STM

Just because a deal isn't agreed doesn't mean that HBA isn't now talking to us (which is what Dassier actually said). It's now commonplace to talk to the player before agreeing the ins and outs of a deal, so long as the club allows us too.

Yer but you reffered to Villa as the "big time", it's hardly any bigger time than Everton. They just have little more money. Unless they throw Man City sums of money at it, they won't finish in the top four anyway.

Calm down man. It's clearly close anyway.

I was going to ask if you were joking, but I've just had to remind myself how far we've fallen since I was pointing out o'Neill's was totally unproven as a top quality manager. I do think he's someone who can consistently achieve that top ten/UEFA hole with virtually any club, and that combined with his particular style as a manager mean it might not actually be a bad move for us just now. Still don't like him and don't much want him, though - would be happier to press on with Hughton. Same! Been waiting for something to laugh at Villa about since the horrible c***s acted like small time c***s about us going down. Hopefully they flog all of their best players and plummet. Don't count your chickens - unless Lerner's lost interest, which he hasn't really so far as I'm aware, I'd be over the moon if I were them and this could be the best thing to happen to them since o'Neill was appointed. The timing's pretty horrible of course... but nevertheless. Why the f*** would you be over the moon ? Are you insane ? The bloke totally transformed a strugglling prem club into one of the top clubs 8 clubs in the country, there's nothing better out there available for Villa right now. Randy Lerner transformed them. Any manager in the league could take a team that changes from one of the lowest budgets in the league to one of the highest in Europe from the bottom half to the top. He's still finished no higher than every Villa manager I can remember and looked clueless has to how to take them further. What is this nonsense about Liverpool ffs His tactics and transfer policy (What is it, 3 foreign signings ever?) belong in the bottom half. He barely bought anyone as he was brought in just before or after the window had closed, took over a team that had finished just above the relegation spots and suddenly they were top half of the table. He's worked wonders with the likes of Agbolohar (sp?), Milner and Barry. Lerner had a part to play in all that of course, but it's his manager that's transformed thm. As a side note, Lerner's Cleveland Browns have been one of the worst franchises in the NFL for as long as Lerner has been in charge, he's not thought of in great light on this side of the pond. Lerner is the man who has done most to transform the club, far far more than MON has. Anyone who thinks otherwise is talking nonsense, I'm afraid. Or appreciates the influence on the team on the pitch better. Look at us, we were backed to the hilt and probably beyond our means by Freddy, put a crappy manager in there like Souness and your strggling at the wrong end of the table. Have fun without O'Neill, you'll miss him more than you think, if Lerner doesn't get the appointment right, and trust me he doesn't always hit a home run with his appointments at other organisations. Look, who appointed o'Neill? And why did he do it? Because Lerner thought he was the best guy to approach at the time, and it wasn't too bad a move. I'd say his biggest mistake - especially if the money really has dried up, which I'm under the impression it hasn't - was showing too much loyalty when he first got disturbed by o'Neill's inadequacies, especially in spending the huge pots of money Lerner was apparently positively asking him to spend. Appointing managers isn't easy, but Lerner's short track record suggest he'll go about it in the right way, and even more to the point, everything else he'll do will be totally conducive to the success of that appointee. Our failure, along with that of other clubs/chairmen, is not so much found in picking the wrong CV from the application pile as from asking any new/prospective manager to work in f***ing nightmarish conditions. Moyes should go for it if he gets offered the chance, that's someone who deserves a chance at the big time and I think it could be a nice match. I don't know enough about the manager market and Aston Villa's position just now, so I don't know if they could make an obviously better appointment. Moyes has got better things going on at Everton, Villa would be a sideways step in my book (apart from having some money to spend, not alot).

Personally i think O'Neill is a very good manager and would be very happy if he was our boss. It all depends on Villa's ambition TBH, if they want top four then perhaps O'Neill is limited, otherwise they will struggle to replace him.

O'Neill's a good shout.

Will they fuck and i actually agree.

If City do anything other than win their first couple of games....

Apart from the OTT wages, what is the lure of the Premiership? Some of the world's best players to play with and against, in some of the world's best stadia. The prestige of the league and the adulation players receive is second to none. Even if you don't rate the quality of the football, the lure is obvious. Bollocks. Most the worlds best footballers dont play in the PL and players dont make career moves based on the quality of the stadia at away games. They want to go to clubs that can win things, failing that they chase the wonga. As we have no chance of winning anything it must be the money thats luring him to the EPL. He's playing the long game if you ask me. The Premier League is the most watched sports league on earth, if he comes to us and does well he can make a name for himself and command bigger money moves in the future. The alternatives for him are stay in France or go to Germany, Russia or Portugal. If he does join us and he does pull up trees he'll not be playing for us on 2011/12. Thats certainly more plausible than Daves theory about him being enticed by the quality of the stadia. I was only questioning the lure of the PL cliché as this isnt a done deal and if money is the key factor theres still plenty of scope for the clubs cheapskate recruitment policy to scupper the move, which would be a shitter as we really need some genuine creativity in the side. If he signs on big money theres also the possibility somebody will be sold to keep the wage bill at its current level. I think the lure of the Premier League is still quite big for outsiders despite the fact most fans in England now seem to recognise that it's barely comparable to La Liga or even a pretty pish Serie A. The Premier League has benefitted from money and extremely clever marketing. Just because Barcelona are class doesn't make Spanish football better than ours. Real Madrid (pre Mourinho) would get beat by our top 3 IMO. Technically it might be better on the eye but that doesn't make it "better" football. La Liga has some s**** teams in it too. Debatable. If you went down the league and matched our 20 and their 20 up in order I'd fancy their lot most of the time. The bottom half of the Premier League was f***ing awful last year. What makes it for me is the fact that our second tier of the premiership Everton, City, Villa and Liverpool are all of better quality than the likes of Getafe, Maljorca etc. Thatll be why a second tier English club hasnt won the UEFA Cup since 1984. We are talking about the premiership now though. I can't defend the first division in 1984

Of which Hughton or Martinez?

I just disagree. I could give you countless examples of foreign players failing in this country. We play different football but it's certainly not worse IMO. Of course it's f**king worse. The British blueprint is why we got mullered at the World Cup and played off the park by the first decent team we come across. Take a player out of a team in Spain and hoy them in a team in England and they'll struggle to adapt (for example Borja Valero), but put a lower English team against a lower Spanish team and they'd get played off the park. They're technically and tactically streets ahead of us. There's a reason why we've only won 1 out of the last 25 Uefa Cups (or equivalents), our middle to lower teams are so far behind the top echelons. I think you have confused English footballers with the English premiership. Spain's national team (Barcelona) is excellent but that proves nothing. We need to nuture our youngsters better yes, but that has nothing to with the standard of our league.

Apart from the OTT wages, what is the lure of the Premiership? Some of the world's best players to play with and against, in some of the world's best stadia. The prestige of the league and the adulation players receive is second to none. Even if you don't rate the quality of the football, the lure is obvious. Bollocks. Most the worlds best footballers dont play in the PL and players dont make career moves based on the quality of the stadia at away games. They want to go to clubs that can win things, failing that they chase the wonga. As we have no chance of winning anything it must be the money thats luring him to the EPL. He's playing the long game if you ask me. The Premier League is the most watched sports league on earth, if he comes to us and does well he can make a name for himself and command bigger money moves in the future. The alternatives for him are stay in France or go to Germany, Russia or Portugal. If he does join us and he does pull up trees he'll not be playing for us on 2011/12. Thats certainly more plausible than Daves theory about him being enticed by the quality of the stadia. I was only questioning the lure of the PL cliché as this isnt a done deal and if money is the key factor theres still plenty of scope for the clubs cheapskate recruitment policy to scupper the move, which would be a shitter as we really need some genuine creativity in the side. If he signs on big money theres also the possibility somebody will be sold to keep the wage bill at its current level. I think the lure of the Premier League is still quite big for outsiders despite the fact most fans in England now seem to recognise that it's barely comparable to La Liga or even a pretty pish Serie A. The Premier League has benefitted from money and extremely clever marketing. Just because Barcelona are class doesn't make Spanish football better than ours. Real Madrid (pre Mourinho) would get beat by our top 3 IMO. Technically it might be better on the eye but that doesn't make it "better" football. La Liga has some s**** teams in it too. Debatable. If you went down the league and matched our 20 and their 20 up in order I'd fancy their lot most of the time. The bottom half of the Premier League was f***ing awful last year. What makes it for me is the fact that our second tier of the premiership Everton, City, Villa and Liverpool are all of better quality than the likes of Getafe, Maljorca etc.

I just disagree. I could give you countless examples of foreign players failing in this country. We play different football but it's certainly not worse IMO.

His pace, willingness to run at people and most importantly partnership with Enrique makes him our best option on the wing regardless of whether HBA signs or not. There's no point in signing someone to solve the problem of creativity in the centre of the park and deciding to play him on the wing. This. HBA, Jonas and Routledge should all play IMO.

Apart from the OTT wages, what is the lure of the Premiership? Some of the world's best players to play with and against, in some of the world's best stadia. The prestige of the league and the adulation players receive is second to none. Even if you don't rate the quality of the football, the lure is obvious. Bollocks. Most the worlds best footballers dont play in the PL and players dont make career moves based on the quality of the stadia at away games. They want to go to clubs that can win things, failing that they chase the wonga. As we have no chance of winning anything it must be the money thats luring him to the EPL. He's playing the long game if you ask me. The Premier League is the most watched sports league on earth, if he comes to us and does well he can make a name for himself and command bigger money moves in the future. The alternatives for him are stay in France or go to Germany, Russia or Portugal. If he does join us and he does pull up trees he'll not be playing for us on 2011/12. Thats certainly more plausible than Daves theory about him being enticed by the quality of the stadia. I was only questioning the lure of the PL cliché as this isnt a done deal and if money is the key factor theres still plenty of scope for the clubs cheapskate recruitment policy to scupper the move, which would be a shitter as we really need some genuine creativity in the side. If he signs on big money theres also the possibility somebody will be sold to keep the wage bill at its current level. I think the lure of the Premier League is still quite big for outsiders despite the fact most fans in England now seem to recognise that it's barely comparable to La Liga or even a pretty pish Serie A. The Premier League has benefitted from money and extremely clever marketing. Just because Barcelona are class doesn't make Spanish football better than ours. Real Madrid (pre Mourinho) would get beat by our top 3 IMO. Technically it might be better on the eye but that doesn't make it "better" football. La Liga has some shite teams in it too.

Aye, can't quite fathom that one myself.

The Premiership is the best league in the world, that is all.

RMC is a radio station btw. It will take two days for SSN to mention it. Think cunts.

Where can i get one?

Aye, not that they mean much if a bigger fish comes in though. Surely if there's a contractual agreement in place though? I guess then the player cna just worm his way out of it.. This.

Aye, not that they mean much if a bigger fish comes in though.

Tonight! Bloody hell. Of course loans don't take half the time of permenant transfers.

We could do with getting him through the door first By the sounds of it he has agreed to join us, sure these things can go pearshaped but i doubt it. If i'm wrong i'll hold my hands up like.

He could be an intergral part to our team next year. We could do with one more of his calibre though

What's pleasing is that it seems he has chosen to join us above other teams (probably because we are an english club) and this, above all else, is the reason why we will sign him. I hope he can be in the starting 11 for our first home game, as Hughton won't throw him in at OT ahead of other players and he's right not to.