HolteExile

Aye. If we're 11-14th over the next two seasons, his cheerleaders in the press will still say he's worked wonders. Coming in to a struggling 'club like Villa' who were 17th when he arrived and just lost their best player. They'll gloss over the squad he inherited and the £ he'll no doubt have available.

If Gerrard was managing a team playing good football in the same league as us - on a far smaller budget - and had our lot chasing shadows every time we played I'm sure there'd be a bit more enthusiasm at the prospect. His record in the league he has actually managed in to date (relative to their resources) is fair rather than outstanding.

His Brentford team ran rings around us four times out of five in the same division (even in some of the games we drew). And were generally seen as one of the best footballing sides at that level. With far less resources than us and most of the other sides in that league. He always looked like one who could step up.

Purslow seems to be more highly thought of by Chelsea than the Redscouse.

It's a no from me, Clive.

Most Liverpool fans and ex players are either indifferent to us, or will say summat like "Villa? Good club" in a vaguely patronising kinda way. Apart from Murphy (who hams up his disdain for pantomime effect on a radio talkshow) we don't register.

Aye. It's also not that unusual for bookies (or those who do have a fair idea of who it's going to be) to release a name or snippet of info on fan sites and get people launching money at that. Whilst boosting the odds of the guy actually in the frame. Or just making a killing on the guy they know they won't need to pay out on. Villa have played it tight when it comes to transfers over the past few years. Don't see why they'd be leaking now, all of a sudden. Particularly if it's a dunderhead like Gerrard.

I'm not sure the prospect of a final bout against Usyk is enough to stay in the game for Fury. Usyk is a good fighter, and worthy champion. But AJ is the one he wants. Usyk - like Fury - has that ringcraft and nous that AJ and Wilder don't possess and if Fury's not totally up for it it's a problem. Could see Fury taking the Whyte fight and waiting on the outcome of the AJ v Usyk rematch. If it's AJ - all well and good. And a big final payday to follow. If it's Usyk - call it a day. He could retire now and would have nothing left to prove.

If Oblak goes, was how I read that speculation. It's an easy enough link. Real and Barca are strapped for cash, Simeone as manager of Atletico etc etc. So easy I assume it's made up pish.

Agreed. We've got something approximating a balanced squad and strength in depth for the first time in eons. The club don't need £10 million that badly and the player himself has expressed no desire to go.

Seen a bit of that Kamil Jóźwiak towards the end of the last season and he looked like one to keep an eye on. Wide player, direct and a good turn of pace. It's not an area we are short in now, admittedly. But always good to have pace and options from the bench. He's already played nearly nearly 20 games for Poland at the age of 23, so looks like he's on the up.

It also depends on where you're trying to access it, in my experience. I had used PIA on and off since about 2016. But it was useless for me in Vietnam in 2019 when I was trying to access the BBC website. I met someone there who was using ExpressVPN to do the exact same thing, so switched to that and no problems...until this year, When I was in Dubai and hotels etc seemed to block any sort of VPN. Less of an issue of you go through a local data plan there, mind.

If you were a Burnleh fan - at that price - they can buy ten more Ashley Westwoods. Swings and roundabouts. Or swings and useless pointy barstewards.

At the prices being touted? Naah. I feel we'd be better served with out and out express pace for the remaining wide slot anyroad.

Hmm. Transfermarkt has 27. Still more than I expected, admittedly. After the 97 tournament and Up until the 2000/01 season he scored three over three domestic and CL seasons. So hardly prolific, or the sort of regular threat you'd need to plan against. I do remember commentators regularly panning him for trying to recreate that wondergoal as another effort ballooned hopelessly into the stands. But by the looks of it, in 2000-01 season he bagged eight alone. Maybe Raul and the like were monopolising the chances closer to goal in earlier campaigns and only letting him have a dig from far out before then.

Ah, fair enough so.

Does he actually score many free kicks? I know he banged on two pearlers against us last season. But Stuart Gray banged in two Brazilian efforts against Port Vale in the cup years ago and never got another one after that. Speaking of Brazil, Roberto Carlos was oft touted as a freekick specialist after his weird banana shot against France back in 97. He actually scored about three free kicks in his life. I'm happy enough with the route we've gone in recent years. And if we'd gone for a youngish CM/ defensive midfielder already playing to a decent standard in a good league (but not quite a 'name') I don't have an issue with that at all. But for the money it would prob take for Southampton to play ball, you could realistically target a Milinkovic Savic or players of similar calibre at the elite level.

In a market where Aaron Wan-Bissaka moves for £50 million with limited top flight experience and Burnleh were looking for similar last summer with Tarkowski, Southampton could ask as much as £70 million for their captain and current England international. They might deal at somewhere in the region of £60 million, but - unless he has a buyout clause or whatever - it just doesn't seem to be the route we'd go. Another possibility is we may have informally tested the waters with Jack, Mings or possibly even Targett asking him would he be up for it and his camp have leaked our interest to get him a better deal at Soton.

Guardian generally don't post speculative pap and Paul Doyle is also the Midlands correspondent for them. Not saying they'll sell. FWIW I don't think they will. But if he's writing that we have an interest in the player I think it's a bit more than Grealish's recent comments + WP's dead ball stats = newspaper filler.

Re Wilson: He's from Coventry and started his career with them. They can be a bit odd out that way. Many seem to have a visceral hatred of Villa. Despite them barely registering with us at all. Perhaps he was wary of pissing off friends and family etc.

Heh. I hope your interpretation is the correct one.

You take a move to the likes of Norwich with a view to one day - hopefully - getting a move to one of the big 4-5 in England. We might be viewed that way again in the not too distant. But it's a while since any new player viewed us that way TBH. If he has designs on regular international football with Argentina, making any sort of impact at Arsenal (even if he's not a first team regular) will be a bigger help to him than tearing it up with us. If he was a player already at another big club who had been in and out of the side and packed off on loan, the appeal of close to guaranteed football with us might sway it. But he's 24, still young enough to go there without the guarantee of a starting place and the determination to make the spot his own.

I've seen that sort of theory mentioned in a few places. But Martinez didn't want to leave Arsenal, let's not forget. He spent eight years of his career there and is still highly thought of in North London. It's just that Arteta needed the reddies for his midfield rebuild and didn't see a sufficient gap in ability between Martinez and Leno to guarantee the former the no 1 jersey. If Buendia ever got as far as asking Martinez about Arsenal, he might just as likely say "Brilliant club, if you get a chance to play there you must take it." Our Emi's own personal circumstances meant the time was right for him to leave last summer. In our favour is that I don't see Arteta guaranteeing Buendia first team football either.

Sport Witness, you say? Must be close then.

Aye. And tell them how to behave. "You can protest, but only this way." "Oh I've changed my mind. That way affects my delicate sensibilities as well."