BG_Villa_Fan

Houllier left us in the shit and claimed compensation too, tbh.

FWIW I agree with this wholeheartedly ( apart from Makoun being 5 star ).

If you replace '5' with '1' it'd make perfect sense, judging on the actual facts of his reign, rather than on utopic fan visions of grandeur. The club saw that and kicked him out even though the doctors gave him a pass for his medical condition. He must thank GMac for steering the ship well in the end of the season.

Please tell us you're taking the piss, please.

Reminds me of a Julian Joachim goal for Villa from a ridiculous angle from a while ago.

Neither, but this is spot on. So, on reflection, have to say Eck gets the nod.

Why would you offload a much better player though?

Nothing to do with him though. Also if it wasn't for him Tottenham would have got as many as Arsenal did today.

cant be a coincidence Villa defence gets better and Spurs defence gets worse when he switches lol that's a desperate dig at big Brad, I guess you haven't actually watched both games, have you?

He'd do well to have a premier league career matching Paul Dickov's.

OK, why are you foaming at the mouth, though? He'll continue to be Villa's captain and a credit to the club.

/thread Sir Dennis better stick to women's football.

Haven't included payoffs, coach/staff wages, etc. Only the players ( rough estimates obviously ) : Given : 55K Guzan : 15K Marshall+Parish : 5K Dunne : 50K Collins : 40K Warnock : 40K Young : 40K Cuellar : 35K Clark : 20K Beye : 35K Lichaj+Baker+Lowry : 10K N'Zogbia : 55K Makoun : 40K Albrighton : 25K Delph : 25K Petrov : 50K Ireland : 65K Bannan : 10K Hogg+Herd+Gardner, etc. : 10K Gabby : 60K Bent : 65K Heskey : 55K Delfouneso+Weimann : 30K Calculates to about 43 mil per year.

Assuming the players wages represnt the lion's share of the total wages the club pays and that the numbers from the 'Wages & Revenue (sustainability )' thread are correct ( ish ), which I believe they are, then the total sum as things currently stand calculates to a number between 40 mil and 50 mil per year. That's not nearly 88% of the turnover, unless the Villa pays really big money to ordinary employees, i.e. non playing staff. Well, I havent read that thread, I was merely basing my assumptions on what was on the article I linked to. As it is the BBC, one might assume it had some credibility. The 88% figure has been bandied about for quite a while too, since MON left anyway, so I dont think the Beeb just pulled it out of thin air, although i suppose you;d need to ask the journalist in question where he got his figures from. All I can do is the quote the BBC as my source and leave people to make their minds up about which source they prefer I don't doubt the source, it's just that we don't know what exactly is included in that 'wages' number - is it only the players wages, what other staff's wages it includes, whether it includes payoffs, etc. And most importantly - what percentage of that number the players wages are.

Assuming the players wages represnt the lion's share of the total wages the club pays and that the numbers from the 'Wages & Revenue (sustainability )' thread are correct ( ish ), which I believe they are, then the total sum as things currently stand calculates to a number between 40 mil and 50 mil per year. That's not nearly 88% of the turnover, unless the Villa pays really big money to ordinary employees, i.e. non playing staff.

According to the general the aim is top 4 and next season Villa could be anywhere between 4th and 9th. Or something along these lines anyway.

Given isn't a Friedel type. Given is a spectacular 'keeper, makes stunning saves. Just hope his reflexes haven't diminished. Wasn't talking about spectacular saves, but spectacular impact.

Ability-wise I believe Given is the best possible GK we can attract at the moment. I also believe and hope his injuries will not be such a huge problem, I'd expect another Friedel-like effect - very solid for a couple of years, albeit unspectacular. However, if the wages are indeed around 60K per week, that's definitely overpaying. I don't see how we're going to have a lower wage bill if we're replacing the left players' wages with the same or more expensive.

Well for a start he wasn't a complete PR distater in his first press conference and showed respect for the club and the fans, unlike the previous one. Too little and basic, obviously, but these days you've got to be happy with little, otherwise you'd have to turn into a non-stop moaning machine, which doesn't help anything and anyone. I didn't want him, but the sensible thing is to give him a chance. It's not his fault he's been put in a position, that no manager should ever be in.

I remember the times when discussing a potential target was about how good of a player he was and not about his potential wages or resale value or whether it's 3.5 mil or 3.75 mil. Given is a very good keeper, who would make us better and we're not exactly in a position to be picky, remember the manager search... People will moan but people will do with whoever the club is able to get.

Obviously the wages are outrageous, but we're certainly not too good for Shay Given, he's a very good keeper for a team headed for 8th/10th. Foster's rumoured price is too steep and the other keepers we've been linked with aren't as good as Given.

So, according to you, the money MON got in his first 3 years have been enough to achieve Champions league and 3 years has been a reasonable time frame to get a club from 16th to 4th? I think you won't find many to agree with this.

Very much this. I strongly believe in time MON will be fully vindicated. Just my opinion, I know this is currently blasphemy in these boards. In due time. The board have lost a lot of the fans already, would be interested if there's a poll how many of the fans they still have on their side.

Talking about Bent, I remember that interview with him, a couple of weeks ago, where he talked about Ancelotti, asked other players about him, etc. He seemed genuinely excited. Now, imagine how he feels about Big Eck? Ancelotti or Big Eck? Hmmmm...

Look! Look! Let's all jump on the new guy because he's written something wrong. That'll show 'em how cool we are. And failing miserably while being condescending... lol Villain