Claret & Blue & Totally Confused

Let's wait until the window slams shut before we pass judgement.

Good post Fear. We should be questionning the management

Dont panic eveyone MON has it in hand, if he doesnt get the players in by the end of August he will get them in Jan and if he doesn't get them in Jan he will get them next summer and so on and so forth.... :(

I am getting fed up with the critisising of MON and his transfer policy, yes he may have lost out on a couple of signings and yes he may well have learnt to replace players before they are sold. He is not stupid but in fact much more astute that most of us on this site give him credit for. Give him the time and get off his back - yes everyone makes mistakes and learn from them. Signings will be here soon, all we need to concentrate on is getting behind the team on Saturday and giving us that extra man (RB). Pleanty of time but it will come good believe me.

As was pointed out somewhere - I manager isn't going to criticise his chairman. I don't beleive there is money for players. You say villa managers have harped on about the lack of cash - true - but for a long time a lot of managers insisted Ellis was backing them in the transfer market - until a succession of managers failed to land players. it became obvious then despite managerial denials - there was no cash - whatever MON says I don't beleive there is money.

I have to admit that I am now worried. I think we do have a fantastic board and the best manager we could wish for, however, I do feel let down in this transfer window. The board have worked extremely hard to gain the support and trust of the supports back, but they are risking losing this and burning their bridges if they do not buy any quality signings to help our squad, and soon. MON is a fantastic manager, however I do feel he has boobed in this window. It isn't as if he has 4 weeks like the Jan transfer window to get players in. Negotiations could have started in May and to hear comments now in regards to negotations continuing I cannot see us adding as much as our squad needs it.

If Craig Gordon chose Sunderland over Villa, fine. It's a nice, comfortable little Scottish Village between Edinborough and Middlesburgh). If it was because we were haggling over a price, as has been rumoured, then we have to ask questions. Players are going to be worth what other clubs are prepared to pay for them, and we have to look to accept that (as we are told about the signing of Young Ashley). £9m is a huge amount for a keeper, and possibly next year, when all these clubs are spent, the 'next Craig Gordon' might only have a market value of £6m). The risk is, if the theory is to buy when all the other clubs have spent up, that you get a Fulham or Blackburn that get bought out by a Pol Pot with bulging pockets next season who keep prices high. However right now, which is when we need players, a young, rising current club captain (like Reo-Coker or our other rumoured target, Curtis Davies) who could excel and fill a place in the team for years to come? What disappoints and confuses me is that he fits EXACTLY the type of player we are looking for, and a crucial position. In this age of honesty at the club, it would be nice to know why he didn't even get to Villa Park for talks.

In defence of the board they spent money on Petrov £8.5m, Young £8m up front, Maloney £1m before this window. This would equate to £17.5m. This was before any money came in. This window there has been a net spend of £4.2m. Reo-Coker £8.5m and Harewood £3.7m offset against outgoings of Davis £4m, McCann £1m, Hughes £1m and Ridgewell £2m.

I've seen nothing to say Gordon has joined Sunderland, nothing on their official site, nothing but rumours. He drove down to the midlands last night. He will need to spend a bit longer than a few hours to make a decision. The northern press have it in for Villa, so until he is paraded in a SAFC shirt then I'll ignore it. As for the rest, lets wait and see. Its getting very late, but defenders don't need much time to settle, we are good going forward now, lots of pace and confidence.

Although im disappointed with the lack of transfer activity up until now, its very easy to look over your shoulder at other teams transfer dealings, but generally speaking (and excluding ludricous transfers involving the top 4 teams) i havent seen too many players move clubs this summer that ive thought 'thats a player we desperately needed'. Players like Alan Smith would be nice, sure, but he cant play centre back, and he cant play right back. And taking Man City as another example i bet Sven hasnt even seen half the players play that have come into Man City. Villa steadily improved last season, and i'll bet we do the same again this season.

I have remained steadfast in my belief all summer that MO'N would deliver but I've gotta hold my hands up. Something has gone terribly awry in the last 4 weeks that has given me grave doubts about the future. Our already small squad is decimated and we are totally unprepared for a long, hard season. We had the spotlight on us this summer - a lot of players and a lot of other clubs were watching us closely to see exactly what kind of muscle we have under the new regime. Not just financially but also an increased ability to be able to lure the top players to come and play for us. The simple truth is we haven't punched our weight. I agree with one of the posts above that states there are very few players who ahve moved this summer that I envy other clubs of signing, and if they are weren't MO'N's targets then it's irrelevant anyway. However, what I find totally unacceptable, if not drastically negligent, is selling before replacing on the scale we have. If players like Aaron Hughes and Steven Davis were allowed to leave and players were lined up that have fallen through (which I believe could well have been the case), that's forgivable up to a point. That's the way it goes some times and life ain't always fair. But we don't appear to have learned from these instances because last week we've sold another player (Liam Ridgewell) before replacing him. Now if we can bring in Curtis Davies, that would be very good news as he would be improving us in that position. But until his services are secured, why have we agreed to let a player who can still step in and do a very competent job for us go? I find it absolutely mystifying and I'm at a total loss as to explain our strategy in the transfer market now. It's not just the lack of the kind of signings we all hoped for - it's as much about our suicidal willingness to keep selling off our assets with no apparent sign of replacements in sight. MO'N has dug an almighty hole for himself over the course of this summer, and it gives me absolutely no pleasure to say this because I love the man and believe he was the best choice to take over the team last year, but at the moment he seems intent on only digging that hole deeper. The honeymoon period is over. Last season was one of transition - this year it's about results. We're not gonna win the league and we're probably not going to break thetop four. But anything less than UEFA Cup qualification this year (and that means as low as 7th place) has to be considered failure. At the end of last season, there was nobody outside of the top five that was not within catching distance. Everton, Bolton, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Reading - solid sides with a couple of particularly good players. With the right additions, there's no reason we couldn't be going into this season confident of overtaking these clubs. The opportunity has been there. The resources are there. We have every right to ask why we haven't made those necessary additions but either way, failure to catch these teams cannot be seen as an acceptable return for this season. That is a realistic ambition and its high time we starte holding our club accountable to results. If we finish 10th this season, some will say that's progress over our 11th place finish last year. Well, technically it will be. But it won't be good enough. We have got to compete. We say we're a big club and we have to start acting like one. Everything's coming together off the field but it means nothing if you don't get it right on the pitch. Last season, it wasn't MO'N's team. He didn't have a summer to prepare the squad. He had to work with what he had. He's now had plenty of time to make this HIS squad and whatever money he spends between now and the end of the transfer window, MO'N has to deliver this season. There are no more reasons or excuses why we can't be going into this season to compete. It's as simple as that.

Well that didn't happen and I guess we should move on there is no point crying over split kilts

Confused aint the word for it mate.

Questioning MON's summer transfer dealings, or lack of, is not sacrilege. It is exactly the sort of response that this complete and utter shambles of a summer (transfer market wise) should be sounding from the lips of Villans everywhere. Selling players without replacements has been a shocking decision, leaving us in the lurch, while other teams have strengthened on account of our generosity. I cant believe that we are entering the new season without a specialist right back, yet we allowed the likes of Luke Young, available at a bargain price, to move from Charlton to Boro completely unchallenged a couple of weeks or so back. We lack depth virtually all over the park, not a situation any of us expected after the drum beating from the CEO and chief scout only last June. Record season ticket sales have been achieved on the back of those hollow words. O.K., the window remains open until August 31st. I understand that, but find that argument irrelevant. New signings should be onboard by now, have enjoyed pre-season training at BH and played in the tour games. Jeez, we've had since mid-May to get our show on the road. We have been found very sadly lacking.

i cant see Curtis Davies being a good buy for 8m, good player no doubt but 4m = hangeland, 3 for de jong, look abroad and buy fast dammit!

I notice that the transfer rumours have failed to appear today on the website. And coupled with the constant talk about transfers waiting to happen along with the previous promises, I get the impression that the club are pretty imbarrassed about this.

Yea Spurs hve made some impressive signings and thats because they went a little bit extra with there money to get there players

longest post i have ever seen on vital and one of the best i have seen also from alec.mr fear should put this on our home page i reckon as the time has come,outstanding article.no one can put it any better than that. get your finger out MON please now FFS!!!!!

alec that is one big post. paragraphs may have helped. retarded people like me find it difficult! but anyway, i think i have heard the same sentence written on this site more times than i have ever seen any sentence rewritten on anything, anywhere, at any point in time. and the sentence is...(for £5):

Isn't it obvious? Quality players are out there if you have the money.... and Villa apparently have. Take us (MCFC). Frank comes in and Sven splashes out. Six new players and some real prospects. £25 million+ spent with another £25 million to spend this year. All looks good for a top 8 place. I am willing to bet there won't be much between Villa and City (we have started from a lower base). The problem is either a) O'Neill doesnt have the clout that Sven has in attracting talent or b) Who are Aston Villa? I'd go for option a) but option b) could be relevent?

Sven couldn't really be bothered I mean he got all his players after watching some videos or DVDS and aint it funny that a former England manager aint signed any English players

will front page now BelfastVillain.