danceoftheshamen

No for me! I think Sir Alex was correct all those years ago when he said they guy has no pace! Germany rumbled him big time in the World cup game.

Well i think this basically shows that the ruination of football HAS ARRIVED! I mean the guy has just had his career launched at this club on the international stage & half way through his contract at the 1st sign of an offer from a team which may ...or may not... challenge just like ourselves & he can't get out quick enough... For me all the teams other than these that are ruining the game like Chelski & Man sheikty, should resign from the Premier League & form their own "Level playing field" style League with salary caps in place from the start & also a ceiling on transfer fees. Then Those 2 can form a "super dooper greedy money grabbers league" with the other few similar to them across Europe.. ... I mean imagine the fun they could have playing each other 12 times a season !! It would be even worse than the SPL. But they could bask in the year on year glory of winning all the trophies as no one else would be involved!! One things for sure it would be about as meaningfull as Man City winning the League this season!

The more this whole thing goes on the more it mirrors the Lescott deal from Everton.... As stated by the Everton fan who came on this thread a few days ago... It seems David Moyes had to put a minimum price & deadline on it to force Man sheikhty to move otherwise they were going to do exactly what they are doing here & trying to eat up the entire transfer window to put us in a weakened position with no time to get replacements in etc. If we allow that i can see a deadline day bid coming in from them for something like 23m. So i reckon tell them 25m to be sorted by the end of next week at the latest otherwise forget it. That gives them 5 days to sort it with JM after he returns from holiday & gives us a realistic shot at getting replacements in.

I would say it's as hard as you make it. Maybe we don't even ask ? It's wages that are the main problem I suppose but get the right players in and a full extended VP will be full every week thus paying the wages, don't and it won't be full and this gives a nice excuse to why we can't have the signings we need and around and round we go. Maybe we are leaving it late so we get a shock and awe job with 4 or 5 mega signings but in reality I will be left shaking my head again I fear. With no news coming out of VP it's hard to stay happy as larry at the moment. well we averaged about 38k per week at VP last season didnt we, are the extra 4k going to raise enough in wages to play these top players? I see what your getting at but it must make some sort of difference or man utd would have stayed at 40 k in the late 80's. They are at nearly 80 k now. I was thinking more along the lines of 55-60 k with the appropriate players to fill that size stadium. This is the big shame of it all, we get 38k with players like Sidwell and Heskey in the squad ! I think thats the point... we have to now start looking at filling a larger stadium with the expansion work starting & all. Then we could be looking at an extra 10,000 per game which starts to add up... lets say an average spend including Match programme, food, drink & admission must be ... what ... £35? well thats £350,000 per match!.... say a possible 10 cup games including the Europa, FA cup & League cup plus 18 Prem games is 28 x 350,000 ..THATS £9.8 million! So surely that would pay for the purchase & wages (considering it would normally be over a few years so in fact £29.4m) of a couple of pretty decent players?

Indeed you would hope there was a better way than this but i guess it is down to what players we could attract at the time... lets face it we had just dodged relegation when MON came in so i don't see how we could have got a better calibre of players in at the time?... So maybe, very expensive though it has been, it was the only way to progress given the circumstances?.... I do agree though that now we should be aiming higher maybe although i guess Keane, if indeed the links are not just press speculation which they could still be though it does look increasingly probable it will happen, would be another short term fix but if no one else is avaliable then it could be the only way? .. I reckon half the Mon "late dealings" thing could be just that... to allow the maximum amount of time to see if anyone better becomes avaliable at the last minute once everyone has done their business? A swings & roundabouts situation of course however!

It could be argued of course that many of Mon's "Bad buys" were actually good buys that we have since moved on from... I mean the squad was very weak when he 1st arrived & players like Sidwell (arguably) Nrc, C Davies & several others did actually improve us at the time but as we have continued to evolve as a side they are no longer getting a game & are therefore tagged as these bad buys... In fact they served a purpose but we are now aiming higher .... That surely was a process we had to go through? Having said all that i have to say that for me Davies, NRC & L Young could still do a good job for us but then i'm not the manager for a reason

has david moyes died his hair? The one behind with the long hair looks a bit like a cross between Marilyn Manson & Milan Baros

.........Erm................................................Nope! So flippin frustratring!

From that list Bentley ......although there are better players of course (who obviously would appear out of our reach) i.e. Arjen Robben

"" So surely any manager worth his salt would have had him on the bench as an impact sub at best?!! Since when do we put players in (repeatedley) who are out of form, unfit or injured :shock:

For me there are 2 main problems. 1. Heskey can't score 2. Rooney is very very overated & quite simply not on his game. Result?! England can't score goals! Teams know it & we are being found out. I mean we qualified largely WITHOUT Heskey so why oh why is he playing now? My problem with Heskey is this... Yes he is a good foil for his strike partner. Yes he creates chances Yes he is very experienced. BUT! He cannot score goals!!! The problem with this is that it puts all the pressure on his strike partner to do the scoring. If that partner, last night of course being Rooney, is off his game it means our 1 scoring striker is out of sorts so we will struggle!! Also one of Rooneys strengths is he too can spot a pass & create but as Heskey cannot put those chances away you effectively have 1 striker & a bloke who will create one or 2 chances for him! Strikers both need to score goals surely to goodness?! Then if one has an off day his partner will take up the mantle & vice versa. As it was it was clear last night that Rooney was simply awful (As he was against the USA) & you simply knew Heskey would never score so that pressure then spread to the midfielders etc etc.. It has been happening at VP all season & even MON realised it eventually & had to drop Heskey. Well that is how i see it at any rate.. Yes he's a good player but he is only effective if his strike partner is bang on his game as he simply cannot score goals. Did anyone else get deja vu with many VP performances last season? All graft & no teeth!

Yeah still slightly higher than ours though as an average i assume? & now i guess they will be upping that with CL money coming in? Admittedly a few assumptions made with that but seems likely as they must be aware they need to start paying bigger wages to compete at their "new" level?

Wont happen but if he joined. Villa Park should be a cauldron of vuvuzelas The mental image of VP full of vuvuzelas Cannot see us competing too much with Spurs this summer sadly though... For obvious reasons like CL footy & London/Birmingham Plus of course that little matter of size of wages!

""Returning from England’s training camp in Austria to meet Villa owner Randy Lerner, chief executive Paul Faulkner and manager Martin O’Neill, Milner, who was with his agent, was told Villa want to keep him and that he is an important part of the team. "" Also it says "with his agent"? ^^ Didn't think he had one?! :?

Nought wrong with a bit of glamourisation!! "new news" hilarious! All news is new hence the word news!!!

NEW NEWS JUST BROKEN!!! http://tinyurl.com/33ztlp5 ""Manchester United are set to step up their pursuit of Aston Villa midfielder James Milner after Manchester City had an offer for the England star turned down, according to a report from The Daily Mirror. United could be ready to offer Villa Michael Carrick as a sweetener in the deal, according to the report, as they are well aware that even they would struggle to match their neighbours' spending power now. Doubts over Carrick's form have surfaced this season, whilst United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is also believed to want to reinvigorate his ageing midfield as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes near the end of their illustrious careers. Ferguson is a known admirer of Milner, who bagged 12 goals from midfield this season for Villa. Milner also fits with United's policy of signing players under 27 years old who can be developed and then resold if necessary at an improved price. Villa are understood to be desperate to keep the 24-year-old but accept that it is going to be difficult with the two Manchester clubs tussling for the England star. The Villans rejected a reported £20 million bid for Milner from City on Wednesday. If the player enjoys a good World Cup, it could both boost his market value and make it even harder for Villa to retain his services as the covetous suitors hover."" Man Utd to enter Milner race & offer Carrick as part of deal Also City preparing 2nd player plus cash bid!! Link to follow!! 2nd link to new city bid: http://tinyurl.com/38qlbcn ""Manchester City are expected to return with a new bid for Aston Villa midfielder James Milner. Villa dramatically rejected City's opening offer yesterday as Milner kicked off World Cup training with England. A Villa spokesman said: "We have received an offer from Manchester City for James Milner and this has been firmly rejected. "We plan to sit down with James and his representative after the World Cup to agree a new long-term deal and this remains our position." The Daily Mail says Villa owner Randy Lerner and manager Martin O'Neill insist they are confident of keeping the midfielder but a City bid in the region of £25-30m should be sufficient to secure his signature. It is also possible that some other players at Eastlands, such as Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, could be of interest to Villa by way of part-exchange.""

I agree Fergie is full of it when it comes to his transfer policy... I can remember him saying the same on a few occasions

I too think it simply has to be 30m-35m! Not because he's quite as good as that valuation but because 1. If you want to take one of your closest rivals best players you simply have to pay above the going rate. 2. They have made a rod for their own backs ALREADY with the amounts paid for Lescott, DeJong etc.. 3. It is now a ridiculously unlevel playing field with the likes of Chelsea & Man City awash with cash so if one of those 2 come in (& as rumours have it both want Milner) then the money simply has to double if not triple to enable clubs like ours to at least try to compete in the transfer market for some players. Basically the transfer market is inflated because of these clubs so it is only right & proper that they should have to pay way over the odds for players as they are responsible for the crazy prices we will have to pay for adequate replacements anyway?!

Mon clearly stated he would be sitting down with Milner AFTER the World cup to discuss a new contract or whatever. The thing is i guess, now that it has become clear that Man City simply could not respect that or the fact that the guy needs to focus on the World cup, & could not resist flashing their massive wad of cash about "& stuff everybody else", does Martin HAVE to now speak with Milner earlier than planned? Or does he resolve it one way or the other before the World cup starts? Also of course RL stated Milner was "wanted here" & that he was "not worried about him leaving" although that does not really say he is staying does it? Interesting to see what happens i guess?

I think the thing is with this whole situation you have the hottest "New" property in Engish football who has had his stock beefed up by Capello, MON & the media. He was 4th best midfielder last year (as quoted by the post above) & that is ahead of many "World Class" midfielders whom he also has a few years advantage on age wise. Man City are trying to "bully" him away from us BEFORE the World cup as they know darned well his price could double after it if he has a good tournament & every man & his dog could be after him then too.... All risks they don't want to face clearly. As for the "why is everyone saying he is world class" well i don't think anyone really is but he has three things even more important than that. 1. He has the "Potential" to be world class very soon with years still ahead of him unlike most of the "world class" central midfielders out there. 2. He undoubtably has the work ethic, attitude & determination to fulfill that potential as is abundantly clear to everybody. 3. He is English & we have the new "8 Brit rule" coming in. Those 3 things for me are what make him such a hot property not that anyone is saying he is world class?

I think the thing is that everybody is about to juggle for position on the "8 Brits" rule. We currently have a very strong hand with Milner, Young x 2, Gabby, Heskey, Warnock, Downing, Delfounso, Dunne, Reo Coker etc etc all falling into this catergory (with possibly the exception of Dunne). That gives us 7 international quality brits & Delfounso as a possible 8th. Surely that puts us in a fantastically strong position? Why ruin that when it could see us challenging right at the top when this rule kicks in? As for Stephen Ireland does he qualify as a brit? Am sure it is only Northern Irish players but isn't he Republic of Ireland?.. Good player it seems but surely something has to be not quite right if he can't get a game? Also don't see any top 4 sides going for him either which seems to tell a story?

Ok thought i would chip in with my thoughts on the Milner to City thing for what it's worth! Sky sports quoting 20m? ..NO CHANCE!! :shock: Do they really think we would be stupid enough to let him go for peanuts?! Everything is in our favour here surely? 1. His age 2. The fact he is Englands hottest young prospect at the mo & that in a key position. 3. He is British so like gold dust with the new "8 british players" rule coming in soon. 4. According to rumours the top 3 teams Man City, Man Utd & Chelsea are all after him 2 of those being the richest clubs in the World!!! 5. Man City have already made a rod for their own backs by paying what they did for Lescott & 1 or 2 others.. Milner is younger, hotter & plays in arguably the most important position on the pitch & can play in other positions too!! 6. We have no real need to sell as Lerner has promised funds are avaliable anyway... Ok it would boost those funds but then we would still have to replace him & everybody would then over-charge us for all our signings making the money practically worthless anyways!! 7. He is really happy at VP & was desperate to come back to us after his 1st spell here (but for that idiot Newcastle owner). So after finally finding his "Home" would he really want to leave so soon when everything is going so well? 8. He is just about to showcase his talents on the biggest stage possible in a World Cup finals... Surely this means to accept any price now would simply be stupid as his value could sky rocket in a few weeks time?! Have to say you can kind of see the benefit of MON's buy British policy now though with this new "8 Brits rule" coming in.. Surely it puts us in a massively strong position? So for me start looking at 35-40m & maybe that would be worth considering... to let him go for less would be giving away the 1st really powerfull position we have had for a long long time surely?

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Yeah, there's a thread for this in "Other Football". I think the general shouts were for Bullard (Hull), Fletcher (Burnley) and Kevin-Prince Boateng (Pompey). I'd like all 3 of them at Villa but only as bench warmers/ rotation players (which wouldn't be a bad idea if they were to replace Sidwell, Harewood and NRC). I'd much prefer the idea of bringing on Bullard for 40 minutes, to control the midfield and take a few long shots at goal, than bringing on Sidwell to hoof the ball into the crowd with every touch. Thats it then!... I'll go & put tenner on those 3 & be guaranteed to get at least 1 win

I think we could do a lot worse than look at the best of the relegated sides for an indicater as to new signings. We do always seem to pick up at least 1 or 2 signings from these teams every season. Last year it was Beye from Newcastle & Downing from Middlesborough.... So .. Who went down? Hull City Burnley Portsmouth Now who are their best players?