch 1st please then you can carry on improving the side" ... At least thats my reading of it! Anyway i guess we've all heard that story a 1000 times already so moving on!! Good performance & refreshingly different approach today which worked a treat!!

Apparantly rumours in Holland are rife that Ronald Koeman is coming to us!! will post a link in a mo! LINK: http://tinyurl.com/34psk64

No Steve i said a few pages back i thought that.... out of the ones who we have been linked with & could realistically get at the moment..... i'll just repeat that actually!... OUT OF THE ONES WHO WE HAVE BEEN LINKED WITH & COULD REALISTICALLY GET AT THE MOMENT! ...... (which in my opinion does not include Moyes, Jol, Hughes) ..i would think Sven would be one of the best options from that lot! Having said that in an ideal world i would prefer Moyes, Jol, Mourinho, Hiddink.....etc etc

Have to say it all seems spookily quiet on the Klinsman front!

To be fair i don't think the issue is a lack of cash. I think the issue is HAVING to bring the wage bill down in line with the incoming rules? I.E a club MUST not spend more on wages than it brings in revenue wise? This would tie in with all the comments from RL, GK etc. As in there is money avaliable but we have to bring the wage bill down in line with our revenue capacity ...As will every single club in the Premier League don't forget! So that should put us in the top 7 or 8 clubs automatically anyway as in how much we can spend on wages. So this is why there is the focus on expanding the stadium.. Bigger capacity... Bigger revenue.... Bigger wages payable... Better players attractable!! This is why the plans & goals don't change surely as when the stadium is expanded we can aim higher... Just a timescale thing... Basically we need a couple of seasons of "standing still" whilst all this occurs then we can aim a bit higher? At least thats my reading of it all.

The more i see the options / who's likely avaliable, the more i favour Sven actually. I most certainly would not want Southgate as he couldn't even keep Boro up for goodness sake & he ditched on us in a player version of MON. I would not want Bradley either especially after hearing an interview on talksport with an American guy who knew him personally & basically said he was not ready for such a big step up! Curbishley fiils me with dread as he is just Mr average all round or a decent manager for a very average club a la Charlton! So that leaves Jol Klinsman Sven Martinez Hughes Hughes is surely out of the question having not even started at Fulham & i would not really be that excited if he came anyway tbh. Martinez.... Well just not ready for me That leaves 3 Jol Klinsman Sven Any of these would be interesting in my opinion though you have to say Klinsman would be an "unknown" & a bit of a gamble? I just think Sven would love the chance to put one over Man City after the way they disposed of him when he had actually done a decent job? & he has the tactical nouse we have been lacking surely? Plus the ability & network to work the World transfer market to our advantage? I also think in this situation his knowledge & massive experience is exactly what we need to steady the ship & stop everyone jumping ship which is surely now the biggest threat?

Shame..real shame .. Have to settle for Mourinho then i guess! lol

Hiddink would just be awesome & also YES to him managing us & Turkey at the same time!

You know the Martin Jol thing seems a touch odd! I mean he was all but a certainty to take over at Fulham then suddenly it's all off! Then Luke Young & Sidders are supposed to move there but that all goes up in the air.(Ok Young appears to have now all but left).. Then All of MON supposed targets start either moving elsewhere (McGeady) or saying they are staying put (KEANE). ..Now bear in mind the supposed "definate" signings of Keane & McGeady were apparantly scuppered a few days ago?! So was it known then that MON was gonna quit? Is that why the moves suddenly stalled & McGeady in particular started the ball rolling with his Moscow move instead? It all seems a touch fishy to my mind. Indeed i would guess that this has been known for a good few days which is why said players accepted it simply wasn't going to happen... This could also explain the delays in the Milner affair Back to Jol though & is it possible he was tipped off by RL that we would come in for him & this is why at the last minute he pulled the plug on the Fulham move?

Rumours already on Talksport saying Martin Jol is current favourite in some quarters. So simple ......... Who do you want as next manager?

SO!! Now things are at last starting to take shape, maybe it's time for a fresh look at the transfer situation. At the time of writing MON has just confirmed Milner will be gone in a couple of days most likely & it appears the deal is Stephen Ireland + 16m or so up front with some added extras possibly taking it up to around 18-20m. Not a bad deal me thinks really & if anyone can get SI back to his excellent best then surely it has to be O'Neill? Also it is a certainty, barring a problem at the medical, that Shorey is off to the Baggies for 3m & It seems highly likely that Luke Young will be off to Fulham for a similar amount? So with Bouma's release that is 3 mainline squad players gone for 6m & a key player for around 17.5m inc add ons totaling 23.5m at Martins disposal. Possibly even more important however is the gap created in the wage bill? you would guess that most of these guys were on around £30,000 to £45,000 p/w? Maybe somebody can give a more accurate figure? Add to all this that there was presumably some money avaliable "for the right player" & you would think that MON must have around £30m to play with & that's AFTER in effect buying Stephen Ireland for around 8m-10m? So i guess now it's all about what calibre of player we can afford from a wages point of view? I mean you would assume that SI must be coming on around £50k p/w? So that means if the wage gap created was say £120k p/w then we have around £70k p/w left? ... Interesting indeed!

Well what a frustrating transfer window thus far I know, i know we should all be well used to it by now but this one has been particularly frustrating with the main rumours appearing to indicate: OUT LATEST Sidwell to Fulham/West Ham? - All seems to have gone quiet on that front! Milner to City? - Appears to be heading for deadline day! Shorey to Forest? - All quiet here once again! Heskey to Sunderland? - To soon to tell if true or not! Luke Young to Liverpool - Actually seems highly likely! INS LATEST McGeady from Celtic? - Repeated link almost daily but still nothing Keane from Spuds? - Ditto McGeady! Huntelaar from Milan? - Apparant press fabrication? Flamini - Again seems to be press fabrication? Stephen Ireland - Appears dead in the water/linked to Milner Many other loose links which are obviously just newspaper fabrications (mostly the Mirror ) or just incorrect. So all in all nothing of real excitement other than arguably the Keane & Huntelaar links which have gone very quiet. Have to say it's rather like grating your finger nails off with a cheese grater & i find it quite amazing how many different ways there are of telling the same story regarding the Milner situation! It has to be about 200 versions i have read since the window began all basically saying we want 30m & City don't want to pay that!! Incredible! & very tedious lol!