brummie

What do you think of this Brummie. Would you be happy with him? I think it'd be a good appointment. If we got the Valencia / early Liverpol Benitez, certainly. If we got the late era Liverpool, quivering wreck Benitez, less so. Theres still speculation (some in the Daily Mail tmrw) about it being Ancelotti, and others are saying Jol, but to be honest, I'm just happy the field of candidates mentioned includes such decent names. Moyes (who won't come, but hey ho), Jol, Benitez, Ancelotti - I'd be more than happy with any of those.

In the last game of the season against us, Joe Cole put in the single most anonymous performance I have ever seen. And Steve Sidwell used to play for us.

Lots of chatter down here (well, up there, as I'm a bit further down south, but I digress) about Benitez

This commentator is absolutely fucking TERRIBLE.

If they're making him first choice, they're utterly fucking bonkers.

Still, Friedel > Gomes, any day,any time. There's not much choice for Spurs to choose. The market for GK is in serious shortage this summer. The transfer of De Gea and Neuer means there'll be a great shuffle, and no keeper will be available at low fees. Gomes is not good enough to be first choice for a club aiming to break the CL. Friedel is not good enough to be first choice for a club aiming to break the CL. Friedel is no better than Cudicini as a number 2. He's going to be 42 come the end of his contract, too.

I can't believe Spurs have given Friedel a two year deal. He's well, well past it, he's been largely terrifying for much of this season. I don't really get this. I watch every single Villa match, half of them live, half of them on the telly / internet, and every single person I engage in that activity with thinks that: 1. We desperately need to replace Friedel 2. Ashley Young hasn't done it consistently for two years Yet to read the media you'd think the above points were blatantly not true.

It is pretty obvious that Mark Hughes is not going to get the job now.

Interesting to hear that Hughes' agent is that lovely chap Joorabchian

As it happens, that sounds like it could be true. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/02/mark-hughes-fulham-aston-villa

*Elvis Costello on internal jukebox*

how could he honestly say to them with a straight face, no lads don't go to a bigger club be loyal to Villa When does that ever, ever happen in football, though? Pretty much never is the answer.

We didn't struggle this season if you judge it on the final table *wink* Young is going to Man United. Nothing is going to change that at all. To be honest, I don't want it to, either.

Fulham have played some good stuff this season. OMFG. I've started turning / changing my tune just in case already His Blackburn were vile. His teams can waste time like no others. Stop it. Please.

Fulham have played some good stuff this season. OMFG. I've started turning / changing my tune just in case already

Incidentally, Fulham have said Hughes can't go anywhere till his notice period ends at the end of June. I don't think Lerner would go for that. Of course, waving money at Al Fayed might change it, I guess. Someone on the radio said "Mark Hughes has moonwalked out of Fulham" which made me laugh quite a lot.

Yes. I think it was two weeks or so.

I bet O'Neill goes to Fulham. In fact, I AM going to bet he goes there.

I knew (as in, from mouth of a very important horse) last summer that Lerner really rates Moyes and Hughes. This was before MON had left, even. It will be Hughes. What's in it for Moyes? He'd come here, spend lots of money and finish 6th - 8th. He can stay at Everton, not spend much, finish 6th-8th. It's not worth his hassle.

Shame. The season was pretty horrible, although we put together an excellent finish to end up ninth, but you could see some of the good work Houllier did, and hopefully it will be there to build on. MON left the club running like something from the 1980s, it really was a fucking mess, such was the short termism of his time with us, and Houllier has done some very good work to change that. It's easy to say it was a dreadful appointment etc etc, but you have to look deeper to see the real impression he left. At least this time we're looking for a manager at the best time rather than the absolute worst time as that little shit left us in August, and there are some decent candidates around.

I'd be happy to see that go through like. Weakens a rival and probably won't make an astronomical difference to Liverpool i wouldn't have thought. I didn't realise Young was still attracting those sorts of reputed fees. The 'being English' inflation really is ridiculous at times. £50m on Carroll and Young. Wut. Doesn't really worry me. The fact is - and the media keep ignoring this - he has been poor for very nearly two entire years now. Ever since that 93rd minute goal at Everton, you can count his convincing performances on one hand. I think it's best that he goes, and I'd guess that most Villa fans do, too. We still try to base our game on him far too much, and he doesn't deliver enough. I think it is one of those cases where both sides in the marriage feel it has gone stale. I feel pretty much the same way I did about Barry leaving on this, tbh. I was way, way more disappointed when Milner left.

Shit house manager, shit house owners.

Westwood is decent

When we signed Darren Bent: "Why's he going from a top six side to a struggling club?" (ignoring the fact that the top six isn't decided in January, although, in fairness, when you've been in it for about three weeks of the last 25 years, ignorance of this fact is somewhat understandable) "He's going to look a right idiot when we finish above Villa" I can't help but notice the final table shows: 1. Sunderland not troubling the top six. 2. Sunderland below Villa, despite us having a nightmare season. So, basically, bollocks.

The total cost of the Zigic deal for Birmingham is 20 million over four years. Mind boggling