TheStagMan

He's holding it in :-)

1 hour ago, sne said:

Not sure, are the English players even allowed to come back into the country after the Euros?

Depends how they get on over there......

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

What you talking about, they are going to knock us out the league and fa cups!!

Yes, but in the FA Cup, they will wait until the 3rd round.

1 hour ago, Tubby said:

Have we got anyone at the club that could keep a straight face whilst asking for £30m?

Ah, the Daniel Levy approach

Most of our players are closer to being "inaction man", but Gabby is interested in how much bling he has round his neck. 

6 hours ago, NeilS said:

Apologies in advance, but I have to disagree..... He is quite rounded these days.

I was waiting for that. He basically held the door open for you!

:-)

1 hour ago, villakram said:

Every time I see this thread in the sidebar I get a little giddy thinking we're finally rid. Another disappointing day, thanks! 

I was just about to post something similar..... LOL

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

The immature part of me constantly sees his name as "Panty mon".

Better than that "Pyjama man" goalkeeper we had on loan under MON

Frankly, with that attitude, he can **** right off. He isn't anything special........

10 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

 

The issue isn't with VT or those that post on it the issue is with the premis of the article that conveyed the story.

The story had the title "The other side of Villa's Gabby Agbonlahor", intentionally or otherwise that headline is implying a level of balance in his actions and was always likely to prove to be inflammatory to a fan base angry at him and still raw from relegation.

Saying donating shows his other side suggests "look I know his attitude and conduct was terrible last season but look he made a donation he isn't a complete right off".

The problem is the gesture, nice though it is does absolute nothing to redeem him in post people's eyes let alone act as a counter balance to his ills.

Then you have the value of his donation, not a small amount by a normal mans standards but it is a tiny sum for someone who earns around 56 times that amount each week.

This wasn't some grand gesture, it wasn't akin to the likes of Craig Bellemy setting up charitable foundations or Beckham donating a years salary at PSG to children's charities. It was the equivalent of one of us putting our loose change in a collection tin when we just dropped a few hundred quid on something.

Its a decent gesture, it's kind, the value of the donation shouldn't be judged and it's a good thing to do. But let's not pretend that I'm somehow doing so it makes some grand statement about character or in any way redeems past wrongs.

If he average man on the street has been a complete whopper and then gives £3.00 to cancer research would people say 'see he ain't that bad really, that's the other side to the guy' would they balls they'd still think him a whopper.

That is the issue here, that is why people talk about the size of his donation because it's relevant to the topic at hand rising from the utterly ridiculous headline on the article.

Now if Gabby said 'I'm giving 3 months salary to X because I want to do something to help and let's face it I didn't earn it' then that would be a different side to him and be treated very differently. Not just because of the value, though it would help, but because it might actually start to balance things out a little more.

As it is he remains in most people's eyes a disgrace to the shirt, a charlatan of a footballer and frankly a bit of a judus given he is supposed to be one of us.

But the Mail got what they wanted from the click bait headline getting a reaction to what was ultimately a non story.

Spot on sir. Eloquent and to the point. Sums it up exactly for me.

4 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

 

I can't really comment on Pantilimon too much, I've not really seen him play I'm surprised so many feel in a position to assess him.

There are a couple of things I think worth noting in speculation with him and any other keepers this summer.

We've already made one change this summer relating to keepers with the arrival of the seemingly very well respected Massimo Battara.

It was Battara that championed Hart over Given at City an opinion listened to by Mancini and proven to be right, it seems likely to me he will offer and expect his opinion to be listened to here and what is more RDM will want it. So any keeper we sign will come with his approval.

It is also worth pointing out that Battara was at City from 2009 to 2013, Pantilimon was there for some of the same period so the two have worked together previously.

So if we are in for him it isn't random link it may appear at first to be and secondly if Battara is as good as reported, personally I'm happy to take his judgement on a player he has previously worked with.

As for the Romania squad, players playing for their clubs always tend to get picked ahead of those that aren't unless you are Jack Wiltshere anyway. 

Just my two pence worth anyway.

 

Very very good points.

2 hours ago, tismyk said:

The Villa action man

That is a very camp pose.....

TBH Embarrassing as it is, the clubs PR is way down the list of things to fix. Have Faith - Tony will get to it.....

Welcome Tommy. 

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Oh yes, because the only options are "Fawning" or being a clearing in the woods ain't it? No in between, absolute tossers.

Yes because absolute tossers get upset that people don't love him for a fairly small gesture. 

Anyway - whatever,. 

Is this sack of shit gone yet?

Because we aren't fawning over Gabby doing the equivalent of dropping a tenner in a charity box. 

Much as it will help that lady (and I hope she recovers).

no no no no no no no no no

I was just getting optimistic for the season - but reading that has got me depressed again. These wasters need to go.

40 minutes ago, bobzy said:

I'm sure he would want a full pre-season with as many as possible.  However, he still has to view what he's got.

It's likely that Di Matteo will have a different tactical setup than Sherwood/Garde/Black/Wenger/whoever, will want to see different attributes in his players and will play in a different style.  How does he know that players we already have don't fit the bill without actually seeing them?

Even then, having assessed his squad options for suitability, he needs to identify players he wants (likely already has a list here) and get the club to enter negotiations - negotiations over price, contract etc.  Everything takes time.

No, sorry you've lost me!

In seriousness though, I would like to think that he has a plan of who he wants to keep and who he wants to drop kick out of the building, but I would assume he wants to see them all in person and assess them in training for a week or so (attitude etc) to confirm to himself that he has it right, and to make any adjustments to his plans.

in my mind we need:

1. New captain/leader - CHECK
2. Poisonous Layabouts removed - Gabby/Richards/Lescott
3. Utterly useless waste of skin gone - CHECK (Nzombie)
4. Less capable players removed - Sinclair/Guzan/Cissokho, Bennett, Kozak
5. New Striker(s)
6. Decent midfielder
7. RB and LB
8. Keep Amavi, Ayew and Gana - Promising noises so far

It seems to me that 2. is in progress (given the statements made by all of the hierarchy, I will be very disillusioned if those three are still here next season, or if they are, they are on gardening leave). Hopefully the training camp will just be RDM confirming his plans. I am sure he will have targets in mind as well.

Going to be a hectic few weeks (hopefully)

:-)

2 minutes ago, cyrusr said:

Correction. Last season we had the best groundsmen in the Premier League  

This season will be a walk in the park in the Championship...

Well technically gutter when we go to the sty but you get my drift  

1 hour ago, cyrusr said:

we have the best groundsmen in the premier league

*ahem* Championship.

Sorry :-(

1 hour ago, choffer said:

The most interesting thing for me* in the takeover pictures and videos is that we've not taken the pitch up yet. I guess that means we're not planning on relaying it this summer as most clubs tear off the turf the minute the season is over to give the new grass time to take.

 

 

 

* Because I'm a total saddo

In fairness, it has only been used for kickabouts mostly last season so is probably still in pretty good nick.

14 hours ago, Harry said:

I had lunch with two partners from KPMG last week. The rumour there is that Hollis was asked to work on some projects with Randy. Before he could start those he apparently had to sell Villa. So job done! I strongly suspect he has been very well rewarded for his work.

Operation Buy and destroy SHA ?

6 minutes ago, sne said:

It's the Micah Richards thread all over again 

:-) Im sorry, Im bored, just get the F&PP announcement done already!

Well, hopefully RDM, with decent moral backing from Dr X can sort them out and keep a few of them to build around. I think that if we can get rid of the disruptive influences and start building something they will see that we may well be the best option for them, hopefully taking the championship by storm and then building an assault on the premier league, not signing for a newly promoted team and struggling for another year. 

Hopefully RDM and Dr X have been planning their next moves for a while and have a good idea of who they want to keep, who they want shot of and who they want to bring in. We should be able to start in earnest very soon. 

Fingers crossed :-)

On 12/06/2016 at 19:14, Spoony said:

Now let me tell you about the McLeish era...gather round...".

I wouldn't bother. They will never believe you...... :-)