AshVillain

And how does this copmare to Delph. Westwood, Ahmadi, Herd, Sylla ??? Well, I have long lamented delph's lack of shooting ability, I personally don't rate herd, and the other 3 have only been playing for one season. Should we compare bannan's stats to perhaps Milner? Barry? Houghton? Townsend? Draper? Merson? Stan? I mean even George boateng and Gavin McCann have better goal to apps ratios, and lets be honest, they were not playing in the 'creative midfielder role' as bannan did for us. Just for clarity here: Delph 0 in 61 Herd 2 in 39 Westy 0 in 31 Sylla 0 in 10 KEA 1 in 25

Win % is not irrelevant, and you wouldn't be claiming it was irrelevant if he had lost every game he started. I'm not being stubborn because nothing has changed since he last played against Liverpool, which followed two good results (and performances) against Reading and QPR. We know Bannan performed well against Reading and QPR because not only we won, he kept his place against Liverpool. Nothing has changed since then. There is no new evidence. I have seen so many posts from you defending bannan, while this is admirable, it's bloody stupid IMO. The lad has scored a sum total of 1 premier league goal in 64 appearances. And that was a penalty to boot!!! I am pretty sure that you are either friends with banana (on purpose) or you are one of the best trolls on here. Because seriously, in the cold light of day you cannot possibly think that bannan is a good player.

Interesting.

Ah brill. Normally use team talk personally but heard good things about mumble. I'll give it a download and see what the quality is like. BL2? TF2? L4D2? Torchlight 2? Lots of 2's there lol. I have a myriad of games and normally play for a few hours each evening

Random thread that probably will be merged. Good chant though.

It's too early for the old championes chant right?

Should be a song It is PS your signature is asking for trouble!!

I wouldn't join Blackburn Rovers. That's like football suicide!! That being said, Bannan didn't (and doesn't) cut the mustard. Over egging of his talents probably causes others to go the other way and point out why we have 6 or 7 better options than him. Honestly, a decent Championship player IMO but not Premier League standard. Good luck to him, hope he finds a new home soon.

If he turns out to be no good at the role, he gets managed out of the business. It happens in almost every walk of life and every workplace, football included. I am sad that he feels he needs 6 months more, but happy to give it to him personally. Get better Stan, we love you.

I am becoming more and more concerned about Vlaar. IMO he cost us the early goal on Sat by pressing too far up and not making the tackle. Granted we did not concede again but Arsenal werent exactly hammering on the door. Concerned.

If we buy Hughes I think I would jizz.

60 points, oscar, lampard, azpuilecuetta and silva yet to play.

His eyes looked to the keeper's right ... but the beard was looking to his left.

Angel then Atkinson for me ..... But I'll admit to a little bias there!

Just pre ordered on Steam. Waiting very impatiently for the Beta to be released.

We gave huge contracts to Nzogbia, Ireland, Hutton and Bent. We're going to lose a shit load of money on all of them. It's no coincidence the things people blame MoN soley for continued for a couple more years. We did indeed, and yes we will lose a lot of money on them. Same could be said for a few of MON's signings too tbh. I don't think I have seen anyone blame MON solely, and I don't either. I do think his transfer choices have had a long lasting effect though, which we are (in some ways) still feeling now.

Go and have a look at the contracts handed out over a 2 year period after he left. What consequences did the spending of MON have? Nothing. We continued it for 2 more years. I think the consequences that Mantis was talking about was the fact that our wage structure after that was clipped as the owner could not afford to keep bleeding money at the same rate. It can't be denied that there came a stopping point where RL was no longer willing to give MON tens of millions and lucrative contracts - and that has continued onwards with all the managers who have followed (so far - with one obvious exception). If Lambo had the same amount of money that MON had I think we would be a big worry to some teams. But he doesn't and now, like the rest of the entire world, we are trying to create a safe financial way forward. I would hope that given this year's ST sales that RL & Co have managed to figure out that if we want to watch the football being played we will come in our droves and bring more money to the club.

Then why did we hold up the £ signs? Why did we want Doug gone? Maybe because his pennypinching was to the extent where we had our bumfluff manager telling us that the best we could hope for was to compete with the likes of Charlton. Sustainable business model doesn't mean zero risk. That's what Doug wanted, a nice little dividend every year while we ticked over with no signs of progress. Ironically when we were being told that we were competing with Charlton we signed Baros and they signed Bent for half the fee. 2007 - loss of £2.6mil 2008 - loss of £7.8mil 2009 - loss of £46.2mil 2010 - loss of £37.6mil 2011 - loss of £53.9mil 2012 - loss of £17.7mil Sustainable business models do not look like that. Didn't Dortmund announce 30mil euros in profit recently? Yeah they did. Hmmmmmmm. I understand and partly agree with your trepidation Big John, but the numbers above speak for themselves imo. I think we are on the right path.

Where ? Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Everton are hardly losing money hand over fist either. Dortmund... Sustainable business model. Understand those words then have this conversation again. We would all love for Villa to become the 'toy' of an oil rich sheikh or something similar, but back in the real world ..... I want my grandchildren's grandchildren to have an Aston Villa FC to love for themselves so I am happy we are getting rid of the wages that sat on the bench and would again this season without Fulham. Good luck to Bent, been respectful and a true professional throughout the treatment that he has received, and I will never forget what he did for us during he-who-shall-not-be-named's tenure. VTID

There is some serious need for spell checking and proof reading on that article.

Decent piece on Lambert's effect at the club so far http://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/aston-villa/slowly-seeing-the-dortmund-model-at-aston-villa "Many have quipped since last season’s all-German Champions League final that it’s time the Premier League took a few tips off the exceptionally-efficiently-run Bundesliga, but there is at least one man in England who is taking the case in point seriously – Aston Villa’s Paul Lambert. On the surface, the Villa boss is your average middle-order Premier League manager; mid-forties in age, Scottish born, well acquainted with the lower leagues from spells with Wycombe, Colchester and Norwich, and a playing career that included the likes of Celtic, St. Mirren and Motherwell. But there is a slim gap in Lambert’s CV I’m yet to mention, that has changed his whole ethos of the beautiful game and could soon bring success back to Villa Park. Lambert spent a single year of his playing days in Germany, with none other than Borussia Dortmund. The midfielder made just 44 appearances for The Black Yellows, but in that time helped his side to their first and only Champions League title in 1997, and according to urban legend, marked Juventus playmaker Zinedine Zidane out of the game in the final. Perhaps a single campaign can’t change your whole footballing philosophy, but Lambert went a step further, taking his coaching badges in Germany rather than England. And it’s the model from his former club that has brought Dortmund such rapid and consistent success after staring into the face of financial implosion back in 2005, as well as the lessons from earning his coaching badges with a German perspective, that Lambert is applying at Aston Villa. To take you back to last summer, the Birmingham outfit were at their lowest low since the David O’Leary days. The torrid single year tenure of Alex McGleish had pushed the Villains further backwards rather than forwards, and now the club and the roster suffered a pejorative legacy of a succession of wheeler-dealer, painfully British in philosophy managers. The situation called for change; a deviation from the norm, a unique selling point, a strategy that would not only make Villa stand out against their divisional rivals, but would furthermore get the club moving in the right direction again. The instigator would be Paul Lambert, lured away from Norwich City by Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner, whom via his transfer policy and self-assured managerial abilities would turn the whole club’s fortunes around. Rather than turning to the Premier League’s bargain bucket in the 2012 summer window to stave Villa clear from relegation, hiring a collection of has-beens, mediocre talents and mid-to-late-twenty-somethings that had never reached their full potential, as had Lambert’s predecessors, the Scot scouted the lower leagues to invest in a wide berth of young talents, including Jordan Bowery from Chesterfield, Ashley Westwood at a cost of £2million from Crewe, Matthew Lowton from Sheffield United for a fee of £3million and Joe Bennett from Middlesbrough for £2.75million. At the same time, Villa youngsters Nathan Baker, Ciaran Clarke and Chris Herd were given more prominent roles in the first team, whilst Christian Benteke – Lambert’s only lavish expenditure of the summer – was sourced for £7million from Belgian side Genk. The new additions and inward promotions within the squad came at the expense of the old guard, with Emile Heskey, James Collins, Carlos Cuellar, Luke Young, Steven Warnock, Jean Makoun and Alan Hutton all departing on either a permanent or temporary basis, whilst veterans Shay Given and Darren Bent stayed put, but were soon to be usurped from the first team. There are obvious comparisons with the Dortmund model in acquiring youngsters from the lower tiers that other Premier League outfits had deemed not good enough or simply overlooked. The same tactic has brought the German side back to prosperity and silverware success, with two Bundesliga titles, a Champions League final and DFB Cup triumphs in the last three years, inspired by firstly Jurgen Klopp’s enigmatic personality, and secondly Dortmund’s young cast cherry-picked from clubs of lesser stature for their potential at relatively cheap cost. But the key for Dortmund has been giving their budding youngsters the opportunity to shine as a core factor in their development, which is exactly what Lambert has done at Villa. Rather than following the more traditional Premier League ideal of bringing in ‘relegation specialists’ – an unflattering description that has accommodated for Nigel Quashie’s top flight career- the Claret and Blues boss put all of his faith in his young roster, despite their obvious inexperience in England’s premier tier. It was a huge risk by all means, and until the turn of the year, appeared almost destined to be an ill-fated gamble. An 8-0 defeat to Chelsea, followed by subsequent 4-0 and 3-0 losses to Tottenham and Wigan respectively in December was a particular low point for Villa’s young roster that was yet to be sure of its Premier League worth. But in the second half of the season, Lambert’s juniors secured the results that mattered, with wins against West Ham, Stoke, QPR, Sunderland and Norwich assuring their top flight survival. And now, the likes of Clark, Westwood, Bennett and Lowton, who all played pivotal roles last season, are all the better for their year of fighting for their lives at the foot of the Premier League table. But Lambert hasn’t stopped there; rather than padding his ambitious and youthful squad with veterans and proven Premier League journeymen to accommodate for their lack of experience, the Villa boss has continued his policy this summer by attracting some of Europe’s most hotly tipped youngsters to Villa Park. 22 year old Nicklas Helenius comes with a strong record of 40 goals in 102 appearances in the Danish top flight with Aalborg BK and was purchased by Villa for just £1.2 million in June, Bulgaria international starlet Aleksander Tonev has been sourced from Lech Poznan for £2.5million, former Sevilla left-back Antonio Luna, aged 22, has joined the Villains at a cost of £1.5million and highly-rated defender Jores Okore, who turned down a move to Chelsea in January, has also joined for £4million from FC Nordsjaelland. So where can Aston Villa and Paul Lambert go from here? Are we witnessing another Dortmund in the making, or could the German model backfire in England? Well, in comparison to last season, Lambert can now boast a squad of young talents tried and tested at Premier League level. Despite many individually rising from relative obscurity, last term the Villa squad proved they not only had the ability to compete in the top flight, but most importantly the right mentality. It’s provided the Scot with a solid basis to add new recruits to this summer, with the assurance that even if the second wave of youthful additions aren’t as effective as the first, he still has a reliable starting XI to fall back on. And a big part of that has been the Birmingham outfit’s ability to keep Christian Benteke. Many youngsters at Villa Park rose to the challenge last season, but none so much as the Belgium international, who finished his inaugural Premier League campaign with 18 goals and four assists in 34 domestic appearances. His future was in doubt earlier in the summer after handing in a formal transfer request, but the issuing of a new contract has assured that Benteke will remain a Villa player for at least another year. The 22 year old is the kind of player who will attract others of parallel quality or potential to Villa Park, and his success story will appeal to youngsters trying to take the next step in their careers. Furthermore, as we’ve seen with the recent acquisition of Jores Okore, Aston Villa and Lambert’s reputation for giving talented young prospects the opportunity to shine is obviously growing in Europe. The Denmark international turned down the chance to move to Stamford Bridge in the summer citing his fear over a lack of first team exposure, but is now more than willing to join the youthful revolution at Villa Park, where he’s guaranteed consistent game time should his performances justify it. It’s the kind of policy that will attract talented youngsters full of ambition, that will overall be available at a much cheaper cost than their older counterparts. But for all my positivity, there is still scope for the Birmingham club’s fortunes to take a downward turn. With any player below the age of 24, there is always a concern over their lack of consistency. Rather than pacing themselves throughout the season, youngsters have a tendency to rise and dip in form, whilst, as shown from Villa’s string of drubbing’s to the hands of Chelsea and Tottenham last term, their heads will drop far sooner than the average 28 year old. There’s every chance that the Villa roster, once again finding themselves in a relegation scrap, will be unable to produce the form that saw them escape the drop at the end of last season. The only remedy for that will be Lambert’s psychological abilities, and as we witnessed last term, they appear to be in healthy supply. Of course, the other concern is that before any substantial ground is made at Villa Park in terms of league standing, the squad’s most promising personnel will be lured away by the Premier League’s bigger clubs. But with Mario Gotze jumping ship to Bayern Munich this summer and Robert Lewandowski expected to follow suit in a year’s time, it appears even Dortmund haven’t worked out that part of the plan just yet."

http://www.madeinfoot.com/infos/article-fcsm-aston-villa-aurait-propose-5m-d-euros-a-sochaux-pour-boudebouz-63648.html#.UgpQtbGRoBc.twitter You can pretty much pick up what this says without translation. Story getting a lot of press in France but next to none in the UK. For those who can't be bothered it says we have offered 5mil euros. EDIT: only says twitter because someone tweeted the link and I followed on my tablet. Never heard of that website before just thought I would share

I disagree. If I was in Ireland's position with his ability, I'd like to think I'd have applied myself to my job in such a way that I'd still be useful and wanted by my current employer and that I'd be going some way towards earning the wage I'm getting rather than skulking around just picking up a wage. To blame the club for a player that doesn't give a crap any more is just wrong. I can see your point alright BOF but did he really 'give a crap' when he first signed for us? Even taking hindsight into consideration surely someone from the club should have done their homework on the mentality side of the player before handing out such a luxurious contract to him. I literally couldn't stop myself.

There's a few names that could be dropped from the MON era that would usurp your claim that Ireland is our worst signing ever. A massive waste of money yes, but not our worst signing ever IMO.

This guy could be that spark when tekkers is being marked by 3 players this season. Still hope we sign some other creative spark but I have faith that tonev will create and score goals this season!!!