Ginko

It's a cliché but this isn't Football Manager here, it's real life. Sometimes these things take time. Would I like our business to be done quickly? Yes of course, and do I think we go about things a bit slowly sometimes? Yep, but we don't know the ins and outs and sometimes it's not the fault of the club that things take time. If it happens, it happens.

Yup I think it's a given that he's coming here... ...I'll get my coat.

I like him, I think he has a good balance between his attacking and defensive play, he scored a pretty good goal last season for Spurs if I recall correctly and he can cross the ball too. I'd have him in a heartbeat but I'd rather we sign a Leftback.

Any idea when we'll hear or see anything of the home and goalkeeper kits Gen?

Happy 4th of July General. Can I ask what the situation is with us announcing our Home and Goalkeeper kits? I'd have thought it was being delayed pending our sponsorship issues but now that we have Genting on board, is there anything else holding this back? If there isn't and it's just a PR decision, can I ask why we are always so late in announcing things? Is it an agreement with Nike? Sorry but I just love seeing our new kits. I know there are more important things going on at the moment but I get so frustrated when the majority of other Premier League teams have announced their new kits months before we have. I just wonder why we don't announce home, away and goalkeeper kits all at the same time? Thanks, Ginko

I think N'Zogbia is actually a really good player. It's not his talent I'd be worried about if he came here, just his attitude.

Like others have said, he hasn't really done anything yet, yes he's said the right things, the stuff we want to hear, as opposed to Houllier, but I still would have preferred Houllier to stay on. Better the devil you know in my opinion, well, more to do with I was excited at the transfer window under Houllier. I realise that with his health problems however, it wasn't really an option so I can appreciate that to an extent. I know it sounds daft and I have nothing against Mcleish personally, he seems like a nice chap, but this just feels wrong. I really felt let down by the board. Not only due to the fact that in my eyes Mcleish isn't good enough for us, but it's one of two scenarios for me and neither of them show the board in a positive light. Scenario A. We were running a bit thin on targets, people were saying no, Mcleish became available so we got him in quickly. This to me begs the question why everyone was saying no and just who were we approaching and what was our search criteria? I would like to think we could have gotten in someone with a better record than Mcleish (2 relegations?). Scenario B. We had our targets and Mcleish was high up on the list and we tapped him up, he came to us. This scenario would prove the board have lied to us, and they really did go behind the Blues' backs and illegally approach Mcleish. Obviously I don't know what really happened and I never will and there are probably other scenarios I'm not thinking of, but either way I think the board haven't come out of this looking particularly good and in my own opinion, I am deeply let down and disappointed and I have never felt this way about an appointment for as long as I have been a fan. I'm going to give him the support because I support the club and I hope he proves me wrong and if he does I will be the first to man up and admit my judgements were ill-placed, but I just can't shake the feeling that this is a big mistake. All we can do is support Villa and see how it plays out I guess.

Hi General, Needless to say, I wasn't exactly thrilled by the appointment of AM. I'm more concerned about you and the board however. I thought that the appointment of a new manager was meant to make a statement of intent? Well, it did but not in a positive way. To be honest, I feel a little lied to and it almost feels as if you guys had hit a brick wall with appointing a manager and when AM became available you snatched him up quickly for fear that you couldn't get anyone better. Why is that? Did we set our sights too low? Did we constrain ourselves with certain requirements, such as Premier League experience? I personally do not think PL experience in the form of two relegations should top a manager who has not yet had the chance to manage in the PL but who is highly rated and has had success elsewhere. Obviously we are not privy to the candidates who really showed an interest in managing us (only what the papers say but we all take that with a pinch of salt), but I can't believe for one minute that we didn't have better candidates than AM out there. What about Houllier's passing philosophy? Does AM have any experience with that? Did you see how Blues played and were set up? The two styles are completely different, so either he is going to try to adapt to that style which is incredibly risky, or we're going to change styles AGAIN, and have another "transitionary season" which I think most of us are fed up with. I'm sorry General, I don't mean to devalue all the good that yourself, Randy and the rest of the people working behind the scenes have done over the years but this is truly the first time my faith in you has waned and I am truly worried about the future of our club. I don't think AM is a bad man, in fact even when he was at Blues I didn't hate him (although I'm not one for hating people based on the football team they support) but I just don't think he is right for us. If he proves me wrong, then I'll be ecstatic, but I just can't see it happening. My final point is to do with the lack of communication between the club and the fans the past few weeks. Not just about the manager position, I can understand to an extent why that was kept hush hush, although I think due to how it's turned out, that philosophy hasn't exactly produced stellar results has it? But no, I'm also talking about the Sponsor and Kit situations. I also understand that there must be some legal obligations but I look around the rest of the PL and even in the Championship and I don't see the struggle there that we have here. Why are we always so far behind everyone else with regards to these things? We have had months and months to sort out a new sponsor and a kew kit, so please tell me why we haven't heard anything? This and the recent management hunt has truly made our club look like it has no clue what it's doing when compared to other Premier League clubs, and it's frankly embarrassing. Thanks for reading, Ginko

If the facts before you don't add up then perhaps one should consider the alternatives...... :? Strong hunch or have you herd a whisper ? Wishful thinking is more likely :winkold:

How about we wait and see who is appointed before we jump to any conclusions and come across as a spoilt unappreciative brat yes? Randy has done a lot for this club. If you don't like it, sell your soul and go and buy yourself a Man City shirt. Aston Villa doesn't need this kind of "support".

Calm down dear, I was just passing on the information, people can decide for themselves whether or not they want to believe it. Besides I did say "our friend we are all skeptical about" did I not? Just passing on the information that's all, not saying I believe it.

Dare I ask why? It's frustrating to not really know what's going on I'll admit but if it's to the benefit of the club then I don't mind. Obviously take with a pinch of salt but here's the latest from our supposed ITK friends on Twitter. To be fair to Villa_Insider, she was right about Houllier before it was announced, but I had heard she'd left the club, assuming she's in touch with people who still work there. Villa_Insider AstonVillaInsider Its 12.30 in Birmingham & Liverpool. 07:30 in Cleveland & New York. Meetings and negotiations to resume in 30 mins. Dont expect news today. and from our other friend who we are all skeptical about... AVFCMysteryMan Sky Dream #tsallsports #avfc #Moyes To #villa going very well AVFCMysteryMan Sky Dream #avfc the delay is none football but will be sorted just CAN'T be rushed

Ten players released including Carew and NRC, Ash on his way no doubt, potentially Downing too (but I don't think we will unless it's an offer too good to turn down), Heskey supposedly on his way too, I'd say we're pretty far down the line with reducing the wage bill.

That smells a little like a light sprinkling of ITK perhaps? Afraid not mate. Just reading between the lines and ignoring all the bullshit printed in the media. Ah fair enough, I appreciate the upbeat attitude anyways. I'm still hopeful on Ancelotti too, although the supposed rumours I've heard going round are that we're looking at someone most people wouldn't think we were and that it's going to be a surprise. Not sure what to make of it really, just have to wait and see. Unfortunately there's an awful lot of wait and see at the moment. I'm still surprised we're waiting on news about our new kits too. They should at least give us that if for no other reason than to divert attention from appointing a manager if for a little while.

That smells a little like a light sprinkling of ITK perhaps?

Just posted on Twitter. Seems to think Nolan is coming to us from Newcastle too... can't see us signing anyone without a manager though unless it's a part ex deal like Milner and Ireland, but I'd have thought they'd have learned from that one. Also can't see Nolan wanting to leave or Newcastle wanting to sell.

It wouldnt be the same without this question being asked night in...night out Hah nope! I'm going to start looking forward to seeing it in future, might as well make a game out of it!

Jesus I hope there's another candidate who comes out of nowhere to take the job (still hoping for Ancelotti, if anything to shut those **** at talkSPORT up) that list is rather depressing. The only one I want is Moyes and I can't see him leaving Everton any time soon. YIM seemed to reckon Moyes was a dead cert though.

Sigh, ever since Notting Villa posted that 3 am inside info stuff the time is going slower I swear it. Jesus I hope it's some good news, I would seriously die a little inside if Steve McClaren was to be interviewed.

Some ITKs say Ancelotti, YIM says it's Moyes... which is it? I wanna knoooooooooow....

Hah yeah I don't think we'll hear anything until monday at the earliest and even then I think we'll be waiting a couple of weeks. I don't think they'll rush this at all. Might as well focus on England tomorrow. I feel your disappointment though. I was sure this week we'd hear news on the new kits, I even held hope for today since friday is as good a day as any other to announce them. Sadly it was not to be.

I guess we take this ITK stuff with a pinch of salt since we're hearing different things from all kinds of sources. As for appointing Hughes, it could happen before July 1st dependent on how long Fulham take to find a manager of course. If they appoint someone in a week or two then I assume that agreement to wait until July 1st would be null and void? I'm no legal expert though, just what I would assume. I can't see Fulham wanting to wait around too long to get a new manager in though. In my heart I'm still pining for Ancelotti however

Ah well, he's going to fail the interview then since that's the only requirement for the job, to make sure that chant sounds right.

Well we'd have to wait until next month to appoint him as manager and whereas no-one but the parties involved know the specifics, it would look a little suspect if Houllier left, then the next day Mark Hughes resigns and then he ends up as our manager, so there would no doubt be accusations of poaching. I'm not saying that's a good enough reason to not appoint him manager of course, and if he did get appointed, we could have done a lot worse but I still have other candidates I would prefer, chiefly Ancelotti, Moyes and to an extent Jol.

I can understand the uncertainty some people have about appointing Ancelotti, but all I would say is that it would be a huge signal of intent, it would attract a better quality of player to us and as long as he comes in early enough and Randy gives him some cash to bring in some of his own players, he would come good for us. I also think that Randy and the board know exactly what they're looking for in their next manager and will set out the requirements, one of which would be the incorporation of products of our youth academy. If Ancelotti doesn't fulfill these requirements, I think we will look elsewhere, so I don't see it being a problem. Lastly, I stand by a point I made what seems like 50 pages ago now, despite only being last night, that Ancelotti would have a lot more freedom to choose players to buy and play (within our budget constraints which are significantly less than Chelsea of course). I mean this in the sense that Abramovich is notorious for sticking his nose in to the manager's business, Randy isn't like that. They will have learned from the mistakes with MON and the errors of judgement with Houllier and will be a lot wiser. They will appoint the candidate who best fits their criteria.