markavfc40

Great report Scott. Really enjoyed reading it.

General when you next see Mon and the players can give them a pat on the back from me as I was proud of the character they showed against United today when lesser teams would of completely folded when down to 9 men and up against 12. As you would be well aware General its in the face of adversity you see a mans true strength and character and to a man today they showed they are not lacking in either.

He'll be ripped to pieces. Taylor went from finishing second in the top flight with Villa to managing England then trying to rebuild his reputation in the second tier at Wolves. I'm not sure where McClaren will go when he is inevitably sacked if England fail to qualify or Euro 2008. Hes reputation as a club manager is shit after his stint at Boro so he'd have a problem getting a job at a decent sized prem club.

And if Carson had been picked and had howlers, you'd be saying hes lost them for not sticking with the first choice. Robinson has experience of those games, he didnt do much wrong tonight in all fairness, there was no pressure on the inital shot he palmed out therefore to get any kind of save to it was good, given the player had the whole goal to aim at. It would have been worse for him to have dropped Robinson imo - simply because of the understanding Robinson has with his back 4. Robinson, though cant be blamed for the second goal, can be critiscised for his part in it, as he didnt do what goalkeeper do - palm the shot out wide, instead he palmed it out into the center into a dangerous position, and Lescott could have been a bit more alert. Robinson should have been dropped a couple of games ago as his confidence is shot to pieces and this has affected his judgement big time. I've heard people say that as his confidence is low the worst thing you can do is kick him in the teeth by dropping him but its not about Robinson its about having a keeper in form in between the sticks for England. Carson or James should have been in goal in the last 2 or 3 games for England and I'd expect Carson to start in Englands next game ( the friendly against Austria ) and if he performs well he'll then keep his place.

General, Now that the transfer window as closed could I ask you to pass on mine and I believe the majority of fans support to the players that will now be representing our great club till January at least. I believe we have done extremely well in the transfer window and have bought in players that will take the club forward, some for many years to come. As you would expect, and we should respect, not everyone is of the same opinion but I do believe that 99.9% of supporters will now get behind the players and act as the 12th man.

Welcome home Zat. As a fellow Villa fan your living my dream. Give your all and Enjoy it!

gen, sorry if this has already been mentioned but at the newcastle game they had a multiple beer pouring thing it was knocking out like six lagers at a time, can we get some, can we, can we. would speed things up alot imo. what you reckon general can you look into this amazing creation. I went to a concert at Wembley recently and they had one of the above mentioned multiple beer pouring machines. I think it poured something like eight at a time and certainly appeared to speed things up. Good call.

General I actually feel ashamed at some of the disrespectful crap based on non truths that you have had to read on this site and others over the past few weeks. These so called self proclaimed Villa fans are not representative of the thoughts of 99.9% of our fan base in my opinion. I congratulate you General that you have the integrity to answer these posts in a dignified and cultured manner always stating the truth. I like many would not have the patience to be so graceful. I am so proud that you are associated with the team I support.

I am still a believer. What I will say though is that I think if Mon could go back a couple of months he'd have played this transfer window a little differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

General as ever an honest and sincere post. I, like many on here, am fed up with having to see the same questions being fired at you so can see why are you now see it as a waste of time answering them. You can be assured though General that 99.9% of Aston Villa fans are right behind Randy, Mon, Yourself and the rest of the board and appreciate what you have done and endeavor to do with this great club. Like you said its a long term plan that you all have for improving the club and thankfully the majority of us are fully aware of and accept that.

I've still got one but this thread has made me realise I probably haven't used it for about 2 years but for some reason I still have it sitting under my dvd recorder. I still have the odd thing on tape so until I convert them onto dvd I suppose I'll still keep it but its doubtful I'll ever use it again.

Well along with the better manager we could very well offer him higher wages, we now reportedly have the best training facilities in Europe, which the club believe will be a major attraction in obtaining players, we also have the bigger stadium and are arguably the bigger club based on history, tradition, trophys won and fan base. I'd say when competing with Spurs for a players signature we'd have a great chance of coming out on top.

Available for around 4 mill. He'll be 29 in 2 days. Think I'd prefer someone slightly younger but hes a decent player.

My best mate who was with me, is a Pompey fan, he was convinced, I am 120% sure it was him. Stroke of luck that having a Pompey fan with you to identify him.

General first time I have posted on this thread. I would just like to apologise for some of the over the top negativity that has suddenly swamped Villatalk over the past month or so. Where some of these recent members have been hiding is anyones guess but they have obviously been waiting for a sticky patch so they can mouth off. I doubt wether some of these posters are indeed Villa fans but rest assured General that 99.99% of Villa fans are right behind Randy, Mon and the rest of the board and have every faith that the vision that they have for Aston Villa will ultimately, given time, be achieved. We had the right men for the job back in August and we still have the right men leading us now.

If Mon believed this current squad was in danger of being relegated then if he couldn't get the players he wants to move us forward he would sign stop gaps till the end of the season. You can rest assured though that Mon is no fool and if he believes, as appears to be the case, that this squad is good enough to finish above the relegation zone then thats good enough for me. For what its worth I believe that this squad, although small, is way too good to go down. Fair play to Mon as although it appears Randy is willing to be back him to the hilt he is not prepared to pay over the odds for any player.

From todays Sun. Speculation regarding Baros, Ashley Young, SWP, Bellamy and Gera. Seems like we're being linked with everyone all of a sudden. http://tinyurl.com/yetxy7 Spanish strugglers want Baros By PHIL THOMAS January 09, 2007 MILAN BAROS is a shock transfer target for La Liga strugglers Levante. The Spanish outfit have made Aston Villa striker Baros, 25, their number one priority as they battle to avoid slipping into the relegation scrap. The Czech striker only turned down a move to Spain recently, when he knocked back an approach from Real Sociedad. Yet that was when fanciful talk of a dramatic swoop by Chelsea was in the air, and now it has come to nothing, he would give Levante more serious consideration. Baros cost Villa £6.5 million when they landed him from Liverpool 18 months ago. But he has failed to sparkle since moving to the Midlands, managing only 14 goals in 49 appearances. He was on target when he came off the bench in Sunday’s late FA Cup defeat at Manchester United. Yet he has slipped behind Juan Pablo Angel and Gabriel Agbonlahor in the pecking order, while Chris Sutton will also be ahead of him when he returns from injury. Manager Martin O’Neill has publicly admitted that there is uncertainty over the long-term future of Baros, and he could go for around half what Villa paid for him. Levante are woefully lacking firepower, with just 16 goals in their 17 league games this term - and only six of them from front men Riga Mustapha and Olivier Kap. Aston Villa last night signed Manchester United full-back Phil Bardsley on loan for the rest of the season. The 21 year-old defender is Martin O’Neill’s first capture since the transfer window opened again at the start of the month. But Bardsley will have to wait until January 20th to make his debut against struggling Watford at Villa Park because he’s not eligible to play against his parent club when Villa return to Old Trafford to play the Premiership leaders on Saturday. However, O’Neill is hoping to bring in at least two more newcomers this week, with Watford’s £6 million-rated striker Ashley Young amoung his targets. He’s also being linked with Liverpool’s Craig Bellamy and West Brom’s unsettled Hungarian forward Zoltan Gera. “We just want to start building the squad up up a bit to give ourselves a chance,†said the former Celtic boss. “We’ve got a gruelling schedule ahead and we’re a bit bit threadbare at the moment.†SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS will reject a £9.8million move to West Ham because he reckons he still has a future at Chelsea. The out of favour winger is instead hoping to clinch a loan move to Aston Villa for the rest of the season. And he is determined to prove to Jose Mourinho that he is good enough to become a Stamford Bridge regular. England international Wright-Phillips, 25, has NEVER played a full 90 minutes in the Premiership for Chelsea. Now Mourinho is ready to cut his losses on a player who cost Chelsea £21million when he signed from Manchester City in July 2005. But the little winger still has three and a half years to run on his £60,000 a week contract. And he is not yet ready to call time on his Chelsea career despite his failure to meet Mourinho’s demands. Wright-Phillips’ refusal to join the struggling Hammers on a permanent deal has forced Chelsea to rethink about lending him to a Premiership rival. It was only last week that Mourinho insisted that none of his squad would be allowed to leave on loan. But now he is willing to let Wright-Phillips go even though both Joe Cole and Arjen Robben are currently out injured. Manchester City and Newcastle are also eager to take the player on loan for the rest of the season but Wright-Phillips is thought to favour a move to Villa. Villa boss Martin O’Neill has also made a £6.9million bid for Watford winger Ashley Young. But he prefers Wright-Phillips and knows the player has a point to prove. Spurs boss Martin Jol is also keen on Young and believes he can lure the England Under-21 international to White Hart Lane. But struggling Watford are demanding players in part exchange and Jol is having trouble convincing any of his squad to move to a club heading straight back to the Championship. Wayne Routledge, currently on loan at Fulham, refused to move to Vicarage Road at the weekend and now Spurs are trying to get centre-half Calum Davenport to join Watford instead.

Are you having a laugh? If Peter Withe was 5' 8" Gary Shaw must have been about 5 foot.

Craig Bellamy is 5'9" and would struggle to win a header against Alan Wright.

Bent, SWP and Ashley Young are clearly all available. This is a fantastic opportunity to sign 3 young, hungry, quality players. All 3 have the potential to be lining up for England in the next 2-3 years. They would instantly give us the one thing we clearly lack which is an attacking threat. I doubt players like this will become available too often and this is a fantastic opportunity for us to turn ourselves from an average side into a very good side instantly. I think we should do what ever it takes to bring in all 3 of these players and completely turn the playing side of this club around and make a massive statement that we are back amongst the big boys.

**** me we are favourites for ashley young ,shauwn wright phillips and joey barton , if we got them three i think id ejaculate. Lets hope the old saying that bookies are rarely wrong proves to be true.

Watford are clearly going down (10 points from safety) so I'm sure even though Boothroyd says hes going nowhere they will have a breaking point. I'd have thought somewhere in the region of 7mill would secure his services.

Where did you hear this?

Richard I'm with you and am expecting something to happen today and definately before the end of the week. I'd say we're further forward on a couple of incoming transfers than any of us realise.

I think its fantastic that nobody knows how much we have to spend and if we are shoppping in Harrods or Matalan. It shows we have very shrewd people running the club. MON is one of the greats when it comes to playing mind games with the media but I'm confident he has a few surprises up his sleeve for us all.