markavfc40

Can anybody confirm how tall Peter Withe was/is ? - I always thought he was 6ft 1 - but someone a while back said that this was a much used myth, he was actually only 5.8 - he certainly looked bigger than 5-8 - anyone confirm ?

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.

Does someone know something we don't? Is it a load of rubbish?

Check out Skybets latest transfer odds.

Interesting reading

If we got some of those we were linked with I would be delighted.

**** 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.

Villa, Spurs and Liverpool is fighting to clinch deal for Ashley Young, Watford. I hope that Villa can get him, if Watford will sell...

Where did you hear this?

I just have a feeling there will be some action today, not sure why

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.

I wouldn't mind us going for Crouch and Earnshaw and pairing them together. We could sign the pair of them for 10-12 mill. They are both in their early 20s, experienced internationals and have scored goals in prem and would make a great partnership IMO. They have both lived in the area before so would settle in straight away.

It would also fit in with MONs previous tactics of a little and large partnership ie Heskey and Cottee at Leicester and Sutton/Hartson and Larsson at Celtic.

Ashton would be an ideal target man IMO. I'd think it would take a bid in excess of 12mill to get him though.

Newcastle are very poor at the back and its dubtful they'll throw their new forward straight in so that leaves them with Ameobi up front. Although they have a strong midfield I'm going for a 2-0 win to Villa.

Overdraft!!!!!!!

It's generally though that there is a facility of £20m o/d. We were o/d by £12.1m 31.5.06. So anything left in there plus any fees recieved for Phillips and Berson are available now it appears.

A guestimate of about £8-£9m

If there is 8 mill left of the overdraft to spend that should be enough to buy £15 million worth of players given that most of the time fees are paid in instalments and rarely is the whole fee paid up front.

I'm beginning to think its a good thing that Doug is becoming life president. He will obviously see the role as a way of keeping himself in the public eye and as some sort of figurehead at the club.

For this reason and with him having a rather large ego I'd imagine he'd have it in his head that in 3 months, 6 months, 9 months etc he can pop up in the media and proclaim what a great job he did by selling the club to such great new owners so any success that we may achieve is really down to him.

For the above reason therefore he is hardly likely to sell the club to a bunch of tossers and the fact that the AV06 bid may pocket him another couple of million will mean very little to him. At the end of the day he is 82 and the likelihood of him being able to spend it is very slim.

Therfore the main factor in Dougs mind to who he sells to will be whether the new owners can be successful as he will have it in his mind that any success will then be partly down to him and he will absolutley revel in that far more than an extra couple of mill.

AV06 have so far been all fart and no shit and I honestly can't see that changing. If it does and they put a better package on the table for the future of our club than Lerners then great. If not what a fantastic time we appear to have ahead of us with Randy.

Richard I've never heard him say that. Hes obviously even more doo laly than I'd realised.

A Villa well bought is an apple well sold.

Richard I'll have a pint of what you've been drinking or a drag of whatever it is you've been smoking.

And from all the information we have the best is Lerner. End of.

Couldn't agree more. And if Lerners best gets bettered by AV06 then that'll be even better.

At he moment worst case scenario is Lerner because the olny way AV06 can prevail is if they better the Lerner package. How fantastic is that.

and Mark this is not just about money and never has been

It is about the future plans and direction of the club.

the new owners have to act and think big and whilst AV06's people hide I will not trust them ....

Ian I never said it was about money. One of the stipulations of any bid seems to have been that Rothchilds would only recommend bids that showed that the clubs future would be in good hands and that their were plans in place to show this.

Therefore if Rothchilds recommend the AV06 bid as it as matched or bettered Lerners plans for the club and they are also willing to pay 8 mill more I can't honestly see why Ellis would not accept.

As for AV06 people hiding Rotchchilds will obviously know who they are before recommending any bid and so will we if the bid is accepted.

As has been said before this is a win/win situation as the only way AV06 can prevail in all this if there bid is the better overall package than the fantastic package already on the table.

Richard Iwish they would go away because I know how Lerner hates this unnecessary publicity and I don't want anything to go wrong.. Comprendo??

He will also be aware that if he is the prefered bid, if he is who Ellis wants and he is who the fans want, that there will not be a problem.

If Rothchilds contact Ellis and say we are recomending the AV06 bid as they have matched or bettered what Lerner has put on the table in respect of running the club and future finace etc and he'll also pay another 8 million does anyone honestly think Lerners will still be Ellis's preferred bid?

If the AV06 bid is the better overall package it will be accepted, simple as that so why people are worrying is beyond me.

Ian we knew very little about the Lerner bid until he actually put his offer on the table yesterday. If AV06 do put a bid in we will then be in a better position to evaluate each bid.

I wouldn't worry too much about Padfields credentials as it appears he is just a front and would not actually have anythong to do with running the club should AV06 be successful with their bid.

can someone answer this question

if padfield or whoever increase bids to the 5% required, does doug have to accept the bid because he has already agreed to sell at a lower price?

No the bid does not have to be accepted by Petchey, Doug or the Board at AVFC even if it is above the 5% limit is my understanding. I will happily stand corrected if I have misunderstood this.

Two points.......

1. The new bid MUST be 5% above the current agreed bid.

2. The AVFC board MUST recommend this new offer to the shareholders.

Both MUST happen for Padfield to have any chance at all........

But the board won't recommend the bid, therefore no chance!

Why won't the board recommend the bid?

I'm amazed why people seem to think that this AV06 bid can't be better.

Lerners bid is absolutely fantastic so if the AV06 bid was accepted surely that would mean it was the better bid which in turn should mean it being better for the future of the club as this is supposedly one of the stipulations for a bid being accepted.

If the AV06 is accepted it will mean it is better than the Lerner bid and we in turn should therefore be over the moon that someone better than Lerner as taken over.

People seem to be shit scared at the possibility that AV06 could have there bid accepted, why. If there bid is accepted then it means Rothchilds have recommeded it as the better overall bid.

Reputations are on the line here as there is no way Rothchilds would want to recommend a bid that would not be to the benefit of the club so I don't really understand what all the panic is about.

AV06 like to talk the talk and in the next 9 days we'll find out if they can walk the walk. They may turn out to be all fart and no shit but lets just wait and see.

Now forget Padfield as an individual, he's just the media front, but lets say that AV06 can put forward a deal like that, and they wont bid unless they can, then it strikes me as frankly bizarre that people would be disappointed with it. Its like people have decided its Lerner or nobody, and we dont care what anybody else has to say "we're not listening".

All i will say is that I hope Doug IS listening, because what i want from this is the best possible deal for Aston Villa inthe short, medium and long term, whether its from Lerner or someone else is largely immaterial to me. I want the best for my club, if thats randy then great, if its someone else, then thats great too.

Couldn't agree more PB. Some feel a loyalty towards Lerner and to even consider that there could be a better bid for the future of AVFC is almost like betraying Lerner. I just want whats best for AVFC and really couldn't give a monkeys who that is.

I like the rest of us want the best deal for the future of AVFC. Whilst Lerners bid seems fantastic whose to say the AV06 bid can't be better. People appear to be basing their not wanting AV06 to win on the fact they don't like the sound of Padfield. This guy is just a front man and would not be seen again if the AV06 bid is successful.

I think we should all hold fire a little here and see how this all pans out as the AV06 bid may well be the better bid for the future of AVFC.

I can't understand why some feel they most show an allegiance/loyalty to Lerner and to even consider another bid may be better is in someway betraying Lerner.

As I think PB said this is a win/win situation and is not something to get all worked up about.

Lets just say AV06 have their bid accepted within the next 10 days. Does the whole 10 day cycle start again and others get a chance to outbid AV06? Or do you only get one crack at all this.

Just heard an interview with Ellis on WM from last night.

He was going on about how we have another 8000 seats to put in the North stand and that we have planning permission for this and for a hotel. Clearly no need to say all this but hes being a salesman right till the end. Its obviously something he has spoken about with prospective buyers as it was clearly on his mind.