weedman

Richardson has moved wide the last couple of games when N'Zogbia has come off for Sanchez, so maybe the plan is Westwood, Delph, Cleverley and Sanchez to compete for the middle 3 spots, with N'Zog, Richardson, Gabby and Andi competing for the wide spots and Benteke and Kozak the main 2 up front. Richardson and N'Zogbia can cover in the middle of we get injuries and there's still Joe Cole as well Nice to have options for a change!

That's for Europe, it's 105m domestically And what is the point of using the Premier League rules if it means you finish in a European position or win a cup and get a massive fine? If you don't get into Europe or win something what is the point of losing the 105m? It's talk of Premier League rules that confuse the issue because they are pointless. What's the point in allowing teams to spend loads of money to achieve nothing then hit them with a big fine if they see any form of success like European qualification? It's the FA and FIFA...so that's that one cleared up then!

Lambert's in a win win career wise this season. We get relegated and it's because he was working with his hands tied etc etc, we stay up even by the skin of or teeth and he's a magician for managing it under our circumstances. Nothing he does this season can harm his career, and he can go a long way to getting his reputation back on track. I hope he manages it!

I thought that about Newcastle last season, they finished terribly (as bad as we did this year) then didn't exactly sign any world beaters. But they did alright last year and with a bit of luck there's no reason we can't surprise a few people this year. I'm not talking mid table even, just a 13-16th spot which is more than achievable with the players we have

He's good in poor teams. To be fair to us we weren't actually that bad when he signed for us (considered a big step up from a relegation threatened team) and he couldn't adapt to a 'better' team. Now, like at Wigan, he'll be one of our stand out players and he has the ability to pick the ball up almost anywhere and Theo Walcott it upfield (run like a headless chicken up the pitch before inevitably getting cornered and either getting lucky and doing something amazing or giving the ball away) and that's exactly what we need and should really help us in those games where we just can't get the ball out of our own half. CNZ will be very important in relieving the pressure that our defence will inevitably be under, and if he's recovered, fit and well he COULD be an important player for us...

But we don't have £16million to spend or those two...that's the problem

Newcastle. I think we are a better buy than both of those clubs. Newcastle aren't up for sale are they? If their fans had their way they'd be for sale every Summer

Cobblers. When Barry first broke into the first team all those years ago he played in a back 3, and he was that good he was called up to the England squad at just 17. He wasn't that good though, he was a youngster with potential, no different from the likes of Ridgewell or Clark or even Baker (who everyone was raving about when he first broke in until it became apparent he is not a footballer). Comparing him to our best ever defenders is ridiculous. If he was comparable to the likes of Laursen he wouldn't have been thrown out to the left wing where he was awful for so long simply because he had a left foot. I mean Portsmouth were about to sign him for about £2 or £3 mil before MON came in and put him central midfield where he flourished. Lots of promising youngsters have been called up for England based on their potential and never made it. Barry is on that list for me, showed promise as a defender but never made it. The Gareth Barry that plays so well in midfield is not the same player. To keep it on topic, the Gareth Barry that played in defence for us isn't half the defender that Ron Vlaar is, not even a quarter of the defender in fact (in my own opinion of course)

Anyone who puts Gareth bloody Barry in a list of top defenders for this club obviously never saw him play prior to going in central midfield. Bang average defender. Terrible left winger. Top class central midfielder. Comparing him to Vlaar just because he's a good centre mid who happened to play back a few times is ridiculous. Its like comparing him with Heskey

True but the Man City squad wasn't that bad when they took over. They had already spent quite a bit and finished around mid table. Spending 200M on a regular relegation contender seems unlikely. I don't think he was overly concerned with the players they had, only the players they were going to buy. I wouldn't be surprised if he got someone to put all prem teams in a hat and he just happened to pick City, what happened to them could have happened to anyone in the league that was even slightly for sale, if he was a couple of years earlier it could have been us

Keane will only be the assistant! I dont rate him as a manager, but being an assistant is more like being a captain was back in the day - one of our major problems is that we have no leaders, on or off the pitch. I can't imagine him having too much influence on training etc (some, but not too much) but he'll the one screaming at players and getting them all fired up. If he does come in I can't see any more lethargic games where the players seemingly don't give a damn, and that can only be a good thing!

It has to be BS. He's saying he's "sticking his neck on the line" by saying he'll give acorns £100 if he's wrong. I'm not convinced anyone who is worried about £100 is high enough up the ladder to have intricate knowledge of £200 million business deals

Yes, though the Mail says West Ham is willing to give him £65,000 a week, so he's not that free.Maybe he'd be willing to lower his wage more to spend his last few years with Villa? I mean it's not all about the money for some... (just clinging onto hope haha) When you're entering the twilight of your career, you follow the money if it makes sense. Unless we would offer Barry at least £60,000, I don't think he would even consider our offer. Is he a Villa supporter like Lescott? No. Throughout his whole career here the minute any team showed an interest in him he wanted out. First Portsmouth, then Liverpool, finally City and he got his move, can't imagine him coming back

Highlighted players are not good enough for us at this level, that is the truth. This is not Championship we are talking about, it's Premier League and we have to compare this team to others. They have matches of brilliance, but are just NOT consistent enough to be first starters. Few like Bacuna and Westwood can still improve, but atm should be not in the first eleven if we are to be winning consistenly. But we aren't going to be winning consistently, we are a bottom half of the table team. Winning consistently is something the top 6/7 should expect. The rest of us are going to be inconsistent so unless we get a new owner willing to splash the cash we shouldn't be binning off anyone because they are inconsistent. If we get players that perform consistently at a high level better teams will sign them. We're in survival mode at the minute with an owner that has lost interest, until someone new comes in those players ARE good enough to see us avoid the drop, as they have proven over the last year or two. Once we grow enough to not be too concerned with relegation then we can look at a higher calibre player, let's not get ahead of ourselves though

Terrytini, Its clear you have an ability to play things down and put on a happy face and quite honestly I applaud you for that. I guess you see the best in most things and that is great. some of us are not so gifted. I have watched all the home games this season and last and i can tell you my eyes did not lie to me....quites apart from analysing the results and stats, I choose to watch the players and look at their individual performances that come together to form a team performance, I look at their demeanor during a game, i watch the positions they take up ......sure there are different circumstances from game to game but over a decent period an experienced fan usually gets the gist of a players worth. Just like a team, anyone can form a case for a player that is rubbish, mitigation can be presented in art form.....The courts hear it every day. We have been playing some low grade football for some considerable time, before Paul Lambert even, but that doesn't make it any easier. For what its worth, i think we players that are poor.. more in terms of consistency than ability and they have problems with their character in terms of stamping their authority on a game. In short they take defeat too easily. It strikes me that we have put little emphasis on the will to win character of the player and more on the silky skills, problem is the physical game don't always let you display those silky skills and a bit of ugly work needs to be employed....most of our squad are not capable of that IMO. I was and still am to a degree in favour of lower league " hungry players " big burning question is did we just simply get the wrong ones....in my view yes. its all opinions.....problem is we feel compelled to come on here( due to our passion for AVFC) and spout our pennyworth, when in truth we don't know the half of what goes on at B6, all we can base our judgment on is what happens on the pitch during match day....If we did know the behind the scenes stuff we may form some different opinions, but then they would only relate to mitigation, because what happens on the pitch is there or all to see. I actually disagree with almost none of that............but it irks me when people Overdo it - it is the case that the majority, if not all, of our first 11-15 would get into Premiership teams, just like all the ones I listed who were derided at various times in the recent past doing so. I am not saying we are anything special, far from it, just trying to bring some perspective to people who, IMO, are being too harsh on the quality of what we have in comparison to others. That's because of how we ended the season, if the season had finished after the Chelsea game most people would probably agree we have a Premiership team that's a few decent players off being mid table, but after ending the season so terribly and losing to almost everyone a lot of people have reached the conclusion that we have the worst team in the league and our early results were nothing but luck. I still think the current team can just about avoid relegation and with 3 or 4 decent players (I'm not talking world beaters, just some solid players with a bit of experience) we could be mid table and not in that horrible relegation battle

THEY TURK OUR DURRRR!!

I personally think there's a firm offer on the table, but its not the best (either not matching the £200m value, or from people Randy doesn't think would be good for us) so he's out the feelers out for someone new and if no one comes forward then he'll sell to them. That's just my feeling, I expect us to be sold before the season starts but I wouldn't hold my hopes on some multi billionaire coming in and making us the next Man City

London club syndrome strikes again.... Except Reading isn't in London... Living 15 minutes from Reading, I can confirm that it is, in fact, definitely not London

I'm pretty sure insurance covers the wages if a player gets injured doesnt it? Its only if a player has a long standing injury problem they may not get covered, and thats when clauses get put in contracts. I'd be surprised if we needed a clause here

I always had a bit of a soft spot for Jlloyd, he had some great games for us just a shame there were so many crap ones as well

Mendi explained it all to us. Definitely sold to Ellison, but he's changed his mind, so it might not be him in the end. Lambert was so determined to prove he is the man to take us forward as long as he is given some cash to splash that he went for showdown talks with Randy in order to stop the takeover because he wanted a clause in his contract saying he couldn't be sacked so he quit. (Figure that out!) In other news, Red Bull's name has been thrown around, as well as some American's...and according to another forum Lambert is gone...but he might not be To sum up, we're for sale, and literally nothing else has happened in the last 500 pages

Maybe it was a done deal ages ago but they're all having so much fun reading this thread they're trying to drag it on a bit to see what else the Villa detectives can dig up!

Hey I've been reading this forum for a while now so thought I may as well post something! 29 years old supported Villa since I was 10 when I first moved to England (didn't like football, had to support someone to fit in at school and was either Arsenal or Villa as that was the game on TV at the time, chose Villa because they had an Australian in the team - Bosnich - and haven't looked back since!)