CannockVillan

On the director resignation that's defo an agent asked to incorporate the company. There's no separate appointment for him and so he was clearly appointed in the incorporation documents. He resigned when the others were appointed to take control. Every company now has to have one natural person (ie not a company) as a director. Nothing to see or read into this.

I don't think he performed that bad actually. May be I'm in the minority but I could understand his substitution with Ayew yesterday. Fact was we had Sanchez passing to anyone in a blue shirt, little if any movement and no one willing to stand up and be counted on the pitch to fight for the win other than our central defenders. if you're relying on your central defenders to do that job then you're in trouble. The team needs an enforcer with a bit of a nasty streak. unfortunately we haven't got one. Our CM's are all too nice (after you sir, no no after you!). I wanted someone to really challenge Marez hard to make him wonder where the next hard tackle was coming from. As it was he could have played in his slippers yesterday afternoon and would still have been left untouched. Westwood and Sanchez just won't do that. Midfield lost us that game, not Sherwood. It was a one way tsunami for the last 20 minutes. Even before we scored our second they were having a real go and so that second goal should have knocked the wind out of their sails. We should have upped our pace and intensity after that second goal but instead the whole team played like the game was over and we kept giving them the bloody ball back all the time.

I remember another player exactly like that. I think his name was Ronaldo. Dunno where the hell he is now. Probably playing keepy up in the centre of Madrid with a beard and sunglasses. if only he'd worked harder.

Yeah but that's not a net spend is it? How much have we spent compared to collected? anyone done the math?

L'equipe seemed to think it was around 12m Euros. Wasn't that the original deal of sorts?

Didn't know about his medical problem. If that's the case then I can't see us spending even £5m ona man who could fall apart at any time (if it's as serious as all that). I don't think Randy or Tom Fox would sanction that level of risk

Still no news then!

They were great passes, for sure, but are hardly indicative of his overall passing ability. It's all about consistency at this level; if he could do that a lot more frequently, he'd be a much better player but he's just as likely to give it to the opposition as he is play a scintillating through ball. It's really not "all about consistency". At any level of football. It's about scoring more goals than the opposition and you could argue that is really all it is about. In that respect for me, Bacuna is worth his defensive deficiencies. Of course there are two sides to how you score more goals than the opposition. 1. Score more 2. Concede less So his defensive deficiencies would certainly have a place in the discussion as it goes directly to point 2. That said I have never liked Hutton in a Villa shirt. It's hard to defend some of his (how shall I call them) "aggressive" antics on the pitch.

a 2011 comedy drama inspired by a true story and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogan and Anna Kendrick. Will I watch it or wont I? It's 50/50

I don't disagree with that, Trouble is players these days want everything yesterday. And by the sounds of things, the minute Christian forgets that or starts to get comfortable he has a plonker of an agent telling him to jump ship. ^^^ This. Unless someone comes in (and he wants to move and they pay his current release fee) he will sign new deal if offered. He won't worry about leaving in two years time. He'll back himself to perform in the knowledge that if he does someone will pay the release fee then for him (every footballer thinks they are the next best thing since sliced bread). The question will be what that release fee is. Would we negotiate a higher release fee if we agree new deal which pays him more. I would. If knocks in 25 goals next season someone will pay it as strikers who can do that are a rarity and at a premium. I'm actually gobsmacked that no one (outside Villa) thinks he is worth £32m. He's worth it every day of the week and twice on Sunday! In the right team he would be immense. I think he would ideally be suited to Chelsea or ManU as they have a more direct style of play. Outside of England I'm not sure who he would suit best.

From what I understand, in essence it is the buyer making sure that what you SAY you are selling to them is actually what you are selling to them from a financial perspective. And that there are no hidden surprises waiting for them when they take over. Once everything is as you have said it is, then it should all be good. Even if they do find something, provided it is not enormous, the asking price can be adjusted to account for it. Essentially Due Diligence involves undertaking investigations into the Target on a financial, legal and operational level to make sure that what you are led to believe is true is actually true. This can take a fair number of weeks to do (or at least it does if done properly which you would expect in this case) and the size of the task will largely depend on the size of the target and what it does. The DD will encompass looking into and asking questions about all aspects of the business and particularly: Financial/Accounts Tax Assets Property Contracts HR Pensions Employees Environmental ...the list could go on and there will almost certainly be a large number of people involved in the process from the legal and accounting teams and elsewhere (depending on the type of business being acquired). This process is backed up with protections for the Buyer in the sale documentation by way warranties and indemnities. Warranties are statements of fact made by the Seller that certain things are true and correct and if they are not (and the Seller hasn't previously disclosed this) then the Seller could be sued for breach of warranty. Indemnities normally arise where DD has identified a particular problem or liability which may arise and which the seller has agreed to be responsible for financially should it arise.

I don't agree entirely with this. Most buyers at this stage would find it extremely difficult if not impossible to put trading restrictions on a Seller. It will more likely be business as usual in line with the business plan, forecasts and operating budgets of the club. The Buyer will have had all of his FDD results and produced his own operating forecasts and business plan for moving forward but should expect the business to operate in the ordinary course and within its own current financial plans and budgets. The Buyer's offer should be based on that happening. If there was a particular project or (in AVFC's case) prospect that might take us outside the scope of the current business plan then there may be conversations between Buyer and Seller to make sure the Buyer is happy but general trading restrictions are far too extreme from my experience of these things (although at a lower level than this deal).

Hmmm.....not sure I would put too much credence on a twitter rumour. He's got it arse about face which is surprising for someone who allegedly works in crowd funding. Any bidder will be asked to provide proof of funds, basically to prove they are serious and not a time waster. Some sort of assurance be sought at the outset before they were granted exclusivity. Of course it could the bidders are borrowing a load of money to finance the deal and have been turned down but that does not sound like someone Lerner would sell to nor someone that Merrill Lynch would take seriously. Didn't know whether to guffaw or laugh hysterically (chose both). File this under B for bin or W for wind up merchant. The Buyer fails Due Diligence after being granted exclusivity! The laughs just keep on coming. I reckon some of these guys think that all Villa fans haven't got a clue what an acquisition involves and don't know what its like to work in the "big smoke" on sizeable deals and that we all just sit around in rocking chairs wearing dungarees and chewing tobaccie! I'm off to go shag my sister. Still laughing!

Football is a different beast now. What makes a big club anymore? Is it revenue, fan base, attendances, success? Now the new TV deal is here the difference between the baggies of this word, Stoke, West Ham, Newcastle, Everton and our beloved club etc is smaller and smaller in terms of revenue, unless you have a significant global brand and the revenue from that. 20+ years ago it made a difference if you pulled in crowds of 40,000+ compared to some who could barely reach 20,000. Nowadays tv revenue accounts for such a great percentage of the income of football clubs that your matchday fanbase is quickly becoming irrelevant. It's one of the reasons why I think ticket prices should be cut significantly otherwise clubs are in danger of losing their identity and their links to the localities in which they exist.

14th. 13th if Newcastle continue to implode but I think they'll be OK with their run in. I expect to finish above WBA, Hull, Sunderland, Burnley, QPR and Leicester (not necessarily in that order). Looking at everyone's fixtures and whilst I know you tend to get some unusual results here and there but taking a pragmatic view I can't see any of the teams getting enough points to catch us with the points we have at the moment (save perhaps for Leicester who I am giving 7 points to from their remaining fixtures. Even then that's only parity and doesn't take into account our own results. Get anything we can from Man City (but assuming 0) and then three massive games, 2 of which are at home from which we should get enough points to keep us safe before a Burnley game (at home) which I certainly don't expect to lose unless we are on the beach by then (hopefully).