Aston Villa Summer Transfer Thread Pt 6

This thread has to see the MAIN arrivals surely!?

All we are sayin' is give us some class, all we are sayin' is give us some class....

wise words Mr Lennon!

Is the cover keeper counted as one of the players MON said was coming in... i mean, if signing an old goalkeeper is all we've been waiting for... i'd be slightly afraid.

just wondering other peoples opinions on delph and downing... do you think they are replacements for Barry's position or should we expect another midfielder?also how many defenders will we buy? just interested to know others realistic views.

Is MON in Holland?

2 quality centre backs (Distin, Hangeland, Upson, Dunne(!), Campbell?), Shneider or Bentley to replace Bazz (not Jenus!!!) and a striker (Gudjohnson???). Possibly a LB if Freddie has to retire (Warnock).

I cant see us doing any business with Spurs.

lets hope now the internationals are done and dusted we can bring at least 1 in before sat, does anyone know the cut off point for when we buy someone to play on sat? young had a quiet game tonight and milner shone when he come on cant wait for sat UTV

MON has constantly left things late, surely you would think 2-3 more at least. imo in order to stay at the same level or maybe slightly improve we definitely need 2 class centre backs, again - Distin, hangeland, upson. 2 class midfielders. if not how can we possibly be in a better position, let alone stay at the same level, there would be no extra depth and no replacement of our 2 best players.

cant see bentley coming in i think he blew it when he blabbed to the press mon's got this silence thing

"sky sports sources" are saying we still want Bentley

Lets gope the Jenas/Bentley rumours are true. Both are good players but at the reported 10m each asking price wed be foolish not to sell. Theres no chance in hell Bentleys knocking Aaron Lennon out of the team and as for Mr Marmite himself, i think JJ holds us back with too many inconsistant performances. Giving Huddlestone or O'hara a chance in the middle would offer us so much more, and i think hed do well for Villa as a more direct approach would suit his game.

I;m just wandering if we are being held up buying a CB because Man Citeh and Arsenal haven't bought theirs yet. I'd hazard a guess that all the players we are interested in would hold out for a move to one of these, especially for the dosh at MC.

not sure i understand the constant links to more midfielders. we appear to have plenty. personally i think Van Der Vaart is the one we should try and get if we want another.

I agree leftfoot - the way I see it, Petrov is first choice then he is partnered by the form player from Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Delph and Gardner. When Downing returns you can throw Milner into that mix. Jenas, I believe is no better than ANY of these players. Similarly, Young, Downing and Milner all better than Bentley (and we dont yet know how good Albrigton can be!!). In my opinion, if its not Van Dar Vaart or Sneijder....dont bother with any more midfielders!!!! Focus on defence (Hangelaand and Wheater - if not get Huth and Distin) and a striker - is the lad Negrado much use - Liverpool were interested but looks like Hull have £10m accepted - is he worth snatching?? Similarly the fella Chamaka that Arsenal refused to go to £10m for, anyone know if hed be a worthwhile move??

heard van der vaart likes to fly alone and not on public planes, and andy marshall has his own private jet.. co-incidence we just signed him on a free. if you go to the official website theres no pic of him with his new jersey just an action photo. maybe...just maybe.

Just thought I’d share this with you. I could never bring myself to watch a football match involving Scotland, but one of my best mates did last night, and he had the following to say about Carew (btw he’s not biased either, he’s an Arsenal fan)….. “Made the whole Scottish defence seem like little boys.. The turning point of the game was the sending off of one of the Caldwell brothers – two yellow cards, both for tugging on Carew. Norway’s 3rd goal was a follow-up after an awesome turn & shot from Carew which hit both posts before coming out for Huseklepp (or whatever his name was) to put in. Carew had a goal wrongly disallowed which hit the bar & came down & did go fully over the line. I think both the 1st & 4th goals were both free-kicks for fouls on Carew. & generally Carew looked like he could’ve scored another 4 & set up another 7 if he could be ar5ed to even break a sweat but he just didn’t really need to… … He may not have got on the scoresheet but I know who I reckon man of the match should’ve been (& perhaps was? I dunno). leg end”

right on deano. 2 of those 4 defenders would be fine, and exactly where we should be focusing. aussi avfc - that is an amazing piece of info regarding marshalls jet and vandervaart! beautiful....

How would Marshall who played for Coventry afford his own jet? more relistically Mr Lerner has his own jet. Even so MON wouldn't sign a player that wants special treatment so forget VDV then.

nice to see someone has made the link between Marshall and the Real Madrid players...! :o)

Hopefully Big John had a word in Hangeland's shell-like, after their game last night, about the no.5 jersey which is still up for grabs ... And maybe, just maybe, Milner's excellent 25 mins on the pitch might have given Van Dar Vaart or Sneijder food for thought .... Wishful thinking ?? Probably !!

ah c'mon johnmurphy3112, can't always be serious during transfer time.............i fly VDV round the place in my jet if he signs........

yeah, you can't always be serious during transfer windows, especially when the Spuds, self proclaimed gatecrashers of the top four and former suitors of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, are apparantly looking to pay five-million quid for that well known Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses???

Hey, Victor Moses has got a lot of promise from what I've heard...he should be a quality player. However, Spurs doing any business with Crystal Palace should be a trick in itself, what with the way they stole John Bostock.

Fair point AstonMartinOneill. We should really be talking about the Villa. Just read that R.Madrid are looking to offload two of their Dutch quartet plus thirty-million Euro's, to B.Munich for Ribery. If MON is serious about a creative midfielder he should get in quick.

Sorry leftfoot, sense of humour left me today!! nice one.

A few people have mentioned the financial dealings so far...OUT...Barry 12m, Zat 4.5m, Taylor 1.5m, 2m for WINNING the peace cup and would I be right in thinking Laursen wouldv'e been insured? So that's 20m+,...IN... Downing 12m, Delph 6m, Beye 3m, so thats 21m, a defiecet of 1m (maybe). From that I would like to think we could afford to bring in a few big names, Haagland (10m?) not Distin, Upson (10m?) not huth, and a quality 20 goal a season striker (15m?) that would be an total outlay of 36m for 7 (including Marshall) quality players.

bit gutting really, ive stayed positive, but i realllllyy thought we would have sorted out the small squad size issue, we only need about 4 new players, weve spent nothing this season in real terms, surely surely we will sign players ver very soon, i dont believe it is good at all going into the season without, a decent rep for laursen, nearly unnaceptable.

we needed to spend this summer, we really did , another opportunity to push on missed, gutted, randy said we would spend less but i mean , £0, cmon,

im not saying were s**t and the squad is S**t but we only needed to rep gb and laursen, then add downing delph and beye and we would be sorted.

Has anyone seen the harrowing news about Luke Young's little brother. The Sun say that his little brother has died in Crete after heavy drinking. Awful to hear, a sad loss of life.

Pretty disappointing so far...the concerns of the squad size hasn't been addressed...quality replacements hasn't been addressed..can someone honestly say we are in a stronger or even same position as last year...I'm how many times have we heard we need quantity and quality for our squad...I know theres still time but how long do you need?

According to portsmouths chairman, They wont be selling distin and will continue to reject bids for him. campbell and Senderos then? God help us

Arsenal have lost 2 first teamers and not replaced them (Vermalean is not a replacement - he was meant to play with him) Man Utd have replaced Ronaldo but not Tevez really, Liverpool havent replaced Xabi Alonso. All the teams up there are weaker and it will make an excellent season. If Everton lose Lescott most of the top sides in the PL will be weaker - except City!! The thing is we have Delph who can be as good as anyone IF he clicks. Another thing is that come December people say certain teams will be looking forward to the window to strengthen their teams - we will have Downing coming in, and what ever way you look at it that will be a positive then!! Worry on the 31st, we will get 2 centre-backs in, its a matter of who! Yeah, worry if its Campbell and Senderos, but not if its Wheater and Hangelaand - still could happen!! Unfortunatley Sneijder is a no go - he wants to stay AND has been given a squad number...no big deal....well check the Real squad list - Diarra (the other one not Lassana), Van Nistelrooy AND Van Der Vaart have not been given one!!! I would take ANY of those three. Imaging getting them all - one defender on top of that and we would be in with a shot of the title!!!

These other teams have not got teeny weeny squads, these other teams didn't spend the second half of last season telling us the reason everything is going to sh#te is because we have a such a small squad

Has anyone seen the recent high profile article by lifelong Citeh fan, Colin "Manchester United Ruined My Life" Schindler? He compares Citeh to a money-grubbing whore, and says the heart of the club has been torn out. I hope Villa never have an oligarch or an oil tycoon*. "GM" Frankenclubs like Citeh and Chelsea are slowly sapping the life out of the game. I'm not sure the long term supporters of those sides will ever truly appreciate success. Even though the current transfer saga seems to be getting many Villans down, I wouldn't want MON to aquire a single player in the manner of Citeh (Don't blame Mark Hughes either, he's simply reacting to circumstances, what else is he supposed to do?). When real success comes back to Villa Park, It'll be all the more sweeter for being earned not bought.

Lots of things to be positive about, the club is being run fantastically well, the kids look really exciting, players like Milner and Delph have enormous potential.....but one of the reasons we were so strong for 18 months is Laursen, we were awful in defense without him after christmas, even Hull have a better CB than us, if we don't buy a leader and rock for the coming season we are going to ship goal after goal, so I'm getting worried now

Also dickface Bentley got busted drink driving. Stay away Monny, the bloke gets worse and worse

thats exactly what we need 'a rock' distin, senderos, huth, wheater they are not in that realm, we need someone as special as laursen was, no matter who we buy VDV, Sneidjer, Van nistolroy etc it wont matter if you have a gapping hole in your defence.

Absolutely, it's all about balance, this is why Citeh are desperate for Lescott, no good having great midfield and attack if defence is poor, I'd be happy with one more signing as long as it is a quality CB, surely having more than 2 CBs is not bankrupting the club

Suggest one that we could achieve johnmurphy - Wheater is the best we are gonna get mate!! Davies and Cuellar remember COULD be quality given a chance!! Wasnt long since Ridgewell was first choice!!

Sorry guys, nice try to be positive BUT... we've been light on squad size for 2 or 3 seasons, we've all known it MON has said so many times, it cost us hugely last season. At the present point in time we are worse off than last season, our first 11 will is not as good and our squad is just as small. Can anyone tell me why we can't (or don't want to) sign the 3 or 4 FIRST team players we need? Don't blame it on Citeh, we've had YEARS to sort this out. Here we are again, thin on the ground hoping and praying that we don't suffer injuries and if we do that our (talented) youngsters are good enough to step in and maintain a push for a top 6 finish. I think MON is a class manager with the exception of transfer dealings. I'd say he's top 4 in all respects other than transfers where he is very definitely bottom half of the league. SO SO BLOODY FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah i don't get the ongoing issues we have with 'finding' players. is MON that fussy? what is it? surely in the world of football - which is rather large - there are the players we need. you know the number 5 shirt has not been issued to a player yet. is there a clue in that??

I reckon its got more to do with us having no money to be honest, look at our net spend so far this summer (roughly £3m). To top that now we sniffing around that carthourse Richard Dunne again?!?!?!?! Where the fudge is the money? Selling Knight and Distin joining would have made perfect sense, but we still havent replaced Barry (no offence to Delph or Downing), and we still HAVENT REPLACED LAURSEN!!!!!! - and to my mind, Oneill must have been aware a very long time ago he would have to retire, probably March at least, and we still have no replacement. If we have the money to spend why not just slap the £15m down required for Hangerland??????? Questions need to be answered.

Hear the news on Cahill - he had an £8m escape clause in his contract before he signed his new deal a few weeks ago. WE sold him to Bolton so WE should have known that - the day Laursen retired we should have put the £8m in for him!!! Laursen retired BEFORE window opened. O'Neill has had long enough. He has really made a meal out of it!! He is not going to get another Laursen - but Cahill and Hangelaand are as good as it would get. They should have been in before the peace cup!

Haageland is not for sale in inegible for Europe

I think the issue is that the club is not being transparent with the fans. If there is no money, tell us and we will moan but overall we would understand. If we are targeting players actually let us know about it. I am sure most of the frustration with transfers would be sorted if MON spoke about some (maybe even one) of our targets for the new season. Just seems like everything is happening in the background secretly... So tomorrow we could sign VDV and sneijder or Bob and Peter from the conference... We just don't know. We don't know if MON plans to move bouma into central defense and use youth to cover our 3 defenders. But then maybe he wants to buy 2 top defenders. Who ****ing knows at the moment... I'm just looking at history and every manager has promised players and nothing has materialised. I have no other expectation cause the club haven't really given me any other option. So i'm already pretty certain that this team is as good as its gonna get for us...

Have to say im a big mon fan and have always said to people give him time on transfers which i still belive however letting players go b4 new ones are brought in is very poor.

Just heard a MON interview in which he says he (and RL) won't "bankrupt" the club. Also mentions Citeh. Fair comments, nobody wants the Villa to be the new Leeds. Without a decent CB though, It'll be mid-table limboland in 09/10.

Got a feeling Dunne may sign oh no

stig - not all about money mate. Hangeland wants to go to Arsenal (he didn't look all that special anyway against Heskey at the cottage.) . Deano- I rated Cahill highly when he was at the Villa but he and O'Neil have their differences hence why he was sold, plus just because we sold him doesn't mean we would know anything about the contract that he signed at Bolton, that would be between him and the club. I agree that we need a leader and commanding centreback but not sure who out there would fit the bill

Agreed not all about the money, but to replace laursen you have got to spend. our net spend concerns me circa £3m. We are either about to blow £25m - £30m, or do nothing. roll on the 1st september.

Stig, you're right our net spend (to date) is around £2M - £3M. I know there's still time to spend but it isn't going to happen, but my point is why, why, why does MON put us in this position every season? Either he is just incompetent when it comes to transfer dealings or really doesn't see the need to improve the squad. Since he's said on many occassions we need to strengthen and add quality what conclusion should I come to? MON is a great manager but transfer strategy and dealings surely can not be his strong point. I know he's signed fantastic youngsters, but I think that's only because as a youngster you'd be stupid not to want to learn under MON. As for experienced players (that he's not managed before) I reckon he's clueless!!! Or... we just haven't got the money!

Just found an article saying Van Der Vaart could leave on a free, due to Madrid not giving him a squad number? I didnt quite understand it but what a bosman that would be! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1206349/Holland-star-Rafael-van-der-Vaart-sparks-Premier-League-scrap-FIFPro-suggest-leave-Real-Madrid-free.html?ITO=1490

Wow, that came out wrong! Just copy and paste the end bit.

Mons waiting to pounce once citeh finish flexin. Upson and Campbell im betting. Dunne & Senderos could also be possible and to be honest we could do alot worse. Id have either over zatty boy. Distin and Hangeland are no goers i rekon

I think a CB is lined up and he'll be from city I'm hoping Richards and not Dunne, Citeh prob wont release him til a replacement is in, we should've done the same with Zat (personally I wouldn't of let him go at all this season). MON knows our weakness's I'm absolutely sure replacement CB's are lined up, it's suicide otherwise.

Any 2 from Upson, Richards and Haagland for me.

I'd have more of an idea what the plan was if the Sphinx was manager ;-)

Unrelated I know but.....is the Rapid Vienna game on TV?? I know the second leg is on Five, but is the first leg on TV??

It really is mind blowing to know that Van Der Vaart is literally issuing a "come and get me" plea and MON still hasn't made a move. It'd be even more mind blowing if MON wasn't even interested in him to begin with! He is quality and has something we lack. Thank god we are playing Wigan tomorrow.

That aside, it seems people are all waiting for someone to make a move regarding the CB merry go-round that's anticipated to happen within the Premier League. What's available elsewhere in the continent? I'd gladly take a Mertesacker...

Hi Lucyryder, VDV is theoretically available on a free according to a supposed football expert, doubt very much that this is the case, just a statement being made by an individual who wants his name in the press, I strongly suspect that contractually this isn’t the case, at best it’s months of legal wrangling that won’t benefit a club looking to sign a player this transfer window. As for the CB merry go-round, who knows? If MON had made sure he’d signed his targets before he sold ZK I’d have some sympathy for the theory that the big clubs have to complete their moves before the likes of us make ours. Honestly though, I think this is a poor, poor excuse. If you want a player make it happen, don’t try and offer half their value and annoy everyone – go in ‘hard and low’ – do the deal. This unfortunately is not the way MON does business, he prefers to shop where he’s comfortable – let’s just say he wouldn’t be seen in Harrods that often!!!!!!! That having be said let me reiterate that I think MON is a good manager, just inept when it comes to transfers, I’m not saying he needs to spend millions, but selling players from a very small squad before you’ve signed cover is inexcusable and quite frankly daft!

HERE WE GO - IT'S THE NEW SEASON - COME ON VILLA!!!!

Has anyone seen this? http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2589241/Rafa-Benitez-makes-enquiry-about-James-Milner.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Football Can't be true, if it is I'll be laughing my B*******s off. As if we'd do business with that ****! He wouldn't get Djemba Djemba off us if we still had him!!!

Has anyone seen this? http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2589241/Rafa-Benitez-makes-enquiry-about-James-Milner.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Football Can't be true, if it is I'll be laughing my B*******s off. As if we'd do business with that ****! He wouldn't get Djemba Djemba off us if we still had him!!!

Ummm - not sure what happened there with the double post.

yes - it's quite a laugh..Not a chance in hell Milner would leave us. Not worried the slightest. He has a good game for England and they HAVE to link him to a sky top 4 club..or man citeh.

in regards to your post 26.05.82, I reallllly thought MON had a CB in the bag when he sold ZAT. He must certainly still have one or he's in for quite a backlash amongst the villa faithful..

Either way I'm glad to see back of Zat Knight. There are still two weeks and MON likes to do his business last minute. I'm trying to be patient.

Interesting to see which 2 will start up front and which 2 in centre mid, not so difficult to work out the 2 CBs though

If I was picking the team today it would be 4-5-1......Friedel, Shorey, cuellar, Davies, Beye, Young Delph, Petrov, Sidwell, Milner, Carew.

4-5-1 certainly suits our strengths better, but we will play 4-4-2

If there is any question mark over Petrov's fitness he should not be risked as NRC and Sidwell have been playing well together!! Milner got time v Holland but Gabby and Gardner have only had 60mins of pre season each. For those reasons I am quite confident that the starting XI will be - Friedel, Beye, Shorey, Cuellar, Davies, Milner, Young, Reo-Coker, Petrov (or Sidwell if not fit), Carew and Heskey SUBS - Guzan, Gardner, Sidwell/Petrov, Delph, Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Delfouneso, (Clark if Petrov not in squad)

I know people are trying to be positive but we have no defenders on the bench...

my chance has come at last ant1, I'm taking my boots, I sit right by the bench!

Well good luck, don't get too comfortable

lol, tell you what, I'd be a sight for sore eyes.... Would be a laugh though..! lol

I am following the game on SkySports Centre - are the Villa fans booing as much as they say!!! If they are O'Leary was right!!

What does Mon expect, He doesnt replace the backbone of the team and still thinks everything will be alright. ALL our defenders are average, FACT. Lets sort it out Monny for christ sake

i dont like the fans booing deano but can understand the frustration, we were 2nd best today petrov got little support in the centre and we were desperate at the back also the passing was very poor we need a commanding centre half hopefully b4 liverpool game. bad day all round !

It is stupid now we sign Championship players and MON thinks we are going to improve!!! I hope he proves me wrong and signs at least 3 decent players by the end of the window that will make us stronger, cause a season like this and we could be following Newcastle.

I thought Gabby was non-existant AGAIN today, its not just at the back we need sorting.

I am effing sick off oneill this summer, and I am effing sick of the administration to be honest, Lerner never talks to us, the General is merely a pr puppet who flirts around difficult questions, and oneill needs a foot up his arse over this transfer window. lets start with Bouma; injured 12 months ago/may have to retire - oneill has known this for 12 months and yet we are left with nicky shorey who isnt good enough, and we have no natural like for like options past shorey, or back up in this position - why hasnt this been addressed this summer or in january????????? oneill has known for 12 months Barry was off this summer, like we all have, and yet we have no obvious, like for like replacement (no offence to delph, or downing, i like you both but only time will tell if you can fill his size 10's) - again oneill has failed in replacing Barry as far as i am concerned. Again oneill must have known King Laursen had to retire in February/March after his last knee injury - I was told on good authority from a source this was the case nearly two months before Laursen actually made his retirement announcement. Oneill has failed again in finding a man big enough and brave enough to wear the famous number 5 shirt for us - not only that why the f@@k sell Knight and have no replacement???????? Also, Distin is a steal at £4.5m, why penny pinch? Hangerland has his price, pay the £15m for god sake. All of this is totally criminal as far as I am concerned, and I am still seriously vexed over his decision in the UEFA Cup last season. We have spent only circa £3m net this summer, and appear to be in a position of 'selling to buy' as far as I am concerned. I have shelled out another £1k on two season tickets this year, followed the peace cup in spain and I demand answers, not to satisfy my vanity, but to restore some order and belief for us all. The Fear, I want to post this in the Generals forum, and diplomatically, and elloquently direct my opinion to the administration. I understand the reason for censorship in there and why you have to limit the stupid questions and idiotic enept ramblings, but I dont think I am unjust. I want to know what is going on, and demand it from the manager, owner, and administration. enough is enough, I will no longer defend oneill, he isnt infallable, he is only human, and as such has made alot of mistakes over the past 12 months as far as I am concerned - but that said unless he looses the dressing room, he should be backed. Fans alike; am I wrong?

Ok, I've been reading stuff on this site for over a year now, all the transfer stuff etc etc and never commented, now I've decided I shall. I have a season ticket and was there today and what I saw backed up what I said at the start of the summer. We need MINIMUM, a CB, CM, Striker. One or two of which need to be leaders like Laursen and Barry. CB I would like to see Dunne or Upson and today saw Huth to stoke for 2.5! we should be going for that. Dunne would be cheaper than Uspon and especially if Citeh get lescott and is a leader. In CM I would like Jenas, Van der Vaart or Sneijder, obviously one of the Real boys would be best! A signing to get excited about, proven quality, big money, we haven't done it since Martin has been here! Young and Milner were slight gambles. Up front I would love Robbie Keane but think Spuds will turn round and ask for Young. Why on earth we didn't go for Bent I don't know. Where's Vagner Love these days?

One more thing to add. I don't know if anyone realises but the team today was all MON's. Agbonglahor i think is counted as his player as he bought him into the first team and gave him chances. With Barry and Laursen no longer playing, Bouma injured then the first 11 is all HIS team in terms of players he has signed and possibly for the first time since he has been here. And its been the worst performance I have seen at home since we lost 3-1 to 'Arry's Portsmouth and Muntari scored two.

so there is a story kicking around that in January MON was given funds to purchase Van Der Vaart and Sniejder and a bid was made. Real Madrid "apparently wanted 100,000 more than the bid" and MON threw a wobbly and wouldn't deal. don't mean to pour petrol on the dodgy start to the season, but...........if there is truth in this, 100,000 isn't much is it?

Nothing would suprise me, if you told me the deal fell through because they wanted £1 more and a toffee apple, I could fully believe it

its only 1 bad game and we still have signings to come lets not all jump on his back just yet

Don`t give this bloke another bean,he had 10 of his signings start the game yesterday by my calculation costing about 65m and they couldn`t pass a ball 5 yards,plus plenty more money wasted on the bench or stands.

clarkamus, how do we know there will be more signings? i doubet it, why would you not have everyone in before the first game when we fans have all knowen who needed replacing ie barry and lausen yet mon chooses not to replace them and make our team weaker, i think im not the only fan who is very angry in what mon is doing to our team

i think yesterdays result/performance showed a lot more about where we are at than any of us would've liked. aspinall is right, 10 MON signings on the pitch and very little balance if any. puts albrighton on and shifts milner to right back?! same old stories, same crappy blah blah....i am getting a little tired of this from MON, there are never any straight answers.

I have been very critical of MON if anyone has read my postings. But I think its very simple. By 00:01 on 1 September if some great signings don't come in, it is MON's time to go. I don't think we will get relegated with this side as we do have a number of quality players. But I don't see us making the top 10 with the current squad. His current technical ineptness, his madness in the transfer market and his inability to motivate a "tired" side lead me to say we should just sack him now...

Mon just go and sign Tucay before someone else does. Surely Ashton would be a snip too? Yes he's injured but he was in the england team not so long ago. I think we'll get Warnock

So darren bent scored on debut... Glad we weren't in the market for him...

I still can't believe MON hasn'y signed Tuncay, he has the dogged attitude that we really needed against Wigan. No doubt he would not have been asleep like half our squad yesterday. Van der Vaart would be quality - but definitely still a pipedream!! Maybe we can beg him to come to villa park by sendin him loadsa emails on his website?

Stig - you said it all mate, I agree the club should gives some answers/information. As MON I just don't know, can he progress the club? I know one thing for sure, if he continues to perform the way he has in the transfer martet, continues to play talented midfield players out of position and cotues to have faith in Heskey he will be gone at the end of the season because we'll be bottom half of the table. To all of you who have blind faith that MON is going to sign some QUALITY before the end of the season, I salute your faith. I don't believe he will, I think it's obvious he'll continue his ways, what do they say about a leopard?

This isn't the most objective point but, if you list yesterdays starting 11 by the club we bought them from it's not the most inspiring is it?... Blackburn, Newcastle, Rangers, West Brom, Reading, Newcastle, Leeds, Celtic, Watford, Villa Youth, Wigan. Top 5 or 6 anyone? That's 4 players from teams that have been relegated in the last 2 seasons, 2 from teams that are mid table at best, 2 from the Scottish PL, 2 from lower leagues and 1 from Villa Youth. Will (can) MON sign players from top European sides, no way and that is why when plan A doesn't work such as players doubling up on Young & Milner we have no plan B.

we will improve

I was MON biggest fan however things have changed, he has had all summer to replace our only 2 world class players and failed, his transfer policy is a disgrace, however lets give him till sept 1st, we need a new defence 2 centre halves my choise either Hanglaand, Upson or Turner 2 out of the 3, a replacement 4 Barry vAN DE VAART, and a top class goalscorer oh we have missed 2 Bent and Owen.

van der vaart IS the guy to replace barry.

After reading fatlosers rant on another thread i am finding it hard to support MON due to his lack of big signings and tactical awareness and yet struggle with the fact to be able to walk away from supporting the villa. I hope that MON can restore faith and our pride by actually going for some top top talent before we settle for a mid table finish at best! We have to have strong players in their best positions. I love the guy for where he has brought us from but is he the guy to take us forward anymore? God knows I am tormented by this and hope it works out for us long suffering supporters, but if not then who can take us further? I guess it doesn't help MON when he fails to talk to us and offer hope. Is the money there and if it is bl@@dy spend it MON it isn't your money anyway! My friggin missus does all the time and she don't work! Mind you that says more about me doesn't it!............I'll get my coat then. Sneijder and Mertesacker with Keane also could help my mood feel better. Who does Mertesacker play for again and how much would he be worth in today's market?

I keep wanting to post something that is not negative... But everytime I read the other posts of fellow Villans I keep having my anger and frustration, that has built up over the last 20 years of supporting Villa, boil up. Why do we always insist on selling before buying and not disturbing our ancient wage structure. Top players are going to want top salaries. But they pay you back with selling shirts, expanding the club's brand and with performances... Take Man citeh for example, I live in South Africa. Two seasons ago I knew 1 citeh supporter and 0 other villans in SA. Now the citeh supporters numbers rival the Man U's and chelseas... And I'm most likely still the only villa supporter in South Africa... And if Citeh break the top 4, the income from the champions league + all the new fans they have amassed will make a nice big dent into this years cash outlay... Admittedly I would rather not go the Man Citeh route because I think their attempt to buy success is unsustainable... But offer a top player a ridulous sum of money to come here... We need 3/4 top players... So why not take the hit this year and get them. We have the benefit that we have a fantastic youth development system... Let the core be english, fill the rest with top international players. Worked for Man United!

difficult isn't it Astriel. Running the site, I like to be as optimistic as I can but you can't fly in the face of the mood at the moment or what is in front of your own eyes. Just hate the fact we are always having to moan but there are good reasons I think!

I think it is real frustration Fear - O'Neill is widely considered as one of the finest managers in the country, by pundits AND other supporters. (In fact, many of my mates who support a wide range of teams - Chelsea, Spurs, Man City, Man Utd etc. etc. ALL say that they would love O'Neill!) Unfortunately we see a team which should be 4-5-1 and we see players who are out of position, underused or left on bench. Why is Milner RB? for example. We keep giving O'Neill the benefit of doubt, for example, once we sold Knight I was genuinely excited as I thought, great we have a MASSIVE name lined up - Hangelaand? Upson? someone even better....then nothing - same when we let Hughes and Bardsley go at RB! Also what are our 'worldwide' scouts doing - We get linked with the same players from lower clubs, but we KNOW what they can do. What are our scouts doing?? Salifou??!!?? I want an exciting, risky signing as the likes of Jenas, Downing, Beye are not going to take us where we want to go, even if O'Neill can squeeze an extra 10% out of them where does that leave us?? O'Neill tried saying we are a different team without Laursen and Barry, Fergie has same problem with Ronaldo leaving. The difference is Fergie has recognised its not enough to get a new RW in Valencia, he needs the goals they will miss out on as well, so he changes formation and plays 2 up front. To be fair though, replacing a CB is the easiest situation - a top quality CB gets replaced by another quality CB - simple!!! Barry is more difficult to replace as you take him away and Petrov is exposed - all the more reason to go 4-5-1 and play through our wingers and one creative midfielder - almost like the 4-2-3-1 used by Liverpool last year, also solving the Laursen problem as the defence has more protection! It is no coincedence that Spurs buying a defensive midfielder in Palacious meant Spurs defence and GK looked much better - more protection in the middle. May seem all well and good me talking like Im playing Football Manger but at its most basic - our spine last year was Laursen, Barry and Carew. On Saturday it was Cuellar, Delph, Heskey! No disrespect to Delph but he is not ready to challenge for top 4 every week for 90mins!! Another thing - if Petrov is our captain why not make it official, announce it on site, make a thing of it!! Is O'Neill too much of a control freak?? Does he listen to fans, scouts, captain, his staff????

I think the problem is that for the last three years he really looked like he was the man to take our club to the next level. Particularly last year when we did fill out the squad nicely. After the euro scandal though, everything he has touched has basically been a disaster. All told though, I think our squad does have enough quality to do well, particularly if we run a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 like deano suggests... Or defense will still need some urgent re-enforcement, but if we get the shape right and stop leaking goals we should get a top 10 finish at worst. But if MON refuses to sort the squad out and we don't fix the defense... (shudder).

i like mon as a manager he is top class, his man managment and is motivational skills are 2nd to none but if you ask me i think what seperates him from the likes of fergie wenger ect is his poor abilaty in transfers, dont get me wrong im still 100% with MON but this part of his managment needs to be addressed...! i no the window is still open and im sure we will get a few new faces but look at this summer for example sadley laursen had to retire, why hasnt he been replaced? and why sell knight ok he wasnt brilliant but he was a villa fan who always gave 100%, so as every 1 no's this has now left us desperatly short at cb with no signs of a Quality cb back cumming in just the likes of past it average players like distan , campbell , huth ect then we sell Barry who i no wanted out but MON has known this for a very long time now and surley he should of had a replacment linned up! fergie linned valencia up befor he sold ronaldo, benitez linned aquilani up befor selling alonso so why hasnt MON done the same?? then you look at other signing that have happend in this window like bent to sunderland for example shorley he would rather play for a club in europe than sunderland and with 30,000plus fans who can see we so need a striker with his goal scoring record (he finished top scorer for tottenham last season and he hardly played) why he was not brought i will never no...! If u look at his ins/outs since hes been at the club apart from carew, the 2 youngs , milner,petrov (now and last year) and im sure he will become a hit delph his signings have been poor! to this day i am still confussed to why he ever sold G Cahill and why he brought salifo!! im sorry to say and i so hope i wrong but if MON does not sign 2 Solid centre backs ( his main priority), a creative midfielder who can score goals and a class 15-20+ goal a season striker (not another heskey) we will struggle to get 7th spot let alone 5th place this season! so if the moneys there like randy has said PLEASE PLEASE MON prove me wrong and make us some signings to be pround of that will take us to the next level...!!

we just need to sort our defence out and add a creative midfielder then we will be ok, rodellaga's goal was cracking to be fair but for me carlos should be closer to him but just lets him have a pop and at this level you cant do that were desperate for 2 centre backs 1 real mean mother fuc4er and another good talent maybe shawcross, turner, or wheater, curtis davies in my eyes needs that shoulder operation its obviously affecting him as im sure it would anyone and i admire him wanting to play all the time and at present he has no choice but if he dosent get it sorted there is a good chance he will never forfill his defending potential. a left back also seems like a priority as we do not know when freddy will be back and when he is back i would imagine it will take him a while to get back to his best but he is the wrong side of 30, warnock to me seems like he would be ideal and is far better than shorey but 7m for warnock seems alot. That leaves a creative midfielder needed and i dont see why tuncay has not bin snapped up yet now more than ever we need a big lift before the liverpool game and hopefully we can get 1 or 2 quality signings in before then and we will have a good victory thursday night UTV

there is an article on the official site where MON is talking about the amount of players used last year. he says he is surprised that we only used 19 - compared to other teams numbers it is quite low. why would he be surprised?? we all know his lack of rotations, why doesn't he?? look, i think he has done a great job here, but something went sideways - first after going 4-4-2 (what does he owe heskey?) and secondly the uefa debacle. what happened??

it's all very doom and gloom right now. Very dissapointed by this transfer window. It simply isn't good enough. This reminds me of when Glen Johnson joined Portsmouth a few years back and we didn't go for him even though we had no right back. And Defoe, and also Diarra who I rate along with countless other players who have moved fairly cheaply withough us going for them. I always think that MON lets them move without bidding because he has something else in mind but it never materialises. Very frustrating and not good enough. The January transfer window was a dissaster, we were 4th with the chance to push on and didn't take it. This transfer window is looking like another golden opportunity to improve passing us by. I like MON, always have. But his activity in the transfer windows is not good enough. 7 windows and counting. I'm also as confused as everyone as to why we are not playing the successful 451 formation??

i think we have a 20 goal guy in Carew mickeyvilla85. but MON puts him on the bench. one more time - what does he owe heskey??

ye i could see carew banging the goals in as well leftfoot but as u say he needs to be playing to do this and as for heskey the sooner mon realise's hes not the player he got so much out of as leister boss the better but i carnt see this been anytime soon! i still feel we need another exsiting , skillfull pacey forward that would keep gabby on his toes!

Lets not get on Mons back, he is obviously not good at high level transfer dealings, so where is Mr Lerner? as a very successful businessman should he not be stepping forward and taking control? Maybe the money isnt there? thats my view, MON's hands are tied, trying to take us forward on bargain basement dealings? Come on Mr Lerner help MON and show us fans Villa mean business!

Lerners a yank, whats he know about "soccer" ;) I think the wage structure holds us back where 'high level' transfers are concerned, leaving us with not alot to choose from

still no signings then?

would u rather be beaten 2-0 by a wigan team eager to impress their new manager. which is always the case with a new manager. or be in evertons situation. 6-1 to an arsenal team that everyone had already written out of the top 4. also wats everyones opinion on liverpool. they havnt recruited very heavily over the summer. they've bought in 2 fairly expensive signings aquilini and johnson and still lost. so should rafa be sacked. btw if mon does go which shouldn't be the case. i heard he will go to arsenal. i would be content if we do a swap and get arsene wenger. the way he manages would be ideal for our attacking style of play. think loosing our 1st game has woken up mon.soz for putting it in rumours but yea had to get it off my chest.

wow what's happening?? i reckon all this stuff we are feeling about MON, the board, players, transfers....stems from insufficient communications from the club. my only true gripe here is that what they release as information is closely guarded and minimal. they reveal close to nothing. fans keep the club in existence, don't they? MON's comment about 'running it like a business' carries some extra weight in this regard.

if L Young leaves, Oneill will have lost the fans totally, and it wouldnt suprise me if the dressing room was totally finished by then as well.

Right, what we need is 2 top quality centre halves, either Upson, Hangalaand, Distin or Turner, a left back cos Shorey is *****, Warnock, a link up centre 4ward Tuncay, and a Barry replacement Van der Vaart, then we may be able to compete.

just heard reo coker has lost his wrag totally today and demanded to see the manager. not looking good at all.

and it doesnt sound very positive on luke young from what I am hearing. a very unhappy ship.

I saw reo coker getting in his car on Saturday after the match and his face was like thunder.

and where are you hearing this from stig? coz my cousins uncles brothers nephew who knows someone whos daughters boyfriends mum works at the villa shop who said that Guzan was to be our replacement for Barry

Good luck with your 'cousins uncles brothers nephew who knows someone whos daughters boyfriends mum'... However I prefer stick with my own sources, they sound much more reliable than yours.

These rumours surrounding Luke Young are quite distasteful in my opinion. He's lost someone very close to him and yet the papers/websites are prepared to unsettle him further by reporting stories about his professional life. We're a family club and I'm sure we are doing what we can to help Luke and his family. Reporters attempting to unsettle the guy even more should leave it be and let him and his family grieve.

agreed, whoever made it up should have a long hard think, thing is the sites had to pick up on it as it was on the bbc radio stations so looked like there was credence. Think Villa in this instance could have moved quicker to quash this link.

Villa....move quick? come on Fear.

For ***** sake, Bent scored again tonight. Gutted we didnt go for him. He would have been perfect for us. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE buy Tuncay. Bentley (big gamble) Upson Warnock and Richards also

Martin its well overdue that u find a replacement for Barry, Laursen and Knight NOW, and add to ur squad cant believe we didnt go 4 Bent 2 in 2 now.

Bent is a goalscorer, his stats dont lie. He would have been perfect for us, but in the same way we missed out on Defoe, we miss out on Bent. 11 days to go and unfortunately I seriously doubt we are going to blow the £40m required on the above players. The club & oneill have let us all down massively this summer, again an opportunity to kick on is totally missed in true Villa fasion - while everyone around us is strenthening. P-Poor.

i agree astonsteve about Bent - he fitted the bill. as far as replacing Barry, VanDerVaart is literally begging for an english club so i hope we are at least trying for him, and he's not so expensive! Real have also apparently dropped the price of Sniejder! Drenthe is worth a sniff as well - i think MON was once interested in him? replacing Laursen is such a big call - Upson maybe? or Warnock? both?........

tick tock tick tock - Fear; how about making the last 10/11 days more interesting and running a transfer window count down timer on the front page?

think we've all gone mad enough Stig without that sort of a reminder, might post one to MON though! :o)

13 days left until the window closes and we wont get back from vienna until friday and we play again on monday so its like a week to get a replacement for barry and laursen and a few more and now im worried

Steven Taylor, David Weater, some guy who`s been in belgum for *4* years without beening noticed CAN we stop looking at relegated defenders they have been relegated for a reseaon probley better than the one`s weve got though its all about the defence THERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH some shouted out behind me on saturday after the 2nd goal (wheres the cenetr halfs and some one replied = ones retierd and ones been sold to bolton 18 months ago ) the ones left are simply not good enough ...........

Agree about Tuncay,that signing is screaming out at us.

B6_Company, the two centrehalves were on the pitch but unfortunately seemed to be marking each other rather than a Wigan player.

Right if i was manager now and assuming we have about 40 mil to spend which i dont think is unrealistic, i would sign Hangalaand 10-12m, Distin 4.5 m, Warnock 6m, Tuncay 6m and Van de vAART BETWEEN 6-10 M. If only it was that easy.

It's simple... the single most important thing that must happen is SELL HESKEY! That way we'll stop playing 4-4-2. The next is buy an intelligent CB Upson or Hangeland for me. Then a creative midfield player - not sure who, then cover for big JC who surely must be our first choice striker. Trouble is I keep seeing those flying pigs! Sadly we will play 4-4-2, sadly MON won't pay a penny 'over the (his) odds' and sadly I don't think he has the inclination to buy anyone. Oh well, what do we know? I guess you have to be single minded to get to the top in anything, MON has achieved what he has by being his own man, I hope and pray he looks back, learns and listens - obviously not to us, we're only fanatical Villa fans.

26.05.82 Heskey is a good player and a player that is good 4 our squad, however he shouldnt be ahead of Carew, he should be Carews backup, there is no point in selling him we are trying to build a squad u muppet.

astonsteve muppet I'm not, but thanks anyway! I happen to agree with many other people on here, we're great when playing 4-5-1. Heskey, to my mind doesn't fit that formation. Astonsteve, give me examples (more than 1) where Heskey has played well AND been effective as a goal scoring striker which is what we need. Sell him! By the way I never said he wasn't a good player, if we hadn't of signed him in January we wouldn't have played 4-4-2 so many times. Sell him, buy a goal scorer please MON.

As i said, no need to sell him good cover 4 Carew, yes we do need a goalscorer, but as well of not instead of, Bent would have been ideal. I was a big mon fan but im begining to change my mind, simply not impressed with his transfer dealings, tactics are strange together with his substitutions, however on that score i cant really argue as we have finished 6th 4 the past 2 seasons, now in order to progress further we need player investment and am prepared till wait till sept 1st, after that though my support will be gone 2wards the manager IF he has failed to bring in the added quality.

I agree Bent would have been ideal. I'm seriously worried that we might be in danger of slipping from a top 6 side to a top 10 side, this is absolutely nothing to do with the Wigan result and everything to do with the diminution of the starting 11 the size of the squad and my perception (and others) that the tactics on match day haven't been right. I think all of these things have been totally obvious for a long time. It's so, so frustrating and I am doubting MON and I am annoyed at the poor communications from VP. Does anyone know what our (those at VP) ambitions are, do we (the fans) know what (approximately) our transfer budget might be? No - nothing from VP. This just makes it worse for me, I've been supporting Villa for very nearly 37 of my 41 years, as soon as I was old enough to understand, so I love the club, but I so, so frustrated. That having been said you will never find me booing and I'm not calling for MON's head and I think Randy is a great chairman. Let's just have a little more openess so we understand please, a dialogue from the VP hierarchy would be nice, wouldn't it?

Oh and before anyone says we already have dialogue with the VP hierarchy through General Krulak, I know we do and it is informative, but with total respect to The General, it absolutely does not cover the issues I'm most concerned with.

Oh my God, I've just read we've put in a £12M bid for Upson, I so hope this is true and I so hope it happens, just the sort of player we need to sort our defence out. Fingers crossed!!!

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5500533,00.html

Off topic, but rumours going round that the Fat Spanish Waiter has thrown pinny in!! Doubt it, but we can hope.

Upson would be a great signing, next haageland.

In response to 25.05.82. i can see what u mean about us slipping up with match day tactics. O'neill has been known to make either no sub in a match or put them on too late to make an impact. Although this is so, we were getting hammered by Wigan and he went for it and made some tactical substitutions, while we still didnt win the match, it showed he has the b*lls to do it when needed.

Wouldn't say no to Upson and maybe Distin for the back? Still think we need a striker also, not too badly off for midfielders unless NRC and Sidwell aren't totally in MON's plans?

I know this may SEEM obvious but MON has been suprised to discover a few things recently that SEEM obvious to...well, everyone else, may be worth russling up another seminar to point out the transfer window closes Aug 31st just in case....no, ok i'll just go back to praying then, may have to move onto sacrifing small animals soon though

Upson and Hangelaand will sure up our defence in the middle whilst having cover also. From that stronger defence unit we can add Sneijder into midfield with a cheeky bid for Van Nistelrooy (sp?) or Huntelaar. Achievable if we go get them and break our wage structure or offer big sign ons.

Don`t give this bloke another penny.

Upson would be a very good signing, if we got him i couldnt see us paying another 12 m for Hangalaand, but could see us signing Distin for 4ish m, we need a left back, i have heard rumours that Bouma wont be back till november so we need cover Shorey aint good enough, also need Tuncay and a creative midfielder.

arc1988 - agreed, but too little too late? He's got to get the starting 11 right, I think it's been obvious for a while what our best formation is. I really hope we sign Upson, Distin would be good too, as for Hangeland he would be my preference but I can't see it happening. Hope I'm wrong!

Krankjaer from pompeii would be worth a shot.

liverpool lining up a £10mil bid for van der vart, so much for us having a chance

Evening mail reporting Distin is our number1 target and then Upson if we fail to get Distin, 4 gods sake we need 2 centre halves 2 replace Laursen and Knight.

Errr... what's this about James Collins??? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1207886/Aston-Villa-hijack-Stoke-bid-James-Collins-5m-offer-Tony-Pulis-admits-snag-talks.html?ITO=1490

26.05.82 i hope that is made up from the dailymail, we need 2 out of Distin, Upson, Hangalaand.

Agreed!

Carew out tonight with a virus

Is it just me or is anyone else starting to think that the money isnt actually there? Maybe it isnt MONs fault there's no movement on the transfer front, it maybe Mr Lerners fault because he isnt going to fund transfers, I havn't heard him say there's money available and MON regularly says he wont bankrupt the club!

lost again, and Davies went of injured. Think they'll make a move now?

Well after that non start in Europa who will come to us now!

we are in a total mess. oneill is a bafoon who would strugle to sign his own name let alone a professional footballer.

This is not in 'hindsight' as some would suggest, I have been saying for weeks we have no defenders on the bench, what happens if Davies gets injured, this is a JOKE, but it's not a funny one

not only have we got no defenders.....if Carew doesn't play we dont score! I'm convinced we have no money I dont Believe Mon is to blame mr lerner needs to step forward and show his investment/ambition. losing becomes a hard habit to shake.

There it is, that's the positive, we are really good at losing

I think the light is fading on Carews career at VP,the guy seems to pull a sickie a little too much.I dont think MoN likes him.

The words 'I'm dropping you for Heskey' will do that

Its more likely to be Carew doesnt like MON. WHAT THE ***** IS GOIN ON??????!!!!! Is this really happening???!!! Im confused

The club need to clear this up about big john the fans are getting edgey some communication with its funnders would go a long way the relationship is braking down come on fans and club we needto pull together time are not best at mo (remember spurs fans start of last season they looked like dickheads)

I agree but the club need to give us something good to cling to....like quality signings! if there is a problem with MON and Carew then why aren't we looking for a new striker as well as centre backs? why...cos there's no money!

B6, i can't help it I am spitting, the things that are wrong are not being addressed, the wheels are falling off, but you are right, it is made worse by the lack of communication, I would love to be proved wrong, we sign some great players in the next 10 days and we start to turn the results around, but honestly even the most optimistic of us must be starting to worry now, it is like we are on a climb up everest and we get three steps from the top and our leader says 'you know what I can't be bothered with this anymore' the frustration is terrible, we were getting it right and then all of a sudden we are sledging back down the mountain and no bl**dy reason why

Sell Heskey!

I'm not looking forward to going to work on Tuesday morning!!! I'm seriously poohing myself about Monday night! Pooh = to pooh, I poohed, he poohed, I'm poohing - yep that works, I'M POOHING MYSELF ABOUT MONDAY NIGHT!!!!

Heskey was aweful last night, as was Shorey who for me isnt fit to lace Zat Knights boots. What a disgusting state of affairs Martin Oneill has got us into. If what I heard yesterday is true, we may be about to sell another central midfielder aswell. Although He played for an hour last night so maybe it wasnt true.

More reports in papers saying were gonna get Collins, if that happens im finished with mon, that would smack of lack of ambition on his part, i have been one of his biggest fans, we should be after Upson, Hangalaand, Taylor, Distin etc not bloody Collins, Knight is a much better player than that muppet, im really focked off now.

Curtis Davies injured and we buy Collins - total joke. Total ***** take. What a mess.

Be warey of a wounded lion UTV

Having calmed down a little, i think we should wait till sept 1st to see who mon signs then make a judgment on his transfer dealings.

Wow, we are unhappy aren't we?

A quote from Amr Zaki ----- I can promise any manager looking for a striker that I will score goals, that I will work hard and that I will give 100 per cent for the club, the fans, the manager and my team-mates ----- get him in on loan for the season with an option to buy! Then get Tuncay, Wheater and Distin! Only then do we have a chance of doing ANYTHING this year!!

Perhaps we the fans should also now get more behind the team and create a more vocal performance ourselves perhaps this would help with their confidence, yes i know the other arguments the players should play first but this is our club and its our role to support which ever players are on the pitch, still think thou we need 2 cbs a lb midfielder and a 4ward.

Do feel a bit sorry 4 Heskey he has good all round play but is just a ***** finisher!!

Heskey does a lot more for the team than Gabby, thats for sure.

All the more reason to get Zaki - the two of them may give us an option if we are to persist with the 4-4-2!!

Zaki Deano? is that where our ambition lies? I know we need bodies in but surely we've got to be aiming at better quality players to beef up our squad.

I have never booed a Villa player - never will. Always behind the team on match days. This platform is however the right one to air concerns and grievances. Heskey's job is to score goals and create opportunities for those around him - he doesn't, hasn't done since we signed him, how much time do we give him? More importantly how much time does MON give him? Heskey is a hard working player, I simply couldn't agree more he does a lot for the team, but he doesn't do HIS job, no goals, no creation, no future. I hope he proves me wrong and scores 20 goals this season, but I'd have a wager that he will score less than 10 goals in the PL this season - can we afford that?

were in the s**t, we either have no money, or martin is crap in the transfer window, hope its not both? james colins?

Heskey was very good pre-season though!! Maybe that justifies his inclusion for our first two games. Zaki IS good enough - not long ago he was linked with Real. Dont get me wrong, I wanted Bent, but at this stage, when O'Neill has said he does not need strikers (and looks unlikely to buy one) I would be over the moon to get Zaki (especially on loan) as I do not expect a striker before the 31st and the guy scores goals. Exactly what we need. As I said - would anyone consider the window a failure if we ended up with Downing, Delph, Beye, Wheater (£6m), Distin (£5m), Tuncay (£6m) and Zaki (loan) (not forgetting Marshall!). I certainly wouldnt - AND these are realisitc aims with 11days to go! All it will need is another £17m!!

Wenger has said he will NOT sign Hangelaand - maybe that is not so unrealisitc!! Maybe thats whats holding up Distin, Wheater and Collins moves??? Hope so!! But doubt it!

deano - to answer your question... if you'd put that scenario to me 8 weeks ago I'd be gutted, but now... I'd accept that from where we are at the moment. It's not what I call progress though. Fingers crossed the next 10 days brings us some surprise quality signings! At the moment I can't be arsed to drive the 196 mile round trip to VP - I need some inspiration!

I'm losing the will to live with this again, it's the same every transfer window that MON has been involved with, before the window opens he say's we need to strengthen and that we will sort it, but nothing time after time, let down. I'd rather him say we are not looking to add to the squad or replace players who have left. That way there is no disapointment felt by us fans who weant the best for the Villa.

Yep, I agree if the club had come out and said we can't or we won't add to the squad etc etc I think we'd all be fed up but at least we wouldn't be in no mans land, hoping and praying and gradually falling into depression! Still the optimists amongst us would remind us that there ten days left and MON always leaves it late!

Thats the one thing that is keeping me going knowing MON's track record in the transfer window

Club need to make statement, need to keep the fans in the loop! look at Everton, moyes has said they want 4 more players and their being strongly linked with Ever Banega! *****ES me off! What the hell is the club playing at! Collins??!?! now im happy to accept Collins is a replacement for Knight but where are the steps forward! where is the ambition!! , players dont make a football club, investers dont make a football club the fans make it work the money we happily part with to enjoy our team through good and the bad! I put my hand in my pocket every year to buy tickets to support the club.. time the club put their hands in their pockets and followed suit! im Ok with MoN leaving transfers late, but the replacement of key players like Martin and Judas, those need to be REMEDITATED and wrapped up on the 1st week of the window! then build the rest of the squad and transfers around that "spine" which we are missing. We all known MoN is a very gifed manager but this is a HUGE weakness in his management, not only of the players and the club but the relationship with the people who pay to go and support the club. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH

PREMEDITATED*

Apparently Mr Lerner is going to get his cheque book out according to http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/122060/O-Neill-to-get-a-20million-windfall/ Probably a lot of old tosh, but if it's true why the F... wasn't it out earlier, if it's true then Randy has been keeping the cheque book in the safe and MON has been getting all the s... for not buying. Anyway it probably isn't true and if it is, it's too little too late, as mattyh1986 said certain things should have been sorted long ago. Is it Mr Lerner we have to question?

A miracle(Heskey goal) is a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can be attempted to be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker(villa winger). Many folktales, religious texts, and people claim various events they refer to as "miraculous"(impossible). Sometimes the term "miracle"(Heskey goal) may refer to the action of a supernatural being.

ant1ant1 I'm drinking Fosters - what the blue blazes are you drinking? Sorry mate didn't understand what you're driving at! Don't hold your breath for that Heskey goal though buddy!

Your team must be sh@t if delph could walk into your first team from league2

I think Amir Zaki could be a good shout, as he has worked successfully with Heskey before! They were great for Wigan. As for Collins, i don't know much about him, but i dont think we need 2 ginger ninja's. We need to aim high in defence, Upson, Hangeland, distan. I watched Arsenal a few times and am gutted we didnt go for Vermalean! He looks good

warnock.

Zaki would be an interesting one, he was a pillock at Wigan they say but if on loan.... not much to lose really is there? Press today are saying Warnock and maybe in time for Liverpool, interesting one, have sent the Vital Blackburn guys a few questions on their player!

mon oniel apparently unhappy with the boo boys, saying that booing at half time when 1-0 down after finishing 6 last season, i do agree but i guarentee , there would be boos anyway, we all know how pathetic the transfer window has been up to today, it wasnt the result that was getting booed it was the fact we went into that game well unprepared, to sell knight with no immediate replacement was very dissapointing. id probably booed if we had won.

in truth i think we will loose to scouse red, lose to fulham, then its the noses, and a unspirited performance against the noses , will not be forgiven

lowry and cuellar at the back against liverpool then? an absolute joke, davies is out n we have 1 recognised cb in cuellar, an absolute joke.

Zaki would be a useful signing

Zaki is **** thats why no-one else wants him, Collins is ****, Distin and Campbell are too old and not good enough. Apparently MON is getting £20m minus £8m for Warnock that leaves £12m for 2 quality centre backs and a quality striker, its not enough, Lack of investment and preparation in the transfer window is why I booed on Saturday, I made my investment in the club again this season, they can lower their standards I'm not lowering mine! Martin Laursen retired 15th May (14 weeks ago) Barry moved on 2nd June (11 1/2 weeks ago) Zat Knight moved on 25th July (4 weeks ago) still no replacements and we have 1 fit centre back its a disgrace!! If MON bemoans the size of his squad this season I'll be the first to ask for his head.

so so true johnmurphy, the only real area i had questions over mon is since this transfer window, i booed aswell, not because of the result , but because this transfer window has been s**t when we most needed to strenghten. now if we get warnock, upson and tuncay, ill be very very happy , but like john said it aint gonna happen 4 20mill,