NeilS

You would have thought if his release fee was so low that teams would be lining up to activate it? This makes me think that Delph possibly wants to stay at least one more season to see how things work out. I think if we struggle again this season then he will be off next summer for certain. If we have a good year and things start to look good again under new ownership, I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign a new contract with a higher release clause inserted that is more of a true reflection of his worth.

The problem there is we would look weak, why would we back down from a release clause we have agreed with CB and his agent because the player throws a strop? It opens the door for more players to follow suit in the future. As stated by others, with the Euros coming up he can ill afford to be sitting on the sidelines and risk missing another major tournament for his country.

Haha. Why would we put a release fee in, and then not stick to it the first time our resolve has been tested. Why is it Liverpool seem more than happy to splash their cash around to all and sundry, apart from when it comes to our players when they look to get them on the cheap (see Barry), will they ever learn? Stump up the cash or jog on. Also to add, why do they always do their transfer dealing through the press, it is really disrespectful. Since a week or two before the cup final all we have heard is how Liverpool want Benteke and they are going to come in for him this summer but they don't want to pay the release fee. Well it has been over a month now and they still haven't bid anything. If I were Benteke I would be wondering if they were that serious about signing him?

I wouldn't be against Begovic as a signing, Guzan has done ok over the last few seasons but can be improved upon. Our defence is a shambles and GK is part of that unit, fingers crossed Tim is looking to tighten us up at the back as I don't think my health can take watching the current lot for much longer. However, I would be surprised if we landed Begovic as I imagine he will have his sights set higher than us at the moment?

Always comes across as very knowledgable in his punditry work, and remember him from the days of Italian Football on Channel 4. He has a good pedigree in coaching as well from his time at Chelsea, so hopefully he can do well here.

10 out of 10 for me. Most were easy, but there were a couple where I had a choice of two, but with some reasoning I picked the correct one.

I was more concerned about the previous photo, this one should be file under young lad with plenty of money on holiday has a party. The previous photo he had gone too far and could have caused himself an injury or got into trouble of some kind. This photo he is at a party with friends and has shared an expensive bottle of vodka with them. Better a decent bottle than some cheap nasty vodka that could do some damage in my opinion. The problem for Jack is he has given the press that first photo, and now he has to watch out that he doesn't gain a reputation as a footballer who drinks too much. The press are now onto him, and will be watching him closely.

I hope that this turns out to be a great signing for us, I remain cautious at the moment though as I fear that a lack of playing time over the last three years may have taken the edge off of his game and he may no longer be the player we all remember. Hopefully he will allay my fears and put in some storming performances over the coming season and help us climb up to a decent position in the league from where we can build.

Was it Kakuta that wound up our fans after a youth cup final? I seem to remember a lot of people on here spitting feathers and fuming about him a few years back.

Yeah the tv will see that one as a potential scalp for one of the new boy. The TV companies do love to show that happening on tv, and we are a team that like to oblige and give the tv companies their story. That is a tough start in my opinion, you never want to play one of the newly promoted teams early on, especially at their place, Man Utd is well Man Utd, and Palace away will be tough under Pardew.

I think that I read he was in Dubai with Gary Gardner last week, so maybe he was slumming it after blowing his cash the previous week.

Just to add, What if he gets so drunk that he injures himself quite badly? The club have a right to let him know they are not happy as they pay him a substantial amount of money to maintain his level of fitness and play football.

He is probably better off keeping a low profile, rather than throwing insults on twitter and stoking the fire further. Jack has been silly here, he needs to stop putting himself into these types of situations. He is now seen as a role model to lots of young kids, therefore he is going to get unwanted attention from the press looking to sell papers and gain clicks. He can get away with a one off at this moment in time, if it starts to become a regular occurence then I will start to think he may waste his talents.

I thought he favoured linking up with Pardew at Palace? If not, then yes he would be a great signing for us.

Well, the season only finished two weeks ago and he has already been signed by a Premier League club. Not bad for a player who has been "found out". Benteke on the other hand.... Lol, are you comparing Richards who is available on a free with no club to try and negotiate a fee with, to Benteke who is going to be worth £30m+ and tied up with a contract? Not quite the same. I keep seeing "proven" premier league player etc. That was four seasons ago now, he has proven nothing in the last three seasons. He may prove me and others wrong and turn out to be a shrewd signing, but at the moment I fully understand peoples concerns about splashing big wages on somebody who hasn't played regular competitive football for a number of seasons. I would hope that a lot of his wages would be performance related, otherwise we could end up with another wages millstone around our neck for the next few seasons. Maybe that it was four seasons ago but we tried the proven in the premier league in recent times and look where that got us! Never knew we had so may informed and learned experts who know all about what a player is worth and how much he is entitled to and who can already tell that a player won't make it even before a contract has been signed. As always - I will wait till he puts the shirt on and players more than 10 mins before I judge. I'll give him time and I trust the managers judgement - just like with benteke, Bacuna, Gil , Westwood,Senderos (people were wringing their hands and he turned out to be a decent player until injured on International Duty) etc.. I am merely expressing a concern that a player who has barely played top flight football in 3 years is reported to be coming in on a wage that is higher than the most players in our squad. I can only go on what is reported in articles as none of us know any different. As I said, he may prove me wrong, but my big fear is we are clearing down our wage bill to replace it with someone who may not be able to regain the level of performance he had 4 years ago, and therefore leave us back to square one on the wage bill situation of players picking up big wages for little contribution. I guess if we are not allowed to discuss our concerns without being called "learned expert" in a condecending way, then we may as well not have a discussion board to put them on. To Add: Also expressing concern before signing a player, does not mean he will not be supported when he steps onto the pitch. He will get given the chance same as Senderos did.

Well, the season only finished two weeks ago and he has already been signed by a Premier League club. Not bad for a player who has been "found out". Benteke on the other hand.... Lol, are you comparing Richards who is available on a free with no club to try and negotiate a fee with, to Benteke who is going to be worth £30m+ and tied up with a contract? Not quite the same. I keep seeing "proven" premier league player etc. That was four seasons ago now, he has proven nothing in the last three seasons. He may prove me and others wrong and turn out to be a shrewd signing, but at the moment I fully understand peoples concerns about splashing big wages on somebody who hasn't played regular competitive football for a number of seasons. I would hope that a lot of his wages would be performance related, otherwise we could end up with another wages millstone around our neck for the next few seasons.

To add to the above theory, didn't Arya bury her sword somewhere outside in some wall/rocks earlier in the season. I am wondering whether that will play a part shortly?

Ser Meryn Trant is the guy from the Kings Guard who killed Arya's sword instructer mid lesson when they were rounding up the Starks in Kings Landing during season 1 prior to executing Ned. If you can remember he cut him down when he only had a wooden practice sword. I think he also whacked Sansa on behalf of Joffrey on a number of occasions, which suggests he has no morales when it comes to beating up young girls. I guess the latest scene is just re-affirming those scenes from earlier series. I guess with this being a US program, they do like to have regular reminders (Such as previously in......) in their programs.

I wouldn't say he is an upgrade on Pardew, unless by upgrade you mean less of a tosser? McClaren has had a charmed managerial career in my opinion, and I will never know how he managed to secure the England Manager's job when 6 months earlier Midlesbrough fans were throwing season tickets at him after his team were thrashed by DOL's Villa team. He won the League cup, and had a flukey run in Europe before finally being thrashed by the first decent team they encountered, which is not enough in my opinion to get the top job in England. I think being English when the press were clamouring for an English manager was his only qualification.

It is all about the wages for me, if Richards is coming in then he had better be prepared for a massive drop in wages until he proves himself again in my opinion. Would it be fair to bring in a player who has barely played in three seasons on wages that make him one of your top earners? He is a big risk for a team like us on a limited budget and If he were to come in then it would have to be heavily incentivised pay, as he could end up being either injured a lot, or massively off the pace of the game after so long without playing.

Looks like the signing is this Pedro Obiang fella from Sampdoria. I must admit that before today I had never heard of him, but I don't follow Italian football so that doesn't necessarily mean alot.

Yeah, I reckon it is just a mock up to show their logo on something that could be a Villa shirt for news/promo purposes.

If I were a betting man, then my money would be on another US buyout. It just seems more likely to me.

Sounds about right, he'll be classed as an asset and part of value of the club, no deals in or out for a while, unless it's a barcelona-esque transfer embargo in which case we're free to do whatever we want If he is sold, then technically the asset then becomes either money in the bank, or money owed by debtor. However, you would have thought a sale is unlikely in the middle of a takeover bid, unless it was discussed with the potential new owners and their permission was given on the values involved.

Yeah, I expect Tom Fox is finding us a tougher sell than Arsenal. On the other hand maybe with the possibility of a takeover in the offing, a big long term deal was not an option.