NeilS

Only the one huge mistake a game? Already better than most of our defenders then. Good luck Phillipe, hope you do well here. We certainly need you to step up to the mark, and help us improve.

Who is Russ Lynch? Is he a journalist?

Arrison is something to do with Costa Concordia isn't he, the ship that sunk and now apparently interested in Aston Villa.. there is a joke in there somewhere I think?

Our history in the game is fantastic and something to be proud of, but that is what it is now... History. We have quickly been forgotten about by everyone else in the game and have become insignificant. We need to move forward and create a future now with new chapters to add to our history. It is fine to celebrate the past success, as lots of teams have had none, but what would be better if current and future success.

I don't every remember their chairmen coming out with such a public and official for sale statement? Kenwright doesn't really want to sell Everton and they are doing well under him so why change? Ashley will only want to sell the barcodes if he can make a large profit and would want £500m for them. They are not comparable to us. This, but why let the facts stop spouting doom & glooom nonsense and spreading negativity. A bit of this, now I am concerned for us next season as we have a poor manager, poor squad, no money to improve either and a disinterested owner. Come the 1st July or there abouts and nothing has changed I am going to be in full panic mode! I am currently sitting in the "Not too worried yet" camp. I would go as far as saying that I will be in the "Slightly concerned" camp if there is no news filtering through by the 1st July, and full panic mode will kick in at 1st of August if we haven't been taken over at that point. Hopefully things are going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, and things are moving along smoothly.

It's not about 1 player's salary, overpaying leads to wage inflation throughout the squad. Players use team mates as referents, and paying sizeable wages to average players means top players want much more than that and other average players want parity. There's one thing paying Benteke a higher than average wage, but how many players in the squad would look at Albrighton and think 'he deserves a higher salary than me'? How many people are happy in the workplace when people they consider equal/less capable than them earn significantly more? Possibly a reason for the 'bomb squad' - keep those being overpaid isolated from the rest of the squad. Exactly, we all do it. We look at others in the work place and think we should be earning that, it is human nature. Lets be honest ten half decent performances three years after signing a contract, doesn't warrant a nice pay increase.

Ha ha, yeah I just noticed this on the beeb whilst eating my lunch. Of all the things to get upset about, what a plonker! If someone paid me £200k per week, I'm sure would forgive them for forgetting to wish me a happy birthday. Crazy.

This is what people seem to forget. Okore will be back, perhaps Zog as well then Benteke after a few months. We were one of the teams with the highest amount of injures, yet we were still meant to be steaming up the league. This is not an excuse for Lambert who was shite a lot of the time, its fact about the injuries. I agree we probably are a only few players away from being a decent mid table team with the right additions, the major concern that I have is that we are relying on these players who have suffered long term injuries to come back at the same level as before, and also staying fit long enough to get their levels up to the required standard. Usually after such long term injuries players come back and suffer other niggling injuries or worse case scenario the injury goes again. So even if we do buy a few decent players, we are far from guaranteed to climb the table.

No news, you haven't missed much. Apart from we now know the Postcode (Sorry Zip code) to Randy's restaurant. Yeah that sounds feasible, and wouldn't suprise me. Best we don't get our hopes up until we start to hear something more solid.

It has probably already been mentioned on here, but why do they pack scissors in plastic packaging? We bought some the other day, and the packaging was very neat and tidy, but we could have done with a pair of scissors to open the packet, unfortunately the scissors we had were encased in plastic.

Supposedly yeah, never been to BMH or VP myself. If true, then the restaurant thing (if true also) could be "the last supper", and Lerner is giving him golden handshake if the supposed new owners told him they're letting him go. You would have thought that Lerner had enough respect and would have informed PL before changing the sign on the door. Also, why would they put "Manager" in, instead of leaving blank for the new guys name? I may be wrong, but I don't think this is an indication of anything happening tbh.

If I remember correctly O'Leary was sacked for trying to make out there had been a player coup at the club or something like that, which was quickly denied by the players. Ellis then sacked O'Leary for being a tool, and Gross Misconduct.

Why would it be a sure sign? For all we know his work has been appreciated elsewhere. Managers are being sacked all over the place in the last few days, and this could mean movement all the way down the chain. He may have had an offer come his way in the last few weeks, and think that a new owner probably wouldn't want him anyway. Therefore it may be better for him if an offer comes his way to jump ship to somewhere he knows the chairman wants him, rather than take a risk that our new owner may or may not want him.

If true then relegation beckons. Thinks might look a bit shit for a few weeks, but I am sure it will all turn out fine. I'll panic if we are in the same situation come the end of June. This is kind of where I am at at the moment, I would even go as far as mid July before I start to go in to full panic mode. I am hopeful that we will have some news before then, but these things take time and we need to be patient. I must admit that I am one of the worse though, and I'm on here every 10 minutes looking for news even though I know nothing much is likely to have happened since I last looked. I need to stop, and get on with some work, but can't help it.

As Gareth says earlier in the thread, it all stems from problems at the grass roots of the game. Let's face it, if the young English players coming through had the technical ability of the Spanish and other top countries then more young English players would make it in the top part of the game. We need to find the right balance between teaching the skills and nurturing the competition. We need to hone the technical side of things without pressurising and taking the enjoyment out of the game first, before then implementing a competitive edge later on. Sometimes parents can be the worst influence shouting instructions from the edge of the pitch.

It is hard to judge Vlaar totally as he has spent his two seasons here next to novice defenders who are currently out of their depth at this level. I know Vlaar has made mistakes in his time here, but I guess the amount of pressure he is under trying to hold that bunch of defenders together is going to put a strain on even the best defenders. I even remember seasons with McGrath in defence that we have struggled and shipped lots of goals. It is all about developing a partnership and understanding with your fellow defenders, and We have not had a settled defence at all during his time here. It may be argued that as senior defender he is the problem, but when you look at the stats when he isn't in the defence then it is frightening how bad we are. I would be inclined to keep him from our current set of defenders, and see how he plays with better players around him (If we can buy some).

Ok thanks. It is hard going trying to figure out where we are at in all of this wild speculation. I have even seen a couple of interviews with Doug on tv in recent days. One where he is saying that the takeover will almost certainly be from the US, and another where he is praising Man City's owner, and wishes we could have someone like him. David Cameron said a few weeks back (Tongue in Cheek I guess) that he would speak to some of his wealthy Arab mates about buying Villa. I would say that you are probably right though, the most likely scenario is that a US buyout is most likely. Fingers crossed, that they will have a good plan, and load of money to see it through.

So who do we think is in the running at the moment as a potential buyer? I am totally lost having read back a few pages. Is AEG buy out a no chance, Ellison - no chance? Who or what is Tamas? Is Clark Hunt the main contender? (That would be an awkward name to get into a chant at a match)

What is slightly curious about those designs, are the number of pin stripes differ on the home and away designs. There are more on the home kit than the away. I would have thought they would be the same, but I am no fashion designer so what do I know. Maybe you need more pin stripes when it is dark background and lighter pinstripes? Just to add, I think they are both nice designs by the way.

Totally agree. if we are going to win things we need the better players and they cost money to attract and more importantly retain. Why would anyone want a new owner with less money than this one? Sorry that may sound mercenary and like a spoiled child at Christmas and people are entitled to say that but why shouldnt we want an owner with lots and lots of money. Whats wrong with that This is a money game now pure and simple besides which nothing to say an owner with multi billions wouldn't run us "properly" anyway Do you think Man citeh fans gave a stuff about organic growth last weekend. Or Chelsea fans give a stuff about organic growth now? Not on your life . I want us to win things as a club and that means spending on players. I'm fed up of languishing where we have been the last three years due to shit investment Totally agree. We can dream all you we like about organic growth, and doing it the right way, but the simple fact is that as soon as you start to get a few decent players the richer clubs come in and lure your players away and you are back to square one. It needs to be a combination of good wealth, with a decent plan to see the investment through. I am fed up of watching us languish playing dour football, it would be nice to see us have a chance of winning something of importance again. We need to invest in the playing squad quite heavily just to get us back in the top half, but it doesn't want to be an initial investment, followed by a pulling of the plug. We need year on year investment to be made, allowing us to bring in exciting players again.

Every time I look at this it makes me marvel at the incompetence of the ref. i mean if ever there was proof that a penalty had to be given it was here. There are no excuses for him. Agreed, there was the discussion the other week about having to go down for a penalty, and this is a case in point. He was impeded by the defender, and the ref should have pointed to the spot and red carded the defender. You can only imagine the uproar if this decision would have been made against Chelsea or one of the other top 4 teams.

I think (and hope) a takeover will be concluded by the end of June. It is the waiting I do not like. Yes I think this as well, the waiting will be painful. The modern fan has access to much more information than back in my days as a young lad in the 80's. So reading through every little nugget of information is painful and makes everything seem like an eternity to happen. We can't help ourselves though, and no doubt I will be on here every ten minutes looking for an update. I don't, he would have to be mad to sack Lambert now. Lambert will continue on until new owners come in. Lerner will let the new owners pay the compensation.

Yep, he's screaming I told you so from the rooftops like he does the 3/10 times he's right about something Surely over the last two weeks Collymore has pretty much covered all of the bases on the sale of Villa, one of his announcements was going to be correct.

oh shit!!! If anything that gives me hope. Says no "formal" offer but odds are there are interested parties. Don't think there'd be a time frame set if there wasn't interest either. Agreed, it is always best to give worse case scenario on these things, so surely if it is six weeks you would hope that negotiations are advanced. (Prays for some one good)

I know lots of people were hoping for a sale to be announced today, and it is slightly disappointing that we're not sold. However, as long as negotiations have started and can move along quite quickly then we shouldn't panic just yet. I might start panicing if there is no news of a sale by say mid to end of June. If a takeover happens then we will still have the best part of two months to sort the squad out, and lets be honest there won't be a lot of action on the transfer market until after the World Cup anyway. The one advantage we have over the last takeover by Randy, is that it should be a lot simpler and quicker to get the deal through this time, as there is no obligation to the stock market required and it is purely a case of meeting Randy's demands. Which hopefully won't be too high if he wants out?