blandy

Would be interesting to have a VT get together, but I doubt it'll ever happen.

We had a North west VT'ers one a month or 2 back. It was neat. We went to some pubs, drank beer, talked rubbish for ages, then went for a Curry. The sun shone brightly on us, too in Manchester!

Thoroughly recommended.

Well I've met JC, shared a nod in the direction of Jon Fear and actually seen Pete Bland (although he doesn't know it :oops: ) in the bar of the Leisure center I believe.

Should have said hi, Richard. Here's some of the miscreants in the aforementioned Leisure Centre

Blandy, Naz, Peter (not) in Boston! (well timed Nibbles) Jonathan Fear

why go back The Open is on....

I think you've answered your own question there, Al.

(but I didn't go back)

you work at bae - you're half way there ;-)

And I'm, er, working, on the other half.

Came home sick today due to an inability to retain food inside my tum. I've just had some soup and if it stays down I'll go back in in a bit.

Actually that's probably too much detail

...bugger how did I miss AJ off mylist ....

Memo to Al - that cheeky little scamp who runs around in your garden, loves the Villa, calls you "Dad" - that's AJ, and he's your son.

I want Pablo's job

Quite a few - More than 10, though I haven't counted exactly - and it's been a pleasure.

Al (LV), PB, Jonathan (The Fear), Risso, Jon, Bicks, Drat, Paulo, Denis, Ian R, AJ, - that's 11, and there are more. Stick or twist?

Not sure scrubbing will clear it up, perhaps an ointment might be better?

My favourite band. so says scrobble

Good player, good signing. Desperately needed. Better than Beattie (would have been) as a signing.

The signings so far are all pretty decent I think. We clearly need a back up keeper with Postma going, and not particularly top quality. Like wise a right back - with Uli not really defensively solid, Delaney prone to injuries and the odd sulk. We also needed to have more options for the left of midfield with Hitz gone and clearly with last seasons woeful number of goals from the forwards, and the injuries and loss of form, as well as Can't Control and Stefan Moore going Philips was a necessity, and I think a very good signing indeed.

As for which "list" - are there two? I think not.

So far we have strengthened some of the areas we were caught short in last season, for maybe just over 3 million (or 9 million in Doug speak)

I imagine that there's still about 5 or 6 mill left to spend, and that the areas in need of new blood are maybe left back, centre half and another forward. I doubt we'll get get all three places sorted, but if say DO'L was told you can have 10 mill plus any money from sales raised he may have decided to go for 2 players at around 4 mill each and some frees and low cost signings with higher wages.

So far so good, but I'd love to see a couple more players at the right age and of real promise/quality come in.

I think we'll still see a couple more signings.

I haven't got a drive, but do have a garage.

Ooh, Mod fight,

er, I voted other, he says, obeying.

....the share price could be a lot higher if we had played to the strengths Ellis inherited, the fan base, the European Cup etc. What an irony that his running of the club in his own interest (safe, staid, unadventurous, keep in the top division but don't spend more than you have to) has depressed the share price below what it should be.

He probably thinks that if the share price is higher than he paid, that means he's done well. What an arse....the lack of a strategy has meant that his shareholding is worth - what - a half, a quarter of what it could have been worth with good club business management. He's lost himself money, even in his own narrow terms of reference....

Spot on, except for a slight [can't think of the right word] in the last line - "he's lost himself money" - he hasn't. He just hasn't made as much as he could/should have ':?' because he's such a weeny.

As an aside, I'll post the goats back tomorrow Peter. Thanks.

To be honest, and it's just pure guesswork on my part, I think around 6 quid a share, or just under would be an accurate reflection of the worth of the club (without Ellis). With the current share price being just under 4 quid a share, the price is maybe a bit depressed from what it ought to be, if we were less timidly run, had had proper corporate governance and a professional board throughout.

The club's value contains no debt, some reasonable land assets - perhaps 15 million quids worth, a playing squad and property worth a tidy sum, a regular income stream, large fan base etc etc....

It's just that football shares in general have lost favour from the over hyped times maybe 8 years ago, and that VIlla is so unimaginatively run, and run more for the benefit of Ellis than of the "business" overall.

There's scope for growth.

The issue though is whether any owner, Ellis or new, will run the Aston Villa as a football club, or as a cash machine investment. At the moment is is run as a bit of both and mostly neither. Ellis is not excessively paid by Prem standards, though he is on performance and compared to Chairmen CEOs of other (non-football businesses with similar turnover, and equally there's been a lot less investment in the actual football side of the club than at other established top level clubs.

The devil we know is a devil, and whoever comes next has a slightly better than even chance of being an improvement, but that doesn't mean that he/she couldn't be worse.

Detail is what we need, but are unlikely to get, I suppose.

If you were old and very unwell, and had a choice -

a) 24 million quid in cash

you can stay as chairman of a plc, taking 250 grand a year and sort of having to go to "work" most days, but faced with the prospect of stressful times...

Which would you choose?

Option 2 for me too.

I think he's unlucky not to have more games at the Arse. Primrose Wilson thought he should have been put in, and while he may be the worlds dullest (former) TV presenter, he does know about keepers.

Of the two, I prefer Darius.

Yes, he had a poor and injury hit season last year, whereas all Bellamy did was call his manager a liar, refuse to play in a position he didn't like, get arrested while on Wales duty for fighting in a club, have an on-pitch fight with a team mate, send abusive text messages to his team mates.....

Sometimes I really wonder....

Aaron Hughes - 21 games last season in the Prem. Newcastle finished 14th

Patrick Berger - 32 games last season in the Prem. Pompey finished 16th

I can't see us spending huge wodges of cash (over 10 mill) but I'm not worried as far as transfers only are concerned that Ellis being absent is a bad thing. Probably the opposite. Keeping Ellis as far away as poss from potential targets is a good thing.

The concern is that we won't do what is necessary, partially through lack of real will and partially because we're not that "competitive" in the transfer market.

Anyway, I clicked on 5 - l'll sit it out and pray

Good question.

Probably a bit early to answer, but our history recently, plus additional factors, suggests around 10th-17th.

No investment, no plans, no vision.....

I might be jumping the gun, but I've thought and occasionally said, for a long time that the end of the Ellis era will mean a deal of turbulence for Villa.

And turbulence means poor on the pitch performance.

Bluntly Ellis has shown himself as totally incapable of taking any forward steps, it's all "catch up"

Given thr current uncertainty - Langham going, Ellis in a hospital bed, and fecking useless anyway, I wouldn't expect any great steps forward, just a bit of regression -there's certainly no dynamism.

But in the longer term there's hope, though only slim, of major improvement.

S'pose it depends on how far you consider the negative affect of Ellis goes, how deep.

Me, I think it goes very deep.

Like Bickster I think I'm neutral, but al lthe things I sympathise with, and that internet survey thing someone put up a while back say I'm a "leftie". But I don't think of it that way.

If you ignore all the media stuff, all the stories in whatever paper or TV you watch, if you just go by how you'd like to be treated and treat people, then if you're honest with yourself, and think about it just a little bit, then whatever outcome you reach, that's where you are.

The election threads that were up here, were to me intersting to a point, but it was all party politics, which isn't (mostly) reality, anymore than adverts or films are. They're a glamourised idealist version, "the Salesman's pitch".

Me - if the bus is late, or the train, whatever, I get cross (ish) and think why? If someone is dying, or struggling or happy or making something of something, same applies. Look at why and you can work out a few things. This helps people, this hinders people.

Take away the veneer, and the doctrine, and what's left is just who us lot are - people.

People are, in my experience, inately good. But maybe I've been lucky. Anyway, give everyone a chance, trust them first. Don't start off being too distrustful, as a philosophy, and er, that's it.

(Oh, and Ellis is a Tory).

Dearie me Nibbles

You a Pig n'all.....

Norwich or the yam yams as a consolation (not so far to travel).

The Beeb just said their poll gives 66 seat majority to Labour.