Rob182

I've-a-son who can play for us, his wages will be low and he also will be a free transfer! (I'm kidding, I'm 23 and have no children)

Yeah, but it's not Citeh's garden; they just waited for a gardner to finish putting time, effort, and money into growing and nurturing his plot then 1 week before the Chelsea Flower Show offered him an obscene amount of money for it. Considering it's a memorial garden planted, cared for and maintained by the fans from scratch in respect to a dead player, I can't help but feeling that this joke was in a bit poor taste. It's just a topical joke Damocles.. lighten up Have you ever written into 'points of view'?

£80 to have a Villa kit with a fancy foreign sponsor?... Hmmm.. Maybe £60 :winkold:

I think so too, we did a good job!

I'm not sure if this is "against site rules".. I don't think it is as I'm making no profit what-so-ever!! (If it is then delete it Mods!) I have an 09/10 Home Top (Medium) that I bought, wore once and realised doesn't fit (I should have ordered a Small). I got it for around £25 at the end of season sale (off the official site) but I'm now looking to sell it for £10. I'm never going to wear it again so I may as well get some money and buy a Small! It's been washed, only worn once and is in mint condition - obviously. If anyone is interested then send me a PM and I could meet you at VP when the season starts!

Unless our price is £25m?

Gen, I don't mind when the kit comes out as I'll buy it eventually. I just thought I'd throw my opinion into the thread. Have fun with your grandchildren. Keep up the good work! Rob

what is this? It's the sound of someone clutching at straws

Also the fact that he's moaning about selling our best player and then adds "out of the smallest squad in the league" to strengthen his point. Yet surely, if we're selling Milner for £25m+ then we could afford 2 or 3 players, hence enlarging our tiny tiny squad.

You can't beat a bit of tomfoolery in the Milner thread.. This thread has almost become a new forum in itself!

I don't understand how anyone can disagree with this Thanks gary. I do bang my head on my desk when having an opinion levels you the clearing in the woods award. Will see you at the awards evening sir! care to discuss how you disagree with my post? rather than insulting me aimlessly Nooooo sorry bud, I'm completely on your side. Was a joke that having an opinion makes you a t'wat, hence the mega t'wat party end of the year. oh apologies I misread your post Get a room

If that happened then he'd have one year left on his contract next year. So I doubt his value would be higher than it is now.

Damn, I wish the Sun liked our kit! I liked the look of it last night when it was actually being played in.

Having options on the bench is a waste of money? I agree with you about Ireland though, but if Ireland was going to be bought in anyway then Milners place in the squad needs to be replaced as well. No, you know I'm not saying that options on the bench are a waste of money. But I'd just like our first team improved with the bulk of this seasons transfer fund. I'm sure we could get a winger for 4 or 5 million to be a back-up. Also, I'm pretty sure Ireland has played on the wing before. Him or Albrighton could fill in if Ash or DJ were injured for a few weeks. To be honest, this discussion is pointless because we could start the season with a completely different squad of players if NRC/ Sidwell/ Shorey etc are all sold and, presumably, replaced.

But for the same money we could have: Downing ---- Ireland ----- Young --------------- Gabby ------------- and in a years time we'd have Marc Albrighton ready to bring into the team for free.

Then what happens if (God forbid) something was to happen to either of the first team wingers? We'd drop Albrighton into the deep end... Is that really what you would expect of a club aiming for the champions league? You are more of a gambler than me! So you would like us to buy SWP? So we'd have one of SWP/ Downing/ Ash on the bench. What a waste of money. I'd much prefer us to spend that money on Ireland and have a quality first 11 with less-experienced subs than to have a weaker first team.

Does anyone know how much Rooney was sold for and what they subsequently did with the money? (which players they bought?) AG may be the best to answer this. But I'm just intrigued to see what they could afford when given a huge amount of cash - like we will possibly get for Milner.

Then what happens if (God forbid) something was to happen to either of the first team wingers? We'd drop Albrighton into the deep end... If Petrov get's injured then we'd bring in Sidwell/ NRC/ Delph. If Gabby get's injured we'd bring on Heskey or Carew or Delfouneso. We don't have many quality back-ups. But I'd much prefer us to spend out money on our first team instead of back-ups.

I don't understand the "he wasn't bought so he'll need help" part. But I definatly agree that SWP would hold up Albrighton's development. There's no point us buying a winger this window. We have 2 established Prem wingers and one who can be gradually brought into the team this season. Let's use the "Milner-Fund" to buy a central-midfield replacement, a RB and a striker (Or two of the three).

What have you heard?

Woo hoo! Cheers dodgyknees !

No in fact what we would be doing is constantly changing our style/ formation, bringing on young players and then selling them when they become our best player to a bigger more ambitious club. That is performing the role of a feeder club But we're not Wigan, Richard. If we were, as you call it, a "feeder club" for the bigger clubs. Then surely we'd be gradually getting more and more money from the bigger clubs? Eventually we could be in Tottenham's position. We could crack 4th and then the players would not want to leave for a bigger club. Being in the top 4 wouldn't garentee anything. If Man U or Chelsea came in for Bale he would be off in a shot. There will always be a bigger, better club who could make an offer for your player. No amount of Villa fans complaining will stop that. But if we were 4th then I'm sure our players would be a lot less likely to want to go to a bigger club. If we had finished 4th this year then Man City probably wouldn't be able to tempt Milner away from us. Yes, Chelsea or Man Utd could come in for Milner - but if we're improving all the time and the players know that they'll be playing alongside other great players, they'll be more likely to want to stay at Villa and sign contract extensions. If contract extensions are signed then the chance of bigger teams making offers for your players decreases. There are a lot of "ifs" and "buts", but my original point is that it's not a bad thing that a big club wants to come and buy one of our players for, probably, double what he is actually worth.

No in fact what we would be doing is constantly changing our style/ formation, bringing on young players and then selling them when they become our best player to a bigger more ambitious club. That is performing the role of a feeder club But we're not Wigan, Richard. If we were, as you call it, a "feeder club" for the bigger clubs. Then surely we'd be gradually getting more and more money from the bigger clubs? Eventually we could be in Tottenham's position. We could crack 4th and then the players would not want to leave for a bigger club.

Jesus, I'm sick of repeating myself in this thread. Why did Spurs sell Bent? Why did City sell us Dunne last year? Sometimes players just don't get on with teams or aren't rated. Mancini got Lescott for £24m. We got Dunne for £5m. Dunne was in the Team of the Year. Lescott wasn't. You are really viewing this situation as "Next season we will be a worse team and Man City will be a better team". There is more at stake here than just next season, av1. Surely there is a possibility that we could buy a £10m player who is as good as Milner was 2 years ago. Man City wouldn't want to buy that player because it'd mean they'd have to train that person up gradually. BUT. If we bought that player. In 2 years time we could have a player who is as good as Milner - PLUS the players that we could have bought with the extra Milner money. That leaves us in a better position, no? We're not Man City. We don't want to spend £300m in 2 years to try and win the league as quickly as possible. We're trying to gradually improve our team in a way that doesn't kill us financially.

If we get over the fact that we're going to lose one of our best players, then we'll surely realise that we will come out of this a stronger team? Even if we buy a player that, like Milner, takes one season to become a better player. Surely that's still a good deal? - Milner was bought for £12m. - A couple of years later and he's a £20m player (going for more than £20m). - We could buy Ireland (or another "£10m player"). - A few seasons later and that player could also be worth £20m. All we're doing is increasing the value of our assests and gradually increasing the quality of the team. This is not the way to do things but what choice do we have other than invest to keep them. I am not sure I 100 % agree that we are gradually improving the team, losing your best players does overall long term harm IMO. If we are gradually improving the team then the replacement of Milner will be of similar age and ability when we bought him with a little extra to continue the improvement of the squad. It´s the only way the Villa will convince me now. The talk of Ireland/SWP is great but it does not in any way improve on Milner or our chances of moving up the league. If it did they wouldn't sell them to us. Not in the short term, but in the long term it does. Then once we've gradually improved, year-on-year, players will be more likely to stay at Villa and think we can compete at a higher level. Spurs have done exactly what I've said; now they're looking to compete in the CL. That could be us in 2/3 years if we continue to buy players like Ash/ Milner.