Fuse

Headlines on the back of the meaning eveil are that we will be back in for Schneider (sic) as the deal with Valencia is now dead.

Under no circumstances should we be selling Luke Moore. He is the best finisher at the club. Give him time and he will be a 20 goal a season striker. Ridgewell and Davis have more to prove but they should be willing to give it another season before heading off to those hot-beds of football like Fulham and Derby!

Someone who is normally very reliable and connected to the club.

So he is not at the Belfry at the moment having talks with the Villa as I was told 20 minutes ago?

General K thank you for responding to a lot of the comments made over tha last few days. A lot of them have been of a negative nature and some due to people's perception of the facts rather than reality. You cannot appreciate how your prompt response puts this negativity to bed. In the past this would have been allowed to fester. Whether we agree or disagree on the club's stance on the West Ham issue the fact that through your communciation we get an official response so quickly proves that your involvement here works. On the season ticket pack - I received the letter from the club last week and it did say that the packs would follow so I am unsure why some people are blaming Nicola and her colleagues. I know she does a great job as I was lucky enough to have agreat day at the SHeff Utd game due to her orgainsation with a friend of mine's kids football team. Please pass on my thanks to her.

General, I too would be interested if the club are looking at putting a travel package together. Can you let us know if this will be the case? Thank you.

Hi General. Will the club be offering any travel packages for fans for the pre-season games to the US? I would be interested if they are. Thanks

Is there a hint there General as to who we might play on the US trip?

Nice to hear from you again General and thanks for the update regarding the North stand. How was your security conference? Where in the world should I be avoiding taking a holiday this year? Finally you mention that Randy and Martin have been working non-stop over the past week, I hope that this hard work comes to fruition because as you say the lads in the team need some help. They are working their whatsits off and not being rewarded at the moment. Thanks Fuse

I remember watching this Dica against Boro in the Uefa cup last year. He looked very useful reminded me a little bit of gulie (sic) at Barcelona. He is not a striker more of a play maker

Bumped. We can't have the General thread off page 1 Hi General 1) Have we made any bids yet for any of Martin's targets? Not asking who they are but have we started trying to add to the squad yet? This is one of the most frustrating times of the year for us football supporters! 2) What plans do the club have in dealing with the local media? You may or may not be aware that prior to Randy buying Aston Villa that our main local newspaper had for some time been very biased towards the shower down the road from us. Their reporting on us has improved a little since the takeover but they still report on us negatively when they can. For instance when reporting on MON praise of the Villa fans at CHelsea game they had to put into the article that the crowd was 1500 down on previous sell outs this season against Man Utd and Spurs whilst conveniently forgetting to report that this was due mainyt to Chelsea' inability to sell out. Are we actively trying to improve relations with the local media? Oh and finally welcome to Villa And Happy New Year. Regards Fuse

Welcome aboard General Krulak. I have read this thread with a smile on my face. I would like to thank Randy for finally giving us hope. MON for getting the team playing with passion and yourself for joining the fans and allowing us to communicate with the club at last. I like your comments about keeping this channel open through thick and thin. Everything you have mentioned in terms of plans that are in place are fantastic. I have a couple of questions for you if I may? 1) Parking around Villa Park - are there any plans to discuss with the council to look at easing the issue of parking around Villa Park on matchday? It was never an issue until they introduced the residents only parking on matchday. If as has been suggested the ground capacity is to be increased then this issue will only get worse. 2) Capacity increase & Stadium improvements - can you share with us any pof the plans that may be in place for increasing the capacity and improving the facilities? I know this may sound silly after we only got a gate of 30k on Sunday but if the improvements to date are anything to go by, the backing that MON will get from Randy then it wont be long before the Sell Out signs are up at Villa Park for every game. Finally can you sign Beckham. I know MON would find him a more than useful addition to the squad and he would raise our profile no-end. The additional 10,000 women he would attract at Villa Park would not upset me either

I have heard some news today which I have no reason to doubt as the source is very reliable that Mike Neville has no chance due to certain individuals involved in his consortium.

if it drags on that long, you may be right. Big, big IF IMO As far as I'm concerned, if they are as serious as the others, then all the merrier, I'm not waving any flags here I believe that they are serious - very serious. So serious they are talking about joining together with another consortium? So serious they have not even spoken with the board? You may think they are serious but I think the people that matter don't.

IMO any consortium who would allow Ellis to retain any power and/or shares going forward are as welcome at Villa Park as a dose of the clap. AVO6 can **** off if this is an option they would consider. Padfield sounds like a clearing in the woods who has absolutely no knowledge of the club or its fans.

Padfield is questioning whether DOug wants to sell some or all of his shareholding?? Did I read that correct? If this is the case and Ellis is looking to keep some shares we are not looking at anyone taking over. Maybe that is why Lerner walked away. Is the truth about to come out and Ellis has been wasting everyone's time? This whole saga is a joke.

My laptop will go straight through the **** window!!

Boyden said on WM tonight that Lerner's men were at Villa all day today. He reckons the new era is about to begin with Lerner and MON. Now this was after Central news had said the Americans were nothing to do with Lerner. My money is on that they were linked to Lerner.

If Lerner is back in talks I would expect things to happen quickly. I cannot imagine there is much left to negotiate if as has been speculated he has been in talks for a couple of weeks. Whatever happened last week has obviously been resolved and with speculation of MON arriving soon I am getting ready to get absolutely scuttered this weekend!!

Left Side for me

How does any of this compare with your sources JC?

I'm not holding my breath that's for sure!

Sccording to the meaning evil we are set to follow the signing of Berger imminently with Scott Parker and Robert Huth from Chelsea and Kevin Phillips from Soton for £2m. If we add another striker such as Bellamy/ Forsell/Baros or Ashton to these additions then I will be happy.

JPA has had a poor season and there is no arguement there. However we must take into consideration: Injured during pre-season and missed first 6-8 weeks. Had to play with a striking partner who's workrate is non-existent and thus had to do all the chasing back himself. Injured during season and rushed back into team when not fully-fit. Has not been fully-fit at any stage of this season and has needed to be rested for the last four games IMO as he is not fit, and his confidence is shot to pieces. Take all of the above out of the equation and I would bet we would have the player we had last year.