Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: Mike Field 
Date:Friday February 1 2008
Time: 4:04PM
UK time is: 23:58:19
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MON Reveals Window Disappointment
Martin O'Neill has said that the seriously good players he wanted to sign simply weren't available.
Speaking on the official site today the manager has explained why the window was so quiet and whilst I have no reason to disbelieve him, questions must be asked about where the right back that we had to wait until January for has disappeared to.
'I enquired about some players who I felt could significantly improve the team but it wasn't to be. I was spurned in those advances.
'But those players may well be available in the summer. They weren't available now and I can totally understand that.
'I have great faith in these players and my only concern is picking up serious injuries between now and the end of the season.
'That's where we have been lucky before and let's hope it's the same now.
'We simply didn't have the transfer bonanza like we did last year.'
O'Neill also explained that he could've signed plenty of players, but they wouldn't have added much when his prefered first team was fit.
It looks seriously like he is only prepared to sign players who he thinks can make a first team difference and our 'bulk' and 'depth' will come from current first teamers being dropped.
It makes even less sense with Cahill being allowed to leave, but there you go.
Looks like we are waiting until the summer again then. O'Neill knows the risk and gamble he has just made, suspensions and injuries would seriously tear our good work apart.
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Your Comments
Voted "No we can make Uefa 5-6". I am a little concerned should we have a run of bad luck with injuries. It can happen and it might. I commend the policy of only bringing in players that will seriously challenge the current 1st team regulars. Surely this bodes well for the bright future. I just hope we are not made to pay for it short term.
Adam Deuce
YAWN!!!!!
still skeggy
Well he has promised ''real quality in the summmer''! so lets start to get exited about then! lets face it it's open again in may which is only four months away!
villavillavilla
he promised it last january, last summer and this january
not got the message yet ?
avfc48
We all know it's not easy to get top players without European football. We get that we get to sign better players. Simple.
Adam Deuce
Spurs had needs and managed to fill them. Ramos could have waited for the summer but was decisive. Cleared our rubbish, which we already have and got in players he needed. I understand he got knocked back on Fred but managed to do some business. MON is too particular when we had a chance to push on. I wonder what Barry is thinking...............
Gazvilla
why would any club sell any serious quality players anyway , so we may face disappointment in the summer
meakers
Meakers - don't be silly. We haven't been dissapointed yet have we?
Gazvilla
As that famously arrested bloke once said "You gotta have faith"
col8
I look at it like this - Why upset the balance and team spirit by bringing in players that are of no better quality than we already have just to make up numbers? What O'Neill has done is show faith in his current squad by not panic buying anybody out there! Never change a winning team!! Ramos HAD to make signings to stop his team falling apart where we WANT better players to push us forward. Its all a case of needs and wants. If the players O'Neill thinks we take us forward and he's prepared to wait then i say fair enough. We are doing well enough without them anyway!!
tdiddyo
"questions must be asked about where the right back that we had to wait until January for has disappeared to."
Porto are still in the Champions League so I could imagine them being reluctant to letting him go.
DVall
So are we gonna have the same people popping up in summer time saying "but martin, you promised us world class players?" It's like little kids who've been promised a toy yet fail to understand sometimes there are bigger things that you can't control, ie, you can't buy a player that a team wont sell... MON hasn't deliberately set himself up for a fail imo.
johnnyuk
Basically, he could have bought in players that wouldn't get in the first team, but would have to sit on the bench as cover. May be needed if injuries strike, but in the long term we would have been lumbered ala Spurs. To compare the 2 clubs is wrong. They had serious defensive deficiencies in their 1st team. They had to do something. we just needed a bit of a tweak. It's no coincidence that most of the transfers in were bottom half clubs.
CLVilla
This is MON's achilles heal in my book.He had 3 months in the summer, and players were going out and very little coming in.We had 4 weeks and needed a right back, so why no bid for Hutton?, or Defoe?These are players who have left their clubs and with moves made earlier enough we could have got somewhere.The same with Gordon in the summer, wait and wait and nothing.The bottom line is it is his job and his responsibility, he knows what he needs, but surely as a club starved of money to bring in quality players, and to finally know the funds are there, our anticipation for big signings that put us up with the big club status we want is more than evident.I take some heart from the fact that Ron Saunders built a team over his tenure with Peter Withe being the final piece of the jigsaw in 1980, and then look what happened.But please, please set the right expectation.If we are not going to spend, let us know.As each transfer window is becoming more and more depressing.IN MON WE TRUST( Don't **** it up!) UTV
OneloveVilla
im sure players our current players are aware we are trying to sign quality players. there is no worry there at all - they all know we are ambitious and want to push on. other players will see that as well. avfc48 what kind of comment is that? last january we signed young, carew and maloney!!! i was over the moon with that. since then obviously its been frustrating but its not for a lack of trying! **** negative people.
ric112
OneloveVilla, How do you know we didn't bid for Hutton, and why do you assume MON wanted Defoe and Gordon? In the last year and a half, we've brought in Young, Carew, Maloney, Davies, Reo-Coker, Knight, Harewood, Petrov, Routledge and Salifou as well as Carson on loan. Whether or not you like them (and who has a 100 percent success rate in the transfer market?) that is 11 players. MON said we are going to try blah blah blah, never did he say i'm definitely going to bring in players to help the squad. Obviously because he knew it wasn't the case.
Carlosio
Why this obsession with Defoe its lost on me MON's record in the transfer market is as good as anyones it's just that some people here seem to want us to buy certain players which clearly MON doesn't. Also if Defoe is behind Gabby in englands pecking order which he is why should we be different. Gordan was dropped by his manager after letting in 7 in a terrible performance, and as for Hutten how does anyone know if he is any good. MON is building a squad for the next few years he has bought 11 players so far all of whom are better than the people who have left. More than that the coaches we now employ have transformed Bouma from an overweight, slow defender into a class act, they have also transformed or developed, Young, Laursen, Gabby, NRC, and Gardener who has just won his place in the England under 21 as a defender. We have 5 players in the england squad we must be doing something right.
daveldvilla
I expected more, really thought we'd add a bit of depth to the squad, still its not to be. The windows over, shut, done with, time now to move on. Its definitely going to be a case of fingers crossed over these next fourteen games whatever.
glensider
Shall I start the summer transfer window thread?!? Jan is always difficult, I take this far more easily than last summers 'efforts'. I'm an opti, lets make Europe and then break the bank in the summer to bring in those much talked about targets. At the end of the day if he brought in players he didn't want he'd get slated so you can see his point of view and lets face it, as I said yesterday, he is his own man and will do it his way.
The Fear
I think thats part of whats difficult we all have views about which players we think would improve us and we might be right. However as you say MON is his own man and will do it his way. Still a thread is always interesting.
daveldvilla
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz................... how long before we get we've done well with an honest bunch of lads?
Villan57
quit your crying and get on with it. i thougth I wanted defoe too till i saw him in the interview for porstmouth. He just said he wants to score as many goals as possible. he's a selfish little *****er. stop moaning about who we didn't sign blah blah.
los_angeles_villan
So pleased that we didn't get Defoe. You can't argue with a man who has got us into 5th place even if the season has 14 games left.
Villan444
Carlosio, my point is I believe MON can be indecisive in transfers.It is clear we are going great guns, but to play devil's advocate.If we were to have injuries to Mellberg at RB or Gabby before we go to Portsmouth or Everton,which could very well decide our placings in the league. I was like many hoping for some more gusto in getting players in.For us the fans, and for the lads in the dressing room.All in all we can't say we have had no time.I admire the attitude to get the right people,but when we have worked so hard to get this far, and have to pray( based on numbers) that we do not get injuries in what has been an excellent season so far.I know we will make do and crack on but, I don't want to make do.All in all I feel like it was another opportunity lost...hey but that is just my opinion.In Mon we trust...UTV
OneloveVilla
I think MON is decisive its just that his decisions are not shared by everyone. I also think MON sees this season as 1 more on the way to where he wants to be. A lot of fans I think see this as our 1 chance whereas he believes we are going to be in the top tier for years. Who knows who is right we will just have to wait and see.
daveldvilla
Good point Daveldvilla.I think I am just so focused on Europe.It is so close, I can taste the Amstel!!...there are 8 of us in the Holte and we are planning the trips already.To lose out through injuries or lack of depth would be sickening.But to lose out now, to guarantee long term European football, is a no brainer.The longterm future and stability is everyone's goal.It's gone now, so back to the business of supporting the lads, eating Balti pies and getting every point we can.In MON we trust..UTV
OneloveVilla
I really cannot believe what some people are saying. The squad - and manager - that we have finds itself in fifth place in the Premier League. The squad we had on Dec 31 is no worse than what we have on Feb 1. Unless we have disastrous injuries etc, we have adequate backup in pretty much every area. I really don't think what was available in the market would have been better than the back up we already have. Save the money MON, get us into Europe, and buy some real quality in the summer. But most of all, build on what you've done in the last 18 months. Thank god no panic buys merely to appease the fans.
Beovilla
******** agree more daveldvilla. MON is building for the long term. He's no quick fix miracle-cure practitioner, cos there's no such thing. Ok Man City have done pretty well buying a shedload of players, but I reckon their success is more down to Sven being a good club manager. As is Martin. Keep the faith.
ExpatVillaShirt
Hmm. "C o u l d n ' t" is a swear word ??
ExpatVillaShirt
tell me about it Beo. I'm all for opinion, but it's incredible. There are a lot of Villans starting to sound like Toon fans. Fact of the matter is we've gone from 16th to 11th to what we can only assume is better than that. There'll be people calling for MONs head if we don't get into Europe, and it's just beyond belief. I know that the pessimists among you read what i say and think i'm looking at it all through some special claret and blue tinted glasses, but i'm not. I expected a RB in, we didn't get one. That's a shame. However, I'm a student, and not a man who is payed to focus full time on running Aston Villa, so it's probably best if i don't preach about transfer policies and players that we should've signed, because i know sweet FA about it. Any improvement on 50 points is progress, anything in the top 8 is a good season, Europe is great (and most definitely preferable) No doubt we'll hear about this window every time a bad result comes our way, but Liverpool are at best 2 points ahead of us, with 3 strikers who cost them almost more than every transfer MON has made so far.
Carlosio
I am not calling for MoNs head but to say i am disappointed with his transfer dealings so far is an understatement.
What message has he given to the current players, other than that he hopes to get in better players & demote them. Why else would he not even be bothered to get in players to back them up a bit.
Its a good job we were knocked out embarrassingly early in the cups as out incomplete squad could not cope.
It is ok dreaming about having a world beating squad at present i would be happy if we just had a player for each position with possibly some cover. (Right back ??)
FatKev
Everybody wants transfer fireworks. Spurs did it? Did they? one crocked centre half, a left back who failed two medicals and a right back for £9m with no prem experience. Look at the players they have bought over the last few years. And, where are they now?
Gordonsleftboot
Perhaps AVFC48, Villan57 and FatKev should put together a CV and send it over to Randy. While they're at it, form a new website www.VillanMisery.com. If Defoe was a decent team player he'd be at Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool.
gmvillan
It's talk like this that winds the fans up so much, coz now we are expecting big signings again in the summer! I wish he'd just keep quiet sometimes.
DeanoVilla
Think we were all somewhat disappointed, MON, the supporters, and no doubt the players. Thing is, January is over and done with now, there's nothing to be achieved by looking back. Agree with Deano though, assurances relating to summer signings mean very little right now. Positive action is needed, not false promises.
glensider
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