Rob182

I think Ireland is one of the most likely people to come to Villa (along with Robbie Keane). He's underrated at City, he's clearly not wanted, he was their player of the season 2 years ago and clearly has it in him to be a great player. I don't think the attitude thing would put MON off too much, maybe his attitude would be different if he was coming to Villa to make a fresh start?

It would be 'sweet' to have a midfield three that Manchester City decided wasn't good enough for them to finish fifth with last season? Be still my beating heart. I'd like to see De Jong or Ireland at Villa, but we already have one defensive midfielder who is past his best and can't run for 90 minutes. They can keep money-bags-but-no-future-Barry.

I too would love to see Ireland at Villa. I don't think Milner's much better than him tbh. Yes, Milner has a better engine and get's stuck in more, but Ireland is better technically. I think if MON does well this summer, we could be starting next season with a stronger squad than we currently have. Milner for Ireland + £15m. Plus £18m-ish for selling the fringe players. We could buy Keane or could splash bigger money and get a younger striker of real quality. He's been mentioned a million times (and I've never even seen him play) but I saw something in an article Today about Falcao wanting a move to the Premier League.

I've been thinking about this. As we went into the transfer window we would have had plans to get a striker (at least) and probably a midfielder using the money from the sales of fringe players (and possibly a little extra that Randy might want to input). Also Randy made a statement and answered a hypothetical scenario, saying that we wouldn't be spending £20m on one player. Now; if Man City are going to come in and buy Milner for big money then maybe we'd be more inclined to splashing big bucks on a striker? We know that MON likes to play, what he thinks is, our best team as frequently as possible and that he doesn't buy into the "players getting tired" rumours. So maybe it's likely that we could buy as few players as possible - but really make them count? Sell Milner for £28m and buy a replacement for around £12m-£14m (Or Milner for £15m + Ireland) and then use the rest of the money (on top of the money we knew would be coming for the fringe players) to get a really good striker for around £18m-£20m. If that happened then maybe we wouldn't be too upset at the prospect of losing Milner.

I don't think Man City will be title challengers next season and I also don't think they'll comfortably get the top 4. I think the season will pan out the same as last season did. I just think they've got too many players to keep happy and if the Manager fails to achieve the top 4 by Christmas then will he be sacked, just like Hughes? My fingers are crossed that City, Barry and Milner, if he goes, fail miserably. Maybe it's all wishful thinking. But I don't see how their squad can be much better than the quality of players they had at the start of last season.

It's completely different PieFacE. Sorry Rob but I think you're badly and sadly deluded if you think we're that much different to City ultimately. There's a lot of this going round at the moment and it smacks of people finding nothing other than the chance to try and take the moral high ground as they've nothing else to use. None of us are happy that Milner, and Barry will have gone to City, none of us like the fact that a shit club like them are all of a sudden mixing it with Europe's elite in the transfer market, none of us like Manchester City. But you don't hear us resorting to ridiculous claims in order to try and make ourselves feel a bit better about it all. Accept it and move on. Whatever mate, you obviously can't accept the fact that some people don't like the idea of "selling out". You don't know me personally so don't try and put it down to the fact that Man City have got a billionaire owner in the last few years. It's nothing to do with that. It's not taking the moral high ground. It's me and my personal feelings on this subject. Whether it's in football, music or anything else. I despise it. I'm only mentioning it now because it effects us directly with City supposedly taking Milner off us.

Someone said that a minute ago :winkold: Jon, I'd be happy for RL if he found another £500m under his bed. But it wouldn't make a difference to Villa (and I'm glad). He'd still invest in us in the steady way that he has been. Where's the joy in buying the league title? Jon.. would you be happy if we spent £300m on players this summer then won the league. Then next summer we spent another £200m and win the CL ?

No, did I imply that?

i'm not sure any sensible person who wants us to be successful would be saying that trickie. Why do you have to lose your integrity to be successful? This really pisses me off. Why do some people find it so hard to believe that others will place their values over instant success? I'd feel no sense of acheivement if we won the league by spending £300m. Well done, you have more money than anyone else :?

It's completely different PieFacE. We're steadily investing in the club. Randy Lerner has ambitions for the club to be able to run itself financially. He has put money into the club, which he decided to do to get us to a standard to compete with the top half of the table. Man City have invested something like £300m in 2 years. They have bought how many strikers? 5? 6?.. How many midfielders do they currently have? They can only play so many at a time - which means others miss out. Which, in turn, will effect their careers. Could Ireland be one of the best midfielders in the league if he'd been played constantly for the past 3 years? Probably. What about England? Clubs bring players through their youth systems which will try to get into the England set up. How will Man City's youth players do this? Man City are buying the best players from around the world and adding to the amount of foreigners in the league. I don't have a problem with teams having foreigners until it starts to effect me directly. What if Adam Johnson doesn't get as many appearances this year because of 3 or 4 midfield signings. Will he develop sufficiently to be and England star?... Possibly, but there's also a high chance that he'll be competing so much for a position in the squad that he won't improve as he could. It effects everyone when clubs splash money about ridiculously. I hate clubs that do it and I'd hate to be a supporter of a club doing it. And to anyone saying it's the same as Villa. It's not. We've spent so much money in the last 3 years to actually build a squad that is stable (it's not even that much money compared to City), we haven't bought 8 midfielders and 6 strikers. We've bought players to compete for places. (Okay, some of them haven't been upto the required standard - but they've been given a chance - I don't think Santa Cruz, in his first year, at city has had as much game-time as Sidwell in his first year).

I'd get my season ticket's worth of seeing them as I've already renewed, but yeah, through princible I'd probably stop going (though I hate to do it).. I'd go to my local and watch Halesowen Town 8)

I bloody would I feel sorry for you if that's your honest opinion! I'd hate to be a supporter of one of the sides that are ruining football.

Not really as it still gives you loads of money to splash on other players. Or are we just about making profit on players now? It is completely different Richard. It's producing money from something you have already paid for. £12m for Milner, sell for £28m = profit. There's an honest quality of picking up players and improving them. Having a billionaire owner didn't cost Man City anything. Do you honestly believe that people would not say no to having a multi-billionaire owner who would splash the cash like Man City? I'd hate it.

Woodytom, who would you realistically like us to sign then? - Baring in mind that we can't buy the best players as we don't have the lure of CL football? I know you're not a scout, you're not MON (I don't think :winkold:) and you're not involved with buying players - but in your view, who could we sign for the money that might be coming if Milner leaves? Ireland was immense 2 seasons ago, what's to say that MON couldn't get the best out of him again? I don't know of many top class RB's that could be available, but Van Der Wiel is one I'm aware of. He's been linked with Arsenal so he must have something about him (and yet - nothing has come out of their apparant "interest".. so maybe we could get him). The striker debate could go on for days. But I think that if we do sell Milner for £28m then we should be looking at a higher quality than Robbie Keane.

stewavfc, I think it's very optimistic to think we could get De Jong, Ireland and Richards for Milner. Even if it wasn't a swap deal and we used the money from Milner and from the fringe players - they'd probably want around £12m for Ireland, £15m for De Jong and £10m for Richards.

£40million on them three players??? And? Either you're questioning the values of the players? (which in Today's market looks realistic to me) Or questioning the players I've mentioned? (I think Ireland has a touch of class, I haven't seen much of Van Der Wiel but he's looked good when I have seen him and I mentioned Rodallega but put "Or an alternative striker" as I know there are people who don't rate him) Or questioning the fact that we'd spend £40m on 3 players? (Let's face it - we're not gonna get far by buying more NRC's or Davies's for £8m-£10m. Also MON mainly uses the players he thinks are the best. So I think that spending the full amount on as few players as possible is the best option. (Providing that we fill the gaps required - striker, RB, midfield)) So which one is it?

This. Can't really see how our midfield is going to be better next season than it was last season TBH. Both petrov and Milner will have to be replaced (IMO) and are we really going to find two players to play in the centre of midfield that would make us better? I can't imagine Downing would be good in the centre given his tackling allergy. Do you not remember last season when Milner was constantly running to every inch of the pitch? Yes he's a workhorse but also he leaves the centre of midfield completely unprotected. I'll be gutted to lose him, but if we replace him with a disciplined centre-midfielder then we'll probably have more shape in our team and not lose the ball in the centre of the pitch so much.

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)

As is yours and over half of the posts on VT.

I've just read on wikipedia that Sheikh Mansour has 2 wives.. so yup.. big family.

Also Santos have rejected West Ham's bid for Neymar.. skysports

... wierd, wierd post spamm.

Well whatever he does - it's a hassle to read when it's involved in multiple posts.. DelboyVilla - press the "quote" button!!! :winkold:

We should bite their hands off! DelboyVilla - How come your quotation boxes are all messed up? it says "Quote: XXX Says:...." instead of just "XXX Says:..."

I'm not too sure. A lot of people were saying the same things last summer when they brought in some big signings. They can add all the big names to their first 11 but you can't pay a team to learn to play well together instantly. I can see this season being very similar to the last - apart from Everton will be stronger.