weedman

Surely information on net spend only works if you know how much we have spent in total though? For example we paid £12m for McCormack but was it just 12? Did we pay his agent anything? What about a signing on fee? For all we know we actually spent £15m all in, therefore us chatting about a £12m net spend is a complete waste of time really because none of us actually know how much we've spent

I think I love him

Not when they were in this league

Didn't we already do this with Elphick?

I'm pretty sure I heard that it was an actual release clause, but they simply refused to sell him anyway. It was a breach of contract but the only option for Suarez at that point was to sue Liverpool for it and force his move that way, he chose not to and signed a new contract instead, leaving the following year. It was a ballsy move for sure, and luckily for them it worked out. Don't quote me on that or anything I'm not 100%, I'm just convinced I heard something like that at the time. Regardless, it's no more than luck that it worked out and I would think too big a risk for virtually anyone outside the top few players in the world so not something we have to worry about really!

I'm not convinced you understand the point he was making there

I'm pretty sure you could go back 100+ pages on this thread and read the exact same debate as we're seeing now

Well that certainly helped us sell Hutton, where did he end up again?

Ugh this is as annoying to read as the Carles Gil thread last year. Just like Gil, chances are he's not the world class, tear teams apart single handed superstar some want him to be, he's also most likely not some horrendous athlete who has no notion of how to play football. IMO he's a below average winger with an incredible amount of pace which bumps him up to an average winger. We've barely seen him play apart from highlights so no one can say with any degree of certainty if he's good or not, but I'm pretty sure if he was able to destroy teams single handedly he wouldn't have been consistently overlooked by however many managers we had last season - and our reserve team would have destroyed every team they played with him on the pitch, they didn't.

Pretty sure you can buy a player whenever the hell you want, it's just you can only register them to play during the transfer windows. So we've signed Elphick officially, but if we had a competitive match tomorrow he wouldn't be able to play as he's not registered until the window opens

Maybe PES will rename them to Aston Villa to avoid licencing issues

Erm, OK, good one

And did you donate a tenner?

I've heard from multiple sources now that it should be done by June 15th Edit : all my sources are from this thread

Yes, but that was long before any takeover talk started

We bought the filler last season, good players, but not enough on their own, if we can get the core this season (1st choice GK, DF, MF, ST) there's no reason to think we can't come straight back up. That's 4 players on top of replacing whoever leaves. Add in 2 or 3 squad options if we have the resources for them and we should be OK. It's all about getting the 4 core players right. Experienced and good quality (even if just Championship quality) and they will raise the level of the rest of the team naturally. As shit as they've all been this season some of our players are decent and with some experience and quality around them they should improve

I'd buy that

I really hate seeing this argument. Ok, yes, trying SHOULD be a minimum, but it isn't. Not amongst premier league footballers. Therefore someone who gives 100% every game is a positive trait no matter how much we would expect everyone to do it, because most (especially in our team) only care about checking their bank balance

So stubbing a cigar out on someone's eye is OK, because he's a competent footballer, but tweeting a picture of a car is an outrageous act because he's not a competent footballer? Look, only caring about their football ability is fine, we all want what's best for Villa at the end of the day, but surely if you're ok with what Barton has done, you must be ok with what Lescott or Gabby etc have done too?

All I was saying is there is no possible way anyone can be offended by anything Gabby, Lescott etc has done this year and not by anything Barton has done. Therefore they have no right to criticise the attitude of some but not others when all they care about is whether they are good at football or not. Given the uproar on here when our players tweet a picture of a car or have a picture taken with their son or smoke a shisha, I can only imagine the uproar if one of our players, for example, stubbed out a cigar on a youth players eye. Having a good season? Here, have another cigar and you don't want to dirty an ash tray so use that kids eye, he probably won't make it anyway. Having a bad season? Take a picture with your kid at a caravan park, oh my god surely he should be sacked he's tarnishing the good name of Aston Villa! People say money is running football, but us, as fans aren't helping by allowing good players free reign to do whatever they want with nothing more than an eye roll, while simultaneously unleashing our fury at bad players for doing literally anything. Liverpool fans defended Suarez (until he left) for the bite, Man Utd fans defended Roy Keane for that (deliberate) tackle and Cantona for the kick, some of us are now defending Barton because we're linked with him, and yet Lescott tweets a picture of an expensive car?! Hang him!

I couldn't care less if he was as good as Ronaldo, I'd rather give N'Zogbia a new contract than sign Barton on a free. He's scum and if it wasn't for his football ability he'd probably be on the dole living in his council flat in between prison visits still banging on about how he's God's gift to everything. Anyone happy with signing Barton has absolutely no right to criticise any other player about any off pitch issues. Gabby, N'Zogbia, Richards, Lescott et all are saints by comparison.

This, Barton may well be a decent Championship player, but he's a monumental knob and as crap as we are I wouldn't want to be associated with him in any way

Injured all season I believe

Ostriches?! Pearson's the new manager lads, confirmed

Cahill wasn't ready for our 1st team when he was sold, bags of potential and a good squad player, but not a 1st choice defender for a team pushing for the CL, he'd been on loan a few times and wouldn't go again IIRC, a "play me or sell me" deal, so we sold him for the good of his career, I don't think he'd be the defender he is today if he'd stayed