The Aston Villa Debate Thread - Part 1

True Neil but Villa now have an infrastructure that is being invested in, a quality manager (I know you don't agree with that) and things are moving forward so the situations can not be compared. although money is a very big deal in football, it's not everything and let's face it, Citeh and Chelsea can't have all the good players, they would not be able to keep them all happy, especially those players that have ambitions other than a huge bank balance.

Who thinks that the prices paid for Ribenaho and Bebartov will result in even more inflated transfers? If he went for 32 million then Player X is worth at least 35 million. Average players not even playing for their country will be going for 20 million +.

The Fear - wasn't either a negative or a positive, or even a neutral! Was merely a way of getting the ball rolling. Nice idea for a thread, by the way. To go through some points posted, or even all together, I think it does depend how many other clubs now get taken to the ultimate, infinite cash level. Liverpool look dead-certs to go for £500million any week, then I wouldn't be surprised if Mike Ashley sold up at Newcastle. Everton have the infrastructure, as do the likes of Spurs. I genuinely think it's linked to the CL places - only four "infinite cash" teams can exist due to the CL places. Then the massive consortia will look elsewhere: the two CL places in Scotland, the ones in France, Holland, etc. It's the end of the world football as we know it, but in true REM style, I do, in a strange way, feel fine!

I think all this cash rich ownership malarky will inevitably lead to a european superleague and I think it will happen quite soon.

and why were u not at work ?!!? lol

okay,, i need some advice and i know this has nothing to do with football but,, i have left school and i have been offered a place at one of the top colleges in the country,, but i have also been offered one at the sixth form of my current school,, where all of my friends are going, sixth form is in walking distance and college is 35 mins on buz what wud u du ,, but this college is like got a 99|% pass rate or sumat silly, and my gcse grades r gud enough 4 me to go ! plzzzzzzzzzz help ! i trust fellow villians ! lol

no that is not an option i wanna go on to further education lol

villain?umhu - this is an Aston Villa debate thread, perhaps that belongs on the all things not Villa related forum?

villian?umhu - def go to the top college; can't express this enough! You can still see you mates, but you'll really appreciate the advantage this will give you in terms of your education. You'll need to get a good job as season tickets for the European Super League won't come cheap (if Villa can make it!).

I know the window has shut but what is everyones views on haveing a cheeky pop at Ronaldo (the fat toothy one) to bolster our attack? Its been said Man city are looking, he is also injured (and fat) and his wages may be high but his goal scoring is second to none even grabbing 9 in 16 games last year for AC Milan. I doubt it will happen but as he is one of my favourite players of all time its nice to dream isnt it?!

Deano. Good point and I think MON is now somewhere near being able to build a team around Young whilst as you say not having to rely on him which gives a flexibilty to the systems we can play. Tez86. No. Although Micky Quinn was a bit of a lump and his touch in front of goal was excellent. But no.

I'd like to know what people want from Villa. There seems to be a split developing between those who want the club to run on a sound ethos and those who want to buy success. I guess I may be one of the older guys on this site and as such I accepted a long time ago that supporting Villa was hard work. But you had to be a proper supporter. Supporting any of the top 4 is easy. They all win trophy's on a regular basis and people can watch them being pretty sure they will win. With Villa you can never be sure what your gonna get. I remember Chelsea fans when they used to say winning was a bonus. It was supporting the club that mattered. OK that was in their yo-yo days, up-down, up-down. But look at them now it's different. They're starting to sound like man u supporters. We are still unpredictable and whilst I look forward to seeing us as a top top team again, because we're still unpredictable the club remains ours. We're not fashionable so when you go on sites like this you talk with proper supporters. When we get there we'll feel like we've done it together and apart from 1 or 2 hangers on the club will still be ours because it will have got there on sound practise. (sorry to have gone on so long).

The top teams will always take the best players whether they are English or not. If the quota was introduced we could say good bye to half of our team straight away. Clever buys like that of Berbatov and Santa Cruz from abroad can sometimes get under the radar of the top clubs but I doubt many do to be fair. In my honest opinoion the only thing the quota would bring would be much poorer quality for the smalller teams this includes us!

Being from the US, I will give the only perspective I have...one from America. In the US, football has a hard salary cap and baseball has none whatsoever. If you are a supporter of a small team in baseball, you can pretty much count on having a losing season. Yes, there are a few anomalies, where a small team gets hot for a little while, but its pretty rare. The big teams buy the best talent and are the best throughout the season. In football, there is no telling who will be good at the beginning of the season. Every team has hope for a winning season. There are teams that are obviously better managed that remain at the top of the pecking order, but there are surprise teams that come out of nowhere to have great seasons. There is something about having that hope at the beginning of the season. Villa fans have hope for a good season, although few can hope to realistically win the league. How does it feel to be a Wigan or Sunderland or even Newcastle fan? Those teams have no shot at even being a top 4 team. They probably won't be relegated either. So they have no hope and no fear. Its hard to have a good league when most of the teams have no hope.

@ Mister-mick. Agree totally. I started supporting Villa when they won the leauge cup in 94 when i could have became a manure fan. They had the likes of a up and rising giggs, cantona, kanchelskis which really took the eye. even when it got REALLY bad at villa just before Ellis sold on (well thats the worst ive seen this football club at) my faith never went. In awnser to your question i want villa to take the course they are taking. Course we all like the big money/name signings but it aing going to work like that. Build a team! Young hopefuls and a squad for the future. Me and a work colleauge had a discussion about this. This new man city board will buy the players and demand the manager to place them in the team no matter what (ie Ballack and Sheva @ Chelski) and look were that got the special one!!! with his p45 in his hand! These super powers will kill the English game as they will just but endless world class superstars. Mon and Randy have done it properly, bought up and coming permiership class players so that they can enhance their careers and playing ability. To be honest i feel sorry for the man city players and youth. They will be sold out of the club. The Ultimate thing it comes down to is these oil tycoon* trillionaires are playing fantasy football with real people and i hate to see it.

you can only get an emergency loan for a certain amount of days within 7 days after the transfer window closes I believe.

i wonder when cuellar will start...

A football club must have its fans at heart and any super rich arab will have to listen at some point to the loyal supporters opinion. Thankfully we have Randy who is in it for the long haul and lets MON get on with it. How long will Mark Hughes have before results are expected and finally demanded? A super rich arab brings with him super rich expectations. Finally, should the rich arabs get bored with rainy Mancland will they just pull their funding on a pure whim? Given the endless pots of money Chelsea and Citeh have now, I would still want our MON and Randy at the helm of our very sterdy ship that is the Villa. UTV.

Cuellar is an interesting one isn't he northcliffbandit? He will surely want to start but a) you can't drop Laursen b) has Davis done anything wrong in order to be immediately replaced? However Cuellar sounds like he is top drawer so... maybe three at the back?

Looking at whats happening at Newcastle and WHU, i am so glad we have Randy as our owner and now at Man City it wont be long till their new owners will be expecting success in every department every season, and when they fail - it will be goodbye to each manager they have in a small amount of time!

Nooo, Petrov is due for a new contract. No doubt this will put a stop to his good form. Angel springs to mind, O'Leary got us to 6th then it all went wrong after he signed his new contract also.

Yeah. We play Litex Lovech a week on Thurs. A Bulgarian side.

Fear - 3 at the back with gardner and shorey as wing backs, barry and nige/petrov in CM, young in the free role behind gabby and carew. After 60 mins gabby could come off for milner and we could switch to 3-4-3?

I have a late change - Brian Lara at left wing back, he was awesome in that charity game. Apparently he and Yorke used to play together as kids

According to Eatsleepsport.com - Aston Villa are to battle it out with Chelsea and Middlesbrough to sign Manchester City striker Daniel Sturridge, who is out of contract next summer. Sturridge is rated at around 8 Million by City, and over the last 18 months Villa and Chelsea have had scouts to monitor his progress. Villa could make a move when he is down to the last 6 months of his contract. Sturridge is concerned that he could soon be well down the pecking order at City once the transfer window re-opens in January.

I think Richards will still be a part of the Manchester City team. But nearly the whole team that they have now will be gone. I think we should go in for Michael Johnson.

I don't like Hesdonkey either but I must admit he does do a good job and takes the battling away from the faster players.

Honestly lads I dont think there is a danger of getting either, when uit comes to January we will be sitting high in the table and we will heading into the latter stages of the Uefa Cup. We will get a very decent striker... may I suggest Luis Fabiano since Brazilians are the new in-thing? I have also just noticed that Dani Güiza moved to Fernabahce this summer how come we didnt go for him surely we have more pull then a dodgu turkish side despite not offering Champs League footy?

PBAVFC Hilarious! Its actually too funny how liverpool fans rob thier own players every time they're out of the country!!

It's for television. Setanta games are on a Monday night.

forgot west ham WBA

I'd rather pro evo.

WOW, what a great game that was, and what a jump up the table 12th to 4th. I know the season has just started, but i wish the season would end now because we are in the Champions League Places. FANTASTIC.

I am buzzing completley and am 99% happy with everything we have done this summer and how we are set up for the year!! For goodness sake things are that great I cant see how Milner, Sidwell and Cuellar can force into our first XI. Now this extra 1% is the great start Bosingwa has made to his Chelsea career. I know Luke Young has looked great and played a blinder v Spurs but just imagine if we managed to get him!!! A lot of Villa fans are annoyed we didnt get Defoe or Ashton but will Bosingwa be the one that got away??

I just looked at the fixture list and I reckon we'll have 41 points by January and we'll end up finishing with 79!

:sigh: I know.

True Tez but Marlon has now missed 2 open goals in 2 games so we need someone to back him up!!! (although he did set up Petrov unselfishly.)

Having not seen the two Harewood misses I don't know if they were unlucky or a case of the Ronny Rosenthals. It does seem like confidence is a big deal with strikers. Kevin Doyle seemed like he was *****e but he has scored two hat-tricks since finally hitting the net. It may be that Marlon needs a flukey deflection to get him started.

Gabby isn't a striker. He should play on the wing. When he get's through, he tends to fluff it. He's just not a striker.

I noticed at the Litex match he's getting very heavy on the attitude. I think he needs taking down a peg or two.

Just out of interest, it would be interesting to know what most Villa fans would prefer this season...A top four spot, the carling cup, uefa cup or FA Cup, if we could only have one of them which would it be?? Could be interesting to see in a poll Mr Fear. Wouldnt it?

Gabby, is a winger, but play's up front with GreenGiant cuz we have A.Y and J.M for the wing's. I don;t think he well be a flop like Vassell, He just need's shooting practise =]

Can anyone explain what this article is all about??? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/2999593/Angel-having-hellish-time.html

YES, Aston Villa have won 2-1 against WBA. Great result and we have moved back into 4th. Glad tiredness did not catch up on us for the game.

I think we should try to bring the legend JPA back to Villa Park as a coach, to train our young stars.

Bit off topic but anyone know any good websites for cheap football shirts - really want to get the New York Red Bulls one with Angel 9 on the back. All this Angel talk has got me thinking.....

I agree - those three could walk in to most other teams and would struggle with ours. Have we had that situation in recent years?? Just as well though with the fixtures coming thick and fast.

Deano, I was in New York a few weeks back and they had Red Bull shirts in most sports shops and they all had Angel on the back which caused me to get very over excited in the shop. Not sure that helps with the website query mind, just thought you'd be interested to know.

I also met a Juve fan in one bar who was fully aware, as was most Juve fans according to him, that Mellberg bought all them Villa shirts for the fans at the West Ham match. It seemed to go down well with the local Turin press.

Mellberg's a legend !" End off.. =]

deano.avfc = just get a cheap one off ebay and go to the villa shop for the letters to be printed on the back. ;-D. there's a good lad.

Out of interest, why do many of the above not participate on our excellent forum? A lot of the user names are strange ones to my eyes, yet they obviously have a considerable amount of comment and general input to offer. We dont bite on there, in fact, we're very warm, cuddly, and welcoming.

The forum is lame IMHO, as Koolbill says, mostly messy private chats, its not easy to navigate, only a few messages per page, more animation than chat, people don't stay on subject, mindless drivel. Compared to here where its the opposite.

i think at this rate i could get the job! id sell owen to the famous aston villa for 12p and a clause in his contract that if he gets any sort of injury then newcastle get relegated ( i just really want them to go down! big club my eye!) and buy harewood for 30million! jobs a good-un

koolbill, you are one of the regulars, front page or not, you have been around ages, join the madness. Sometimes people blank posters because the poster just says it all and no further comment can possibly follow.... Hey, how is that for creeping!?

Glen, JF, I just went on the open terrace but couldn't find the reply button, plus it said i was logged in as a guest, so logged in again and it didn't recognise me....feel very sad now. Do i need another i/d or something? Was looking fwd to talking about how poor newcastle are as well.

Oh and 3-1 up - should be home and dry but what line-up would everyone go for bearing in mind we have Chelsea on Sunday!! I would want to keep Carew, A. Young, Barry, Laursen etc. fresh for that game. But as we know from QPR we cant go with too weak a team. I would certainly keep a 4-4-2 and not experiment too much tactically!! Just a change of personnel. How about GK Guzan - RB L. Young LB Shorey CB Knight CB Cuellar RW Routledge LW Milner CM Gardner CM Sidwell (if 90%+ fit) or Salifou ST Harewood ST Delfouneso (or Gabby if this team looks too 'reserve') Should be enough to finish the job!!!

Who would want to play for Man City though? If given the choice of Manure or Citeh, it would be Manure everytime.

thought it was John carew carew "he's bigger than me and you" he's going to score one or two John carew carew

The only people that Man City are going to attract are players who are interested in cash more than footy. They aren't guarenteed to challenge the top 4 or even uefa spaces in my opinion. They can spend a stupid amout of money of high profile players as far I'm bothered, it won't guarentee them anything. We need to look no further than our own manager to see how to progress a team to a top 4 club.

good to know aaron thought that what it was

My choice quotes from that article are: "I was expecting O’Neill to make a move for players such as Scott Parker, Joey Barton and Mark Viduka. Those are the kinds of players who could have taken Villa to the next level." <--- thank God we didn't "Are top-flight defenders going to quake in their boots at the prospect of facing Harewood, John Carew and Ashley Young? I don’t think so." <--- well mebe not Harewood, but Carew and Young are possibly our two most important players and do make defences quake

true, old marlons the kinda dude you wouldnt wanna run into on a dark night, or full moon! Scott Parker isnt bad but is essentially a worse barry, joey barton is not only *****e, but a thug too, whilst viduka is a fat baztard, immobile version of carew. cant see overmuch progression there!

bitter? im ecstatic! we dodged the bullet (ie crappy players) superbly

wow, theres noone on this site anymore

Not sure this thread is working out quite as intended, maybe I'll have to scrap this for an idea and just stick with the transfer window ones? What say you fine folks?!

say no more steff... say no more. Actually, do say more, don't to encourage members to be quiet now do I?!

Hi Villains. You guys appear to have got the toughest draw of any Premiership Side in the dreaded Group F. Hamburg and Ajax are tough nuts to crack at the best of times. Slavia Prague can have their days and the only "weaker" club is Zilina. You'll need to beat both Ajax and Zilina at home or you'll need a win away at Hamburg and/or Slavia Prague to be sure of qualifying. The problem with this group is it appears to have an outright "weaker" side. That means you may have to get more than the usual 6 points to get through. Good luck Villains and see you in the knockout stages!

I could also imagine Ashton AND Carew on the treatment table most of the time, although agreed that he would be a great asset.

Anyone reckon we'd be able to arrange a pre-transfer agreement to buy Ashton and maybe one or two others from WestHam so they get their cash up front to save them from going bust and we get a few additions to the squad in January....?

Thanks for the good luck sindbad, think the draw could have been worse but our guys will certainly have to be on top of their game to progress. Even 'easy' sides have their days sometimes! Can't wait for the Ajax game!

Rob Green and maybe Scott Parker?

Scott Parker is another who would keep our physios in work, and Green is quality other than his off day at the weekend, but don't think that he would fit in beacuse his name isn't Brad!!!!

and would there be ANY chance of Man Utd away without being season ticket holder etc.???

You should be able to get tickets for Spurs but I'd be quick if I was you. As for Man Utd away, as Villan444 says, no chance without a booking history/away booking history

Not totally sure, they will go to those in the cup voucher scheme first (obviously) then priority sale (season ticket holders) then I would imagine fans with a booking history this season - then general sale Should still be able to squeeze in if you are quick off the mark I guess?

damn, hear not here

Italian strikers, and players in general, in the Premiership tend not to do very well (Zola was always the exception) so it may be a risk but we certainly need another striker in January!! Didnt think I would be saying that at the end of the season - thought I would have been asking for a full back or central defender!!! I have a sneaking suspicion that a cut-price move for Ashton (West Ham need the £) or Heskey (out of contract at end of year) will be on the cards. Possibly Doyle if Reading look like they will not get promoted buy January. Other than those 3 I dont know!!! But then again I didnt think we were after Cuellar or Luke Young!!!

Maybe thats his way.... Berbatov looked like a lazy tw*t on the pitch but that never stopped the drunked jock spending 30 million quid on him did it? Maybe we dont quite see what others see with Gabby.

The Daily Mail says the England call up for Agbonlahor and Hart is a surprise. I'm not surprised at all. These two young players deserve a call up and I hopre they both get to play!

Must admit I think it is too soon for Gabby with the full England squad. He needs to be banging them goals in regularly for us first and needs a bit more experience surely? Not knocking him, he has improved season on season, but this seems a little bit too much too soon.

i would say a fit owen or ashton any day but their injuries seem to be lenthy and reoccuring. Can doyle cut the mustard again in the Premiership if we were to bid?

Fear, was that you on match of the day 2?

The film offers have been flooding in today including casper the friendly ghost and poltergheist (I think I looked like death warmed up!) and a panto offer of the back end of a horse. Very exciting.

Can anyone explain Martins substitions to me? on saturday he brought on a natural right back and played him at left back but our natural left back was still on the bench?

He needs to find a winning formula and stick with it, this tinkering with Barry and the full backs has to stop. We waited long enough for a left back which would allow Barry to fill his role as midfield maestro only to find him playing left back again. Bizaar in all honesty, however we did get a point and free scoring Defoe never scored so I suppose the manager got what he wanted a clean sheet.

Young did play at left back at spurs... but to be honest, I'm not sure if he really rates shorey. I'd say bouma will be straight in there when he comes back. Looking forward to seeing what team he plays on Thursday.. btw shorey has already been pencilled in for that one. MASSIVE GAME. wish I could be there. UTV

might be worth asking that in the 100% football forum as well deano.avfc.

on the bbc it says Beckham is going to Inter Milan on loan.

Gareth Barry can't win the games on his own. Football is a team game. Deano -- it seems beckham is off to AC Milan!! for the profitable inter-season loan. I can just see Posh parading through the shops in Milan...

There is as much chance of Marlon Harewood coming to us as Beckham goig to you lot.........BEHAVE!!!!!!!

Worried that the red faced, twitching Arry will now come in for GB being a Spuz fan and all that.

Yes, would love to see us get Defoe and some of the other quality, think Pompey are low on funds (maybe why Arry jumped ship?!) time will tell!

pick your striker for jan; doyle, martins, santa cruz, crouch, defoe, heskey.

good idea

OK lads, at the start of the season, who would have been happy after 10 games to be level on points with Hull??

defoe, santa cruz, doyle, martins, crouch, heskey

have added a few more options having asked for opinions in the forum, so will ask that poll soon. I'd go for Owen

Salford those pre-season European games also helped :-p

good luck today and I'm backing you all the way for that 4th spot!

with arsenal looking weaker than usual this year... a strong performance might see the 4th position up for grabs.

I'm amazed Newcastle took the points off you Villains. But I suppose they had to have a good game sooner or later. Villan444 -- how on earth did you drop that graphic into this article thread?

Sinbad exactly what i thought. The geordies clearly wanted and needed it more than us but its still no excuse for a shocking performance. Just a shame it was us boys they turned over. I was convinced we'd blow them away

Yup, not sure this thread is really 'doing it' but will soon be replaced with the Jan transfer window thread, we can guarantee 1000's of posts in that!

thanks GoonerLou, very gracious in defeat, shows you're a quality footie fan.