Pez1974

It is funny. If his is all true, we have to start putting in stupid bids for some of their other players (if they do accept, we can always over them a fiver a week as wages, so they refuse). We could really **** them up!

Yep, the ''mystery bidder' is WBA according to a few people. This could get very funny. Do Narwich sell to WBA to try and piss us off? They could look like petty muppets. Does Hoolahan tell WBA and Narwich to **** off, and leave Narwich will an 18 month wage bill or force them to,deal with us. We should just sit in the corner and smirk.

Didn't we get a couple of players in a week or 2 ago? For 2 positions that needed covering? We need at least 1 midfielder, but if they club decide that they aren't going to go mad now and wait until summer to get the right one in, I am satisfied with that. Too often in the past we have done the best we could, and it has screwed us up for years afterwards.

I would be stunned if a player moving a on free, or massively reduced fee, didn't take advantage in their contract. Why wouldn't they? What sort of agent wouldn't realise, for example, Spuds have saved £5m in transfer fee and ask for that (or most of it) be given to his player? Of course the club can sign someone else, but they would then have to pay a transfer fee and still pay the wages! I am pretty sure this is how Sol Campbell ended up on something like £100k per week at Arsenal in 2001. I'll bet there are better examples. Anyway, doubt were getting Holtby, and am worried were getting no-one.

I didn't mean to say it was. It was a general point that Holtby's (and other players) wages will be dependent upon exact circumstances, and sometimes it would make them unrealisitic targets. This can be why clubs (including us!) end up with players sat in the reserves for years.

The debate on Holtby's wages is skewed by his signing for Spuds for a relative pittance. In short, either he got a massive signing on fee (in lieu of the transfer fee) or his wages are inflated over his contract to represent that 'fee'. If Spuds want to sell him, either: They want a realistic fee, in which case they are probably going to have to pay up a lot of his contract and Holtby should take a more realistic salary considering his level and ability; or They give him away, and Holtby can continue to command an inflated salary as a result This is why players have all the power now, and we must not fall into this trap.

The latest interviews stories, frankly, could have been written without ever meeting him. Bertrand is hardly likely to say "nah, don't want to join permanently, this is just a bit of game time and helps Chelsea pay the bills" Nor is he likely to say "yeah, love Villa now, don't want to play anywhere else". It's just the correct press line, so smile and ignore it all.

Best is probably Mortimer in my time. A few candidates for worst, and for me Houllier giving Ashley Young the armband to try and keep him happy is all wrong. Captaining our football club is an honour, not a perk. Boooooo! Didn't Steve Sims captained us a few times?

Seriously??? Zaha hasn't cut it in the Prem so why would he be good enough for us? And as for Kenwyne Jones he's a Heskey without the work rate or the goals and Heskey hardly scored!! The others are players he's managed before with NO prem exp. We don't need squad fillers we need 1st team quality. If we can get the mystical AM i think we will have had a good window but moaning about what others have done and are doing is pointless you may aswell moan we wasn't in for Mata!! It's nothing to do with the actual players he has bought, i was just using that as an example It's just the fact that Cardiff and other clubs below us are all beefing up ready for a relegation scrap and it appears we are doing this to a far lesser extent. Yes i find that a concern, If you don't then fine. I see you point, but don't agree with you. The teams around thus far have, in my opinion, brought in a lot of mediocrity (except for Man U in Mata ). Our business has been OK, in that we have significantly strengthened LB which was weak, and got some cover upfront. I simply can't think of a player anyone in the bottom half has bought who I am jealous of (no - not Guidetti as we didn't need him,and certainly not Long or Jelavic), and I think Bertrand is probably the best player to move to that bottom half so far. We all know we need midfielders, but unless the right person is available, we should not give ourselves future problems through a bit of 'panic'. Although, let's see what this week brings!

Tom Ross‏@thegoalzone5m Paul Lambert says no more transfer business expected unless something special becomes available Now, Lambert could be being cautious and not publicising his plans. Or he could be ramping the pressure up on Narwich with Hoolahan. Or he could be telling the truth and this website is about to go **** nuts!

The Bosnich song to the Hokey Cokey? Bit sad, but plenty of actions and good fun!

Marketing man 1 - Is that really how you spell Agbonlahor in Mandarin? Marketing man 2 - I don't know, and lets be honest neither does Gabby? Marketing man 1 - True. So why do we bother spelling it right on his match day shirt? Boom boom!

I loved the Dwight Yorke one, as it really was an original. There have also been a few occasions when something in the news is picked up on a used - waving £5's at Grobbelaar was a personal favourite. For reasons that are my own, I also love the 'Altringham' song about when they knocked SHA out of the cup. Still sing it myself today!

I think we'll see at least couple leave in the summer. Bowery could easily move on, and I think either Luna or Bennett will go. Benteke may go if we gt a good price, KEA because we need to replace him and Lowton for 'reasons'.

Bacuna's a definite Benteke probably Vlaar could probably smash one Errr..... Weimann? Holt is probably OK Westwood maybe Lowton perhaps Tonev, Gabby, Delph - never

I've thought this before, but more on the Indian market, given the ethnicity of Birmingham. We should never go for tokenism, but I can't imagine there isn't some youth out there worth a punt! But before we do, can we check whether the 4 year Salifou experiment helped us corner the Togolese market.

All good, except..... Why has we only been up and running for 2 months when others have been doing so for 2 years? The Chinese market is huge, and account for approaching a fifth of the planets population. Surely we knew this before November last year. This sort of stuff is great, but not difficult and we should not be is far behind others.

Interesting to see how Narwich handle this. They have taken a tough stance, made the transfer request public and signed a replacement on loan. So, do they keep him warming him warming the bench until at least the summer (keeping the hard line, but costing them cash) or sell him to us, on our terms, and look soft as shit, but still probably try to spin it as it being what they wanted all along. One thing is for sure, if we do sign him, he fee will be undisclosed.

Disagree somewhat. It was reported I believe that we got a loan fee for Bent, with Fulham paying 100% of his wages. Although not a direct 'transfer fee' it does somewhat cover the reduced value of Bent as he will be for sale in May with only 1 year remaining on his contract. It is my opinion that the overriding issue with Bent (and many of the others) is their wages. Nothing Lambert or anyone else could do would change this, and he is only worth what others would pay - and they wouldn't pay it. Clearly, no-one wanted to give Bent the (reported) £70k per week over 4 years that he would want to leave us, plus the £6m (ish) we wanted, making his full contract a cost to the new club of well over £20m. Fulham are paying £5m or £6m for a year of Bent, which clearly made economic sense to them. We made a panic buy - and it worked in the short term. However, we must have known that his resale value would be massively reduced owing to his age and salary demands.

Agreed. Plus we got a 'loan fee' for Bent from Fulham. I actually think us trying to recoup some money has been an issue with shifting a few others, as we refuse to simply bankroll their departure. I also think Lambert is in no way culpable. Now, if we started flogging his signings and getting nothing for them, I would point the finger, but as has been said, their lower wages and age will make them attractive to others, so we should be able to shift them quickly, without cost, and in most cases, for a fee.

WHam, Stoke, Narwich - anyone.

I can't believe people are having a pop at a player because the manager brought them on! Gabby had a great game, but got injured. The reason Gabby was ripping them apart was becuase of his pace - nothing else. We have no-one else with his pace, so a like-for-like replacement was out of the question. Lambert choose to change the formation when Holt came on, and personally I thought Holt did a decent job (whether Lambert should have changed the formation is not a question for this thread). He put himself about, helped marshall the team, and held up the ball a few times, which has been a problem over the past 18 months, as the ball can bounce off Benteke. When he had the ball he got his head up and tried to play others in - it went wrong a few times but that will come down to him training with his team mates and understanding how they play. I also thought his introduction allowed Benteke more room, as before Skrtel and Toure we're simply sitting on him. He certainly did not look fat or unfit (albeit for only 40 minutes) but maybe lacked a bit of sharpness, but as we all know, if Benteke breaks his leg tomorrow, we will have a problem as Holt is nowhere near as good. But as an option off the bench - he looked just fine.

Really good debut, considering he had no time to train with the defence. I half expected him to keep being out of position (i.e. playing people on-side by being too deep, or being caught too far forward without anyone providing cover). However, I think the biggest difference was the effect he had on Delph, who always seemed to be the player asked to cover our LB's failings over recent months. The result was that Delph had a greater impact in midfield than hs has at times, and got forward more, making it harder for their midfield to dominate, and allowed the others in our midfield and attack to hold their positions.

David Geddis Came in a few times during 80/81 - scored a few goals and never let the team down.

Cowans Mortimer Platt Taylor