Jan transfer window - rumours, speculation & suggestions

[TRL]

When you come out and say you are keen on signing players for £ 30-40 Mill this window, you WILL create expectations. We will see what happens, but a loan signing so far and nothing else. Not even an experienced quality loan signing, but a reserve youngster out to get dirty. I seriously hope he didnt talk all bollocks... as thats the type of fan i am.. apparantly.

Where did you get the 30-40 million figure? I may have missed something but I didn't hear a number quoted, let alone one that high. If anything MON was trying to temper expectations heading into January.

5-6 of the Petrov quality. Petrov was bought for £6 Mill according to some with addons and £ 8 Mill according to others. Simple math. Quality aint cheap. Im not setting a definate price tag, just a general reminder of the warchest which might be available.

[Faust]

When you come out and say you are keen on signing players for £ 30-40 Mill this window, you WILL create expectations.

If you boil down O'Neill's comments about this transfer window, you get something like this:

- He wants to add players to the squad

- He wants those players to be quality additions

- Ideally, he'd like to add five or six players

- Lerner is keen to back him

- Other clubs might not want to sell their best players

- We might not get the ones we want

I honestly don't see anything to gripe about in any of that. The time for griping will be at the end of the window, when we can look at what's been achieved.

[TOTTI-THE-GOD]

Where did you get the 30-40 million figure? I may have missed something but I didn't hear a number quoted, let alone one that high. If anything MON was trying to temper expectations heading into January.

Thats nothing , some clown on a Yahoo message board claimed we were being given 50 million to spend in Januray , now thats shocking

[TRL]

Or in your own words;

"Ideally, I'd like to bring in five or six players of the same quality as Petrov".

[Trinity-Tom]

My god this is getting ridiculous. You cannot criticise or question reliably what someone has not done when there is still plenty of time to act. If come the end of the transfer window we have not got in at least a few stop gaps and then added real quality in the summer, feel free to moan. Until then, some people ought to grow up and realise that what they want and what is best are 2 different things.

[pablopicasso]

Or in your own words;

"Ideally, I'd like to bring in five or six players of the same quality as Petrov".

ideally

i·de·al·ly

–adverb

1. in accordance with an ideal; perfectly.

2. in theory or principle.

3. in idea, thought, or imagination.

[Grant(aka_eddy)]

1- We were told that its possible to expect 5 players of the Petrov calibre in January. Now if you consider that he was worth 7-8m you could reason that we could spend anything from 25-40m. This depends on whether some are loans or whatever. But MON wouldn't have mentioned that if it were not possible.

I really dont agree thats what O'Neill meant by those comments. I believe he was just trying to emphasise what he felt the squad realistically needed, compared to what could be realistically achieved in January. I dont even expect us to spend £20 million, just hope that we do.

2- Randy Lerner is worth several Billion. Its not as simple as saying he is worth £800m as he has many assets and trusts that are not considered in his cash value. Not that it matters much because....

I belive that the value of £800 million is including all his assets. Do you think thats the figure he has in his bank account? If so do you have any kind of source for this and his additional assets because i've never heard of them before.

3- Whilst the money is coming from RAL it doesnt mean his own pocket. A master financier can find many ways to raise money, I'm sure you'll all agree. Well, there is more than one of those on our board as well as IMG's expertise in structuring deals.

We dont know yet what sponsorship deals are on the horizon for instance and its obvious the team needs strengthening now more than its likely to need it over the next year or so. Therefore its reasonable to expect a large investment in the squad imminently.

Undoubtedly Randy will be eyeing an initial outlay to make us competitive and then looking for an increase in revenue to make the club self sufficient. The General has mentioned several times that Randy is still a business man at the end of the day.

edit - I've just put a bit in bold that I disagree strongly with. I really believe that the initial investment will not come in a great big lump sum but will be spread out over a period of 12-24 months with alot depending upon how well the current team, new players and particularly the youth players develop.

I'd be disappointed if we approached it any other way.

[Faust]

Or in your own words;

"Ideally, I'd like to bring in five or six players of the same quality as Petrov".

Put it in context with the other comments O'Neill has made about the window over the last few weeks, and it seems perfectly reasonable to me. He was just talking about his ambitions and hopes. He also warned us that those ambitions might not be realised.

[KSV]

just be patient lads. far out... 334 pages and most has been ? when when who who..

We will sign few more players.. give it time.. do you want scrap signings or the best players possible? if its the latter.. be patient.. its not easy to convince a world class player to come to Villa.

I have faith in MON, Randy n Co.

[bickster]

5 or 6 players of the quality of Petrov, does not equate to 5 or 6 players the price of Petrov

[BOF]

TRL can I ask you a question.

Would you prefer MON to say nothing and guarantee that fans accuse him of doing nothing. Or tell the fans that he would ideally like to sign a few Petrov standard players if possible, thereby risking fans telling him to just shut up and get on with it?

Bear in mind we're not on about actions here, we're just on about what you would like to hear in the media from him ?

[Mazrim]

The Browns alone are worth something like 800m. So that figure doesnt include all his assets. Not even close.

I'm just saying that those figures are not a true reflection on just how rich people actually are.

As for your other points Grant. Well, its all subjective isnt it?

I cant believe MON would waste his time dreaming about what Villa need in a time when supporters and media are over sensitive. If anything, the chances are he'll be understating matters.

[Silent_Bob]

5 or 6 players of the quality of Petrov, does not equate to 5 or 6 players the price of Petrov

My thoughts exactly.

I'm not even sure if this is good news or not.

[BOF]

If anything, the chances are he'll be understating matters.

So what you're saying is that if say he comes out and says he wants 4 or 5 Petrov type players that he is in FACT saying he wants 10 or 11. Cool, thanks Mazrim :P Can't wait.

[TRL]

Oh i prefer action to words, but the action we have seen so far has been pathetic. Im aware of the date etc. but both you and me know how fast a transfer window goes. People clearly have a problem with criticisme, so they multiply whatever thats been said, to aim it towards the path of slating and PFE.

If he is to speak, atleast be sensible about the words he choose. Saying that he wants 5-6 players of Petrov's calibre this window, is not only pointless, but fairly stupid when he cant make the movies, whatever reason he has.

[sam100]

bickster wrote:

5 or 6 players of the quality of Petrov, does not equate to 5 or 6 players the price of Petrov

My thoughts exactly.

I'm not even sure if this is good news or not.

how can it not be good news?

our squad is a joke, and we have the odd quality player around, petrov being one of them

so if we can get 4 - 5 quality players in, which he publicly said is what we are aiming for if he could, then thats brilliant

[Faust]

Then i dare say its pretty silly of him to go out with this information.

Hang on - weren't you one of those who was complaining earlier in the window that O'Neill hadn't been positive enough in his public comments? Now you think he shouldn't say anything about his ambitions unless we've actually met them?

What are you talking about? Anything ive said seem unreasonable, please link it and il explain in more then one language!

On page 16 of the "Strong rumour: Bardsley" thread, you were complaining about the deal and said "Wonder if this is a hint of our ambition."

Now, when O'Neill comes out and reassures the fans that he shares our ambitions and is ideally looking to bring in a number of quality signings as well, you complain that it's "silly" of him to do so.

Doesn't that seem a little petulant?

[broomy]

Oh i prefer action to words, but the action we have seen so far has been pathetic. Im aware of the date etc. but both you and me know how fast a transfer window goes. People clearly have a problem with criticisme, so they multiply whatever thats been said, to aim it towards the path of slating and PFE.

If he is to speak, atleast be sensible about the words he choose. Saying that he wants 5-6 players of Petrov's calibre this window, is not only pointless, but fairly stupid when he cant make the movies, whatever reason he has.

He never said 5 or 6 he said 4 or 5. Also i think you're nothing more than a wind up merchant. :winkold:

[Silent_Bob]

...but fairly stupid when he cant make the movies, whatever reason he has.

If he want to make movies, we should sign Vinny Jones. He can act as backup for McCann as well.

[TRL]

5 or 6 players of the quality of Petrov, does not equate to 5 or 6 players the price of Petrov

Nobody has said its a fact. But it may very well be just that. How can you say 5-6 players of Petrov's ability doesnt equate to 5-6 times the price of Petrov?

Actually you dont know, its very possible.