Wes Hoolahan

[Daniel]

I would assume they're going to reject it.

 

"He commented: “As we’ve always said, no players will be sold against our will. We’ve received no transfer requests this season and have no intention of releasing any of our senior players."
 

Edited January 24, 2014 by Daniel

[samjp26]

If we were to match any accepted bid only to have the offer rejected on the grounds Norwich don't like us we/Hoolahan would have grounds to take them to court.

 

They've bid £3m for Pilkington, not Hoolahan. What I meant was that Pilkington is one of their starting 11 players and is only 25, if he is only worth £3m (obviously depending on whether or not Norwich accept the bid) then I can't see how Hoolahan is worth anything over £1.5m.

 

I do hope that there are other targets in mind because I'm fed up of it to be honest.

[Tomaszk]

If we were to match any accepted bid only to have the offer rejected on the grounds Norwich don't like us we/Hoolahan would have grounds to take them to court.

 

Don't think that's the case is it?

 

Can they not sell him to whoever they want? They could say we're relegation rivals so they don't want to strengthen direct competition?

[The_Lions_Roar]

Smithy, after what Lambert did for Norwich, surely you don't believe that we were the first club in for him?

Not the first club no but the first one he saw as a step up.

He supposedly had talks with Burnley at one point and was linked with West Ham and refused to distance himself from speculation, presumably using it as leverage to get a better deal/more funds from the board.

Lambert did great things for us, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement and these things come to an end but one of the things I don;t miss is worrying our manager will be off every time a managerial vacancy comes up! We don;t have to worry about that now of course with good old cautious Chris which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time!

Your happy with a manager that wouldn't want to better himself?

Its like saying I don't want the club to do well in case the manager then leaves.

Norwich are being pathetic in this if as stated they will sell but not to villa, its petty playground stuff and rather embarrassing.

I'm happy to have a manager who I think has genuine integrity, wants to build up all areas of the club and won't jump ship at the first sniff of a slightly bigger club coming along yes. In that respect Hughton has always been a good fit for us, particularly when a spell of stability was needed after Lambert. its just a shame his tactics and mentality are so conservative and boring that on occasions I can't bear to watch us play hence would quite like him to be sacked now.

A spell of stability? Lambert was with you for 3 years, that's longer than the average manager. Its not like he moved on after 1 season. I just think the board Are being pathetic and ungreatful for what lambert did there.

So whats your point - we should let Lambert sign Wes on the cheap as a sign of thanks for all his hard work? Bottom line is that your offer is pathetic. Nothing more needs to be said on the subject really.

There's not even any confirmation of a bid and how much so you can't complain on that.

I never said that he should be sold as a thanks for the hard work, I said it's pathetic that you wouldn't sell to us because your board are bitter that lambert left, 18 months ago!

Your itk said that they'd consider selling him to anyone but villa.

And as I type Swansea have bid for pilkington, interesting to see how you react as he's first team player.

You also don't know for sure that Norwich would sell to another club for the amount we have offered do you?

We don't know what's been offered, if anything.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

If we were to match any accepted bid only to have the offer rejected on the grounds Norwich don't like us we/Hoolahan would have grounds to take them to court.

Don't think that's the case is it?

Can they not sell him to whoever they want? They could say we're relegation rivals so they don't want to strengthen direct competition?

It would be a pretty weak argument if they sold him to a team lower than us in the table.

In answer to your first question I guess it depends who's asking. I would imagine it's an infringement of human rights under EU law.

[VillaChris]

Would rather sign Pilkington tbh!

[The_Lions_Roar]

Would rather sign Pilkington tbh!

Not what we need.

[AValon]

Would rather sign Pilkington tbh!

 

 

Rather take our business elsewhere tbh.

[AshVilla]

Haven't we moved on yet

[NoelVilla]

We only did this to piss off Narich I think. Good job Paul.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Haven't we moved on yet

How the **** are we supposed to know?

[AvfcTheObsession]

Where's the 750k figure come from?

 

Couple of reports I've seen mentioned the offer being 1.5m, which seems a fair price for a 31-year-old who is on the bench for a bottom end PL side.

[villa-revolution]

Still 100% confident we'll get Hoolihan before this window closes.

 

It's just a little game that has to be played out first for Norwich to satisfy their fan's that the board did everything possible to try & keep him.

 

Lambo has already got between Wes's ears so it's just a question of time now & that time is on our side.

 

You know it makes sense.

[deeps]

I'd take Wes along with a other AM. #dreamworld #options

[Rovers13]

I wonder whether a manager has geuninely found a player from Football Manager? Probably would never admit it if they had.

Everton paid Sports Interactive to get their data earlier than anyone else, so I'm sure it's contributed.

It's not a bad idea to be honest.

I don't think any player should ever be signed PURELY on football manager.

But if it's a case of "There's some 16 year old in Uruguay who's rated ridiculously highly, go and watch him for a month and see how he plays" then it's not totally ridiculous.

By why would the guys at Football Manager know about that kid and people working in football didn't?

I would be surprised if FM has a vast global scouting network which is better equipped than the professional clubs. It would be far easier to just randomise the top prospects than actually try and discover and predict them for real.

Well the FM stats are maintained by volunteers, quite often fans of the respective clubs (thousands of volunteers, by the way, if I'm not mistaken). Like Andy Clarke here on VT.

A lot of them are fanatical about the stats.

I'm not saying they're a better judge of player, but it is conceivable that someone like Andy at a club based in Uruguay (to continue my example) would have seen a prospect before Everton's head scout? I'd say so. I doubt any club's scouting network is aware of every player at every club in the world.

Like I said, I'm not saying it should be the judge of a player. But a little flag to say "apparently this kid is a real prospect, and he's one we've never looked at" is quite clever, I think.

Quite a few clubs use football manager to identify potential targets too I believe

I wouldn't be surprised if Seamus Coleman was discovered on football manager. Pure speculation, but 2008 was the first year everton bought the rights to the games database to get access early and the next summer they signed a virtual unknown for 50k from a tiny Irish club.

[AshVilla]

 

Haven't we moved on yet

How the **** are we supposed to know?

 

 

heh meant it as a rhetorical question should have put the question mark

[SeanO]

Hahaha I love it, I just read the pink forum and it has cheered me up no end.

 

I can't say I blame them, we offered top dollar for a old player and they want more. He's not worth it so Lambert should have moved on as soon as the offer was rejected. By continuing to attempt to get Hoolahan at the price Villa offered and not what Norwich want isn't going to work as it's top dollar for a limited player like Hoolahan but in footballing terms not much so I doubt their accountants are getting excited (unlike their fans lol).

 

Sign plan "B" so this dealing with the pigs is over as we are starting to get ourselves dirty.

[abdomlahor]

I have no problem with them rejecting an offer if they want to keep him. But if it's true that they are willing to sell to anyone other than us, then that's just as petty as it comes and makes them look foolish.

 

However, I really do not see the point in turning down decent money for a 31 year old they hardly ever play.

[The Fun Factory]

Norwich should just tip their hat to their superiors and give us Hooligan.They should be pleased that Lambert got those carrot and mustard  munchers from League One to the Premier League before he moved on to bigger and better things. Bunch of small timers, down you go to the football league. I hope you enjoyed your brief stay at the top. See you in another 10 years.

[MessiWillSignForVilla]

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder whether a manager has geuninely found a player from Football Manager? Probably would never admit it if they had.

Everton paid Sports Interactive to get their data earlier than anyone else, so I'm sure it's contributed.

It's not a bad idea to be honest.

I don't think any player should ever be signed PURELY on football manager.

But if it's a case of "There's some 16 year old in Uruguay who's rated ridiculously highly, go and watch him for a month and see how he plays" then it's not totally ridiculous.

By why would the guys at Football Manager know about that kid and people working in football didn't?

I would be surprised if FM has a vast global scouting network which is better equipped than the professional clubs. It would be far easier to just randomise the top prospects than actually try and discover and predict them for real.

Well the FM stats are maintained by volunteers, quite often fans of the respective clubs (thousands of volunteers, by the way, if I'm not mistaken). Like Andy Clarke here on VT.

A lot of them are fanatical about the stats.

I'm not saying they're a better judge of player, but it is conceivable that someone like Andy at a club based in Uruguay (to continue my example) would have seen a prospect before Everton's head scout? I'd say so. I doubt any club's scouting network is aware of every player at every club in the world.

Like I said, I'm not saying it should be the judge of a player. But a little flag to say "apparently this kid is a real prospect, and he's one we've never looked at" is quite clever, I think.

Quite a few clubs use football manager to identify potential targets too I believe

I wouldn't be surprised if Seamus Coleman was discovered on football manager. Pure speculation, but 2008 was the first year everton bought the rights to the games database to get access early and the next summer they signed a virtual unknown for 50k from a tiny Irish club.

 

 

Slightly OT but to add to the question of why would guys at Football Manager know more than guys in football, the volunteers/researchers for Football Manager often go to every single game, home and away, watch all the reserve and youth games and have a pretty extensive knowledge of the clubs the research for. Although you probably shouldn't completely judge a player on how good they are on Football Manager as it is a game, I'd say their ratings are more hit than miss and often quite reliable.

 

As for Hoolahan, although he'd improve the side, if it's true that Norwich will sell him but not to us, it's time to move on, let them have an unhappy player bringing the morale at the club down as they approach a relegation battle.

 

I have a suspicion we will get him though and this seems very much like the Steer deal, where Norwich will be essential saying "Big, nasty Villa came in for our player, but we fought really hard to keep him and we screwed them over for the fee, so it's a victory really" by making the deal look like it was massively advantageous for them, when in reality it was inevitable and an OK deal all round.

Edited January 25, 2014 by MessiWillSignForVilla