General Transfer speculation thread with guff from Twitter

[HeyAnty]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

Disaster? Come off it.

Out (so far): Heskey, Cuellar & Collins

In (so far): Holman, El-Ahmadi, Vlaar, Lowton & Bennett

Alright, maybe not perfect but that is far from a disaster. Jesus Christ. :|

I think it is when we only stayed up last season by the skin of our teeth. Same is going to happen this season again(hopefully) if we dont get at least another 2-3 good signings

[Richard]

Not sure I agree with that assessment. I don't think we'll be top 10, but we have a better squad and manager than last season

[peterms]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

I don't see it that way, though I understand and respect why others do.

Since O'Neill left, we've been thinking it was "a season of transition". It never was though, just season after season of confusion and treading water, slowly sinking.

This actually is a season of transition. The signings we are making, and the players we are letting go, signify a change at more than a superficial level.

O'Neill left, I suspect, because the funding wasn't there to sustain a money-fuelled lunge for the PL, because for all his best efforts his approach on that budget wasn't going to deliver it, and because the game had changed to make that approach on a limited budget perhaps forever impossible where it might have worked a couple of years previously.

Since then, there has been no strategy, no vision, no real idea about how to move on.

In my view, we now have a manager who does have a clear view about what to do. He has been given a different and more limited (but perhaps harder) remit than O'Neill, to cut running costs but deliver performance better than those spending equivalent amounts. On the evidence of a couple of months, he knows what he's doing.

I'm quite content to let him play this out for a couple of years, and not judge according to whether clubs like Gent do or don't make a certain decision in the next few hours.

There's a strategic direction (even if it's not to win the league), there's some well-informed decision-making taking place, there seems to be some alignment between the manager, the board, the finance, and implementing decisions.

Which is not to say it will all fall into place quickly. Few things do. But we might just possibly have made a key appointment, which will shape our future as Wenger's appointment shaped the Arse all those years ago.

Lerner may not know his arse from his elbow, but he may have made a good appointment here. Raging against the approach may be justified on the basis of the last three years, but would be massively undermining and distracting for Lambert. Let's give it a few months at least before we start with the pitchforks and torches.

[Mantis]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

Disaster? Come off it.

Out (so far): Heskey, Cuellar & Collins

In (so far): Holman, El-Ahmadi, Vlaar, Lowton & Bennett

Alright, maybe not perfect but that is far from a disaster. Jesus Christ. :|

I think it is when we only stayed up last season by the skin of our teeth. Same is going to happen this season again(hopefully) if we dont get at least another 2-3 good signings

IMO the majority of that was down to the manager and injuries. Any half-decent manager would have had us comfortably mid-table (9th-13th) last season with that squad and no injury crisis (e.g. not losing your two best players for the rest of the season in February and March).

[Big_John_10]

We barely survived last season.

Like I said earlier I think we've had one of the worst windows in the league.

From the position we were in I think that's a disaster of a window.

It's pretty much guaranteed that relegation will once again be something to worry about.

[AvfcTheObsession]

I'm still hopeful Benteke will sign tomorrow, I can also see Stephens coming in as another one for the future. Overall that would be a solid transfer window, there is no quick fix but this would constitute steady progress for me.

[Big_John_10]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

Disaster? Come off it.

Out (so far): Heskey, Cuellar & Collins

In (so far): Holman, El-Ahmadi, Vlaar, Lowton & Bennett

Alright, maybe not perfect but that is far from a disaster. Jesus Christ. :|

I think it is when we only stayed up last season by the skin of our teeth. Same is going to happen this season again(hopefully) if we dont get at least another 2-3 good signings

IMO the majority of that was down to the manager and injuries. Any half-decent manager would have had us comfortably mid-table (9th-13th) last season with that squad and no injury crisis (e.g. not losing your two best players for the rest of the season in February and March).

You obviously think this squad is better.

So if any decent manager should have got between 9th and 13th last season what are you expecting this season?

[smetrov]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

To be honest - once the policy of shifting the high earners was started - I couldn't ever see us recruiting them again.

It makes no sense shifting one set of high earners - to recruit another (in terms of managing the wage bill)

Hang in there though big john - don't write off Lambo and his hungry young lions just yet !

[HeyAnty]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

Disaster? Come off it.

Out (so far): Heskey, Cuellar & Collins

In (so far): Holman, El-Ahmadi, Vlaar, Lowton & Bennett

Alright, maybe not perfect but that is far from a disaster. Jesus Christ. :|

I think it is when we only stayed up last season by the skin of our teeth. Same is going to happen this season again(hopefully) if we dont get at least another 2-3 good signings

IMO the majority of that was down to the manager and injuries. Any half-decent manager would have had us comfortably mid-table (9th-13th) last season with that squad and no injury crisis (e.g. not losing your two best players for the rest of the season in February and March).

Yes its good points you make. Deep down myself and most other people are scared they are going to have to go through the same nightmare as last year. Though we dont have Petrov and he was a massive massive player for our team. I dont believe we replaced him and this is worrying. On a positive point, Collins is gone, no one could be worse than him this season.

[limvillian]

Alright, maybe not perfect

And the award for understatement of the transfer window goes to.......

[AValon]

I don't see it that way, though I understand and respect why others do.

Since O'Neill left, we've been thinking it was "a season of transition". It never was though, just season after season of confusion and treading water, slowly sinking.

This actually is a season of transition. The signings we are making, and the players we are letting go, signify a change at more than a superficial level.

O'Neill left, I suspect, because the funding wasn't there to sustain a money-fuelled lunge for the PL, because for all his best efforts his approach on that budget wasn't going to deliver it, and because the game had changed to make that approach on a limited budget perhaps forever impossible where it might have worked a couple of years previously.

Since then, there has been no strategy, no vision, no real idea about how to move on.

In my view, we now have a manager who does have a clear view about what to do. He has been given a different and more limited (but perhaps harder) remit than O'Neill, to cut running costs but deliver performance better than those spending equivalent amounts. On the evidence of a couple of months, he knows what he's doing.

I'm quite content to let him play this out for a couple of years, and not judge according to whether clubs like Gent do or don't make a certain decision in the next few hours.

There's a strategic direction (even if it's not to win the league), there's some well-informed decision-making taking place, there seems to be some alignment between the manager, the board, the finance, and implementing decisions.

Which is not to say it will all fall into place quickly. Few things do. But we might just possibly have made a key appointment, which will shape our future as Wenger's appointment shaped the Arse all those years ago.

Lerner may not know his arse from his elbow, but he may have made a good appointment here. Raging against the approach may be justified on the basis of the last three years, but would be massively undermining and distracting for Lambert. Let's give it a few months at least before we start with the pitchforks and torches.

Good post. Some sensible points made here.

[Mantis]

Even with the signing of Benteke I think this window has been pretty much been a disaster and it comes the same month our owner made $1 billion.

I've been pretty furious and I'll admit probably very annoying on here. I don't think I'm even angry anymore, I'm just really gutted, really, really gutted.

The major dissapointment for me was that some really good players have moved this summer to teams that I believed we're bigger than.

I don't buy the idea Lerner will spend next summer, it makes no sense to risk relegation if the money is there now?

Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow but I just can't see it.

Disaster? Come off it.

Out (so far): Heskey, Cuellar & Collins

In (so far): Holman, El-Ahmadi, Vlaar, Lowton & Bennett

Alright, maybe not perfect but that is far from a disaster. Jesus Christ. :|

I think it is when we only stayed up last season by the skin of our teeth. Same is going to happen this season again(hopefully) if we dont get at least another 2-3 good signings

IMO the majority of that was down to the manager and injuries. Any half-decent manager would have had us comfortably mid-table (9th-13th) last season with that squad and no injury crisis (e.g. not losing your two best players for the rest of the season in February and March).

You obviously think this squad is better.

So if any decent manager should have got between 9th and 13th last season what are you expecting this season?

I think we've improved, but not as much as some other teams. Also, getting the team playing Lambert's way will take time, whereas adopting McLeish-style hoofball is easier (and we were already kind of used to it anyway). However, in the long-run Lambert's approach is a lot better.

[Big_John_10]

To be honest - once the policy of shifting the high earners was started - I couldn't ever see us recruiting them again.

It makes no sense shifting one set of high earners - to recruit another (in terms of managing the wage bill)

Hang in there though big john - don't write off Lambo and his hungry young lions just yet !

I agree it would make no sense to replace each big earner with a big earner. But Vlaar and KEA are examples of quality of reasonable wages, I thought we'd see more signings like them.

Also with the wage bill so low now I think we are in a position to offer one or two quality wages fairly big wages, not stupid man city wages, but at a level that means we can compete with other teams.

[LondonLax]

I think it is when we only stayed up last season by the skin of our teeth. Same is going to happen this season again(hopefully) if we dont get at least another 2-3 good signings

IMO the majority of that was down to the manager and injuries. Any half-decent manager would have had us comfortably mid-table (9th-13th) last season with that squad and no injury crisis (e.g. not losing your two best players for the rest of the season in February and March).

Personally I think managers get too much credit when things go well and too much stick when things go poorly.

Ultimately it is the quality of players who decide where a team will finish.

Look at Avram Grant being a spot kick away from winning the Champions league with Chelsea then relegating West Ham, or De Mattio looking like sending West Brom down then winning the Champions League the next season with Chelsea.

I suspect with the lack of quality in our attack and the inexperience of our young deference we will be in for another bumpy season. I think we will be in and around the relegation places for most of this campaign but I'm hoping we have enough to get over the line and can build a bit further next season.

It would be really frustrating to go down and miss the massive TV money boost next season.

[Robbie09]

I don't see it that way, though I understand and respect why others do.

Since O'Neill left, we've been thinking it was "a season of transition". It never was though, just season after season of confusion and treading water, slowly sinking.

This actually is a season of transition. The signings we are making, and the players we are letting go, signify a change at more than a superficial level.

O'Neill left, I suspect, because the funding wasn't there to sustain a money-fuelled lunge for the PL, because for all his best efforts his approach on that budget wasn't going to deliver it, and because the game had changed to make that approach on a limited budget perhaps forever impossible where it might have worked a couple of years previously.

Since then, there has been no strategy, no vision, no real idea about how to move on.

In my view, we now have a manager who does have a clear view about what to do. He has been given a different and more limited (but perhaps harder) remit than O'Neill, to cut running costs but deliver performance better than those spending equivalent amounts. On the evidence of a couple of months, he knows what he's doing.

I'm quite content to let him play this out for a couple of years, and not judge according to whether clubs like Gent do or don't make a certain decision in the next few hours.

There's a strategic direction (even if it's not to win the league), there's some well-informed decision-making taking place, there seems to be some alignment between the manager, the board, the finance, and implementing decisions.

Which is not to say it will all fall into place quickly. Few things do. But we might just possibly have made a key appointment, which will shape our future as Wenger's appointment shaped the Arse all those years ago.

Lerner may not know his arse from his elbow, but he may have made a good appointment here. Raging against the approach may be justified on the basis of the last three years, but would be massively undermining and distracting for Lambert. Let's give it a few months at least before we start with the pitchforks and torches.

Good post. Some sensible points made here.

Seconded.

[Foxy1]

Nicely put Peterms. Far too sensible and considered post for this forum

[Mantis]

Alright, maybe not perfect

And the award for understatement of the transfer window goes to.......

What? As I said, the window wasn't perfect but it was alright.

[Daniel]

Mat Kendrick ‏@MatKendrick

Jordan Bowery's move from Chesterfield to Villa will be confirmed tomorrow, subject to the formalities being completed in the morning #avfc

[Big_John_10]

I think we've improved, but not as much as some other teams. Also, getting the team playing Lambert's way will take time, whereas adopting McLeish-style hoofball is easier (and we were already kind of used to it anyway). However, in the long-run Lambert's approach is a lot better.

So where do you expect us to finish?

[KjParton]

And:

Mat Kendrick ‏@MatKendrick

The Christian Benteke transfer is not dead and the Genk striker is keen to join Villa, but the clubs are still apart with their valuations