stewavfc

Rape isn't funny, mmkay.

Unless you're Raping a Clown...

id like to see him have a go at left back tbh, getting forward and defending i think he could be quite good

The new Alan Wright!

He can't be the new Alan Wright....he's the Scottish Modric!

On his way in.

I'm going for a walk :winkold:

#Theme tune to Mission impossible#

Dum Dum Dum Dum....Dum Dum Dum Dum....Dum Dum Dum Dum DUNERNER!!

I still don't understand how Leonardo has got this reputation of being a great manager? Can anyone enlighten me?

Not great as a manager, but in the "upstairs" role he had at Milan he was great! Sort of a technical director/head scout.

Fair enough. I was only judgin him as a manager and from what i can see he was very average.

Maybe him as a technical role with K Mac as manager would work. Could be a bit of a gamble though, and hardly going to help the wage bill.

True, but if you really look at any appointment, whether manager, player or behind the scenes, they're all gambles. There's so many different factors that can dictate success or failure.

The thing about Leonardo, from hearing him speak about football, is he seems really down to earth and laid back, probably not the best credentials for football management? But as the guy who has to go and talk to players or agents and sell the club to up and coming foreign talent, well he's proved he's pretty good at it, albeit having the name of AC Milan to assist him previously.

I think if the DoF and head coach have a close working relationship and shared vision about the running of the club and maintain an open dialogue about the influx of new players, then it could work very succesfully.

I still don't understand how Leonardo has got this reputation of being a great manager? Can anyone enlighten me?

Not great as a manager, but in the "upstairs" role he had at Milan he was great! Sort of a technical director/head scout.

Please be Leonardo

Leonardo as a DoF alongside K.Mac would be a right touch,(as they say in that London). It's strongly suggested that he was responsible for getting both Kaka and Pato to go to Milan ahead of various other suitors, whilst doing a similar job there.

Wouldn't want him as the main manager though, don't think that is his forté really.

In his post match interview on AVTV, MON was singing the praises of Albrighton and Weimann. When Jack Woodward mentioned Banann, MON said he was a very skillful player and if he was 5 foot 10, not 3 foot 10, we'd have a real good player on our hands. Maybe size does matter with MON?!

I think MON is playing his usual shrewd waiting game, it worked out well enough last summer can't see why it wouldn't again.

Remember Citeh have about 10-12 players to shed from their squad by 1st September, so the closer they get to the end of the window with the excess, the more desperate they will be to get rid. Regardless of how much money the Sheiks have.

Cook and Mancini will know if they are paying tens of thousands for a bunch of players to just turn up for training each week, the first dip in Citehs form could cost them both their jobs.

I think we will get Ireland and either Richards or Onuoha, with or without Milners sale, but it won't be until the last few days of August.

294 pages and barely a comment from MON or Villa. Just imagine how many pages we could fill if Redknob was our manager??

Whaddya mean! We had the obligatory, "I urge the fans to be patient." comment last week!

if they don't the arab's will soon sell up and move on and leave them in a whole lot of trouble.

we're about 18 months into a ten year plan. .

10 YEAR PLAN!! Sweet Jesus! That's will be over a billion pounds on players and 10 managers later, for what? The odd Carling Cup!

insult and fun about my english...

i know what "grammars check" they do not change ENTRIES grammars for me (i wish so i can write post in this forum without you all fun about my english) but thanks for fun about it!

english do affect write - because it not my first english langaugue!

i got enuff!

Danny don't worry your posts are perfectly understandable, a lot more understandable than some of the texting speak we have to put up with nowadays.

In reply to your post, I remember Johnson being a very promising footballer, but he was rumored to be leading a bit of a party life, hence being so out of shape. If he was ready to put all of his energy into football then he could a very good purchase.

m. richards are mon type sign tall in RB, richards are pace and powerfully defender i would mind sign him, l.young are best rb in villa but he will left villa is he?

i go for man city -j . hart, m. richards, m. johnson, s. ireland, 2 striker. we will in top 4 to top 7

just sugget j. collins in defensive midfield? he can tackle and header, pass, marker he got all need for defensive midfield roles.

Agree with almost all you've said Danny, apart from Michael Johnson, not sure he's going to get himself back on track. Richards I think as you've said is a MON type, big and powerful and I think could get back to being a very good RB, as he was when he broke into the England team.

I also think Ginge would make a decent DM, his vision and passing is very good and he's pretty comfortable with time on the ball.

....what a joke

can't wait for him to go, another steve hodge.

money in the bank.

Why ? What's he said?

I miss the ITK thread.

Probably been asked countless times, but any chance of getting one on the go? There has been a few already, some guy a few pages back said Milner doesn't want to leave or something. It was a good laugh.

I second this motion. Was always a little bit of excitement in my dull existence when the post count went up a few on the ITK Sticky!

SSN: McGeady to Villa a very strong possibility according to one of their ITK reporters

Yeah just saw that, he was worryingly certain about it and in the studio as if he was breaking the news. Went on to say that Keane is on the cards too!

Would just like to add my two pence worth MM. Your posts are always a welcome sight and add a little hope to our drawn out transfer windows! So when are we likely to sign Huntelaar and Witsel?!

I'm thinking four is all we need and they'd realistically be:

Keane

Ireland

Onuoha

+a lucky dip probably another midfielder Parker maybe?

I'd much prefer it to be

Huntelaar

Ireland

Fucile

Witsel

If we sign McGeady I want MON out of Villa. I detest him

What personally or in footballing terms Zatman?

As a footballer i really hate him and this type of player in al. All flicks adn no end product.

As a person he comes across as just as bad as he seems to always be in scuffles every season in bars

Well I've never seen too much to be impressed with, so for your sake and Villa's I hope the reports are garbage!

If we sign McGeady I want MON out of Villa. I detest him

What personally or in footballing terms Zatman?

Would love Witsel to join us here! He's just what we need behind a more creative midfield. He has the work rate of Milner and is superb defensively. There are plenty of players who have had moments of madness in fierce rival games, I wouldn't judge him on that tackle alone, he's a very good young footballer who would thrive in the Prem. Like some have said we could do with some aggression in our team. He's only 21 and would make so much more sense as a purchase than Scott Parker.

Onuha is a part of the deal apparently

I was told we don't like players plus cash deals it has to be a straight cash deal . Not surprised us linked with him but think it will be a seperate deal if it's correct.

Why would that be? It doesn't make logical sense to me but maybe I'm missing something?

It strikes me as a good way of ensuring you actually get players you want rather than possibly missing out on them because a deal gets struck for them with another club. Can you elaborate on the reasons for our reluctance to do that way?

I'm sure whilst negotiations are going on about Milner, a set price will be made for any players of theirs we're interested in. We sold Barry and bought Dunne seperately last summer, I expect it will happen again. Maybe it's a finance/accounting/tax thing?

Onuha is a part of the deal apparently

Where you heard that HV? Onuoha would be a welcome addition to the squad, just hope there's £25m coming with him! Or he brings Ireland, De Jong or Kompany with him!

I'll be a bit disappointed in Milner if this goes through. He'll be going to a squad that could be title challengers and could get into the CL. But on the other hand he might be limiting his first team opportunities, they might not get 4th again or, worst for Milner, he might not perform as they want him to and he'll be one of the many City outcasts who get replaced within a season.

However! £28m is a lot of money and if we get it right we could really work this to our advantage.

£28m from Milner & around £20m from the rest of the fringe players or input from RL.

(Rough estimates - Shorey £2m, Beye £1m, Davies £6m, L Young £3m, NRC £5m, Sidwell £3m)

We could buy:

Ireland £12m

Van Der Wiel £15m

Rodallega £14m (or an alternative striker for £12m-£15m)

And still have a few million left to boost the squad (or maybe buy a defensive midfielder to gradually replace Petrov)

£40million on them three players???

That's what I thought a lot of money that doesn't really replace Milner. I know player swaps are fairly rare, but if I was doing the deal and the players would come, I'd look to swap Milner for Ireland, De Jong and Richards. Then look to add someone like Rodallega as a second striker

-----------------------FRIEDEL------------------

RICHARDS---CUELLAR---DUNNE---WARNOCK

-----------------DE JONG--PETROV-------------

----RODALLEGA----IRELAND----A.YOUNG----

-----------------------GABBY--------------------

Subs: Guzan, Collins, Delph, Downing, Albrighton, Carew, Delfouneso

Ok, lets speculate, talk in the papers today that Nigel De Jong may be forced out by the signing of Yaya Toure at City. I don't know if he'd come to us but he is exactly the sort of player we need in the middle of the park. I've come to accept Milners off so if this guy could be part of the deal that would be immense. Probably cost 15 million or so. Your thoughts...

I like De Jong, he's a no nonsense proper DM, if he'd want to come to us then I think we should use him as part of our fleecing City for everything we can get for Milner. De Jong, Ireland and Richards would be a good swap. De Jong and Ireland would cover both assests of Milners game but slightly better IMO. Richards would offer a good balance to Warnock as an attacking fullback, playing both De Jong and Petrov in a 4-2-3-1 system would give the fullbacks the license to get forward a lot more whilst keeping the protection at the back.

I think if we wanted Prince Boateng we should have bought him before the WC, surely his price would have doubled after his performances so far. Looks a very promising player.

He was very, very, highly rated when he moved from Hertha to Spurs, I remember seeing him play against Frankfurt around 2006, he was suberb! Played with a lot of freedom, had bags of tricks and great vision. He just seemed to lose all that confidence when he moved to the Spurs' graveyard for young stars!

Would have been happy to have signed him the January before last when the big rumour he was at Bodymoor circulated. Would be even happier to have him now, imagine there might be some competition though. What odds Redknapp buys back another recently sold player!