dukes

No, old news is that an approach has been made, an offer is somehting else entirely. This is progress.

Thanks for that ickle. You are right, this does look promising, most of the others mentioned there are prominent concluded deals. Wahey !

Which Takeover Table ???? Can you provide a link or paste it here (with source) ? The LSE is still showing trading in Villa shares, and states we're in a bid situation still.

So no change then ? Why the sudden need for a statement ? After Neville's comments that the deal could go through before the New Year, this seems to be a major step backwards, as it indicates we're a long way off an agreement.

Do i take it this means no further progress before the New Year ? It sounds like agreement is some way off from their statement.

JPA has suffered this season because of the following :- 1. His Knee injury 2. Darius Vassells injury 3. Being forced to play wit Carlton Cole IMO if he gets a full injury free preseason, and a regular strike partner (Daz Vass ??) then he'll return to last seasons form. For me he has looked like he wants the season to end since mid February. Fingers crossed for next season.

I hate what Ellis is doing to our club, but i don't think any of us should go so far as wishing him dead. On his death, he will deserve our respect for the following reasons :- 1. Saving the club in the late 60's 2. Selling the club and enabling us to win the league and european cup in my lifetime I think thats enough to earn my respect, and we should all remember even Doug has a family, how would u feel if people turned up at your Dad's funeral and jeered/cheered during the first verse of Jerusalem !

Actually, the fee is decided by a tribunal which would take into account the development of the player during his time at the club, and also his present market value. Look at how much we had to pay for Barry (more than £1M) , and that was a payment based on the potential of a player plucked from relative obscurity. With Hitz this is not the case, we have taken a player and turned him into a German International, so i should imagine we can expect to receive 60 - 70% of his market value. And I'd still take that rather than just keep him as a squad player !

Sorry but you are wrong. we get a fee for him as he is under 24 he does not qualify for a bosman ! So yes i'd take £3m for him thankyou

I think the fact that he's got into the German International team is working against us here. The majority of the German squad play for teams in the Bundesligue, therefore Hitz will feel some pressure to return home anyway or risk losing his place. I believe however that had he been playing in Germany, his goal scoring expoloits wouldn't have been enough to get him a place in their squad (he played the lats game as a left back, and not even in midfield). The problem is, that him being an international has led to him making demands that he really has no place making. With regard to salary, i expect given the teams that are supposedly interested in him, he will be looking for at least £20k to stay (i estimate he's on about £12k now). For me this is quite simply too much for a squad player, whose only contribution has been a few spectacular goals. I'd prefer us to let him negotiate his transfer, take whatever fee the tribunal sets (this is where his international caps will be useful), and reinvest the money on other key areas of the squad (like a new GK or Forward).

Undertand your point here, but my comments tho inspired by his poorest performance yet, would have been the same after the game against Portsmouth. He hasn't proved himsalef to be a Premiership standard midfielder (in my opinion), though he has proved capable of scoring Premiership class goals.................but there needs to be more to his game than just that !

I have purposefully not commented on yesterdays game until now (i wanted to be sure i meant what i said!). Of all the players out there yesterday i would have thought Hitz had the most to play for. In recent weeks we have heard him state the importance of his next contract, the fact that he wants regular first team football, and the opportunity to stake a claim for a place at next years world cup, that he wants to be at a the club best suited to improving his game, and that he wants the financial terms to be right. In the last few weeks he has come on as a substitute, and really made a difference to the match, harrying back, running from box to box, making himself available for passes, and of course scoring that great goal against Portsmouth. The thing is, in my opinion for a young man who has such big ideas of his own ability, he has never proved himself to be capable over 90 minutes, as was proven again on Saturday. If we are to believe the press, he has Bayern Munich, Bayern Leverkusen and Stuttgart amongst his suitors for a summer transfer........WHY ? What do these teams see in him ? He has earnt a reputation as a scorer of improtant and spectacular goals, but that isn't enough to get him a regular starting slot in the Villa team, why does he imagine it would be enough for any of these Bundesgliga teams ? In my opinion, Hitz is weak in the tackle, a poor passer of the ball, Lazy, and with cries of "SHOOT" everytime he gets the ball a distraction to himself and his teammates. On the positive side, he does have a sweet left foot, and undoubted potential, but the question is, does he really deserve to be amongst our bigger earners (more than Hendrie for example) ? Are these other clubs really that interested, or is it just some clever game being played by his agent ? My gues is that Hitz has already made up his mind to leave the club this summer, some of the comments attributed to him in the press show taht maybe he has believed the hype spewed by his agent, and thinks he can get a bigger contract back home. Would it really make any difference to us if he left ?

What does anyone hope to gain from this thread ???? Lets go back to slagging HDE/DOL/Sorensen/Hendrie/Barry/JLLoyd At least those arguments have substance, this is just drivel.

Can't agree here, while they may have champions league football, regularly, this is by default, as the dutch league has only two teams. Other teams who regularly claim champions league football include Trabzonspor, Club Brigge, Anderlecht, Banik Ostrava, FC Basel, Maccabi Haiffa, and Rosenborg, would you therefore say these are bigger clubs than us ? Finding talented young players, then selling them off to bigger clubs does not make you their equal either, it makes you a feeder club, ask Dario Gradi ! I'd be willing to bet that if their current squad played in the Premiership they'd only finish mid table, i'd say our boys would easily be there equal, so for me YES we are a bigger team !