Mumblings, Moanings, Martin and Marlon.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

General Krulak here:

I probably shouldn't even get in on this one...as I rarely read what is "out there" on other threads because I am busy enough on my own but, here goes. I guess I am a wee bit surprised at this post simply because it appears that it was driven by one act...a signing of one player. Out of that signing comes a bubbling up of skepticism, lessening of optimism, etc. Obviously, that is the right of the author...and the right of anyone else who finds agreement with the comments...I am not arguing that point. All I am saying is that the mood swing, based upon one signing, seems a bit severe.

I would agree with you there General, to a degree. I think it's a combination of the Harewood deal, the Reo-Coker signing seemingly taking an age for whatever reason, the apparent lack of activity regarding other targets and the increasing realisation that we're not going to turn into world beaters overnight.

For people like me that realisation was already in place, others simply got carried away. I would recommend that in future all communication from the club regarding transfer targets should be limited to a "We're trying our best". As you're probably aware a throwaway comment made by Fitzgerald has led some fans to believe, including the author of this article, that the club has lied to us. Although we all want the same outcome, perhaps at times it's best to treat cirtain sections of the supporters as the enemy and not supply them with ammo.

We as Villa fans are a sensitive bunch. We've been mistreated so badly in the past that we're finding it difficult to dish out explicit trust. I hope you can understand that.

[Richard]

General I have never ever seen you post on any other thread than your own so when I saw your name crop up in this one I knew it would be important.

Have to say I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. The entire negativity in the past few days has been driven by the signing of Harewood. Even the previous signing of NRC , seen by a majority as a good thing when he first came, is now being seen as a negative.

Like you say too too severe

[ElAvila]

Wow, I find this article disrespectful to MON and Fitz. Not extremely, but I guess I just hope that they don't come onto this site and read what some of us have to say. You made some good points, but for the wrong reasons.

MON is building a squad, or should I say rebuilding, he is getting rid of dead*wood, (no pun intended, i like MHW). Players that don't want to be at Villa, are given the boot. Amen to that. Before we can start signing top class players, i.e. the Ronaldos', the Torres', we have to be able to offer them something other then a nice wage, and a nice play to live outside Brum. It means we have to offer them Europe. (Yea I know this has all been said before). Soo we need to get UEFA. I came up with a formula that I think is what we are on track to completing.

Squad + Ambitions = UEFA.

Tottenham have done this and now they are on to the next step,

Squad+ Ambitions + UEFA = Top Class Signings.

Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpoo, and Arsenal have all done this and taken it one step further:

Squad + Ambitions + UEFA + Top Class Signings = Trophies and Titles.

Villa have a way to go, but we are on track. We have a world class manager, that creates the ambitions and hopes we need to take it to the next step. We have an owner and board that are succinct with the manager. What Villa does *seem* to have is a load of fans that have little or no faith. This really isn't their fault, nope, it isn't. It's because for the last 24 years have been marred with deceit, fickleness, and lack of ambition. Isn't it natural for us to be skeptical about the board and manager? I suppose it is. But for all you out there that are out of faith and pessimistic about the club, remember, Proud History, Bright Future. Keep that in your head, remember the glass is half full, and the FC is doing its mathematics to get the club into the highest echelons of football.

[ElAvila]

Hahahaha I like how the forum has automatically changed the word dead*wood, to harewood, if someone types dead_wood, without the obvious symbol.. That's class, because he is everything but dead-wood, he will be good for Villa.

[pablopicasso]

villa have spent 30 million on players since randy lerner came in...

a drop in the ocean towards the problems created by the previous regime, but its an excellent start in the 11 months since the club changed hands...

on top of this, we have also spent 13 million on some of the best training facilities in the world.. not to mention millions around the stadium, and a huge chunk of cash rebuilding the holte hotel into a pub for fans simply for the reason to give the fans a decent local pub and to keep heretige and tradition alive...

which shows to me that randy lerner is in it for the long haul...

while its been mentioned that we havent attracted the type of quality that have spoken about, and i agree we havent and im bitterly disapointed at the harewood signing, but i can see the logic behind it....

but the overall signs are positive we can attract better players in the future as we progress along...

i always understood the fact that we could only really build slowly unless we threw money around like confetti on wages, fees, etc, and personally, i would rather we spent money on the structure of the club in the first instance, to allow us to sustain any progression we make...

thus keeping the longevity of any progression we make and make us a more attractive proposition for the "big name" players in the future....

so all in all, i am delighted with the way the club is being run and would not swap our owner and board for all the tea in china and im still as positive as ever under the new regime...

[OldFart]

Some posters do seem to give great importance to which other posters are perceived as being negative. So long as it doesn't damage the image of the club it really doesn't bother me who's being negative and who isn't.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that with all the talk I didn’t imagine the club using this summer to by these players who aren’t particularly regarded as ‘good’ players, but ones that could ‘do a job’. I’d expected us to buy players for the first team and ‘relegate’ the players whose places they were taking.

Fair does, he does say "with all the talk".

There seems to be a bit of a divide between people who see things this way and those who (like myself) see the desirability in some cases of buying cover and not blocking the progress of one or two jewels we already have.

Others have stated much more vehemently than John that all new signings should be "bigger and better". In some positions and at this moment this may well be true but not, in my humble opinion, up front or at left back at present. Nor perhaps at centre back.

Why be like a poor soul called Viv Nicholson who won the pools, declared she would "spend, spend, spend" and ended up ruining her life? Why be like Real Madrid, desperately splashing the cash, going for the 2 best in the world in every position and papering over the cracks before that empire finally gained a Spanish league title after four years of trying and failing?

That isn't the way Nicholson did things at Tottenham in the early 60s or Shankly, Paisley & Co at Liverpool in the 70s and 80s, or more recently Ferguson and Wenger.

Oh, and please, no attempt to offend JC or any of the previous posters.

[Bazdavies79]

I've kept my silence so far this summer. Partly because,

1. The summer is not over yet, the transfer window is still open.

I personally think we need to buy 2 or 3 really good players if we are to meet my expectations for the coming season and make significant progress in the league and domestic cups.

but mostly because,

2. I will judge MON and the board on performances and results.

I can't get mad about who we buy, I really don't care who we bring in if they do the business. What's the point in getting mad now? MON and the board must to be given our time and trust to show us what they can do.

[ElAvila]

Amen to PabloPicasso and Bazdavies79. Spot on, couldn't have said it better.

[Benji76]

Nurse? Nuuuuuuuurse! - NV