Wainy316 Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I actually think that 09/10 was as near a miss as 08/09. We didn't pull clear like we did the season before and conversely our end of season collapse was less spectacular, but I genuinely believed if we'd signed Bent in 09/10 we'd have got top 4. So many home games drawn full of missed chances that we'd have won with a clinical striker. Milner was an absolute beast that season too. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wict01 Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 1 hour ago, His Name Is Death said: We were in for Moutinho as well? Didn’t know about that one. Him & Miguel Veloso were often touted as a pair I think! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 16 minutes ago, Wainy316 said: I actually think that 09/10 was as near a miss as 08/09. We didn't pull clear like we did the season before and conversely our end of season collapse was less spectacular, but I genuinely believed if we'd signed Bent in 09/10 we'd have got top 4. So many home games drawn full of missed chances that we'd have won with a clinical striker. Milner was an absolute beast that season too. And 09/10 was the highest points total if I recall. That season felt like we had reached our glass ceiling. City had just been taken over and Spurs were getting consistent top 6 finishes. The six weeks or so between the league cup final and fa cup semi final defeat did fell a bit of an end of an era, esp with the rumours that Lerner was less interested in us. Then Milner left in the summer and we all know what happened after that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Segundo Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 17 hours ago, The_Rev said: January transfer window happened. Arsenal buy a bang in form Andrei Arshavin, we turn down the opportunity to sign a 22 year old Radamel Falcao in order to buy a 31 year old Emile Heskey. Falcao scored 34, 38, 34 & 36 goals in his first four seasons in European football (he signed for Porto who sold him to Atleti for an enormous profit) whereas Heskey scored 2, 5, 6 & 1* goals in his four seasons at Villa Park. *yes, I'm aware you can't pluralise 1, but it's not my fault Emile Heskey couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. I was living abroad back then and while somewhat underwhelmed by the Heskey signing (though not as much as Harewood before him) I had no idea we were in for Cavani til now. I was going to say that the article failed to recognise that O'Neill was actually a dinosaur with a strange aversion to signing players from abroad and a penchant for British and Irish journeymen instead. This incident typifies him his blinkered approach and is why he was never able to get us above 6th and why Lerner's investment was largely wasted. We have a proper manager now and sensible owners. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sulberto21 Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 One of the issues with MON was he bought players then didn’t play them if they made a mistake. Nickey Shorey trying to head the ball with his bottom that led to a goal (think it was Portsmouth at home) and we hardly saw him again. This meant squad was done by March whereas had these fringe players played for a couple of games the main players wouldn’t have burned out by March. the 90’s were also the scene of many missed Opportunities for Villa. Finishing second and then tenth was poor (although we won 1994 league cup). We should have challenged for the title again instead of licking our wounds and feeling sorry for ourselves. Juninho, Robbie Keane , not paying the extra £750k for these two when we’re near the top of the league. I think we’re scared of success. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 5 hours ago, Wainy316 said: Kindly delivered by Glenn Whelan in the 94th minute too He paid us back with interest also past the 90th minute 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted January 12, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted January 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Sulberto21 said: One of the issues with MON was he bought players then didn’t play them if they made a mistake. Nickey Shorey trying to head the ball with his bottom that led to a goal (think it was Portsmouth at home) and we hardly saw him again. This meant squad was done by March whereas had these fringe players played for a couple of games the main players wouldn’t have burned out by March. the 90’s were also the scene of many missed Opportunities for Villa. Finishing second and then tenth was poor (although we won 1994 league cup). We should have challenged for the title again instead of licking our wounds and feeling sorry for ourselves. Juninho, Robbie Keane , not paying the extra £750k for these two when we’re near the top of the league. I think we’re scared of success. even more galling was that Oakes went to the dogheads a week later for 500k, surely that should have been worked into the Keane deal ffs 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted January 13, 2023 Author VT Supporter Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) Jeez, amazing knowledge on this board. Incredible posts. Thank you for taking time to share your hard-come-by Villa experiences. 2007-09 were years I was in the vortex of new fatherhood, and the only club I recall following then was the Steam Team. Your posts give an illuminating context to some of the personalities and hopes and fears, etc. I've read since joining VillaTalk in early 2010s. Edited January 13, 2023 by Marka Ragnos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 If we'd been ahead of the game with scouting like some smaller clubs were, we'd be an established top 4 side now. Clubs like Udinese and Monaco that punched above their weight because they did things differently. Obviously, we'd have had to convince O'Neill to take on any signings as well. Falcao/Heskey is so comical it's hard to be angry. O'Neill cost us a few seasons in the UCL at minimum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wict01 Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 5 hours ago, Tomaszk said: If we'd been ahead of the game with scouting like some smaller clubs were, we'd be an established top 4 side now. Clubs like Udinese and Monaco that punched above their weight because they did things differently. Obviously, we'd have had to convince O'Neill to take on any signings as well. Falcao/Heskey is so comical it's hard to be angry. O'Neill cost us a few seasons in the UCL at minimum. It's a weird one - I feel like on the one hand, he did well to have us in contention quite so quickly because the squad he took over in 2006 wasn't laden with quality bar the odd player (Mellberg, Laursen when fit, Barry). On the other hand, his reluctance to trust the European/South American market definitely meant he hamstrung himself and us by extension. I think an O'Neill with a broader mind when it came to transfers could have been superb, imagine that 2010 team with a Falcao or Van der Vaart added in. What might've been Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Read the pre FFP deloitte football finance reports, I'm sure one of them in around 2009 actually singles us out as being one of two PL clubs who were in the black, we had Nike shirts and a children's charity as our sponsor, now we whore ourselves out to the highest bidder with Asian gambling partners on our sleeves, manufacturing deals none of us like and official partners which are bizarre and we're not even close to being as bad as the top end of the league, the whole climate of football has changed, protecting the finances of clubs has resulted in more money than ever I think in the MON era I had the optimism that Newcastle fans have now, we had that same kind of buzz and we played what's harsh to say but a basic kind of counter attacking football that teams knew we were going to play but they couldn't stop it, almost league winning Leicester-esque in that regard, I bet we were great for neutrals to watch I can remember arshavin well, SSN showing him on like snowy pavement in London on something like the 4th Feb as the North London transfer window came to a close MON was a stubborn ****, Heskey was a disaster, we did have several players over the next decade that I just thought if we'd had them in MONs team we'd have done it, bent being the obvious one but even weimann imo alongside Carew as an option that's what we needed not Heskey, I think Ollie would have worked great in that team but that team also needed a better midfield, seems weird now as a comparison that we have no decent wingers or wide play but potentially have a better central midfield I'd take mings as a squad player, Ollie, Ramsey, kamara, Luiz in that MON era team and we'd look good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 My combined team from both eras. Note: One player is in twice Emi Mellberg Laursen Mings A.Young Luiz Kamara Barry Gabby Ings A.Young Mellberg was a right back at this stage, Milner broke out 09/10 and controversial but I think of Carew/Ings/Watkins that Ings scorea more in this team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sulberto21 Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 The 08/09 season for me that Stoke game was a disaster but for me the game we could have killed Arsenal off was the 2-2 draw on Boxing Day. We were fantastic that day except for the finishing. They had a 15 minute spell either side of half time and scored two and probably should have had a couple more. But we had numerous chances to beat them by about 7/8 goals. The way we played was like Arsenal themselves and psychologically that would have been a huge statement victory. We got a last minute equaliser and everyone celebrated but Ashley Young, Barry and Milner walked off disgusted with the result we should have won. Then I had to walk home to Walsall from the ground as the buses weren’t running after 9pm . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 3 hours ago, wict01 said: It's a weird one - I feel like on the one hand, he did well to have us in contention quite so quickly because the squad he took over in 2006 wasn't laden with quality bar the odd player (Mellberg, Laursen when fit, Barry). On the other hand, his reluctance to trust the European/South American market definitely meant he hamstrung himself and us by extension. I think an O'Neill with a broader mind when it came to transfers could have been superb, imagine that 2010 team with a Falcao or Van der Vaart added in. What might've been 05/06 had Soresen, Laursen, Melberg, Cahill, Barry, and Angel. And pre fat Gabby was just starting out. Plus good pros like Aaron Hughes and Steven Davis which MON bizarrely got rid off at the first opportunity. It wasn't that bad a base to work on. Certainly compared to the squad quality when we got to the Lambert years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one_ian_taylor Posted January 13, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted January 13, 2023 Ashley Young is the big difference between those two sides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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