Harry

Precisely. Even if we paid £8m for Foster and paid him £40k per week which I'm sure is an increase over 4 years that's £16m and we have an asset that is appreciating and can be sold on before the contract expires. Compare that to Given who would cost say £4m and at £80k per week it costs us £20m over 4 years and he have virtually no resale value. I do rate Given but he's injury prone and put simply there are better and cheaper options around.

I cannot believe we would pay £5m for Shay Given who is 35 and then make him the clubs highest paid player. Far better to pay £8m for Ben Foster and pay him £40k per week. He's a better keeper, the deal would be cheaper over say a four year contract and he has resale value. Daily Mail bull shite IMO

Which even more justifies us playing hard ball over the transfer fee. We want to keep him but he wants to go to Liverpool allegedly. They paid £20m for the relatively unproven Henderson who has had one good season at Sunderland. And yet Liverpool expect to pay substantially less than £20m and Downing expects us to accept it when he is an experienced international proven in the PL. Wake up and smell the coffee Stewie. On thing RL and PF do expectionally well is drive the best price for our star players. My guess would be its well above the £20m being quoted in the media. Well if Liverpool want him that much, which I doubt, King Kenny and Comoli (or whatever his name is) had better crack open the piggy bank.

The whole main forum may aswell be renamed the "**** off ginger bollocks and randy, come back jimmy 'i got an fa cup medal' milner" Totally agree with that. As for Milner yes he got better wages BUT to be a fringe player for City. I would bet his medal means **** all to him as he never got on the pitch at Wembley.

Seemingly not. Its another manager thread *yawns*

When is any story written by that rocket polisher Nursey ever be well written? The bloke just loves putting the boot into Villa. 75% at least of what he publishes is just idle speculation or is so obvious its not a story. If he get it right the next story mentions his previous story which then puts in bold you cant't miss it. Tosser. As for Downing its not clear what he wants save for the fact he has some greedy agent stirring its up. If Liverpool want him meet our valuation, its that simple. Whether Downing requests a transfer is irrelevant as they still have to meet our valuation. But as Downing well knows if he asks for a transfer he loses all his bonuses. All facts Nursey could have mentioned.

I reckon the picture was a fake on the basis it was not Downing in the picture, looked nothing like him. As for him going I would be astounded if RL both let him and Young go unless we got say £25m for him and we had a replacement lined up.

I think I missed that, I thought it was £2m? A link for the £10m?

And that low profile is continuing. My honest opinion and I think its shared by many many fans is that the search and recruitment of a new manager has been little short of a shambles. Initially I was dismissive and critical of the comments made in the media about the process. Sadly all I can do now is agree with them. The club is little short of a laughing stock with this botched and mismanaged process. I'm sure you will tell me not to believe what's been written in the media and there was a clean plan all the way along. Well perception is everything and currently the perception of Villa is very bad amongst not only the media but also the footballing world and most importantly the fans of the club. I think its also very very important not to attach must relevance to the fact Alex McLeish managed Birmingham City. The issue for most fans is that he is, at best, an average manager who seemingly we tapped up as we could not get or did not try hard enough to get anyone better. It hardly screams ambition. Another point worth mentioning is that fans are not expecting huge injections of cash to buy players. There is an expectation of funds to be there to sign the right players but that is coupled with bringing on some of the very fine prospects that we have at the club and moving on some of the generally older high wage earners. Is Alex McLeish capable of doing that? I'm not so sure and neither are most Villa fans. Sadly I think the club must brace itself for the backlash. The diehard fans like myself will renew their season tickets anyway. Where it will hit the club is the less committed fan will probably not buy a season ticket and may not buy a ticket for a home game. I predict a 10% minimum fall in average attendance coupled with a very significant decline in merchandising income. I for one will not be buying the new shirt for either myself or my son. Maybe that's petty but I really don't have the heart and I feel that some of the magic and hope that Randy Lerner brought to the club five years go has now gone. In a lot of ways I pity Alex McLeish. I think he a decent man who will clearly try to to the best for us. I genuinely hope he succeeds and in 12 months time after a generous helping of humble pie we will all be lauding what an inspired appointment he really was. The trouble is the first slip he makes and the fans will be all over him. Many were critical of Gerard Houllier. I don't think you have seen anything yet.

Don't torture yourself anymore the next few months are gonna be bad enough as it is Now that does hurt if its true and its fairly detailed as stories go so there is probably a thread of truth through it. As for McLeish I doubt we will get relegated but I doubt we will be needing our passports either any time soon either. As I said a few times I don't care that he managed Blues. What I do care about is the fact he is such an uninspiring appointment and despite all this talk of needing PL experience his is shit and should count against him in a job interview. I simply don't get why RL and PF seem to rate him so highly. But if he is appointed he will get my full support as its the team I support and not the manager. He could certainly organise our comedy defence better than GH did and maybe impose a bit more discipline on some of the players. OK I'm clutching at straws now

I think you'll find that them that clear those woods, pissed them off by doubting them and giving them grief - so they left. Well they did sort of call it all wrong. As I recall up until Sunday or maybe even Monday MM was adamant that AM was nowhere near the job. I agree he then backtracked but it was pretty clear what was happening by then. BTW I'm not anti ITK's I just take what they say with a heavy pinch of salt. Lots of posters, including myself on a couple of occasions, hear things. Whether they are true or not is a different question and I don't think its unreasonable to be sceptical.

For all the weasely words in the 'Official Statement' vaguely implying there are other candidates it's clears that there is only one - AM. Similarly its now clear that a week ago there was no other candidate but Martinez despite the protestations of the club. Prior to that it ws McLaren. I agree that the media love putting the boot into the club but we have made ourselves look like complete laughing stock. We make this big fuss about doing things by the book and yet its hard not to conclude we tapped AM up. I just don't buy the scenario that we were working on various targets which we drop completely as soon as AM becomes available and then he becomes, seemingly, our number one target. How does that square with our reported view of Mark Hughes resignation? I don't dislike AM as a person based on seeing him in the media, in fact he comes over as an honourable man. I don't care he managed Blues either. My problem is very simple, I don't think he is a particularly good manager. I doubt we would be relegated under him but nor do I expect to be playing Champions League football any time soon either. The club made a big deal of appointing someone with Premier League experience. Last time I checked none of Ferguson, Wenger, Ancelloti, Mourinhio, Mancini or even Moyes has such experience when they were appointed. Added to that AM's experience is hardly a glowing reference. The whole recruitment process has been a shambles from start to finish but the reality is that we have had managerial problems since probably May of last year. The club failed to tackle a clear problem with MON thus allowing him to screw us over just before the season started, dithered for a month and then appointed GH, failed to forward plan when GH became ill and then conducted a protracted and ill thought out recruitment process again this time round. I won't stop going to the games and AM will get my backing because he will be our manager. I've already renewed and I will do whoever is manager and whatever league we are playing in. What I won't be doing is rushing out to spend more money with the club as to be honest I feel let down. Lerner sold us a bright new vision which for me and many fans is just in tatters. We now know what our true ambition is. Is it that we lack the guts to play hardball to get the manager we really want say like Moyes? Oh and a final thought. All these so called ITKs clearly know naff all.

Hi General, just thought you might want to see what I have just posted on the Next Manager thread. I don't give a monkey's that AM managed Blues, its just that I think he is a shit manager who is miles below the level we should be aiming for. The only conclusion is that we are incapable of attracting anyone better. Forget the club he managed what matters is he managed to get them relegated twice in three years and I don't think he actually had too bad a group of players to work with. He was given money whilst he bought some excellent players like Dann but he also bought some total shite. That cannot be blamed on the Board. Appointing AM (and don't think it won't happen as there seem to be no other candidates in the frame) tells all our players, our fans and transfer targets the level of our ambition which is pretty much just to exist in the Premier League. And that my fellow Villans is exactly where Ellis had us. Proud History yes, Bright Future? No chance. Make a note of 14 June as this is where our dreams ended. I've already my renewed my season tickets at a cost of £1,040 and I would have done whoever is appointed manager. Beyond that I can't see myself supporting the club, for me support works both ways. Maybe just maybe AM will be a huge success but I think its a huge gamble by the club. A cheap cheap solution that betrays our total lack of ambition. In my opinion this whole process has been nothing short of a complete shambles. And trust me my job means I know all about senior level recruitment and how boards should operate. As I said a complete shambles. Still the mosaics look very pretty.

I don't give a monkey's that AM managed Blues, its just that I think he is a shit manager who is miles below the level we should be aiming for. The only conclusion is that we are incapable of attracting anyone better. Forget the club he managed what matters is he managed to get them relegated twice in three years and I don't think he actually had to bad a group of players to work with. He was given money whilst he bought some excellent players like Dann but he also bought some total shite. That cannot be blamed on the Board. Appointing AM (and don't think it won't happen as there seem to be no other candidates in the frame) tells all our players, our fans and transfer targets the level of our ambition which is pretty much just to exist in the Premier League. And that my fellow Villans is exactly where Ellis had us. Proud History yes, Bright Future? No **** chance. Make a note of 14 June as this where our dreams ended. I've already my renewed my season tickets at a cost of £1,040 and I would have done whoever is appointed manager. Beyond that I can't see myself supporting the club, for me support both ways. Maybe just maybe AM will be a huge success but I think its a huge gamble by the club. A cheap cheap solution that betrays our total lack of ambition.

So having ploughed through around thirty pages of this thread over my lunch the conclusion is that no one knows anything. Fine I'll get back to work then.

I do think the club need to clarify the situation. I actually don't have a problem with the Board keeping things quiet but that's been totally blown apart if the post from the General is true. You cannot have a situation where some directors who are actually involved in the recruitment are quietly going about their business whilst another is shooting his mouth off on the internet. To think anything he says either as a post or a DM is not going to end up splashed across all the forums is naive in the extreme. The only possible spin I can put on what the General said is that he was defending an honourable man who was being besmirched. Whether he is in the running for the job is irrelevant. I am trying to believe that he asked us about the role and then we asked Blues. Either way a little clarification from the club would be helpful.

I have to say I would be astounded if it was McLeish but its looking horribly likely. I thought we were trying to get a high profile manager to take the club forward. I don't give a stuff that he was Blues manager, I just think he is a shit manager and way way below the sort of manager we should be aiming for. Also how does this square with the apparent reaction of Villa to Hughes resigning? Overall if true a spectacular own goal by the Board.

My view at the start of all this is that it will be Mark Hughes. He may not be our first choice or on any 'short list' at the moment but I think it will end up being him. The noise around Moyes is interesting. Given he must be aware of the speculation right now why does he not publicly rule himself out? He ruled himself out when GH was still in the role but as far as I am aware he has not since. That's not to say he wants the job or has been approached. If he has what's the delay? Hence why I think we will end up with Hughes who is a decent shout for me at least although I would prefer a good young manager with bags of potential.

No. No from me too. I think you must have had a couple too many at lunchtime

Napoleon was born there Went to Corsica last year, on a cruise, and its a shit hole. Full of lunatic French drivers, Napoleon trinkets and dog shit on the streets. I cannot believe anyone in their right mind would go on holiday there.

Welcome to the insane parallel universe that is VillaTalk

That would be quite a long list.

I admire your optimism, I just hope you are right.

I cannot believe I have just read this post. It just beggars belief now stupid some 'supporters' really are.

Conversely it could turn out to be an inspired appointment...we just don't know at this stage.