ccfcman

The Peoples Republic of Aston

How exactly does it stink? Is it not a deep down cynicism that yourself hold rather than anything else? All the right noises are being made. Plenty of it is to send us fans into a little bit of a tizzy with excitement. If it isn't viable it won't be ratified. You know what does stink though? Getting relegated and Lerner continues to own the club.

I guess I speak for all of us when I say - 我们爱你贝!

Does anyone have any idea how much Big Tony is worth? I know it's a bit irrelevant once you hit a certain level, buying football clubs is kind of a hyper elite plaything to some extent but are we looking at a lad with $200m and is stretched to the max or a smooth billionaire rolling into B6? A net worth of 6Bn would suit

Would I be right in saying that those with non playing roles such as groundsmen, cleaners, tea ladys, shop assistants and so on are more likely to be retained now, rather than if Lerner kept the club. Some nasty rumours of 100+ layoffs being expected a few weeks back. Would be a great news story in terms of local employment if these folks are kept on too.

I reckon was may be substituted for is due to the language barrier as much as anything else.

Just after a quick scan - Mustafa's is a bit of a tourist trap but seems like a right of passage for most! Matrix is a **** kip. If anyone wants any secret tips and treats that you won't find anywhere else, gimme a shout (particularly pubs - us Irish tend to find some crackers bizarrely), I've been living in Berlin for the last 2 and a bit years

50% +1 member. This is a legacy set up though, long before it wasn't financially viable. Bayer Lverkusen and Wolfsburg fly close to the wind on this and Hoffenheim are working towards it. Hoffenheim to be fair rose through the leagues a la AFFC Wimbeldon though.

As stated, your issue is with football in totality then, not Aston Villa. The teams can, unfortunately only follow the trends in order to survive. Fans owned clubs are now essentially unrealistic in most modern leagues. Before huge money from the competitions and sponsors existed, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Dortmund and Bayern Munich etc. were owned by the fans. This is no longer viable to "set-up" as such. For better or worse (perhaps worse is more likely given the hyper inflation) this is the way of things now.

Given some of the relatively extraordinary transfer fees of last summer's Championship market, we may need the thick end of £40m this transfer window. Presuming this is an investment rather than English football lover affair, the new owner will want Premier League football pronto. If, if we were to be promoted you'll have to look at perhaps going as far as doubling that come summer 2017 (to remain in the PL). That would be an outlay nearing £200m in 2 years. Baffling and all as these sums appear, they may be required. The likes of West Ham apparently sploshing £30m around in trying and failing to land Lacazette (if even true).

Out of the frying pan, into the wok? It's hardly any worse than the last half decade of being relegation fodder and lately, being a laughing stock on and off the pitch,

He's shot to shit at this level. He wasn't up to much with Chelsea last time around at all. Bologna would suit him though - great food, lovely pace of life ....

He (Laudrup) also still has a bit of a dodgy legal case going with Ajax over player signings. More than a whiff of aul Arry off him to be honest.

Unemployed which is nice. Be surprised if he'd be even remotely interested though. We'd need an awful lot of childish writing suggesting we're a big big club to get him involved.

I'm shocked! As far as I know, Arry is the only known human to perfect talking out of both sides of his arse.

McLeish, Lambert, Sherwood. Hardly inspired appointments, all seemed a shade desparate even given the relative success Lambert had at Norwich, We have been flirting with the inevitable for some time, perhaps a left of field appointment is just the tonic.

It looks like the net spend has been further reduced as his companions simply shopped for small while Tim took a large.

If we had a predominantly Lambert team, with his negative tactics on show and still at the helm would we be any more or less aggrieved at this point? Sure there was so much more hope going into a Manure game than usual due to the signings but we're in a frankly great position, so much more positives it is astounding. I reckon all of our forwards, Gabby included, will have so much more to offer once even one of Jack & Gil and "the boy Traore" are let loose. I think actually we'll soon forget our forward woes. Regardless of Ayew or Rudys current fitness they're gonna see so much more ball the second we get our flair players back. Tim has a tough task indeed but he has certainly made the job easier for himself with the signings and belief in players. We won't quite win the league this year but with a fit squad we're gonna have plenty of fun this season. Don't get me wrong, I think we look like we concede 4 or 5 with regularity but goal scoring shouldn't be an issue (he says having the grand sum total of 1 goal to our name)

This transfer window!

Is this still Aston Villa? I'm sort of confused, I get that I was walking dazed for the last few years with such wonderful chaps as McLeish and Lambert hanging around but, seriously ... The calibre of player and foward thought put into pure yuff investment would make Byker Grove jealous.

I'm Not Scared / Io non ho paura (IT) - pretty good but hardly gripping, set in rural Italy in the 70s. The Skin I Live In / La piel que habito (ES) - absolutely off the wall, as psychological as it gets - amazing and challenging watch. Dangerous presumption but I assume everyone here has watched The Two Escobars by ESPN? If you haven't, go right ahead and fast track that. What a football/drugs documentary it is. It also rather makes the dirty money in contemporary football seem acceptable!

I always found Dick van Dijk to be an interesting name.

At this point it looks more liely to be -

League Cup Final '94 - Grandfather and myself are Villa fans, my father is a Manure fan, good good times.

If we don't be Manure I'd begrudgingly take 2nd but be fairly disguted after a fairly underwhelming season. Mad and all as this thread may be, thank **** we're not Liverpool cos this really does seem like a post Stoke thread ...