Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Sunday February 4 2007
Time: 1:36PM
UK time is: 02:52:51
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Tough Choice For Maloney
Looks like Shaun Maloney had a really tough choice to make before leaving Celtic.
The 24-year-old Scottish international had the choice between Aston Villa and.................... Fulham.
Hmmm, lets think about it, Aston Villa or Fulham?
Tough one.
Obviously Maloney would have had to think that conundrum over for at least 1 minute before completing a £1million move to Villa Park.
He said: 'Once January came around I could talk to clubs and I did speak to people at Fulham. But after speaking to Martin O'Neill I had a decision to make. Obviously there are links with Martin and me and I think I did the right thing. I'm really happy to be here now. I know Martin joined Villa in August, but back then I was content at Celtic and hoping that my new contract would get sorted. The closer I came to January though, the prospect of leaving came into my head. Villa was the offer that really swayed me.'
'It was my own decision to sign for Villa. Once I'd decided I wanted to come to Villa, I wasn't going to wait until the summer. But if things had not been sorted between me and Villa before the window closed, it would have been very difficult for me to go back.'
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco
Your Comments
Very pleased he's here but it does beg the question, if he is so great, why no other teams came in for him?
Saurat
I think the real answer is that he is not so great. A good prospect yes, but far to early to believe he is anything other than good. He is also very injury prone.
JungleJim
Not very injury prone, he has had some injuries recently, but id say hes far from injury prone - Martin Laursen is very injury prone, Shaun is a long way away from that.
Astonvillionaire
i'll give him 5 years
Christo
I would like to ask a question for you guys.It has been previously stated that Aston Villa in a near future, will contend for champions league spots.What team in the top 4 do you think is the weakest link?
k_chelski
liverpool.Benitez is losing the plot.if they get their 150mil or whatever maybe chelski.
Pking
I say Chelsea if they all keep falling out with each other
Christo
Got to be Liverpool but we''start challenging Bolton, Tottenham, Everton next season and then the season after I can really see us making an impact. Benitez fall from grace will revolve around his striker selection, mark my words. Arsenal are very strong and expect them to snatch the Premisership next season. UP THE VILLA.
koolbill
I know we have only seen "highlight reels" of this guy, but one man knows him better than any of us. and if that man thinks he is worth a punt than I would give him the benefit of the doubt, and lets see how he performs and what he brings to the party before we pass judgement.
steff_the_villan
Well said Steff. From some of the comments on this board when we buy new players, you could almost believe that some would like our new signings to fail so they can say 'told you so'. Isn't it about time we got behind our players and had a bit more 'innocent until proved guilty'?
I constantly see references to players coming from the SPL and other leagues and how they 'won't cut it in the Premiership'. That would be like Roy Keane and his ilk from Irish football, etc.
I guess you're right though - look how badly they did in the Prem ... :o)
BobTheBuilder
Maloney had to choose between fighting for a place in the villa side with more quality, or to get straight in at fulham. If mon likes the player, why not?
morky13villa
He cost £1m - chicken feed in todays market. Even if he just plays as a decent squad player over the next 5 years it's good business. Our problem at the moment is numbers. A couple of injuries and we were in trouble. Now we have someone to cover left wing, up front, and if need be central midfield. Withy Randy in charge we can afford the odd £1m punt. Hopefully this post will be shown to be absolute rubbish, and he becomes the next star of the Villa, but if not, so what?
CLVilla
You're so right BobThe Builder. We do have our few that have to raise their eye-brows and question or criticise every signing. Give the guy a chance. If he's good enough for MON, then he's certainly good enough for me. He (Maloney) has got a very good record/reputation north of the border, which indicates to me that he's got every chance of becoming a Villa Park hero. Only time will tell. I like what I hear and read about him, so he's got my full support, and good luck to him.
glensider
Clubs in the Premiership are not going to fall over themselves to buy players from Scotland, as the league up there is so much weaker overall. A player who would have difficulty getting into a mediocre Premiership side regularly can become a legend up there. The thing that has impressed me about Maloney so far is that he was Player and Young Player of the season up there, he has confidence in his ability BUT he has said that he needs to improve to make a success at Villa - that attitude will give him a chance.
pongo wearing
Villa are now raising the bar regarding new players coming to the club, he may well be the last player to join the Villa for 1 million quid.
col8
I think he was always going to villa to join ex manager o neil so me wouldnt have had to think over it much.
calum72
Anybody want to have a chat with OneAaronLennon over on Vital Spurs after their match today? Looks like they could do with a bit of quality like Young!!
CLVilla
I'm just glad that we now have the where-with-all to sign players. Deadly would have argued that we have players in the youth system worth a mil so why spend a mil on a player from another club. Maloney could prove to be very shrewd business. Remember Form is temperary and Talent is permanent. This is the reason, I suspect, MON was willing to sign Maloney. So in this respect its not a gamble.
myleftfoot
He has replaced Juan on the bench, so at least we HAVE an option that is a threat..which is a start.Personally I think Barry would go left back and Maloney left midfield...but Freddy the jugernaut is playing too well to be dropped.It's all good.
OneloveVilla
having seen MONs two other signings perform on Saturday, if MON rates maloney, that's good enough for me. As for the weakest link in the top 4 it has to be Liverpool, don't rate Benitez at all.
jonah
we cant look at his price as being an indicator of how much ability the lad has got - he would have been out of contract soon and could have moved on from celtic for a free, if he had a three year contract celtic would have been looking in the region of 3-4 million for him. transfer fees arent always an indication of quality - look at what man city paid for samaras and corradi (haha).
The important thing is that he is a villa player now, regardless of the fee (which I think was great business), and he is on an even playing field with Carew and Young - new player at a new club judged on performance and commitment. we will never lose money on the guy even if he flops
edgley_1957
OneAaronLennon not bitter and twisted is he, I wonder what he posted on the manyoo site...lol
col8
1 mil is bargain basement by Villa's new standards, and if he proves his worth he could be MoN's shrewdest move so far.
ExpatVillaShirt
Good luck in getting to top half of league, think u might have quality for it now.
LARSSON*7*CFC
Larsson - That's this year and we know we'll improve year upon year. Never mind the English/Scottish quality debate; do you see Celtic improving?
Gazvilla
hmm i have 2 minds about maloney. one half says that he could be a complete primadonna, hence the contract dispute at celtic and the other half says that he will knuckle down and preform brilliantly and villa. i know this sounds mad but John terry when he was younger in his career and was trouble at times off the pitch but look at him now. im hoping that maloney will be a vital player for villa over the years to come. anyone agree/disagree?
Eaton_thevillafan
i dont think he is a primadonna, no direspect but the scottish league isnt the greatest league competition wise - yeah celtic might be a class team, but maloney isnt going to come up against world class opposition every week to improve himself and is entitled to move to further his career at the tender age he is at.
I agree he could be a vital player - anyone could and we should get behind every new and old player we have!
edgley_1957
hear hear, so he held out for a better deal at celtic then MON came in for him, mmmmmmmmm tough choice, NOT
steff_the_villan
Not every signing in the 'new era' will be multi-million pound deals. There are bargains still available out there. I suggest at the price we've paid for Sean Maloney, we've just picked ourselves up one of those bargains.
glensider
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
Villa's Pre Season Schedule (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Vlaar Pleased With First Good Touch Of The Game (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Villa Season Ticket Help Sessions (Tuesday May 21 2013)
They Think It's All Over - Not Yet - Soccer Sevens (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Vital Villa Man Of The Match v Wigan (Tuesday May 21 2013)
The Aston Villa Summer Transfer Thread Pt 1 (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Brentford Midfielder Linked (Tuesday May 21 2013)
No, No, NO. Weimann & Benteke Cannot Be Sold! (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Fringe Players Exodus Led By Richard Dunne? (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Villa Line Up Malaga Friendly (Monday May 20 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | Pride of Lions | 927 |
| 2. | The Fear | 724 |
| 3. | BodyButter | 471 |
| 4. | kefkat | 389 |
| 5. | CDX_EIRE | 318 |
| 6. | ClivetheVillan | 258 |
| 7. | Villan57 | 242 |
| 8. | thefacehead | 239 |
| 9. | DeanoVilla | 208 |
| 10. | mike_field | 189 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Wigan | 2 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 2 | Chelsea |
| Norwich | 1 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 6 | - | 1 | Sunderland |
| Man Utd | 3 | - | 0 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 1 | Fulham |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 12. Fulham | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | -10 | 43 |
| 13. Stoke | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | -11 | 42 |
| 14. Southampton | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -11 | 41 |
| 15. Aston Villa | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | -22 | 41 |
| 16. Newcastle | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | -23 | 41 |
| 17. Sunderland | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -13 | 39 |
| 18. Wigan | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | -26 | 36 |
Breaking League News
| Last Man Of The Match Vote Of The Season
» Wigan : 21/05/2013 23:56:00
|
| Carroll Linked With NUFC (Again)
» Newcastle : 21/05/2013 23:43:00
|
| Players react to Pulis departure
» Stoke : 21/05/2013 22:37:00
|
| Stoke confirm Pulis exit
» Stoke : 21/05/2013 22:24:00
|
| Liverpool: Papadopoulos Is The Top Target
» Liverpool : 21/05/2013 18:31:00
|
| Out Through the Exit Door
» Chelsea : 21/05/2013 18:02:00
|
| Sir Alex Cleans Up
» Man Utd : 21/05/2013 18:01:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
1 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.