Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Sunday July 27 2008
Time: 11:12AM
UK time is: 09:39:55
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Friedel Convinced By The Ambition Of Villa
Brad Friedel has spoken of his agonising decision whether to leave Rovers.
The 37-year-old US international keeper agreed to a 3-year-deal at Villa moving from Blackburn Rovers where he had legend status amongst the Rovers supporters, as highlighted with our interview with the Vital Blackburn editor Walker: Blackburn Fans 'Gutted' At Brad Friedel Departure
Friedel told the official site he has a feeling that Villa are 'going places' which is why he chose to move but admits he agonised whether to leave Blackburn:
'Making this move was a very easy decision and a very difficult decision to make all at the same time. I'd been at Blackburn eight years and this was going to be my ninth season. The fans and everyone at the club have been terrific with me. In saying that I'm really excited to be here at Aston Villa. Being able to work with these players, with Martin O'Neill and with Mr Lerner is exciting for me. I've really got the feeling this club is going places and that's the main reason why I'm here.'
He also says Martin O'Neill was the main factor in deciding to move even though much has been made of the connection he has with the Cleveland Browns and the obvious US connections with Randy Lerner.
'But it was all down to Martin and the ambition of the club. Also Martin's relationship with is chairman, the tremendous players here and the other players they want to bring in to make the squad bigger, stronger and better.'
He also says despite the links to Manchester City it was only ever Aston Villa he was interested in moving to adding 'Aston Villa were ever so professional in the manner that they dealt with everything and I couldn't be happier. I'm very pleased to be here.'
He now has his sites set on helping Villa move from 6th to 4th or 5th.
The quote in bold about players Villa want to bring in. I wonder if he has been told some of the targets and convinced that we mean business by the players we want?!?
Friedel is also interviewed on AVTV, the subscription channel available on the official site.
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Your Comments
I like the quote about us being ever so professional in dealing with the transfer. A marked change to recent years and perhaps a lesson for certain "big 4" clubs to take on board, eh?
Jon.H
i love him already. surely he would be given the No.1 shirt. instead of 22 like carson =/
im having his name on my back :)
Gruck
Shows that MON is one of the best at sitting a player down and selling the vision of the club to them. He just needs to do it more often now.
Randy-Villain3293
Top draw signing.
lerneravfc
With the ITC games out the way, the only thing M'ON has got on his mind is bringing in the players, 3 weeks till the Man City game....so atleast a RB, LF, CB and Brad Guzan should be hopefully sooner rather than later. Wth Villa in UEFA proper now, it's definately another selling point which M'ON can use, and no better person to use it to!
JOHN.CAREWS.CREW
Great signing for you. He's one the best goalkeepers in the Premier League imo. Top quality!
Fan of Blues
JCC....agreed but we desperately need a top quality MF too....Petrov, MGP, Bentley or Downing anyone? Even Elano, he's very good.
koolbill
I'm delighted to read that Brad is convinced about the ambition of the club, because I think that there's one or two Vital Villans who remain unconvinced at this moment in time.
glensider
Koolbill - agreed we do need a top quality attacking MF to play in the middle of the park! At the moment though. Defence is clearly weak - and no doubt M'ON will be looking to address that now, esp with the ITC out the way! With some luck, the Guzan transfer move is completed, and that will be the GK position sorted! That will also be 4 signings so far, almost making up for the departed player. I predict there will be atleast 6 players coming in by the first game of the season! GK, RB, CB, LF, CM, FW.
JOHN.CAREWS.CREW
Agreed JOHN.CAREWS.CREW. A lot of work to be done by MON to get this squad of ours up to speed. There is no way that as things stand this squad will be capable of standing up to all that the upcoming season will throw at them. Certainly defensive wise, we remain a shambles. Needs sorting Martin, and quickly!
glensider
More signings are inevitable. MON knows that our squad is tiny but me for one would rather wait for quality rather than quantity and i believe this is what MON's attitude is too!
bellywipes
Just want to see the other players we bring in now, Friedel and Sidwell are a great start, but only the start!! Welcome to VP Brad!
romanianvillain
People People wait we have seen MON's desire to not only make up the numbers in the team but to do it with quality. It takes time to do this I say give him untill the close of the window not before the 1st match of the season to make them all up. IN MON I TRUST.
Tallaght Villan
I find it interesting that nearly all players that come to Villa say that the reason was M'ON. That is brilliant on one hand. On the other I would rather them say they are coming because of the brilliant fans, size of the club, the history and the fact that VP is the place to be. Managers come and go. I want players to want to play for the shirt not a manager who may be gone in a week. It means that when M'ON calls it a day with us, we have a load of players who are only here because of him. I do not think that is particularly helpful and is one of the only negatives to having a manager who is the envy of most clubs in England, if not Europe. As fans though we need to improve a lot. Last season we had better numbers but were still only the 8th best supported club, despite finishing 6th and scoring the number of goals we did. However the shouts of 'what the f*** is going on' and the booing everytime we are behind, show what a fickle bunch of moaners many supporters are. As an example some people booed at half time on Saturday. How is that going to attract any player to VP and possibly more importantly encourage any player to want to stay?
voiceoftheholte
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