B.Robinson

Why so? He's still only 34, what harm could be done at Villa? Imo, it would be far more risky for him to take a higher profile job (say, the job at Roma where he has been strongly linked) as one more failure at that level could spell the end for him. I think that long term, he needs to take a step back and earn his crust, so to speak.

Liverpool's interest is cooling in AVB. Really hope Randy sticks his neck out and makes a punt for him. - No compensation needs paying - The mood amongst fans would raise a great deal - Season ticket sales would increase So all told, it won't cost too much to actually bring him in. The risk is that Randy would need to back him to the tune of about 20-30million, in addition to whatever he brings in from player sales. But pretty much any manager would be requiring this level of investment at any rate. It's the perfect scenario for AVB too, looking at it logically. He needs a relatively low-pressure gig to rebuild his career after the Chelsea fiasco; a good 2 to 3 years a club where he can really show what he can do. Villa pay damn good wages and once he ships off the trouble makers, he'd have a young squad of capable and willing players to teach his system. Come on Randy, make it happen! :notworthy:

The worst ever signing? Has to be Habib Beye. £2.5m transfer fee, 2 and a half years paying him 40k per week, then whatever the hell it cost to terminate his contract this year. I make that somewhere between £7.5m and £10m in total. Shameful waste of money.

thetrees, as someone who made a tidy wedge using your information to back and then trade out, I just want to express my sincere thanks for the heads up, and hope that in no way take to heart the abuse you are suffering from people who clearly spend their afternoons picking fleas from their family members.

"Rumours are still to be substantiated that Aston Villa Chief Executive Paul Faulkner alighted the aircraft at 15:30 CET. Reports suggest that he was topless from the waist up in camouflage body-paint, carrying a burlap sack, 2 metres of rope and gripping a bowie knife between his teeth. With a manic look on his face, he stopped at the foot of the stairs to sniff the air, upon catching OGS' scent, he sprinted off on all fours before camera crews could secure an image"

If he's looking for a free buy-out clause in his contract should Man U offer him a job, he can get ****. Whatever about using Villa as a platform to other jobs (I doubt many would begrudge him doing this) but don't be so overt about it.

They did: http://tinyurl.com/cooj3oc 95% want him

That was something else; that struck me as a 'Fair Play' type thing between the captains and the refs.

After the game, OGS and his coaches came onto the field and he hugged all the players. They then proceeded to the corner of the ground with the Molde fans and clapped them and waved them. I found this a bit odd for a finish to a league match, but if that's his style, that's his style. Hence why I asked.

Did that feel like a goodbye send-off to the fans and players to anyone? Does he usually come out onto the field after a league match, hug all his players, go over to the section of his fans and applaud and wave them?

Yes!! Front flip throw-in!!

Two away from 100... 99 now..

He's still 13/8 on Betfair for anyone fancying a late flutter.

Probably doesn't even warrant a post but AVB has shortened to the 20s on Betfair. Down from nearly 100/1 yesterday.

If Villa sack McLeish, only to hire Bruce or McCarthy, it'd be like scoring a supermodel, only to find out she's your long lost sister.

Nonsense, Herd is a CM.

I posted this over on boards.ie, thought I'd share here for some uplifting lunchtime reading -------------- Of course, who needs wins when you get enough draws, right? Villa won 4 games at home this season. The lowest home win total in the Championship was Doncaster's 4; the lowest in League 1 was 6 (a few teams tied on this) and in League 2 the lowest home win total was 5 (Hereford and Macclesfield tied). Granted, the latter three leagues play more games. So taking home wins as a percentage of home games played, Villa had 4 out of 19 = 21.06%. This translates to 4.84 wins in a 24 team league. Therefore, in the Championship, Villa would be 2nd worst, worst in League 1 and worst again in League 2, or tied for worst if you round 4.84 up to 5. Or, looking at it another way, when you adjust things for games played, there are only 2 teams in the top 4 tiers of English football with a worse home win record than Villa this season: Wolves and Doncaster. Both of the latter two teams finished rock bottom of their division. Looking at total wins, the picture doesn't get any brighter. 7 total wins in a 20 team league (18.4%), is the equivalent to 8.5 wins in 24 team league. Again Villa were only trumped by Wolves in this regard in the Premiership, as most people know, and they would have lost out to only Doncaster in the Championship (8 wins; rock bottom of the table), Rochdale in League 1 (8 wins; rock bottom of the table) and Macclesfield Town in League 2 (you guessed it - 8 wins; rock bottom of the table). Finally, looking at the win percentage in the top leagues across Europe, you see a similar trend. Italy Seria A: Only Cesena and Novara (bottom and 2nd bottom) worse than Villa. Germany Bundesliga: Only Kaiserslautern (bottom) worse than Villa. Spain La Liga: Only Racing Santander (bottom) worse than Villa. France Ligue 1: Only Brest (3rd bottom) worse than Villa. Portugal Primeira Liga: Only Feirense and Uniao de Leiria (bottom and 2nd bottom) worse than Villa. Ireland Premier League: Only Galway United (bottom) worse than Villa. Scotland Premier League: Only Dunfermline (bottom) worse than Villa. Netherlands Eredivisie: Only De Graafschap and Excelsior (bottom and 2nd bottom) worse than Villa. A lot of the above leagues have a few more rounds of games to complete, so those figures may change. But as it stands, the only league where a worse win percentage record than Villa wouldn't have you rock bottom of the table this year is Ligue 1 in France, and Brest are nonetheless in the relegation zone. Negative football does not work. If draws were enough, you would not get the trend above, i.e., where in every league bar 1, you can predict the bottom team by how many wins they have. Enough of this tired, convenient and down right ignorant treatment of Villa fans in the media; McLeish's former employer is a complete non-entity. As a sign read at Villa Park last week "it's not where you came from it's where you are taking us". His a perilously risky approach to the game and the data back this up consistently. Write this down: Aston Villa will eventually be relegated if McLeish stays at the club. Precedent, employment history and data all converge on this point. As an aside, all you can really do is applaud the charlatan who can amass a ten figure fortune and yet fail to see a glaring statistical trend screaming at him to change course with his operation of a business.

--------------------Bradley--------------------- ----------Delph---------------Makoun---------- -Albrighton------------------------------Young ---------------------Bent------------------------

John Carew Carew We sent you to Stoke on Trent To make room for Darren Bent John Carew Carew

Why stop there - let's get in Jamie Redknapp!

MON **** off the other day Randy took his cash away But he's here, here to stay Goes by the name of Houllier Houllier, Houllier Goes by the name of Houllier.

Hire Tommo so that the Villa fans will be distracted from criticising your shortcomings - Houllier you genius.

Moyes -> Villa Rodwell -> United Pienaar -> Spurs That'd be some bum deal for Everton fans on the last day of the transfer window

James Milner is given the 1, 2 and 3 point bonus in Fantasy Football before each game.

Dick Dunne.