King Cropley

anyone know whats happened to sakho at PSG? they've signed marquinhos and come out and said he can go for around £8m (out of contract next summer)

 

had huge potential a couple of years back, young left footed CB, think he'd be above and beyond us but if no one else goes for him...

Constant fall-outs with Le Guen, Leonardo and Ancellotti. Censured for slapping a journo who bubbled him in a nightclub and benched for being overweight and out of form.....all by the age of 23.

No thanks, we have enough loons on the books already.

I believe VFL Wolfsburg are owned by Volkswagen, so are not exactly short of cash.

...thank fook...we're buying a centre half who can tackle and head a ball to play with Okore.

I see Vlaar as a good experienced defender.

I see Okare as an excellent inexperienced defender

Clark is a good inexperienced defender (although he must have learnt a lot from last year)

Baker is an excellent inexperienced defender.

Okare Baker is the future.[/

Vlaar is mediocre at best.

Okore appears to show promise and at least has a grasp of the art of defending.

Clark will never be a CB while he has a hole in his ass.

Baker is half decent but has glass legs.

Lambert couldn't have taken Bacuna off without the assistance of the coastguard - that's how far out of his depth, he was.

Howard Hodgson ‏@HowardHodgson 1h

@mcnamee_john I am guessing at Fischer John but PF mentioned no names and I wasn't about to press him..

Howard Hodgson ‏@HowardHodgson 1h

In answer to questions "who" I wouldn't press the CEO on a name but someone he said "Who would make a difference". #avfc

Feck it....it's only Arsenal....play Tonev and let's have a go at them. Don't do it at the Bridge though...lol..

...soon be sharing 'what coulda been' stories with Moore (x2), Byfield and even Vassell. Presumably, someone took Gabby on one side early doors, and pointed all this out ?

Whilst never hitting the top heights, Vassell was a big player for England under Erikson so a bit harsh on him

Indeed. Far from being a failure.[/quote

My point was not that these guys were failures as such - they all got paid for playing the game which is more than any or most of us can claim. It was the 'Billy Big Bollocks' attitude which prevented them from reaching their full potential.....including Vassell who claimed he was leaving Villa to go to a proper big club, about 3 years before Citeh actually became so.

...soon be sharing 'what coulda been' stories with Moore (x2), Byfield and even Vassell. Presumably, someone took Gabby on one side early doors, and pointed all this out ?

In fairness, if I wanted to leave St Andrews I would have tried all of those things.....and more.

I'm disappointed to see him leave.  Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, he's a good goal scorer and kept us up under Houllier, so I wish him well.  It just didn't work out for him under Lambert and I don't think either man is to blame for that.

Probably the most sensible post in the entire thread.

Quite frankly the thought of taking women to football matches absolutely appals me. Next thing, they'll be wanting to drink out of pint glasses...or even having driving lessons ? What is wrong with you.....?

Having only just got married, with young kids, I would be really surprised if he was to go anywhere like Turkey ? Still think he'll most likely end up at either Fulham or maybe Palace.

Teenagers who go on holiday to get wasted in Spain or Ibiza for a week and come back declaring they're going to move over there asap. Yeah I'm sure if you moved over there it'd be just like your holiday, all the time. Never mind that you would actually have to get a job in an incredibly saturated market - with no marketable skills or qualifications -, and learn a new language.

I still do this. I'm 27.

I still do this. I'm 47.

Jesus wept, what a squad....kids, walking wounded and has beens.....good job it's only Scotland.....I'm not Gabby's biggest fan but he's well off out of that shambles.

...thank God Houllier n McAllister got to pick the side when we were really in the shit....otherwise we'd be playing Blues this season.

Just think about some of the important goals/contributions he's had though in local derby's, vs ManUre etc... Arguably Gabby's form at the end of last season kept us in the premier league, with goals against QPR, Reading, Sunderland, Stoke & Norwich (2 of which were goals that won the game).

 

I think he is such an important player in that wing role and the pace he provides can tear defences apart. 

 

Directly comparing him to Bent he does far more in games with the current system we're playing IMO.

...but if God forbid Benteke broke his leg tomorrow.....who would you want to see leading the line ? Gabby or Bent ?

^ dafuq?

...it's in English mate....sorry for not being down with the hood....

I'm in no such "hood" - far from it in fact! I was commenting on the bizzare nature of the post. Gabby is an absolutely vital player for us. Especially in our current system. He's a player thats ALWAYS cropped up in times of need and if you hadn't noticed is our all time highest premier league goal scorer. Gabby does far more in this current system than Bent will ever do.

 

I loved Darren Bent and wished we could fit him into the system we have at the moment but it just won't happen

Fair play, didn't mean to be disparaging but I fail to agree.....I find Gabby far from vital to our pattern of play and as for the ALWAYS tag ? So many times, this guy drifts in and out of games - and as for the highest Premier league total ?....I should bleeding hope so given the number of games played....on a goals per game basis, his return is barely better than mediocre.

I was never Bannan's greatest fan, but more than a grain of truth in that article to be fair.

Yeah because there's so many buyers for Bent

There's been at least 3 potential buyers this week if we believe the papers ?..... Perhaps you know differently ?

^ dafuq?

...it's in English mate....sorry for not being down with the hood....

Strange, the way we're all happy to see the back of the guy who's scored 25 in 64 games for us due to his perceived lack of effort....yet the the 'Fans favourite' who's scored 74 in 296 remains blameless 'cos he's Villa through and through'.

There's a reason why Gabby won't leave the Villa any time soon....it's called 'a lack of buyers '......this fella spends 10-15 mins of most games doing his headless chicken routine....the next 75-80 with his hands on his hips looking surly and disinterested.

He shows flashes of greatness admittedly....but flashes will win us nothing unfortunately.

I'm resigned to us never going for Shawcross. He's arguably the best centre back outside the top 6.

what is top 6 these days? Liverpool or Everton excluded as both have defenders better than Shawcross

Personally, I think Jagielka, Williams, Hangeland and Collocini are much better but this is the transfer thread and we won't be making signings like that.

Top 6 being whoever finished in the top 6 last season, so Liverpool not being included. So in answer to the above remark I could name several cbs better than Shawcross outside the top 6 including K Toure, Agger, Williams, Chico and Bassong

Regarding a possible move can't ever see a move materalising for him.

....take out Agger (although he is rarely fit these days) and maybe Jagielka.....Shawcross is far better than any other CB in either post....especially Bassong and Chico....as for Williams, last years 'Sun' player....spends too much time on his arse and I almost wet myself laughing when I heard Arsenal fancied him, but given Wengers talent for buying great CB's I wasn't surprised.

I imagine if you were to ring ticketmaster.ie (+353 1 456 9569) or Shamrock Rovers (+353 1 460 5948) they might be able to arrange to have tickets waiting at the ground if you could provide your reference.

Many thanks BOF.....if I don't get any joy by tomorrow, I'll go down that route.

Pretty piss poor under any circumstances, as I said earlier.....it's not like we haven't got the so called 'bomb squad' sitting around, doing feck all for mega bucks.....why not send some or all of them ?