LoughboroughLion

It's not a case of shafting. PL and most managers aspire to do bigger and better things, as do we all in our careers. It comes down to the fact Aston Villa Football Club is a better job for PL than Norwich. If in 3-4 years a bigger football club came in for him, I wouldn't be as naive to think he would stay, because it's football, but more importantly it's life.

Lerner bought a flying car?!

You raise a very good point Mantis, we will go nowhere fast without a good scouting setup. One of the most valuable things a club can have IMO. The first thing I do on FM is sign 3 scouts with 20 - judging player ability and 20 - judging player potential

Nonsense Sky Sports clichéd yucky talk. How much did Newcastle spend? How much did Levante spend to finish 5th in La Liga? How much do Arsenal spend? You can buy success, yes. Can you have success without spending silly money? The answer to that is also yes. Ok, so with Newcastle in mind, would you have been 'excited' at the prospect of Pardew before he took the Newcastle job?

What a ludicrous post. The bit that makes me laugh is the 'wages for one good loan'. The key to all successful clubs in football has that phrase at its foundation.

Completely disagree with this. To get us into the 'big league' as you put it, we would need 100m+ investment. There is a top 6 now as I see it (city, utd, spurs, arsenal, chelsea and liverpool). All have significant funds and are in a 'desirable' location to attract big players. What we need now more than ever is to steady the ship and build on form year on year. If this is done we stand a better chance of being a better proposition for big investment, whether it be from Lerner or someone new. For me, Lambert is the person who can achieve this, and for that reason I am excited for the start of the season.

Holt is a tricky one, clearly has goals in him and I think he would compliment Bent well. He is by no means a huge signing but at the right price would be very effective. £3-4 million and 30-35k wages YES £5 million+ and anything near 40k+ wages NO Having said that, would Norwich let him go for £4m, I have my doubts

Hope - top 8 and FA Cup final Expectation - top 12 and playing positively

Igor Akinfeev > Given > Friedal for me

Hi all, I have just turned the big 18 and have received some money in the region of about £200-£300 from my nan. Instead of pissing it up the wall and spending it on holidays and nights out etc. I have decided I want to start trading in shares. I appreciate that its not the biggest amount of money, but then again I wouldn't really be interested in investing over £1000 as I don't see the risk as appealing. As this is my first time trading I have been advised to go to my bank and do it through them. I was just wondering if anybody had any advice etc. on the methods of how I should find my company and how I should generally go about it. If there is any material or websites I can read up on and so on? Also, I have looked into ForEx and that dosen't really appeal to me as I am no mathematician, plus I think I would rather keep the money in £BPS so would rather trade with the FTSE I reckon. Thanks all

I have from a very good source that he has offers from Qatar. Good luck to him, I'm a big fan of his

http://tinyurl.com/btv8m89 Although we're not with Nike anymore, if we had something like this but claret and blue I reckon it would look good. Mockup anyone?

Well look what Pardew has done with Newcastle, and I don't rate him that highly. I think getting a good scouting system is crucial to the modern game regardless of how much the new manager has to spend.

This isn't going as well as I had anticipated OGS - No Lambert - No Martinez - Probably No Who does that realistically leave? Rodgers, Poyet or Mick McCarth... Hoping for Rodgers then, seems a bit doubtful though

My head says Lambert, but my heart says OGS... but which to chose? Always follow my heart, OGS!

http://tinyurl.com/bm72f4p ...springs to mind, Greggoss Tratorelli

I watched that video that has been posted numerous times on this thread, and regardless of how much I know about the Norwegian League, the things that strike me is how likeable OGS seems and his potential to be a great manager is instantly recognisable. The style of football he tries to install in his teams will be a change for the better at Villa Park, and he seems to want a tight knit group of players, coaches and involve the academy as much as possible. Roll on I say.

This AVB speculation is really not helping us. Raising expectations that will only be slashed if/when someone of a lesser caliber is hired. Having said that, I wouldn't be disappointed with Rodgers AVB > Rodgers > Lambert > Poyet

Have we?

would prefer O'Hara, Jarvis or Doyle tbh

We have a manager at the moment?

Bits and tips for The Grand National 2012, my money's on Becauseicouldn'tsee or Giles Cross. Also hearing a lot of things about shakalakaboomboom, but I think this is just because of the hype around the horses name and not its ability. Thoughts?

I like that man utd kit

I share your desire for AVFC to be a global brand and for our shirts to be sold in every corner of the globe. But I live in Leicester and walk into my local JJB and Soccer Sports and can find maybe 4 tucked away home Villa shirts. The fact is, big teams have their shirts in shops because they win games, floating around mid to lower table we won't be a global brand for a very long time.

No. It's not about me being bothered he used to be at birmingham, it is categorically down to the fact he dosen't win games. So much over the past weekend I have seen on the BBC sport website and twitter, 'why are the Villa fans annoyed they're avoiding relegation', it angers me to think that our club could fall into a position where if we finish top half everyone will be amazed. We are a top 6 club, and we shouldn't settle for anything less.