Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Thursday May 3 2007
Time: 5:31PM
UK time is: 00:15:51
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O'Neill - Spend, Spend, Spend
Aston Villa's CEO Richard FitzGerald says there is money to spend in the summer and plenty of it!
The board and Richard have already stated Champions League is their aim and with the backing of owner and chairman Randy Lerner, despite the fact we have a long way to go, we should now at least stand a chance!
FitzGerald said:
'We want to be around the top of the Premiership playing Champions League football and you need world-class players for that. We showed in January that we are prepared to make a big commitment to bringing in players and Randy has freed up a transfer pot for Martin. People might have thought we pushed the boat out signing Ashley Young, but I can guarantee significant transfer funds have been made available, which is money coming from the owner.'
Adding, at the press conference launching the new club badge, 'No-one has put a figure on that sum, but we wouldn't have come out and said we want to be competing at the top of the Premiership and in the Champions League if we didn't know what that entailed.'
He also says that Villa will have to learn to stand on their own two feet and not constantly expect money from Randy Lerner.
'We are in an investment phase and we realise there will be a lag between revenues and spending for a while but, eventually, we want to commercialise. Americans understand entertainment and the value of entertainment better than the Brits and, more specifically, they understand about the value of entertainment on television and the importance of television.'
Adding, 'We want to fill Villa Park. There's very few successful teams that don't have full stadiums. How are we going to do that? We're going to make sure the season-ticket prices are reasonable and make sure we enhance the matchday experience. We've got to work hard at filling the stadium and keeping fans and stakeholders happy.'
I'm sure a few stars in the summer will add a few thousand bums on seats come kick off next season. Happy days!
I'll start a new sticky player link article on the front page soon, we got through over 1000 comments in January, the summer will probably lead to overload!
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Your Comments
how much do u wreckon we're gonna get?? 100million?? 200million?? mmmmmmmmmm
VillaMalta
This depends on how MON wants to play it. Are we in a position yet to attract the brill players? The only way to attract the top top players would be to offer them massive wages. (I learnt this on Champ manager so it's gotta be right). Would he want to do this and upset some of the seniors? Can he do this. Will Randy allow it? Alternatively, MON will go for the players we're linked to at the moment who will come for over the odd transfer prices but reasonable wages. I think the latter. And every season the players joining will get better.
Gazvilla
if we can spend up to £30mill to get us into the top 6 next year,... then how much would it cost us the year after to get into the top 4? would me need wholesale squad changes to get into the top 4 from the top 6 team? or will we just become a spurs and sign every youth player going with the hope of one of them making it good? i hope we do buy youth but mainly players aged 24 or 25 just before they get to there peak (27-32 is peak age) and buy them for cheaper than they would cost at aged 27 if we had MON a few years ago when petrov was 24 he wouldnt have cost as much as he did if we could sign about 8 players this summer as abuout 8 will leave on frees and not good enough (Dj-Dj, hughes, angel(gone), hendrie, Sutton, ridgewell, mcCann) and a few others how much would it cost to replace them with actually QUALITY players...UTV
Newman
If MON is going to build a team, as opposed to the Chelski route, then it will take time. Putting a team together overnight does not happen in real life. Think back to when Alex Ferguson was building his first ManUre team, and the problems he had doing that. It was not all plain sailing. Top players don't have to take a chance on joining a team that MIGHT go places, so the building has to happen relatively slowly. The first batch of players will take us so far, then we have to move to another level, and so on. It WILL take time.
BobTheBuilder
I heard that we are getting £105m to spend and Doug Ellis is also chipping in so thats £105m and 30p
Christo
Ellis is chipping in that much christo, FU**ING HELL!!
samtozer
To be fair deadly backed John Gregory, then stopped at the crucial point, when he argued over 1 mill for juninio. Alas the wheels then fell off. Mon is more astute and a good man to trust with the purse strings. Roll on next season. UTV.
morky13villa
Not wanting to go overboard on the Doug argument, been done before and we are on the up now without him, but although plenty was spent in the JG days, there were plenty of sales as well. Remember JG saying his annual spend was still around £5m a season after sales. Also this was the time of the floatation so some money was about. Still not a good amount of investment though, we did have a list of all the ins and outs to disprove the £100m claim by Doug. Think it is on the VFC old site somewhere, but too tired to go looking now!
The Fear
With increased prize money in the Prem next yar, expect all prices to soar again this Summer - so we may not see as many arrivals as some expect. Plus if you look at the Arsenal approach, they buy very well at low prices hrough good judgement. Perhaps thats the best method to follow after an initial push to get a solid base.
Gordonsleftboot
Its heartening to just know that the money is there, we dont have to sell to buy, and we wont be shopping in the bargain basement sales this summer. Enough said.
glensider
this could shake up the "big four" quite nicely I think next year ... lets hope so anyway !
dazednconfuzed
Ellis, Ellis, Ellis, I am sick of hearing that name. he was here for 37 years or whatever it was, are we gonna be talking about the prat for the next 37?
jonah
Don't want Barton - he's just bad news.
myleftfoot
I'm tired of hearing that the top four is out of our reach - surely it's a matter of consistency. Look the amount of draws this year and a 50% conversion rate would of seen us in the top four. Sure we need more quality but I believe its over the top to sugest that it would cost 100 Mil to get us there. Any opinions on this?
myleftfoot
Next season will still be one of development. So whilst I expect an improvement on this seasons improvement, I would not expect us to be challenging the top four. M'ON's third season is when this will happen. The foundations for success are still being laid. Next season will actually see the structure develop. As for the actual spend, it wil still be very difficult to attract world class without to play in a three quarters full stadium, especially as we do not have the carrot of Europe to dangle in front of them. For the betting peolpe amongst you I have heard the following. Luke Young, Craig Bellend and Boruc will be arriving. Ridgewell is going to the Dildo Salesmen from Somali Heath. McCann is going back to Sunderland.
voiceoftheholte
yeah we definately should be looking at the way in which arsenal and tottenham have improved their team. ie, huddlestone, lennon. and nearly every one of arsenal's team. but at the same time get in some big name players. I wouldn't want villa to spend the way chelsea has, there would be no sence of achievement, it would be like going down to a trophy shop, buying a bunch of trophies and sticking them on your mantlepiece. which i've done and just doesn't feel right
liamo1981
significant transfer funds <-------- Bring in the right players, those who would command a place in the top four teams in the Premiership and we will be taking great strides towards returning Aston Villa back to "top flight football"
col8
The Club has stabilised itself on the pitch and only a major investment in the team will see us now build on this. As I’ve stated before we have lost less games than any team out of the top 5, maybe we haven’t played exciting football to achieve this but could we have afforded too with the squad we have? Compared to last season we have already gained more points and are higher up the table, something that we would have settled for at the start of the season. Defensively we have gone some way to improve and currently we have conceded 16 goals less than last season. Ask any Spurs or Blackburn fans any they would have snapped our hand off to have our goals conceded record this year. Our main problem has again been goals scored and more importantly goals scored at home. For the second season running we have scored more goals away than at home. We can debate the reasons for this but I maintain that as fans, our support at home is garbage. The atmosphere at VP is poor and the pressure from the fans to make every pass and to score every opportunity only goes to hinder us. Also the vocal support from the stands is still prominently anti-blues and not pro Villa. Overall we are in the ascendancy again but we all need to play a part to reach the goal of top 4 and winning trophies, it’s not just the responsibility of the players and owners.
Hoss The Villain
"Ask any Spurs or Blackburn fans, they would have snapped our hands to have our goals conceded record this year". Yes that is true. But, ask any team apart from Man U if they would have our scoring record this year and they would have snapped off both our hands. 99 goals so far this season speaks for itself really. Had Spurs conceded less goals this season we would be easily sitting in 4th spot.
OneAaronLennon
Well said Hoss. I am not in to praising other clubs but I do think that redscouse were a good example on Tuesday night. All areas of the ground gave vocal support. Unfortunately at VP the supporters in the Trinity and Witton Lane are happy to say they do not like some of the songs on the Holte End (and I agree, I would prefer more pro Villa and less anti dildo salesmen), but do not do anything about it. If they gave vocal support, VP would be a much more intimidating arena. The only time I hear anything from them is when they are moaning. Until these two stands help create an atmosphere of unity, passion and as a club united in its' desire to move forward, then VP is going to be at the mercy of whatever mood the Holte end is in. It would be interesting to hear from any fans who sit in the Trinity or the Witton Lane as to why they do not get behind their team.
voiceoftheholte
Just reading the post about Juninho got me thinking - we have had quite a few players apparently ready to sign only to stop the deal because of extra money involved. I remember Robbie Keane from Wolves was cancelled because we offered 5.5m and Wolves wanted 6m - Gregory said he wasnt worth it, Benni McCarthey was not taken because Angel was a cheaper deal, Paul Robinson wanted too much in wages so we got Tommy. Is there any more examples?? I know we are looking forward but would any of these purchases made us more successful???
deano.avfc
Juniniho helped taked Villaboro down. So although he was impressive marketing material I do not think he added too much on the field. Keane was sold on for £12 million and it was definitely a mistake not to have bought him. As for Robinson the less said the better. He is probably the worst keeper in the Premier League. He only dives for the ball once it is in the net. When he makes a save it is because he is actually diving for the previous shot. When somebody shoots straight at him, he dives to make it look good. If we had Robinson and Spuds had Sorenson, we would be 10 points worse off and they would be 10 points better off.
voiceoftheholte
This is very true, Robinson is an average keeper at best. Scott Carson should be England number 1
industrial_musical
I think that being England Number 1 for the last 2-3 seasons running suggests that he is a brilliant keeper. He is just going through a dip in form due to the absence of Ledley King and he will be back to his best next season.
OneAaronLennon
pah, Robinson has always been average, makes the occasional good save, but he's nothing special.
industrial_musical
You are quite right VOTH. I sit in the Upper trinity and its like a cathedral up there at times. The problem seems to be that there are so few season Ticket holders at the moment. Apart from the couple who sit in front of us and my wife and myself, the whole area around us is populated by different people every week (and quite a few gaps around us too). So much so that I feel like a bit of a divvy when I start to scream the lads on. I wish the place had a wooden floor like the old Trinity too, get people stamping their feet like in the old days.
jonah
Jonah I think it is your duty to become chief cheerleader in the Trinity. If anybody gives you a funny look just knock 'em out :o). In all fairness though, somebody has got it going, why not you? As for your comment oal. Robinson is having a dip in form???? A dip is temporary and doesn't relate to Robinson because he has always been pants. As for playing for England for 2/3 years it is only because he has got some dodgy photos of Steve McClaren coming out of a brothel, allegedly, and he is using this as blackmail. There can be no other explanation. Face it he is tom tit and Niemi will be in goal for spuds next season.
voiceoftheholte
Well we all have our opinions and i believe that he is a brilliant keeper. Regardless of who is Spurs Number 1 goal keeper next season i am sure that we will have atleast 10 more clean sheets than we have done this season. Reason being that Ledley King will be 100% fit and raring to go and hopefully our team will be balanced by the signings of a LM and a LB in the summer.
OneAaronLennon
The top four is not unreachable next year, i remember ever ton getting up there one season not that long ago. Its a tough ask but consistency is key and consistently scoring is our current weakness. Carew for 20 goals next year should see us push on up. I would like us to sign a gem of a striker this summer not sure who though.
iomvilla
Robinson has definitely been rubbish this year. Mind you, can't think of anyone besides Berbatov or Keane that we would want, whereas they would love to have Barry, Berger, Maloney or Young, never mind Mellberg and Carew. Seems we are better off than we might think. Just a few good additions, and more options around Christmas time when there are so many games, and we should do much better.
CLVilla
Onearselennon shut up! What are you talking about? Robinson is behind James, Vandersaar, Could go on but I'm bored. Don't mind you on our site, just post believable statements.
morky13villa
David James is englands best keeper. He may make the occasional clanger when he comes out, but if you were to find a stat that told you how many times porthsmouth have had the ball drop in the six yard box, or even all the way out to the penalty spot you would find that theirs in the lowest. He doesn't get much recognition for this, because its not stopping a direct shot. but a lot of goals come from goalmouth scrambles and james plucks everything out of the air. he would have been a great aussie rules football player!
liamo1981
and paul robinson is crap
liamo1981
I think he will find it hard to spend lots of money he's always worked on buying bargain players in the past.
dazza71
9.65m for young? Thats a fair bit of cash...MON has never had much cash to spend, perhaps he's been waiting to have a decent kitty for ages. I bet he has a great wish list of players
son_of_cher
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