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Stay. But he's got this season to prove he can adapt tactically, and get his act together in the transfer market (i.e. act more decisively and proactively, not sell the likes of Gary Cahill for no good reason, and not bring in flops and mediocrities like Knight and Harewood who take us backwards, not forwards). Otherwise he needs to do one. And we could do without the increasingly eccentric, vague and repetitive comments in the media - he is sounding more like his predecessor, Unctuous O'Slippery, by the day And, whereas we all worship at the altar of Randy, some clarification is now needed on ambition, the extent of future backing etc so that we can target our expectations accordingly

Top 8 in the league as it will be far tougher next year. And if a CL spot is less likely then we we need to take all the cups more seriously and be aiming for a QF place in all of them

Seconded. A few years ago David O'Leary was hammered with a fine by the PL for having the gall to mention in passing his admiration for James Beattie in an interview. There is no consistancy in these matters - the big clubs are always tapping up players through the media and rarely get taken to task. Ferguson has been at it for years, and the conduct of Liverpool and Real Madrid this summer has been shoddy in the extreme. If GB does stay then there is a strong chance that our star playing asset will have become damaged goods. Please General, let's make a stand

What first eleven? At a push we currently have a first seven or eight

Billy McNeill - as I recall he has all the attributes required

I've got to believe. I didn't sit through 25 years of that other c##t to give up this easily

Sorry, just don't get it. The nice guy thing is irrelevant. And however badly Ellis and co treated him when he first arrived he has been paid a huge wage to do his job ever since. We bought him as an out-and-out striker for over £9million and this is his return:- Current club totals Apps As sub Goals Yellow Red Total (Club) 205 (47) 62 15 0 League 175 (41) 44 14 0 FA Cup 9 (1) 1 0 0 League Cup 17 (3) 13 0 0 European/Others 4 (2) 4 1 0 That's a flop. Maybe not a Balabanesque flop but a flop all the same. And certainly not a hero

Yardie eh? Great posting as always (sorry mate but I don't agree with your post again seeing as you can't give proof but on personal opinion) Do i need to put IMO on every post for all the dullards? If i was in the pub, and i passed comment that Defoe was a yardie scumbag, Would you stop me and ask if i had any proof to such a thing? It's racist stereotyping whichever way you look at it pal - he's young, he's black, he's from London - he must be a Yardie - no other evidence to back up your comment, just a very shallow, knee-jerk opinion which is irrelevant in the extreme to anything to do with his football. You've basically called him a gun-toting, drug-dealing, murderous thug - now tell us why For what it's worth my understanding is that Defoe is a born-again Christian - whatever else he may be, on and off a football pitch, I doubt very much that he's a Yardie

Spot on Ponky - several nails hit firmly on the head. I would be astonished if what we are hearing from MON is not part of a deliberate ploy. The media have resolutely failed to take on board that we now have some financial clout, and are concentrating their attentions on the big four and their darling London-based clubs - same as it ever was. And whilst this has been a source of great frustration for Villa fans in the past I suspect that right now it plays into our hands - nobody is expecting us to throw money around so we're not going to get asked stupid prices for players in the way that West Ham, Liverpool and the rest will be. Why should O'Neill, who is being carefully downbeat, and Lerner, who is saying nothing, want to do anything to change this? I am sure that negotiations are being carried out quietly and professionally behind closed doors with the minimum of fuss. And whilst this may be frustrating for all of us given the recent years of stagnation, and our desperation to get back into the big time, I am sure it will be to our long-term benefit - a bit of patience and faith are needed. For those who are being so quick to criticise and complain - remember that until a few months ago we had a chairman who would regularly and cynically link us very vocally with big name players, knowing full well that he had not the slightest intention of matching the asking price or wage demands, and that someone else would outbid us - I know what approach I prefer. Lerner has spent big money to buy into Villa and is committed to the long haul. The shortcomings of the squad were more than apparent before he made his investment and are, if anything, even more obvious now. Even if he is in it for a relatively quick buck (which I don't believe for one second that he is) he will know full well that he needs to spend significantly on players in the short-term to stop his investment from depreciating very rapidly in an increasingly competitive market. It is inconceivable that he will not be spending big money sometime soon, whether it is now or in the summer. To the benefit of all us we'll know about it only when it happens, and not beforehand - let's just wait and watch

Couldn't agree more PB. Some feel a loyalty towards Lerner and to even consider that there could be a better bid for the future of AVFC is almost like betraying Lerner. I just want whats best for AVFC and really couldn't give a monkeys who that is. It's not about loyalty to Lerner - but there's a perfectly good offer on the table, with appears to tick all the boxes we've craving for so long - we should accept it and get on with the real business, not get distracted and greedy. And the "merger with Blues" comment smacks of being nothing but a desperate smear on Lerner, particularly given what we know if his track record in America - do we really want to do business with people who are prepared to sink so low?

Exactly. How is this bid or any other going to be significantly better for us than the Lerner bid given what we have already heard of the Lerner plans. The only way it could be 'better' is if there is an Abramovich-type bottomless wallet lurking in the background. And apart from the fact that there is no suggestion of this to date I would rather that we succeeded primarily because we are Aston Villa, a well-run business which can exploit our support, history and potential, than be compared with that souless, charmless, morally-bankrupt band of West London opportunists. Lets just get this done and start enjoying football again

This is not "win-win" when the season is 4 days away and the transfer deadline is 14 days away - we want stability and progress and we can't afford to faff around waiting for it any longer. The Lerner bid appears to include immediate investment and long-term development and marketing plans - what else do we want, and what else could we expect? Another bid now unnecessarily muddies the waters and potentially fills Ellis' pockets even more. It could scare Lerner off just when everything appeared resolved, and it gives Ellis the chance to dither, to swan around in front of the media doing his Mr Aston Villa act, and to even change his mind yet again and decide to stick around. This is not "win-win" - if true it's tiresome in the extreme and we should do everything we can to let it be known that we're happy with what we've got

Humiliating shambles. What do we actually KNOW?:- that Ellis has alienated the only definitely credible party with his disgraceful behaviour and that there is mere speculation that said party MAY have returned to negotiations; that 2 self-publicists who can't / won't reveal the reliability of their backers are now muttering about joining forces in what appears to be an increasingly desperate bid to stay in a game where they look to be out of their depth; that there MAY be another consortium involving Athol Still but we have no idea how serious this is and where the money is coming from; that the only manager being seriously linked with the vacancy with 2 weeks to go to the start of the season is far too ambitious, intelligent and worldly-wise to commit himself to working for a bumbling and dishonest cretin like Ellis; and that, without a manager or new finances in place, we are utterly hamstrung in the transfer market despite having a small, weak and disatisfied squad at our disposal. In the next few days we could be on cloud 9 and entering a whole new era. Or Bluenose Ellis may very well have played his final mastercard in the destruction of our glorious club. The man is toxic to the last

Increasingly worried - Padfield is starting to sound like a chancer like Neville. Why would he need to join forces with Neville (or vice versa) if either of them already had the money in place? And why does he (like Neville) suddenly need to start sucking up to Ellis and the fans? Just get the job done, stop the self-publicising. And does anyone really know that Lerner is back on board? - we seem to be placing a lot of our hopes on the semi-literate Ellis-controlled puppet from the Evening Mail on that one. The whole thing seems to be taking an embarrassingly long time to come to any concrete conclusion - can anyone remember anything remotely similar dragging on for so long? Clearly we have to take into account the Ellis factor - is he simply incapable of doing anything at something less than a slug's pace these days (cf. the excruciating Berson transfer saga etc etc etc etc etc)?; or is the self-centred little sh#t making ludicrous and delusional demands re finance and his future role which is putting people off?; or is it that ultimately he has no intention o f selling and is indulging in his 3 favourite pastimes (apart from counting his shillings)?, namely laughing at us proles, garnering lots of column inches for himself however unfavourable, and using particularly heightened smokescreen tactics to ensure that he stays in power but doesn't have to spend anything before the transfer window shuts? - if it was anyone else I wouldn't believe that this last one was possible but I genuinely believe that there are no depths to which this power-crazed ogre won't sink, he's the Idi Amin of football. And with every day that we are left to speculate and pray whilst nothing much happens my hopes are sinking. Please let me be wrong

Agreed 100%. Barry has a quality sorely lacking in some of his team mates and totally alien to his manager - he appears to give a damn

Presumably it means that 'somebody' (possibly somebody incapacitated in a bed somewhere, and with mild dementia, and with no motive for continuing this preposterous fight for power other than that he has a vast ego and despises the rest of mankind) has seen a way of quickly recouping the 'enormous' expenditure of the last few weeks, thus undoing at a stroke the small advances of this summer and ensuring that 10s of 1000s of fans are betrayed once more. Comments from DOL in the last couple of days suggest that he has more or less given up hope of landing any big money / big name signings ("...within financial restrictions...") and that the implication of big transfer funds a few months ago was just another cynical lie (did anyone with even half a brain and a shred of self-respect ever think differently deep down?). Furthermore the acquisition of Phillips was a direct replacement for the Roasting Lummox Cole so to sell Vassell at any price would mean that we are even worse off on the goal-shy striking front than we were last season. If Vassell does go then it's despicable - when will this nightmare finally end?

I suspect that Ellis' incapacity isn't going to make the slightest difference as far as our summer transfer market performance goes - had he not been 'so cruelly stricken down' he would have embarrassingly and ostentatiously bungled his way through one or two amateurish transfer negotiations whilst talking in riddles to the media, with not the slightest intention of actually parting with big cash, and with not the slightest hope that any significant big-name players would be enticed to join us after listening to his deranged wittering about banana rationing and relegation clauses when the alternative is to join a slick and professional outfit elsewhere with unambiguous and grand ambitions for the future. As it is whilst he is absent we are left with a bunch of no-marks and yes-men (and women), hopelessly inexperienced and unqualified for the task of aggressive modern-day contract negotiation for the simple reason that they have spent years skulking in the shadows of a man who insisted on controlling absolutely everything, however tangibly incompetent he was to do the job himself. Stride and co will spend the summer blinking in the spotlight that is suddenly upon them and wondering why agents and chairmen aren't returning their calls. And just in case they accidentally stumble into a positive opportunity which could ignite a fire and change the way we are perceived by the rest of the football world, there will always be the spectre of Ellis phoning from his hospital bed to remind them to slow down, stay calm, not doing anything rash, book themselves a well-earned golfing break, and do nothing til he is 'ready' to return. Either way we would be destined to start the season with one or two more journeymen squad fillers, most of the promised millions still in the bank, our highest profile 'targets' settling in with their new pals at Everton, Newcastle, Boro and the Small Heath Dog and Duck, and a manager being asked yet again to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Mobile phones don't interfere with heart monitors do they?