paulfromsutton

Sums it up pretty well I though once the backlog had been cleared and finances shored up we would spend the same but in fewer players making us much stronger. We know now that he was getting ready to make us solvent and therefore stable. Either way the same thing had to be done

I almost forgot Mellberg was voted the sexiest player since the Premiership started a couple of years ago Think Laursen was floating about it that list too.... one of those top 20 programs that are always on.

If there's one party that its alright to be late to its the gay party. Being late to a party is fashionable and if there is one thing the gays are it is fashionable! On a side note I am delighted we have Ireland and Bannan out and as much as I love Bent he hasn't fit our style of play since we sold our wingers that will be a hefty amount off the wage bill. Europa league stats say this guy is awesome Serie A stats say he is crap I guess we can judge in a few months time when he is up to speed.

Spurs are on a different level. The way you're posting it seems like you're expecting a £20-30m striker in for Benteke when he goes. What £20-30m striker in world football will join us at the moment? I can't think of any TBH... and I also take issue with the fact that it seems like you think money = quality. Remind us, how much did Benteke cost? I can Marlon Harewood with a price tag of 20-30m

Try sticking your fingers in your ears and humming loudly: it's a convenient avoidance mechanism when it comes to points of view that you don't wish to contemplate. But he is reading

Mirror has a funny story about Ireland going to stoke or Everton....... At first look I thought great get him out the squad then I saw the line that said they would pay his 30k a week wages at villa...... Yea double it and that would be his real wage what a bunch of bollocks

I would take 40m for him in a shot I love the guy but it is just one season at the moment, anything over 35m take it in a shot and 30m I would probably be happy with to buy 3 10m players who overall will benefit the team more than Benteke. The figure of 20m plus Defoe is a moot point. Defoe will not leave end of story, I saw a program a few years back on him he loves living in london, is a londoner and is very into his own charity which is based in London. I think the only reason he moved to Pompy is the commute down the M3 was do-able. Can't see him wanting to commute to us or Lambert thinking that commute would be a good idea and lest we forget we have apparently tried to sign him about 50 times before lol

Makoun would have been 40/50k Dunne 70k but Marshall and Lichaj would have been on maybe 5k. You also missed out Petrov who would have been on 50 to 60k.

Are there many models that are sustainable for a club like us to finish top 6 on a regular basis? NO! Either An owner stumps up the money to 1 get you to the top four and then to stay there before pulling the plug on major funding as CL participation, merchandise sales and sponsorship goes up dramatically. Our fans start paying the money to watch top four football aka 50 quid tickets, selling out so we expand the ground etc. Seeing as our fans havent done the latter then we will always be an also ran until an owner pops along and does the former.

Milner, Young, Laursen

I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention that Gabby is now the highest goal scorer for Villa in the Premiership era and I think with another 18 goals it will be in all history?

Ticket prices should be set at the same as our rivals it should be up to the fans if they want their rivals to be wigan and sunderland et al or Spurs/Arsenal/Everton/Chelsea.......... Everyone is going to hate me for saying it but I dont really give a toss it is true

In my opinon owners shouldnt be able to fund wages or play transfers, but they should SOLELY fund capital expenditure of normal assets.

To be fair, none of that is true at all. For what you say to be the case, player signings would need to be the only expenditure of the club. The money brought in from those sales went on WAGES. Lots and lots of wages I know I'm being simplistic just to make a point, but we were paying the players that left hefty wages too. I don't know what Barry/Downing/Young etc were on when they were here but it can't have been that much less than what we replaced them with. Yeah we were paying those players who left good wages, and those who replaced them good wages too, but you're forgetting that the club runs at a massive loss. Money in from transfers does not mean the money is sitting around in a bank account for player purchases - it's used to keep the club paying bills It's a good point you make to some who may not understand what you said. Lerner has pissed money away on paying off the previous two managers and has paid the price for a lack of planning/not getting people who know football working at board level for the club. As a point about revenue overall I wont be popular for saying this but if people want much better for the club like I do then we need to try and match the revenue of our competitors that means some sharp increases in ticket prices for a start expecially with FFP rules now in action.

Star today says spurs want him for 15m, they really are wishing at that price

I agree with this but we certainly wont drop leagues after

he can only strengthen us in the summer if he gets some money to spend. Do you really think he will? I think he will get around 20m which is slightly more than last summer. I base this on increased tv deal and another load of high earners off the wage bill Dunne, Petrov and Warnock which is easily 5m a year off the wage bill and it is very questionable if Macoun, Ireland, Given and unfortunately Bent will be with us next summer. I feel those situations combined will add up to a healthy transfer fund in the summer IF we are still in this league.

Couple of things from me. I think it is more interesting to think of PL's purchases when they have a combined value of 14m like that Sun Jurno kept ranting about on twitter (why would he keep going on about it if it were not true) Secondly I agree with Pelle, about the midfield the defence isnt THAT bad Bennett apart but when you look at the other 6 outfield players Benteke apart does Gabby & Andi provide enough defensive cover as a winger? Do they get wide to provide width to create chances and to run the balls in the channels to relieve presure from the central midfielders and defence? We play with three in the middle and usually with two defensive midfielders, do they put themselves around enough? Do they make runs to join the attack enough? Bearing in mind we have two holding midfielders do they provide enough protection for the back four as one would expect with two holding midfielders? No is my answer to all those questions. The team is disjointed as we dont have the players for the system, plus Bennett is shite.

I bet every team could mention one player and talk about how they could be better off. I'm not a professional scout but I'd be amazed if we couldn't get a couple of decent players for £5 million and £30,000 a week wages each. Are you really suggesting that our money could not have been spent better? The defence is a shambles. KEA, Bennet and Bowery barely play and contribute very little. You're honestly going to argue that it couldn't possibly be better? The same Bennet who has played 23 games...... If he played fifty games, does that make him any good? The guy is simply not a defender. Wide midfielder, yes.....with promise. But leftback? really? I didnt say he was any good and I agree I am forever telling my friends in the pub no way is he a left back a left winger maybe, way too careless on the ball to be a defender. He simply made the comment he barely plays I just wanted to correct it.

I bet every team could mention one player and talk about how they could be better off. I'm not a professional scout but I'd be amazed if we couldn't get a couple of decent players for £5 million and £30,000 a week wages each. Are you really suggesting that our money could not have been spent better? The defence is a shambles. KEA, Bennet and Bowery barely play and contribute very little. You're honestly going to argue that it couldn't possibly be better? The same Bennet who has played 23 games......

The wages and fees of bennet, Lowton, KEA, Vlaar and Bowery could have all been spent differently. Instead Lambert ended up building a defence that is quite possibly one of the worst ones we've ever had. How can that be excused? How can that be shrugged off as he could do nothing else? It's ridiculous to argue such a thing. Combine that with the awful formation choices and this defence of him is just laughable. Keeping us in this league, even with such a limited budget, should have been the minimum expected of Paul Lambert this year. Ridiculous to somehow suggest its an incredible achievement. The wages and fees of Bennett, Lowton, KEA, Vlaar and Bowery could well have been spent differently. I notice you have left out his two most exceptional signings from that list in Westwood and Benteke. He spent a total of 22mill over the summer on 7 players. I'd hazard a guess the likes of Lowton, Bennett and Westwood earn between 5k and 10k a week, KEA no more than 10k, Benteke and Vlaar 20k a week and Bowery no more than 5k. Thats 22 mill in fees and a maximum of 85k a week wages on 7 players. If you seriously think he could have spent that kind of budget any better you are living in cloud cuckoo land. Benteke, Vlaar and Westwood are now worth at least what we spent on all his signings in fees and wages. For me of the summer signings Benteke and Westwood have done really well, Vlaar and Lowton have been OK, KEA and Bennett have been poor, although I believe Bennett will come good and Bowery was never anything more than a squad filler and looks OK. All mangers will make mistakes in the transfer market and when you are trying to buy players to pay in the toughest league in the world for relative peanuts both in terms of fees and wages the chances of signing a dud become far higher. For me he has signed just one dud and that is KEA and even he looks a better player than many players we have signed for far higher fees and wages in recent times. Lambert made mistakes in terms of the formation when he went to 5 at the back I don't think anyone would dispute that. As I have said previously though I'd expect the odd mistake from a young a relatively inexperienced manager and would then judge that manager, as I would a player, on if he can learn from those mistakes and I believe that Lamber will. If you seriously believe that keeping a club that has been on a rapid decline for 2 years before he arrived, a club that finished on 38 points last season, in the league this season whilst reducing the wage bill is no big achievement then you are deluded. Lambert inherited a very poor squad both in terms of quantity and quality. A 17 mill net spend whilst having to drastically reduce the wage bill was never going to be enough to make this season anything but another season of struggle and so it has proved. As I have said previously I think we will survive and when that is finally confirmed I'll certainly be thankful to Lambert and the players, many of whom who have had to learn as they have gone along, for keeping us up. I also believe both the manager and our young and inexperienced players will be far stronger for having come through this season and expect us to hit the ground running come next season. There was the sun writer who said we spent a combined 7 point something million on players that wasnt Benteke in the summer.

I really don't understand how anyone can think that. Hutton and warnock weren't sold last summer so they could have been used earlier on this season. The wages and fees of bennet, Lowton, KEA, Vlaar and Bowery could have all been spent differently. Instead Lambert ended up building a defence that is quite possibly one of the worst ones we've ever had. How can that be excused? How can that be shrugged off as he could do nothing else? It's ridiculous to argue such a thing. Combine that with the awful formation choices and this defence of him is just laughable. Keeping us in this league, even with such a limited budget, should have been the minimum expected of Paul Lambert this year. Ridiculous to somehow suggest its an incredible achievement. Funny you say that I think Vlaar & Lowton have been good signings!

In reply to the defensive issue Left back is an issue but I think left side apart the main issue is protection from the midfield and the lack of propper wingers. The system is disjointed.

I have two answers WORST SIGNING - Heskey. We needed a goal scorer to finish in the top four we got him. WORST VALUE FOR MONEY - Makoun/Ireland

Another day another link by the papers this time Spurs http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2300201/Tottenham-lead-chase-Christian-Benteke-face-competition-Manchester-City-Inter-Milan.html