briny_ear

Maybe that was the final straw!

First off, I'm hoping it will be Leeds. We've got around 24 hours to cling to that dream...

2-0 to Sunderland now. MON on course to make it 5 wins out of 7.

Got a feeling it's going to be SHA/Wolves away. Either that or the statutory tie against Man U.

The one on the right?

Ba is outstanding just at the moment. His movement on and off the ball is exceptional. he works hard for position and possession. It presents a real contrast with Bent who just seems to drift around waiting for someone to pass to him and has no game to offer if that isn't happening.

Just watching the post match chat. SUPER goal from Clark! Oh, and no way was that a penalty!

Comfortable win, really. Great show by the Academy graduates and good to see Guzan is back to saving penalties. Just sack the defence please. And sell Bent. Couldn't really see why we were paying his wages today.

It's been a good 2nd half all round, Warnock and Bent excepted.

fixed.

Villa Academy graduates 2 Bristol Rovers 0.

Warnock having a shocker today.

I'm in a really whacky, crazy mood today, so I thought we should select the team most likely to win what is bound to be a horrible match. Away ties against lowly opposition in the 3rd round are always nerve wracking affairs and I don't think we should add to the misery by picking a load of kids.

It's reported we had a scout at the Wycombe game (along with West Ham, Spurs, Newcastle, Everton and Norwich). Also reported that West Ham have failed with a £4m bid. So it seems we are bothering a teensy bit but if we declined to pay upwards of £5m for him it would be understandable, wouldn't it?

Watching this match on Sky Go on an iPhone. Quite early on I lost the picture and got a message: "Quality not good enough. Please try again later."

Though it would mean we couldn't return him under the Trades Descriptions Act.

This is the way the Board spun his departure. But surely the fact that they subsequently had to pay him compensation suggests it's not that black and white?

Also, we bought him for £3.5m (not £4m as claimed) and sold him on for £4m so it was pretty good business all round.

TBF Randy has always been very quiet, no real change there. We used to hear the sound of his pen on the chequebook from time to time, though. That's the new silence that is troubling me.

I'll bet the Swiss FA are over the moon that Sion are pressing on with their action!

If I recall this right, we had Mellberg who put in a very effective shift at Right Back that season. Not sure Young was needed but was maybe the best choice available when Mellberg moved on.

This is the bit that I am not sure is so true. I have seen people on here go on an on about Faulkner, normally coupled with some pretty derogatory remarks. I have also seen people go on about how we need someone like Daniel Levy. Levy is a decent bloke, but he is Joe Lewis's man just like Paul Faulkner is Mr Lerner's man. If Randy Lerner is a crap businessman who lets things run away with themselves, and the free rein handed to O'Neill lends weight to that theory, then he made a good decision in hiring a hands on Chief Exec in Faulkner. Looking at the timing it appears that Faulkner realised that the club was being run in a kamikaze fashion, which is when the ultimately unsuccessful reining in of O'Neill started. History will never record it, but Faulkner may just be the man who saved Aston Villa from a much more serious fate. As regards Mr Lerner, he has backed his managers in the transfer market, all 3 of them. That is normally what a football supporter requires of their Chairman/Owner before anything else. Despite all of that backing, none of two previous managers have given him anything like the return that he probably deserves, and as everyone keeps bleating on, the current one probably won't either. Great post, nice to see something sensible on this thread for once. Something sensible? Really? We are supposed to believe that Lerner let MON have a free hand to spend money unchecked, then appointed a CEO who seemingly spotted this - phew, just in time! - and effectively forced MON out, Thus "saving" the club. No mention that he then appointed an out of touch manager who took us hurtling towards relegation, followed by one whose appointment has knocked about 5,000 off home gates and who has settled us in lower-mid table at best. Hmmm...forgive me for believing there are more plausible versions of events than that "sensible" one.

Except that's not completely right. Stevens's last manager was Michael O'Neill who has just left Shamrock Rovers and taken over as Northern Ireland manager. Maybe people just got the name wrong? :winkold:

Wow, I had no idea that Darlo were on the brink of bankruptcy. They have been part of the football scene for ever and it will be a loss to the North East if they go under - although atm it very much looks as if they will.