brummie

Is the correct answer.

Cost a million (or less), did ok for us in the UEFA Cup, probably on his way this summer.

Maloney - good player, couldn't settle, sold him back for double what we paid. Kiraly - emergency goalkeeper loan Bardsley - bog standard right back Sutton, Agathe - signed as unattached players as the takeover went through a couple of days before the window closed and we could only sign unattached players. Harewood, Routledge - shite Forrester, Lichaj - promising kids Davies - did very well until he injured his shoulder this season, played in some of our best performances this year (Liverpool away, eg) and was on the fringes of the England squad. Knight - didn't rate, but did an OKish job, got our money back. Scored some important goals. NRC - a limited footballer but plays the niggly, tenacious role in the middle well. Can't pass, mind. Cuellar - truly excellent centre back, shoved out of position at right back where he struggles, Good signing. Halfuid - promising kid Milner - superb Shorey - started awfully, did well tail end of last season, clearly on way out. Sidwell, Heskey - crap. Why, though, have you not included this season's signings Dunne and Collins - 10m the pair. What a fantastic piece of business that was. Downing - has done ok, but missed first half of season through injury, so is struggling a little Delph - has incredible promise, has done exceptionally well when used. Good buy, will be an important player for us. Warnock - been absolutely superb for us, great business In short, the shit ones are Routledge, Harewood, Heskey and Sidwell. The excellent ones: Dunne, Collins, Young, Carew, Young L, Delph, Warnock, Cuellar

It's the biggest non-story ever. We get booed a handful of times, when we've played really badly. It's no surprise anywhere in modern football these days. Martin does seem to go on about it, and not let it go, though. He's never been one to take criticism lightly.

Why? Because he looks worth every single penny (he does). If we sold him now, we'd get a fair whack more than that. He's also a stick on to go to South Africa. The people who should be crying in that case are those who were laughing at the fee. Milner at £12m is a good deal imo. Didn't look like one at the time but he's proved his worth. To be honest, at the time, although we liked him from his loan spell with us, we too were wondering about the price. Like you said, with hindsight, there's not really much to complain about.

John Robertson was slow and fat, but he knew how to cross a ball better than pretty much anyone else I've seen play in our league. He's obviously done something. Milner does look much the better player through the middle, though.

9 goals, 14 'assists' (I hate that word), runs for 90 minutes, works his bollocks off, game in, game out, and shaping up to be a decent central midfielder. It's between him and Richard Dunne for our player of the season.

He's a very, very difficult man to dislike. He's witty, eloquent, entertaining, thoughtful and intelligent. I get very, very pissed off with him, then I think how much I like him and how much I prefer him as a man to - for example - that wonky faced cunt Redknapp, who seems to have a vocabulary of 20 words (most of which aren't actually proper words - 'triffic' etc), or that bloated buffoon Benitez. He's also extremely popular with the media. Read people like Patrick Barclay and Henry Winter and they're practically groupies. Then there are the MOTD people who are all his mates. He's a popular bloke, but as you said, he has to deliver, too.

Lack of Plan B. Tactical inflexibility. Baffling selections (Cuellar at RB) Doesn't use subs unless he absolutely has to. Only buys from the home market. Assembles a squad of really, pretty good footballers, then just plays the same ones, week in, week out. So we fall away, three years running. I don't think for a nanosecond he should be sacked, that's absurd, but it is easy to say "OMG, they're mad, what are they moaning about?" based on 5 mins here and there on MOTD. He's a stubborn fecker, and as I've said on here god knows how many times, he drives you absolutely mad at times (which is exactly what Celtic fans said about him). I think he could keep us 6th-8th with his eyes closed, without breaking sweat. Has he got what it takes to take us top four? I'm not too sure about that. I think two things will hold him back - doesn't really play the transfer market as well as he could, and he's tactically very set in his ways. Having said that, he has certainly earned the right to keep on trying.

Why? Because he looks worth every single penny (he does). If we sold him now, we'd get a fair whack more than that. He's also a stick on to go to South Africa. The people who should be crying in that case are those who were laughing at the fee.

I agree with this. I'm (or i was) a big fan of O'Neil but some of his decisions this season have been baffling. I still maintain that he's a good manager that did excellent jobs at Leicester and Celtic but his failed terribly when it comes to transfers at Villa imo. Maybe he's the sort of manager that works better on a smaller budget? From the bolded bit .. First bit, I think that's very unfair. Harewood, Sidwell, Shorey, NRC (at a push) - I can't think of any other dodgy transfers. Davies, maybe, but he was actually doing very well for us until he injured his shoulder early this season. On the flip side, Ashley Young and James Milner have been excellent signings. As were Dunne and Collins at 10m the pair. Second bit, I think there's a lot of truth in that. The motivational aspect is a large part of his management.

2nd highest net spend over the time hes been there only man city beats him That's nonsense. That figure is Lerner's investment in the club, it is not "net spend" on transfers by any stretch of the imagination.

And as any Villa fan will tell you, we haven't missed Barry in the slightest this season. And as any Man City fan will tell you, 12m was a decent price.

I can't believe what a non story this is. From our OS this evening. I think the most worrying thing is that this whole story started with some bollocks posted on a Villa blog which hardly anyone ever reads, was picked up by TalkSport and the Mirror and grew from there. What does that say about the state of our media? MON has his faults - quite a few of them - and I'm starting to doubt whether he'll ever take us higher than sixth, but he is absolutely not the sort of person to walk away. He's installed his people all over the club - didn't like two CEOs, got them both replaced. Didn't like the Press Officer, got one of his best mates installed. He runs the club from top to bottom, he's not going to flounce off after one awful result and a bit of the sort of booing that you get everywhere (which, of course, doesn't get picked up on quite so much if it is, say, Arsenal fans booing Eboue, or Spurs fans booing their side).

Every time I hear Villa fans at work talk about him its Del-fou-nes-o It is Delfonso. I've never heard anyone pronounce it any other way. His nickname is Fonz, which suggests the same. I didn't watch MOTD tonight. I spent the time doing something more pleasurable. Fastening my cock to the wall with a nail gun.

Chelsea are going to get 7 or 8 here.

Top diving from Zhirkov, there.

50 goals in 90 starts now from Carew. Not bad. He'd be fucking awesome if he was more consistent.

That's great, so long as you're living your life on the basis of a load of fiction written 2000 years ago. Fortunately, most of us manage not to. I remember the racism you used to get in football in the 1980s and before, and one of the things we should be proudest of in this country is that racism, compared to countries like Spain and Italy, is not an issue in football. We should be really proud of that. Hopefully, homophobia will go the same way. I can only just begin to imagine how knuckle-draggingly dim the people who sing "Upson takes it up the arse" or who thought Graeme Le Saux MUST be gay because he reads newspapers must be. Why anyone would want to associate themselves with that kind of unevolved pond life is beyond me. I agree, one was just joining in with the fun WUMfest that was going on and decided to find some friendly religion-based homophobia on t'internet. Ah, soz. I'm so riled, I fancy going out and BEATING UP SOME (other) STRAIGHTS!

See, your post shows a fundamental misunderstanding. You say "accusing them of being Mexican, Chinese or black" - "accusing" being a word which suggest a branding of something negative - ie being Mexican, Chinese or Black. I'm only half serious, don't get the hump, but you see what I mean.

It isn't about arrogance, it is about the fact that the format of the competition is such that, if you don't have a Champions League strength squad, you can not conduct a decent campaign in that AND in the league. Fulham are a one-off in that respect (if you consider their league campaign respectable). I started watching us last year in the Europa League in July, against Odense, and watched every home match, and it just seemed to go on forever. By the end, I was relieved as much as anything. I thought it would last the rest of my natural life. It is not about arrogance, it is about the fact that the format of the competition is absolutely ridiculous, especially compared to the UEFA Cup.

We've got by far the easiest run-in of the lot but we've left it a bit too late to get fourth. It would take a collapse by more than one side. tbh I wouldn't mind finishing 6th/7th and still missing out on the Europa League because less games would make it easier to have a proper push for 4th next season. Let's be entirely honest, the Europa League is a total waste of time. I shed precisely zero tears when we went out at the first hurdle this year.

In Leviticus it also says it is an abomination to eat shellfish, so is everyone who eats a seafood pizza condemned? In John 3:16 it says whosoever believes in God will have life everlasting, making no distinction between sexualities. Note "Whosoever" not whosoever as long as you are straight. 1986 World Cup. Or was it 1994? Yes, actually, it was, wasn't it?

That's great, so long as you're living your life on the basis of a load of fiction written 2000 years ago. Fortunately, most of us manage not to. I remember the racism you used to get in football in the 1980s and before, and one of the things we should be proudest of in this country is that racism, compared to countries like Spain and Italy, is not an issue in football. We should be really proud of that. Hopefully, homophobia will go the same way. I can only just begin to imagine how knuckle-draggingly dim the people who sing "Upson takes it up the arse" or who thought Graeme Le Saux MUST be gay because he reads newspapers must be. Why anyone would want to associate themselves with that kind of unevolved pond life is beyond me.