CannockVillan

It's nothing to do with whether we put Birmingham anywhere near our name It hasn't doen SHA any good and personally i'd prefer we didn't get any closer to them in any way shape or form It's to do with putting good teams on the pitch, producing results and drawing in our local fan base. We do that then we get recognised a hell of a lot more. Simples!

For Gawd's sake, it's just not him, looks nothing like him and looks nothing like his wife either. It's like UFO pictures. No one ever has an HD close up photo of an alien spaceship with the Aliens waving from the windows. They're always blurry images taken about 10 miles away on one of those cameras you find on tables at weddings! In the same way, if this was Arison someone would have managed to get a full head on face shot of him showing the whites of his eyes, a name badge and a memorandum in his hand headed "Sale and Purchase of Aston Villa Football Club". Someone has taken it and thought they'd have a laugh by suggesting it's Arison becuase he has a full head of grey hair (that isn't even the right colour). It's true what they say - a good lie travel's around the world like lightning, the truth lags far behind!! It's probably his Uncle Bob.

Well this thread died with a whimper! i don't think he's moved anywhere yet has he, so is there still a possibility or would Lambo have said "if you're not commited... do one"?

I've wondered the same or moving to part fan ownership so he sells say 10% to us Don't think this will be an option tbh. Normally the existing management remain in place on a listing. Here they are all jumping ship with (or even before) the owner.

£75m per year from Adidas and about £50m per year from chrysler. That's significantly more than our total turnover as a club and that's before you consider thigns such as TV income match day, merchandising etc. We are not even on the same planet.

I thought he was supposed to have signed for someone by now.

It's a strange one and interestign timing of it all too. I'd have liked this to have come out before RL's statement but given there longstanding and seemingly good relationship i can understadn why Faulkner may have waited. This would have been well known yesterday by RL and delaying it has meant he didn't have to deal with it in his own statement of course. 1. Is a takeover closer than we all previously thought? 2. Does Paul have another opportunity which won't wait? I can't believe RL has sacked him. I wonder whether he has asked for clarification on his position going forward given that a sale is going to happen at some point and was offered alternative positions within the RL empire which he feels are either beneath him or not interesting enough for him. Rather than hang on till the end perhaps another position has come up which wouldn't wait for him to see out his Villa days. Who knows, but now i'd like RL to clarify this although his statement yesterday said there would be no further statements until a sale so there's little chance of that. Nice and neat for RL (just not for us).

Apples and Oranges!

Well he was never going to say that, no owner would tell you what funds the manager was going to have. IMHO he's basically said that his initial timeframe for selling up when all things Villa would be put on hold (other than a few minor or pressing matters) has passed and that now he is going to get back to ensuring the club is run in the normal way and not on hold pending a sale. Had he sold then all of those decisions would have been for the new buyer but as he hasn't he now has to sanction stuff again or confirm the club's available resources and let the management team do their work. To me it lends weight to nothgin being close as if it were i wonder whether he would hold on a bit longer with the current situation. I expect (or hope) two or three signings to come in but as always, nothing that would set hearts racing. I think we'll be looking abroad again in the hope of finding a real pearl. That's my guess

Just read that statement and to me it adds weight to Trent's posts. He obviously thought a sale might be feaisble by the start of pre-season training so who knows how advanced things may or may not be. i suspect someone may still be doing their DD before submitting a bid but again that is pure guesswork on my part. i would hope there is more than one interested party but you wouldthink that if that was the case then things would have moved to exclusivity a lot faster. I Suspect there has been a few tyre kickers but nothing Ron Vlaar! I think we will see RL at the helm for the start of the season but i also think (just my own mind working from the comments made nothing else) that he won't be here come Christmas. He's clearly giving us a statement which reads "don't worry guys it's business as usual now and we are all focused on the season ahead" in order to stop some of the doom and gloom merchants. Easiest way to do that though is to invest a bit more in the team. That said i wonder if now he is going to implement a plan B and release some funds to the manager for two or three decent buys We still have at least £10m to spend if reports are believed and even RL must kno that we can't afford to be in the relegation zone come Christmas if he is going to have any propsect of gettign his money back. By the way, all those people saying relegation might not be a bad thing - get real fruit loops!! it would be an effing disaster.

Have we actually been linked to any of these players or is this just all someone's wishlist?

I've got a tenner I could invest. That should double the transfer budget, but will I get EIS taxrelief?

Agree with this. Do what you do best and get others in to deal with the rest. Take time over the right choice though as there are definitely some serious sharks out there. Speak to other professinals who have been there, done it and not pi55ed their money up the wall or lost it through dodgy tax schemes or investments.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH! Just needed to get that out. Anybody want to club together and buy a football club?

Not at all. We are waiting for a confirmation that the club is sold. Which is kind of the logical next step. He should not have confirmed the club is for sale unless a takeover was close. Even if it were true. Everything is always for sale anyway. It's just a matter of finding the right price. What? Randy Lerner can't decide what he can and cannot do with something that is his? If he wants to say it's for sale then he can do. He has to accept the conseuqences fo his actions whatever they may be good or bad. there were so many rumours flying around that people were asking for clarification. He gave it and now everyone's unhappy about that. Tough!

From what i recall fans were screaming for Lerner to confirm something towards the end of last season. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Trent. Why do you think this happened? Seems strange for coaches to go on frolics of their own. Was there some sort of spat between them?

^^^^^^^^ This

I love the assumption that with the increased TV revenue we are an attractive proposition. Now i am not saying we are not, however i don't know many people who buy businesses based purely on turnover. At the end of the day if our turnover is £150m then is that all that fantastic? It might be but only if your expenditure is much less than £150m. I suspect with the incresased TV revenue and the reduction in our costs over the last few years we are looking fairly good now financially but again let's not forget the much needed investment in the playing staff that is required to make us competitive once again as well as the previous accumulated losses. It takes £20m a season just to stand still in this league! Anyway, it's all gone a bit quiet! The calm before the storm or the calm before the more calm?

A deal can easily be done in a few weeks. Its a question of throwing resources at it. The bigger the deal the more you may throw at it. I know cause I've done it.

It's easy to say someone makes a mistake every game. It's nothign more than over exaggeration and people looking for excuses. Your keeper makes an eror its most likely a goal. Your defender makes an error its most likely either a goal or an attempt on goal. your midfielder makes an error he has got his defense to give him some back up. Your striker makes an error, he's got two further layers of defense behind him. Add to that that its easier for any defender to play behind world class strikers and midfielders and play alongside world class fellow defenders. Makes life for any footballer much easier and i would argue that if you put Senderos in the middle of Man City's or Chelsea's defense then he wouldn't necessarily look that bad. De Michelis is I think in the argentina squad for the world cup (one of the favourites) and no one really rated him that much last season. what would it have been like had he been playhing for us! There are 11 players in a team and all 11 will influence the play on the pitch in some way. A defender can be exposed and be put in an impossible situation without it being his fault. It could be his fellow players or even (let's not forget) the brilliant play of the other 11 players on the pitch trying to beat you. Everyone has a mistake in them which is clearly their fault but defenders and keepers are more epxposed to fan abuse than othjers because of the consequences of their mistakes. All i;m saying is that I'm not convinced Senderos is as bad as all that. A good defender in a crap team is still going to struggle week in week out and end up in a relegation battle. You could probably have put John terry in Fulham's or our team last season and he probably wouldn't have looked half as good as he would playing for Chelsea. He's still the same player though. I think its a decent signing.

That should be having a youg squad doesnt help either. Young. Bloody phone

For me there are a few points. I've seen some poor performances and some decent ones. That to me shows we can play when we want to. We may set up defensively on the counter because that might be the best tactic for a team like ours. That will cause its own problems when teams sit back. We are not geared to break teams down. Hence our bad home form. We have a squad that on its day can perform, its just that we need to see more of it. We also need a little bit more imagination at home hence that cam we've been looking for the last few years. We pay poorly and so we cannot attract the top players. We pay poorly because RL has decided to reign in his investment and make us a decent sale prospect. We have decent players who haven't performed to expectations bit then you hear about bullying allegations. We seem to have been extremely unlucky with injuries this year. Agree with me or not but I think there are reasons for some of the Shit we've seen this year and saving a young shad doesn't help either. You don't get consistency from youngsters.

That's down to the fact we are poor in midfield whcih in turn puts pressure on the defense and both mayke silly fouls. Good midfielders know when, where and how to tackle. Our players just get frustrated at the lack of ball and go and kick someone or lunge in when they shouldn't. We're not dirty, we're just clumsy.

Apologhies if this may have already been mentioned but my take on this is: 1. Lambert needs an assistant and fairly quickly; 2. There a limited options open to him because of the current turmoil and he knows Keane quite well (apparently); 3. Who would realistically come in when the club is likley to be sold other than someone out of work or soemone in Keane's position; 4. Keane can retain both his TV role and his Ireland role (which are both part time at best) as well as working on a full time coaching basis at the top level, keeping him in the public eye; 5. Keane's reputation will be enhanced if he is seen as helping Lambert turn things around; 6. If he can't it was always an impossible job anyway; 7. Given 4 above it really won't make any difference to him if a new owner wants him out following a takeover. Seems a no brainer for Keane provided he has the time and inclination to do it.