afar

So, why exactly did you post that? To increase your post count? Is there a prize for the highest post counts ? Can I get one ? I've posted a fair bit of crap over the years.

Not surprised, I've always said they never deserved a manager as good as O'Neill. Southgate is more fitting form them or even Souness. Still doing your predictable, smalltime routine, I see. I'd point out where you're making yourself look a bit daft, but you're doing such a great job yourself, it seems a shame to tread on your toes. The whole Villa hate-in by some on here, because of some 7 fans or something is embarrassing to the enth degree. If you had any brains you'd see the hypocrisy and irony in it. Brummie will tell you, I've disliked Villa for a number of years. But lets not criticise such a lovely club shall we ? That's even more embarrassing. You want to get yourself one of those life thingys. Oooh yeah very embarrassing to dislike another team, yeah I obviously have zero life Not surprised, I've always said they never deserved a manager as good as O'Neill. Southgate is more fitting form them or even Souness. Still doing your predictable, smalltime routine, I see. I'd point out where you're making yourself look a bit daft, but you're doing such a great job yourself, it seems a shame to tread on your toes. The whole Villa hate-in by some on here, because of some 7 fans or something is embarrassing to the enth degree. If you had any brains you'd see the hypocrisy and irony in it. Brummie will tell you, I've disliked Villa for a number of years. But lets not criticise such a lovely club shall we ? That's even more embarrassing. You want to get yourself one of those life thingys. Do you want a leg-up onto your high horse?

That's true but I honestly don't think we need to worry too much about finishing ahead of Blackpool this season.

That would be awful, for Blackpool and the PL tbh, was looking forward to listening to the little fellow in interviews. Hope it's not true.

Not surprised, I've always said they never deserved a manager as good as O'Neill. Southgate is more fitting form them or even Souness. Still doing your predictable, smalltime routine, I see. I'd point out where you're making yourself look a bit daft, but you're doing such a great job yourself, it seems a shame to tread on your toes. The whole Villa hate-in by some on here, because of some 7 fans or something is embarrassing to the enth degree. If you had any brains you'd see the hypocrisy and irony in it. Brummie will tell you, I've disliked Villa for a number of years. But lets not criticise such a lovely club shall we ?

Not surprised, I've always said they never deserved a manager as good as O'Neill. Southgate is more fitting form them or even Souness. Still doing your predictable, smalltime routine, I see. I'd point out where you're making yourself look a bit daft, but you're doing such a great job yourself, it seems a shame to tread on your toes. LOL, still jumpity when someone on a Newcastle forum criticises Aston Villa I see, perhaps we should introduce a new rule that stops that thing from happening. If you look I was just responding to someone elses criticism of your crap fans, and I don't think you'll find too many people with a lot of time for your club on here after the way your supporters went on the last time we played them.

I'm bored with the lack of transfer activity, we've signed 3 players, 2 of which won't start the season and one by all accounts is not going to be good enough. I guess this is what we were told to expect but something needs to happen soon, to relieve my boredom, the ben arfa saga just makes things worse.

Just about sums it up perfectly - no half decent manager would contemplate taking the job with Ashley there Simply because we have little money to spend at the moment, or is there something else that sees him as being markedly different to the majority of the other chairmen out there? I don't think there is a great deal of difference between Ashley and other owners tbh. O'Neill is a very British manager in many respects, buys British players, adopts British tactics and goes about things in a tried and trusted British manner, he would probably welcome the opportunity to work under a British Owner. Where I do agree though is that, he wouldn't be happy working under limited budget, although he has done that before at Leicester and Celtic and that Ashley would indeed not be prepared to pay the man his worth. I don't think it will happen, and it certainly won't happen if Hughton gets off to a flyer this season but the minute it looks like Hughton is out of his depth and asumming O'Neill is still available, he'll be linked with the job.

Not according to the Beeb and unless he's been told he's got no chance by the club then he's not likely to make that move, it's the best job he's realistically going to get.

Not surprised, I've always said they never deserved a manager as good as O'Neill. Southgate is more fitting form them or even Souness.

I imagine it'll be something mundane such as us supposedly putting in a last minute bid for Boateng. Or that Hughton feels comfortable with what he has, and the team spirit will get us through.

Not sure about that, think the Fulham job is a much better fit for Hughes right now, lower expectations and less spotlight, after the not so stellar job he did at Man Shitty. The Villa job reminds me a lot of our job after Souness, there's some good players there, but there's a chance it can go pear shaped in a hurry just like it did for us.

Slavan Billic may be a good call.

So is this one officially of yet ?

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). I'd disagree, with money being the single biggest factor. Like I say, I'm unclear about Villa's financial position just now, but I'm pretty confident they've still got a lot more around than Everton and even more flexibility. Also, as I was sort of saying about, the general atmosphere that Lerner has created seems to be great - intelligent management and ambition. Unless things will change at Everton any time soon, I think Moyes has taken them as far as anyone could, given the rest of the league (Man City, Spurs, Villa all spending big alongside the usual). I think he's shown he can spend big money, little money, can be tactically flexible, get the best out of players and generally keep all this going in very difficult circumstances for many many years. If Everton hadn't been in a mess overall, I think he would have had them in the Champions' League at least twice, and obviously quite probably far more afterwards as once you're in it's hard to get you out. Only bad fortune saw them drawn against a good Spanish team which was able to beat his unimproved team of over-achievers in the qualifiers after they finished 4th a few years back. LOL Lerner did not appoint O'Neill, it was the guy before him Ellis. Oh and Moyes, the big time You're kidding right ? Everton are just as big if not bigger than Villa, why would he move from the place where he's built up that is short on cash, to another that he hasn't built up, that are also short on cash. Might agree with you on Everton, but you're wrong about O'Neill - his appointment was OK'd by Lerner as a manager was needed there and then and the takeover was still going through. I think that Lerner has more potential than Bill Kenwright as a chairman, but it would take more than that for Moyes to move. I think there may be some parallel between Redknapp and O'Neill here. Both managers were used to running the show, both managers had been indulged by their chairmen but when Lerner said enough, it looks like MON may have bolted. Levy did likewise and Redknapp may grumble but he gets on with it. Villa's wages/turnover ration ain't great. Like I said before Lerner probably had no clue who the hell O'Neill was, taking any credit in his appointment is a bit far fetched. Villa's turnover versus wage issue, is a chairmain level problem not a Manager's, and it's not helped by the fact that Villa fans hardly turn up in numbers. We won't be lucky enough though for them to appoint a Souness type manager, that sort of shit only happens at Newcastle. I'm sure Lerner will take some good counsel and bring in a good replacement, but he'll have to be good just to maintain the work that O'Neill has done.

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). I'd disagree, with money being the single biggest factor. Like I say, I'm unclear about Villa's financial position just now, but I'm pretty confident they've still got a lot more around than Everton and even more flexibility. Also, as I was sort of saying about, the general atmosphere that Lerner has created seems to be great - intelligent management and ambition. Unless things will change at Everton any time soon, I think Moyes has taken them as far as anyone could, given the rest of the league (Man City, Spurs, Villa all spending big alongside the usual). I think he's shown he can spend big money, little money, can be tactically flexible, get the best out of players and generally keep all this going in very difficult circumstances for many many years. If Everton hadn't been in a mess overall, I think he would have had them in the Champions' League at least twice, and obviously quite probably far more afterwards as once you're in it's hard to get you out. Only bad fortune saw them drawn against a good Spanish team which was able to beat his unimproved team of over-achievers in the qualifiers after they finished 4th a few years back. LOL Lerner did not appoint O'Neill, it was the guy before him Ellis. Oh and Moyes, the big time You're kidding right ? Everton are just as big if not bigger than Villa, why would he move from the place where he's built up that is short on cash, to another that he hasn't built up, that are also short on cash. I don't think it's true about the cash, I also think what money they have is more fluid, will be more forthcoming and more positively applied. Do you honestly think Lerner had any clue who the hell Martin O'Neill was ? Ellis made the appointment. End of story. Lerner can take credit but he didn't make the appointment nor would know anything about him. Lerner knew and knows nothing about "soccer" trust me, he got rid of the hated Ellis and put up some money for transfers, he's also stayed out of the limelight, that's all gone down well, but his manager and the previous regime have made his job easy. Now's his test, he's got to get this appointment right, I hope he fucks it up But whatever he needs to get some advice from some experts because he can't make that decision himself. Everton have just as much chance of becoming more fluid than Villa, the signs are clearly there that the money at Villa has dried up.

Didn't you read the pre season press release ? The owner will not say anything about transfer rumours.

Why they didn't feel too bad at having a chorttle at our expense ?

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). I'd disagree, with money being the single biggest factor. Like I say, I'm unclear about Villa's financial position just now, but I'm pretty confident they've still got a lot more around than Everton and even more flexibility. Also, as I was sort of saying about, the general atmosphere that Lerner has created seems to be great - intelligent management and ambition. Unless things will change at Everton any time soon, I think Moyes has taken them as far as anyone could, given the rest of the league (Man City, Spurs, Villa all spending big alongside the usual). I think he's shown he can spend big money, little money, can be tactically flexible, get the best out of players and generally keep all this going in very difficult circumstances for many many years. If Everton hadn't been in a mess overall, I think he would have had them in the Champions' League at least twice, and obviously quite probably far more afterwards as once you're in it's hard to get you out. Only bad fortune saw them drawn against a good Spanish team which was able to beat his unimproved team of over-achievers in the qualifiers after they finished 4th a few years back. LOL Lerner did not appoint O'Neill, it was the guy before him Ellis. Oh and Moyes, the big time You're kidding right ? Everton are just as big if not bigger than Villa, why would he move from the place where he's built up that is short on cash, to another that he hasn't built up, that are also short on cash.

I guess we don't know what happened, but if Lerner had said to him, "we're flogging Milner and Young for a combined 40 million, but giving you nothing back to spend" then I would be pissed off too, especially on the back of selling Barry last year for a big fee. Hard to speculate, because we don't know what went on, but I can't say I'm shedding too many tears over this

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. You're missing the point. The point is that lots of money does not automatically equal success, but no money automatically equals no success. Lerner has been magnificent in everything he's done for the club thus far. He's facing his biggest challenge now, but to be honest, I don't think there will be a shortage of applicants to work at a top six club, under a chairman who has been widely lauded as possibly the best in the league, and where so much of the ground work has been done. There are no guarantees, and MON has done some excellent work, too, but he wouldnt have been able to do it without Lerner. That's what we thought too, Billionaire owner, 50,000 fans every home game, proud tradition and top 4 team. All that didn't stop of ending up with the likes of Souness, Roeder and Kinnear. Be careful what you wish for.

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.

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. No, Lerner & co. did that, he's been holding them back in my view. The only thing you might be right on is the idea they can't get anything much better just at the moment. No they didn't ffs, look at that first season, look at what he did with a squad that the previous season was almost relegated.

Well, strictly speaking, we'd finished sixth under O'Leary two years before MON arrived. You want O'leray back ? And if you take that one year out of the equation, it's not so rosey.

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.