markavfc40

**** Wanky SSN presenter asked why would O'neill join Villa when he could have joined Newcastle, Boro, England and Derby.

FFS There are bigger clubs than those rocket polishers from scotland.

Asked who? I hope he got he answer that its becuse we have the potential to be one of the biggest clubs in Europe never mind England agian.

Mr Trees your investigation skills know no bounds. Thank you.

I don't trust Doug not to spill coffee on the contract before MON signs and not cough up the money for ink so a new one can be printed!!!

If MON is indeed about to sign on the dotted line I doubt vey much Ellis will have anything to do with it. If MON comes Ellis definately ain't sticking around for much longer. This is a win win for us.

I'm dreading 5pm tomorrow and finding that nothing as happened. At least during the week we've still got the hope something could happen any minute but we already know **** all can happen over the weekend.

Julie,

Rumour has it that 10.000 ST holders did not review. It would take Doug about 5 years to meet each and every one of them for one hour each.

The 10000 could all go see him togeter and charge at him like a heard of elephants as soon as he shows his face.

Steve Dyson Editor Evening Mail

I just received this email from Steve Dyson, editor of the Mail, after I mailed him this morning with a general moan about their recent coverage:

"Hi Scott

Our information is that O'Neill should be manager within days, and that Lerner is still at the negotiating table. We can't say more really, rather than let's see what happens in the next few days.

Do not doubt, however, that this newspaper will explode should any of what we understand to be taking place is derailed by intransigence at the club. Watch this space - and keep nudging. Thanks again Steve"

Interesting..............

Thats the same reply he sent me at 8am this morning. I posted it in the Ellis smokescreen thread.

Several of questions to the club? (and Bill I know you read VT)

1) Did a representative of Rothchild have a meeting with MO'N yesterday?

Mike seems a strange thing to come out with. If this is the case shouldn't this been seen as a positive.

On SSNjust now they showed the back page of the Sun and down on the bottom right the headline was 'RANDY ON VILLA BRINK'. they didn'y read the article though. so god knows what it means

Yeah i saw that, but Sky decided to ignore it, so we don't know what it meant.

Christ it could mean either way!!

Give it another hour and you'll be able to see it online on the sun site.

I agree with Pete that all parties want this ideally settled before the end of the tour, ideally before the weekend. IT gives the cluba massive boost and especially the players who will see MON turn up for the tour, who knwos with a palyer or 2 in tow.

And it also gives time for the season ticcket sales to get a much needed boost cos, lets face it they need it!

Tomorrow would be a perfect time to announce new manager and owners IMO. AFter this week and it totally f**Ks up pre-season both on/off field from the team sense but also commercially and that includes ticket/season ticket sales.

Whilst I like the above scenario the only problem is that if Ellis is definately selling he no longer gives a **** about season ticket sales or whether a new manager is in place or how well the team are prepared for the new season.

Which makes me believe that AV06 are well behind the game and if the other parties who have already had serious discussions with AV are really interested and have the finances in place then AV06 could very well be too far behind to make ground up.

It would also tie in with the ideas from posters here that Rothschilds are recommending the other already established bids and concentrating on those for now.

Especially since Padfield couldn't even confirm finance was in place!

Are the club duty bound to give AVO6 time to catch up if they are indeed behind the other potential bidders. Or can Rothchilds just say thats it you've missed the boat?

IF???

Surely it is not going to be done tomorrow or Friday.....is it?

Without wishing to get anyone's hopes up, I dont see why it couldnt be

PB if you believe a deal could be one or two days away you must know something I and many others don't. The latest news we are hearing regarding this doesn't suggest anything is going to happen any time soon.

I won't have access to the net for the rest of the day so I just pray that by the time I come back on here, MON will be installed and Lerner will have made a bid and that auld word removed will have accepted it.

You might also see a pig fly past the window as well.

"Lerner back in game but frustrated by slow progress"

So Doug is desperately trying to sell to someone else who will:

1) offer him more money

2) ensure continuity of the Ellis legacy in one form or another

Pat Murphy on Five Live this morning said today's a crunch day, with Lerner back in but not wanting a repeat of his last experience, also that there was no way he would give Ellis an executive position if he buys the club.

Good on yer Randy.

And so another day of rumour and hoping and praying begins. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.

Lerner back in game but frustrated by slow progress

Stuart James

Wednesday August 2, 2006

The Guardian

The possibility of Martin O'Neill being installed as Aston Villa manager while Doug Ellis remains as chairman was last night dismissed as "completely off-the-wall" by a source close to Randy Lerner. It is understood that the US billionaire has revived his interest in buying the club after negotiations with Ellis broke down last week at Villa Park, and the owner of the Cleveland Browns American Football team continues to believe that he holds the key to O'Neill's appointment.

O'Neill is understood to be surprised by reports in the local press indicating he is ready to be introduced as the manager. It was suggested that the Irishman would be confirmed as David O'Leary's successor yesterday or today. Within Lerner's group there is also a sense of disbelief given the lack of progress over talks. "The idea of O'Neill joining camp with Ellis in charge is completely off the wall," said a source.

Villa responded to yesterday's stories linking O'Neill with the post by insisting that no appointment was imminent. "Contrary to rumours circulating there is no announcement planned concerning the appointment of a new manager," said Steve Stride, the operations director. "The situation remains ongoing and we will inform fans as and when it is possible. But speculation concerning an announcement is extremely premature."

It is apparent that O'Neill has been offered the Villa position, although it is believed he will require unequivocal assurances about any takeover before deciding to commit. O'Neill is not prone to making rash decisions and his circumspection over the uncertainty surrounding the club's ownership is understandable. The picture would become a lot clearer should Lerner's second attempt to gain control be successful. There remains the possibility of a deal being resurrected, although under vastly different terms to before. This time, unlike last Wednesday, there will be no face-to-face meeting. Instead Lerner would leave any transaction in the hands of the two banks involved.

The American was left bemused by his earlier meeting with Ellis, when he arrived with the intention of making an offer subject to due diligence, and would not countenance the possibility of enduring another frustrating experience. None of the other parties interested, including the consortiums headed by Athole Still, Michael Neville and Nicholas Padfield QC, have dropped out of the running but it has become increasingly clear that Lerner offers the surest route to progress and O'Neill's arrival.

Why is this unlikely?? It's only unlikely if DE is willing to give up power,. What is perfectly plausable is that Doug thinks if he gets MON then he could ride out this storm and stay in charge, would you not agree??

There is no way in a million years I can see MON coming to Villa if he knows Ellis is going to stay in charge. I've always believed if MON is announced manager before a takeover it will also signal the end of the Ellis era. If MON becomes manager and Ellis rejects all offers for the club I will parade around outside Villa park in only me missus's thongs before the Reading game.

listening to talksport at the moment they are talking like it is a done deal that mon is new manager wtf is going

They had Bill Howell on and he said it is 100% guaranted that O'Neil will be next Villa manager. The guys presenting talksport couldn't believe it.

They've had Arsenal, Leicester and Celtic fans on saying what a massive club Villa are and what a great manager MON is and that it wouldn't be beyond the realms to see Villa challenging the top 4 in a couple of years. Nice I thought coming from fans of other clubs.

Perhaps

I hope youv'e taken the short straw by the name of Ellis out of there Jez.

So in a vain attempt to summarise because my head really does hurt.....

Bid 1 - Neville

Bid 2 - AV06 - that judge fella

Bid 3 - Lerner

Bid 4 - Athole Still

(Potential) Bid 5 - Dubai businessmen (although these may be instead the backers of bid 4, or less likely bid 3)

(Potential) Bid 6 - American businessmen (although these are in all likelihood connected with bid 3 and are not therefore a separate bid)

Correct summary or not?

You forgot about the possibility of bid 7

I feel a bit sorry for Mike Neville. He pretty much started the take over bandwagon, spent the best part of a year working on it and then probably get's brushed aside - never to be seen again.

I can appreciate what your saying about Neville but I won't feel sorry for him. At the end of the day if he has the best bid he'll win if he hasn't he won't. He may have been quite shocked by how many potential bidders have come out the woodwork but that is to the benefit of the club IMO.

Mr trees you have been like a breath of fresh air on here the last couple of weeks. Its like we've all chipped in and got ourselves a private investigator.

i think its gotta be lerners men, howell would have picked it up if it was another group wanting villa.

I can't believe how all of a sudden Howell knows everything thats happening at Villa. 2 weeks ago the majority of Villa fans had him down as knowing **** all. Whats changed?

He read this message board. :winkold:

You might be right. I hope Howell is spot on with what hes saying but my opinion of him hasn't changed just because I like what hes saying at the moment. FFS it was only 10 days ago we was all e mailing the Evening Mail screaming about what a clown he was.

i think its gotta be lerners men, howell would have picked it up if it was another group wanting villa.

I can't believe how all of a sudden Howell knows everything thats happening at Villa. 2 weeks ago the majority of Villa fans had him down as knowing **** all. Whats changed?

I hope Ellis isn't just trying to avoid selling or playing bids off each other again.

Any potential bidder would have to go through Rothchilds first I would imagine. At the end of the day Doug has a legal duty to investigate all potential proposals. If it is therefore a new bidder Doug can't just tell them to feck off.

If Lerner does make the effort to fly back into this country in the next couple of days it will be to sign the deal. Theres no way he would come all the way back over just to **** about with Ellis again.