Condimentalist

Surely we could do worse than Beletti for RB? Though he may think he can do better than us...

Passing through on shuffle now is: Opeth - The Baying of the Hounds

Spurs did make an offer for Young, but pulled out of the bidding after it passed a certain threshold. Various Spurs ITKs said this at the time. You may not consider this to be proof, but short of a written description by Daniel Levy as to what happened there is never going to be any absolute proof. Villa valued (or wanted) Young more than us and so were willing to pay more - end of story really. There we go.

Jeez, are we really talking about Spurs AGAIN!?

If we offer enough, they'll sell - no question. I'm far more worried about Spurs potential interest than Ajax not selling.

Really? I think we need much more than 3 players.

20 league goals would be a bit much to ask. 20 goals in all competitions is the target.

General, I know that it is quite righly your general policy not to speak about transfer issues, but I just wondered whether, bearing in mind that this is firmly in the public domain anyway, you could confirm whether or not we have actually bid for Nigel Reo-Coker? There are some conflicting media reports on this one but the BBC are sure we have and people are getting rather worked up about it, and if we havn't actually bid for him then we could all save some of our energy! Of course, if you feel it would be inappropriate to comment then you do not have to.

That would be a quality signing. Shame it's another fabricated link...

Looking forward to it as well, and I smoke.

I don't think their moves have actually been completed yet. Though neither has Hargreaves...

Don't worry, BV, he isn't - they aren't interested. His agent has said that he wants to sign for Villa and a deal will be concluded as soon as the fee is agreed.

Smith would get 15 a season if you played him regularly.

You'll curse the deal with that attitude - and avatar!

when on earth did supporters start to give a flying fig about this kind of crap ? When they woke up one morning to the remarkable discovery that they had a brain.

It would be enough but the way I see it is actually like this: New GK, new RB, new CB/LB, new RM/AM (Nakamura?/Koumas?/Sneijder?), new DM (Reo-Coker?), new ST. So 6 players coming in overall with Davis, Ridgewell, Sutton, Djemba x2, McCann, Hendrie, Delaney/Hughes and a goalkeeper leaving. 8 out, 6 in but a much stronger and deeper squad all the same.

Having given it some thought I think Nakamura would be better than Koumas for these 2 main reasons: 1. Even if his overall play may not be as good, his ability from set-pieces should not be underestimated. Think of how important Beckham's free-kicks are to England - they are by far the major threat we possess. That sort of world-class ability can get you 6-7 goals a season alone. 2. Raising the profile in Asia. Significant in terms of brand building. Koumas raises no-ones profile.

Nakamura isn't that good, and almost certainly won't be available. Goodness Celtic must hate us...

mjkane, you look a bit like wee Shaun Maloney!

Nike deal is better for a number of reasons; 1. More fashionable. People who think this doesn't matter in terms of marketing etc are extremely naive. It does. 2. Distribution. It's bloody impossible to get any Villa stuff down here at the moment, and I'm only 90 miles away from Brum. Man City, Bolton, Newcastle etc have their kits in every shop. 3. Financial. I believe that the financial package is more attractive to us than the Hummel deal. I think someone mentioned something like £5m a year, though can't remember who. 4. Quality of shirt. Everone apart from 'Poodle' agrees that manufacturing quality was poor. He may have recieved a perfect kit, many other didn't.

I don't think it will work like that. Particularly not in the case of Reo-Coker. He is transfer listed and definately on his way out of the club this summer anyway, so it doesn't really matter when they sell.

In fairness, I think Hummel actually did some quite nice designs, but the manufacturing quality was a bit poor. Looking forward to the shift to Nike. The fact that it is fashionable in the playground IS important as well, even if that's a phrase usually used in a derogatary way.

Interesting you say that General. I know a lot of Americans just don't really 'get' football or 'soccer' - were you immediately interested in it? Had you had an interest in it before? Did you get to catch many games? I'm just intrigued to know how you became interested in the beautiful game in that time... Glad you did though!

He can piss off if he thinks we're going to have to wait 2 months for him.

Yeah fair do's, I agree. All I'm trying to show is that just because West Brom play in the Championship it doesn't necessarily mean they have a Championship squad. I'm amazed they didn't win automatic promotion and I don't think I'm alone. So there shouldn't be a stigma attatched to buying a player from West Brom, their best player at that. I'm saying it's similar to buying Man City's best player. Sure, I get you. Interesting that no-one was moaning we were linked to a Portuguese second division player - ah, the benefit of a fancy name.