SPECULATION : Milner to City/Utd/Chelsea/Spurs

[spamm]

Love your link Briny...

Can't understand how people here are putting value on Milner, money & Irelands and SantaCruzes...when you don't sell your Scholes,Giggsys,Terry's, Lampards and change them for naniandersons or what ever amount of maybeshouldbecouldbe players, if you want to win anything.

Unbelievable.

Now back to sleep.

[nobler]

Damocles, a genuine question. Do you honestly, in your wildest dreams believe that your club is going about it in the right way as concerned to transfer dealings? Surely, you can't be happy with the unsettling, bullying tactics? It's just awful.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Why is this bid public Damocles? It's hardly from the Villa side?

Going on OBE's theory, you could argue that it did. All this business of waiting untill after the WC to sort his contract out (which I don't quite understand) leaves him open to bids from other teams.

You could see then that Villa could make the bid public in order to let the big boys know what the situation is.

If Milner leaves this summer, it won't be to Citeh, it'll be to Chelsea or United.

[Rich_D]

City fan here.

A couple of pages ago, one of your guys made me laugh for referring to United as 'having class'. After gaining a huge investment from a rapist (who knowingly sold poisonous meat to children) then later a Peeping Tom, they consistently bribed the families of young players they were interested in while breaking the transfer record in every single position on the pitch, then became a nomad club with no connection to their local area, sold themselves to the public on the Stock Market, then got bought by a bunch of leeches. During this time, they have been accused and charged of tapping up players on numerous different occasions, have a manager who always talks openly about other teams players, and display the type of arrogance as a club and as fans that you would expect from Pepe Le Pew.

We, on the other hand, have been taken over by a very rich man, who has brought the club back to the community, has just announced a £1bn investment into the downtrodden area of East Manchester which will revitalise the economy, have consistently given 'freebies' to fans such as the Fan Days, the cheapened ticket prices, and the sorting out of some annoying things such as a sheltered/heated Ticket Office.

May I suggest that you watch this interview with our Chairman before deciding that we are all a bunch of bastards, because we have had the cheek to bid for an exciting, young, English player who we think we may be able to attract with the lure of greater prospects of future success?

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Interviews/Chairman-exclusive

This was recorded the day after the Spurs game by the way.

I personally view Man U as a class side in the way that they are consistently building a squad of youth and experience combined and have challenged for the title year after year for a while now.

The years of having youngsters like Scholes, the Neville bros, Beckham etc..

I think that Man City are "class" about as much as I think that winning the lottery is "class".

Man City are the equivalent of a tramp who found a pound in the kerb and then won the lottery.

Cheers for writing that out Rob. Saved me a bit of time doing it myself

[Jas]

"We'll buy your club and we'll burn it down."

Class acts.

[Mr_Dogg]

Why is this bid public Damocles? It's hardly from the Villa side?

Going on OBE's theory, you could argue that it did. All this business of waiting untill after the WC to sort his contract out (which I don't quite understand) leaves him open to bids from other teams.

You could see then that Villa could make the bid public in order to let the big boys know what the situation is.

If Milner leaves this summer, it won't be to Citeh, it'll be to Chelsea or United.

Nah, I don't believe that personally. Villa don't like selling, MON doesn't like selling. And if Villa did want to sell surely they just want the most money above anything else, and City have the most money.

[ClarrieBlue]

City fan here.

A couple of pages ago, one of your guys made me laugh for referring to United as 'having class'. After gaining a huge investment from a rapist (who knowingly sold poisonous meat to children) then later a Peeping Tom, they consistently bribed the families of young players they were interested in while breaking the transfer record in every single position on the pitch, then became a nomad club with no connection to their local area, sold themselves to the public on the Stock Market, then got bought by a bunch of leeches. During this time, they have been accused and charged of tapping up players on numerous different occasions, have a manager who always talks openly about other teams players, and display the type of arrogance as a club and as fans that you would expect from Pepe Le Pew.

We, on the other hand, have been taken over by a very rich man, who has brought the club back to the community, has just announced a £1bn investment into the downtrodden area of East Manchester which will revitalise the economy, have consistently given 'freebies' to fans such as the Fan Days, the cheapened ticket prices, and the sorting out of some annoying things such as a sheltered/heated Ticket Office.

May I suggest that you watch this interview with our Chairman before deciding that we are all a bunch of bastards, because we have had the cheek to bid for an exciting, young, English player who we think we may be able to attract with the lure of greater prospects of future success?

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Interviews/Chairman-exclusive

This was recorded the day after the Spurs game by the way.

I work about half a mile from the ground you rent, in Newton Heath and if you think that the bit of digging they are doing at the moment and building a leisure centre will amount to a billion £'s worth of investment you are deluded. City are just trying to cash in on the wasteland where the casino was supposed to go.

And while you've got that moron Cook at the club no-one will ever take you seriously.

[PeteSoutherner]

"We'll buy your club and we'll burn it down."

Class acts.

Where is that from?

[Damocles]

Why is this bid public Damocles? It's hardly from the Villa side?

Without going into too many specifics, City have spent the last 3 days completely closing their ranks in terms of a leak, including feeding false stories around as a red herring to see who is leaking. We believe a Gerrard rumour that emerged at the weekend to be one of these, as well as a meeting with Valencia tomorrow. Basically, we do have leaks, like any other club, but City have been moving over the last few days to shut them all down. I don't think that this was purposely leaked, purely because it gives us no advantage. I'm sure that Milner would hear from his own manager if they had rejected a bid from him, so we get nothing for announcing it ourselves.

Besides, there's loads of different ways this could have been leaked. Lawyers, the clubs, agents, friends of the above, office workers, etc, etc.

Man city is not stable i mean how much time did they give mark hughes.

2 years and £200 million pound, to a guy who wasn't employed by our current owner and had no pedigree of success. We gained a tenth placed finish and were in 7th when he was sacked, several points off of fourth. I think that coming in and backing a guy to that extent isn't what the media like to portray but what actually happened. The decision was actually taken after the Spurs game, and we then went on to beat Arsenal and Chelsea so the situation looked better than was feared. However, more bad results came in and it was decided that Hughes was tactically incompetent (which to be fair, they had a point on).

Mancini points wise did about the same as Hughes, but spent nothing and worked with somebody else's team, whilst having about 3 centre midfielders on the books (De Jong, Barry, Ireland). Mancini has just signed a new three year deal, he'll be around for a while yet.

[Jas]

As for Milner; if they offer £30m, I'll personally drive down the M6, pick him up, and drive back up again to drop him off at Eastlands.

He's a great player, had a fantastic season, but wakey wakey, lets get real. This was a player 50% of people on this board were slating 15 months ago. Couldn't beat a man, delivery is poor, no pace etc. He was the Stewart Downing of last season. I personally wasn't one of them. I've said from very early on in his Villa career he was a Man Utd player waiting to happen. He should wait for that call from Sir Alex, not Roberto.

However, saying that, I'm just not sure who we could possibly get to replace him. But it's not my job to know that. But lets get a grip on perspective here, £25m+m is ridiculous for James Milner, when arguably the best striker in the world has just signed for Barcelona for £34.5m today.

This whole incident, amongst others, is why I'm walking away from VP though (Giving up ST). Football just isn't the game I fell in love with. The Premiership bores me. I love Villa, but I don't support them for the glory - I'd support my local team if I wanted that. They're the club of my birth and I love them. But my gosh, I preferred it when we were shit - and proud of it too! Barry was different, he was here for years, and I won't say a bad word. I remember watching him as a young kid at Upton Park all those years ago, with my dad turning to me and telling me he was the new McGrath. That's what Villa is to me - loving players that turn up for you week in week out, for years on end. Players are going as quick as they are coming these days.

If Milner goes, it signals a worrying future for Villa. It really shows were potentially turning into a feeder club. Gareth leaving was completely different; he deserved to make his own decision really and was a loyal servant to us - if not a prat at the end. James going would be worrying and would send out all the wrong signals.

[Jas]

"We'll buy your club and we'll burn it down."

Class acts.

Where is that from?

A nice little chant from the Maine Road'ers.

[Rob182]

I've just been watching that video from the Man City chairman..

"We haven't stopped, for one day, investing in this club. And investing in the club is not just about the team of players... It's about... err.. infrastructure, it's about...errr.. people, it's about... err.. IT... it's about... errr.. future training facilities.."

He sounds like he knows what he's talking about.. :winkold:

[Damocles]

I personally view Man U as a class side in the way that they are consistently building a squad of youth and experience combined and have challenged for the title year after year for a while now.

They have done so, because they have had the funds to buy such players, because they were successful, because they received huge investment and smashed every transfer record. I guess time heals all wounds, no serious Villa fan who remembers how they handled the Yorke transfer can ever refer to them as a classy club.

The years of having youngsters like Scholes, the Neville bros, Beckham etc..

They've had one great youth side come through the ranks in the last 50 years, but you cannot deny them the right to be proud of that one, which achieved lots. Even Eric Harrison, the long time coach of the United Youth team, wrote in his book that that Youth team was an absolute freak of nature that happens once every generation and he was proud to have been able to work with them all. I would guess that this generation is Barcelona, the last possibly been West Ham.

I think that Man City are "class" about as much as I think that winning the lottery is "class".

Man City are the equivalent of a tramp who found a pound in the kerb and then won the lottery.

Really? Perhaps you should look back at our own record breaking spending, pre-takeover. We've broke the transfer record four times in memory. We've had one of the largest non-top four attendances in the country for a long time. We've won leagues, cups and European trophies in the past.

Also, isn't your owner a billionaire?

Damocles, a genuine question. Do you honestly, in your wildest dreams believe that your club is going about it in the right way as concerned to transfer dealings? Surely, you can't be happy with the unsettling, bullying tactics? It's just awful.

Yes, I don't see a single transfer where we have done anything wrong. I'd be open to hear any accusations that you can level, as long as you keep the tabloid crap out of it.

[string28]

See Damocles you make the point yourself. All that money spent and if your not up the top what you think will happen to mancini?

You cant always buy the title just look at real madrid.

If mancini dont change things fast he will be out the door just like hughes was and that is not stable.

[Mr_Dogg]

Damocles, a genuine question. Do you honestly, in your wildest dreams believe that your club is going about it in the right way as concerned to transfer dealings? Surely, you can't be happy with the unsettling, bullying tactics? It's just awful.

Yes, I don't see a single transfer where we have done anything wrong. I'd be open to hear any accusations that you can level, as long as you keep the tabloid crap out of it.

Hughes openly talking about Lescott for a start before he signed is wrong.

[string28]

You know what will be funny about this.

You can see mon and lerner just laughing at all the wasted time man city will take making bid after bid.

and at the end of it villa still say not for sale lmao

[Damocles]

I'll make the point again, our owner came in to the club and inherited Hughes as manager.

Despite the fact that he was never the type of manager that he wanted, and that he had never achieved any sort of success, the owner stuck with him for around 2 years and funded him to high heaven. Hughes was due to spend less money than the £200m but asked for what he called an 'accelerated spending plan', in which he would get several window's budget in one, and he could then achieve the top four finish; his original target was top six.

He basically shot himself in the foot, he said "if you buy these players, I'll put you in the top four". We finished tenth the seaosn before, but the owner backed Hughes. Half way through the season, amid in-fighting within the dressing room and various embarrassments to the club, it was becoming clear to everybody that Hughes wasn't able to do this. Due to this, they sacked him.

They then appointed Mancini, on a 6 months + 3 years contract. This is the man that they wanted from the start, he had actually been part of the takeover in some advisory role to Khaldoon. He and Khaldoon are big friends anyway, due to his time in Inter when they arranged to build a youth academy in Abu Dhabi. In addition to this, the Sheikh and Moratti (the Inter owner) are business associates and Mancini came recommended from him.

So no, I don't believe that backing Hughes for 2 years despite his failings and the fact that we had a proven, very successful manager in the wings is unstable.

If we were unstable, we would have sacked Mancini this summer for not delivering a top 4 finish. Instead, we gave him a new contract.

[nobler]

Damocles, a genuine question. Do you honestly, in your wildest dreams believe that your club is going about it in the right way as concerned to transfer dealings? Surely, you can't be happy with the unsettling, bullying tactics? It's just awful.

Yes, I don't see a single transfer where we have done anything wrong. I'd be open to hear any accusations that you can level, as long as you keep the tabloid crap out of it.

Hughes openly talking about Lescott for a start before he signed is wrong.

Indeed, Hughes specifically talked about how much he rated Lescott and how well thought he'd fit in before he even signed, it was a horrendous way to go about business, I really felt for David Moyes and it did totally disrupt Evertons early season plans. I would image similar tactics to new potential signings.

[Damocles]

Hughes openly talking about Lescott for a start before he signed is wrong.

Check City's site and you can see that press conference in full. A journalist asked if he was interested in signing Lescott and he answered something along the lines of "well, it's not really up to me, but if Lescott became available then we'd be interested as I think he's a good player". He was asked this AFTER we already had a bid rejected from Everton. It's hardly tapping people up is it?

Also, I can probably point to 50 examples of other managers doing exactly this. What about ol' Harry over at Spurs and his penchant for shouting about how players are 'triffic players who I'd love to work with' despite them playing for other clubs?

As I say, this is a common thing in any press conference.

[nobler]

Hughes openly talking about Lescott for a start before he signed is wrong.

Check City's site and you can see that press conference in full. A journalist asked if he was interested in signing Lescott and he answered something along the lines of "well, it's not really up to me, but if Lescott became available then we'd be interested as I think he's a good player". He was asked this AFTER we already had a bid rejected from Everton. It's hardly tapping people up is it?

Also, I can probably point to 50 examples of other managers doing exactly this. What about ol' Harry over at Spurs and his penchant for shouting about how players are 'triffic players who I'd love to work with' despite them playing for other clubs?

As I say, this is a common thing in any press conference.

Dude in all respect, we all remember those press conferences on SSN, they even had managers at the time like Sam Alladyce commenting on how bad it was, of course they are gonna edit them on the city site to make Hughes and City look like saints, don't insult our intelligence.