brummie

Rumours we've agreed a fee for Leandro Bacuna. I am confused. I used to think transfers only took place at the end of August and were only for players at the height of their careers, who played in the UK. Tonev, Okore, Nicklas Helenius ... it's almost as if the manager has had some proper scouting done and is getting his business done as soon as possible. What a refereshing change.

And here are those results, sponsored by Wonga. Yes, Wonga is unethical and his beliefs should be respected 17 (1,128%) Not sure, Wonga aren't the best company but he should just get on with it 17 (967%) No, it's a load of nonsense and he's out of order 17 (1,455%)

He plays in a league sponsored by a bank, plays against teams with betting and gambling sponsors, has a huge drinking culture associated with it, has its kits made in sweat shops by the poor and flogged to the masses for 50-60 quid a pop. You play football in england, take the wage, then you gotta accept it fucking wreaks to high heaven of shit. Out the fucking park. *standing ovation* The Premier League is amongst the least morally decent sporting institutions in the world. It'd be nice if, once in a while, we saw players doing something - anything, even an angry tweet might be a start for some of these fucking self obsessed retards - to show an objection to things like charging 75 quid for a kids replica kit, season tickets costing 800 quid, and the fact that no matter how much money flows into the game, it never, ever seems to end up at the grass roots. Cisse has probably not noticed that he's playing in the Barclays Premier League - Barclays being one of the more stomach churningly offensive, crooked money lenders out there. If he was really arsed, he might have thought about that before coming over to play in it. I am entirely sensitive to people having religious issues with this or that, but I have a really funny feeling that the answer to this is going to lie in money, as in more of it, for him.

Surely the vast majority of people who consume alcohol or gamble do so because it's a hobby, and they manage to have it not become a problem. Wonga and similar pay day loan companies, on the other hand, are services only used by people when they are absolutely desperate, and which frequently result in the borrower getting into way, way more trouble. They are an internet equivalent of local loan sharks of days gone by. The concept of higher interest rates for riskier borrowers (and let's not forget, with credit scoring, it is quite easy to become considered a financial pariah through no real fault of your own these days) isn't what people object to with companies like Wonga, it is the immoral levels of interest they charge. People might say "can't afford it, then don't borrow it" but that totally misses the point - people borrow from them because they have no other option. It's not like people with choice think "I need to borrow some cash, think I'll try Wonga first".

Interesting concept, though, having an away kit which is 50 percent made up of the main colour of your home kit. That'll be why we're keeping this year's away kit (that high vis one) as a third kit, I guess.

I quite like them. The home kit is a nod to the 1982 European Cup kit, and the away kit is different. http://www.avfc.co.uk/javaImages/9/2d/0,,10265~12004617,00.jpg Mind you, I haven't bought one since about 1992, so am easily pleased.

Definitely a cross.

I was living on Osborne Avenue when that match was played, we watched it at home. The minute the game ended, we left the house to go to the local. As I looked up the street, almost every single house was simultaneously disgorging inhabitants as they did precisely the same. Never forget that.

You mean there is more than France in Europe? What magic is this? The MON era only ended three seasons ago. I've only just become accustomed to the idea that they actually play football outside the UK.

Danish media saying we've agreed £4m for Okore. I've no idea if he's any good (same with this Helenius we're signing), but I do like having a manager who looks all round Europe for up and coming players.

As I said the other day, Bent is one of the best players around of his type. If you get the ball to him, he'll score plenty of goals, it's as simple as that. I personally think anyone who gets him now is going to get themselves a bargain, coming off a season where he's not been used much and the price is lower as a result.

Leonardo and his elbow on Ramos, John Aldridge and Jack Charlton's tirade at the officals when they wouldn't let Ireland make a substitution, the match where the goal fell apart, Oleg Salenko hitting 5 past Cameroon.... None of which was anything like as brilliant as the 1990 World Cup. What a tournament that was.

Villa have said we're negotiating with Aalborg for Nicklas Helenius. I've no idea what he's like.

The first of those two seasons under McLeish, we were so negative, the ball never got anywhere near him. This season, Lambert has just preferred Benteke, as he gives much, much more to the team as a whole. Remember all that stick Lambert got in the media over this decision? Looks like he was right. Feel sorry for Bent, though, he's a brilliant finisher and has been really unlucky this season.

We spent 18m on Bent, the 24 figure includes loads of add ons which may or may not be triggered. We bought him in the January window as we couldn't score goals. He then scored lots of goals and kept us up.

If you want a striker who will be there in the box and apply the finishing touch, Bent is one of the best around, still. The reason we are selling him is that we don't play that way. A side who plays with wingers and balls whipped into the box would be perfect for him. Like us under MON

He isn't

€63m. Really? Nuts.

Gervinho is absolutely shit. Or as my Arsenal ST holding friend says, "absolutely pony" That article: "To be honest, if we receive an offer in the region of £10 million for Gervinho then I think the club should consider it." Ha ha, "consider it" indeed.

Given has three years left on his deal, thus the bit about refusing a new contract makes no sense, and makes the whole thing smack of being invented by a 15 year old.

Villa seem to be looking to spend money again this summer. Could be good for them if they build on what they have currently got. I still believe this season will have been good for them with blooding young players Yep, since they survived it was a good idea. Not so much if they had gone down, but it worked out just. Don't think they had much choice really with the state of them when Lambert took over. If I was them I'd be going after Lescott. Why? They are following the BVB formula. Buy good, young, cheap players and let them develop. Though cheap, I don't believe most of the players Villa have signed are particularly good. Westwood, Benteke and Lowton have been excellent. Sylla came in late on and looked solid. Bennett, Vlaar and El Ahmadi have looked ok in patches. The thing with buying young talent is that it will be inconsistent to start with. Lowton was playing for Sheffield Utd and Westwood for Crewe. That's why they are cheap, if they were the finished product they'd cost way more. Also worth bearing in mind, Weimann and Delph are young players we already had who have been hugely improved under Lambert. It is going to take a while and may fail but it is 1000 times more encouraging than the season before, and people seem to have bought into it. We bought Westwood after compiling a 30 game dossier on him (according to the Crewe manager, who hadn't even realised we were watching him). He cost 1m plus a pre season friendly. That's exactly the sort of new approach we need, especially as we are still paying off MON's huge money, no scouting approach. I do think we could use a bit if experience this summer, though. Lescott as mentioned above would be perfect.

How did Holman do? Did he, by any chance, run around like a dog who has slipped his lead in the park and can't find its owner, so just tear arses around cluelessly?

If Wellbeck and Cleverley both have an important role in the future development of English football, then we might as well just give up. And they are far from the only average players there. England's old problem for decades was decent players but a shit team. Now we have mediocre players and a shit team. No doubt, next time there's a kerfuffle in some qualification screw up, or we lose in the QF of a tournament against the first half decent team we face, there will be the same wailing and gnashing of teeth. Perhaps Sir Trevor Brooking will talk yet again about how we need to change things (whilst ignoring the fact that he himself has been working in the higher echelons of English football for about a quarter of a century by now, and so is himself a part of the problem, given that he has done nothing at all to turn things around). We might do something like point at that training centre in Burton as evidence of how we're moving forward, but all the time we'll be totally missing the fact that we need to change things right down to the basics, right down to grass roots level. Except that'd mean a year zero approach to English football, and redistributing a lot of wealth (ie from the FA, the clubs) to go elsewhere, which is precisely why people will sit on their hands and do nothing. Meanwhile, in another 30 years time, nothing will have changed, we'll still be shit, and the same idiocy will prevail. We seem to have spent, what, four decades on a constant loop of golden hope players, out of date football, shit results and delusion at every major tournament. It's like being stuck in a shit shop for hours on end, listening to the same background music. Every now and then, it'll reach the end of the playlist and start again at the beginning, but you're still there, stuck in a never-ending loop of bollocks. There are so many things wrong with the English game at pretty much every level. Perhaps what we really need is for the whole money obsessed, short termist house of cards to collapse.

I have no idea how bright or not Simpson is, but strictly speaking, to be no match for Tulisa's intellect, wouldn't you have to be some sort of farmyard animal? Or a moss or an algae or something.

That is nonsense. The days of us spending that sort of money on one player are over for a while yet.