brummie

Rafa Benitez was actually sacked 3 times (by Real Valladolid, Osasuna, and Extremadura) before he took over at Tenerife which was his staging post to the Valencia job. Paul Jewell was sacked by Sheffield Wednesday before coming back with Wigan. I don't think for a moment Le Guen is a bad manager because he's having a hard time at Rangers at the moment.

? The ref is Mark Halsey. And there have been no red cards in that game. And as far as Poll is concerned, he's already in Chelsea's good books as far as Villa are concerned after failing to penalise Makelele for tackling Angel around the neck when he was through on goal in the league fixture. I understand Poll actually trains at Chelsea's training ground.

I understand why you're so anti, obviously, but I think you're being more than a tad harsh. Don't get me wrong, I hate the red nosed cunt as well, but you can't really argue with his achievements, even if some of his transfer moves in recent years have been highly questionable. You're cock on about the European Cup win, mind, flukiest ever.

That'd be the worst option. You need someone who can turn things around NOW, immediately, so it has to be someone with Premiership experience, you can't take the chance of a foreign manager who'll need more time to "bed in". For my money there are two managers in the Premiership who clearly have this ability, on is O'Neill (which clearly isnt going to happen), the other is Sam Allardyce. But would Big Sam leave Bolton with them doing so well at the moment? I think Curbs is an excellent manager, but I don't know if he is the type to motivate enough to turn things around quickly.

You won't go down. You've got a decent midfield, but to say you've got "one of the best midfields" is something not a lot of people out of the north east would agree with, tbh. Have you seen Watford play this season? One look at them will give you a good indication of why you won't go down.

You are all being incredibly pessimistic. Yep, you're playing badly at the moment, and NO CLUB is "too big" to go down, but to say you're going down when it is the start of November is mad.

Tickets in Italy are still miles cheaper than here. I used to watch Milan a lot (albeit 6 or 7 years ago) and usually paid less than a tenner to get in, and even now you can get in the first or second "ring" of San Siro for 20 quid or less, and their cheapest tickets are 11 euros. You're right about the Delle Alpi has to be seen to be believed, it is a dreadful place to watch games. Juve played a friendly at the San Siro (not against Milan or Inter) when i lived there, and got 85,000. Most strange. Best place to watch football over there, for me, was Naples, especially against a northern team. Absolute headcases

It is doing the job thus far *sleeps like a contented baby*

Tsk, Vassell is all fart and no shit, which is precisely why we sold him to you. He'll never be anything more than entirely average. EDIT Oh no, I've just found myself agreeing with something the previous regime did. Monday 31st October, 2005. Manchester City 3-1 Aston Villa. Vassell 2 Tuesday 14th March, 2006. Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa. Vassell 1. Tuesday 25th April, 2005. Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester City. Vassell. Not bitter or anything? bluebiggrin.gif Doesn't compute. The O'Leary era never happened. Nor did Ellis.

Anyone who listens to that shite needs their head examined. Talk Sport basically exists purely to promote southern, and mainly London, clubs above all else. They are, for example, the worst purveyors of that ridiculous "West Ham, academy of football" line of bullshit. They see Spurs as some kind of underachieving Real Madrid. Rodney Marsh and Alan Brazil are two of the biggest knobs in sport today. Marsh for believing that the country ends at Watford, Brazil for thinking that he is some kind of Pele figure of the world game. And he's got a major, major issue with the fact that Villa won the league in 81, not Ipswich, but that won't bother you. Shit radio station, staffed by idiots, and listened to by morons.

Tsk, Vassell is all fart and no shit, which is precisely why we sold him to you. He'll never be anything more than entirely average. EDIT Oh no, I've just found myself agreeing with something the previous regime did.

Martins is a bad signing - not because he's a bad player, but because he's not 10m worth of player. I used to live in Milan, and my Inter supporting mates could not believe they got that much for him. However, you've got him, so you've got to give him a chance. Duff, on the other hand, is a quality signing for that money. He'll come good. He's playing in a struggling side at the moment, of course he looks poor, but when things start improving, he'll look like the quality player he is.

"They want to open a casino!!!!!!" = the standard bullshit line used to discredit anyone in the takeover of a club these days - used against Lerner and now in the Newcastle situation. Totally ignores the facts that 1. You can't open a casino where you want, 2. The supercasino bidding process is all but over, and 3. You don't need to spend 100m on a football club to open a casino. When you hear that sort of blanket "throw enough shit, some of it will stick" stuff, you know someone is starting to get worried.

someone probably already said it but your not including away draws at stamford bridge and emirates stadium As well as missing the all-crucial point that exactly the same squad last year would not have got any of those results.

Delaney is the most injury prone player on earth. To Dyeresque levels, really. Most Villa fans will be happy with top half this season. We were doomed to relegation not so long ago, lest we forget.

Ridgewell hadnt impressed anyone until this season, but thus far has been nothing short of awesome. Him and McCann are the two best examples of MON improving players hugely. Barry has been consistently good for a long time now and has been excellent this season, too. We did have a three man attack, Agbonlahor and Luke Moore (these two are incredible prospects) and Angel in the middle which worked excellently. then Moore got injured and Baros was brought in. He's still struggling for fitness to be honest. I wouldn't swap Agbonlahor and Moore for anyone, to be honest, they're both so promising and pacey, but I'd glady see Baros go, and Angel replaced too (more reluctantly). This will happen in Jan if the right people are available. I wouldn't want to replace them with Martins, though (assuming the price was as it was). That's not to say he isn't an exciting prospect, he is. Just that the kind of striker we need is the kind who will start scoring goals straight away. Much like you.

I think that's debatable. O'Dreary made a half decent squad look rubbish last year. The only Newcastle players I'd put into the Villa side would be N'Zogbia, Parker, Given and Milner. And obv a fit Owen, but such a thing doesn't exist. I certainly wouldn't take any of your defenders. The last time we did that, it was Hughes, and you're more than welcome to have him back. Overall, I'd say the Newcastle and Villa squads are both average to decent, but really nothing to write home about. The difference is, Roeder doesn't seem to have the first idea how to get the best out of them. Watching him motionless on the touchline yesterday was spookily reminiscent of watching O'Leary last year. Each to their own, I reckon I would probably take Mellberg, Bouma (possibly), Laursen (if he stayed fit, doubt it) and that young striker of yours. As you have pointed out Hughes isnt much very good, would take Taylor over Ridgewell. You wouldnt take Duff, Martins and Emre? Wouldnt take Ridgewell? He's been the best of the defenders so far this season by far, and was top defender in the country in those Actim stat things, at least until this week. Bouma has hardly played. And what about Gareth Barry? Where does Taylor play? If it is at right back, I'd take him to replace Hughes, who is utterly dire. I wouldn't take Emre, no. Certainly not if the choice were between him an Petrov. Assuming there is some cost element involved, I would certainly not take Martins - 10m for a bit of promise? Duff I would have taken prior to this season. Believe it or not, probably our best player this season has been McCann, who has been absolutely awesome (his injury has coincided with our loss of form). But obv, he's a former mackem so I wouldn't expect you to take him ;-)

I think that's debatable. O'Dreary made a half decent squad look rubbish last year. The only Newcastle players I'd consider putting into the Villa side would be N'Zogbia, Parker (maybe), Given and Milner. And obv a fit Owen, but such a thing doesn't exist. I certainly wouldn't take any of your defenders. The last time we did that, it was Hughes, and you're more than welcome to have him back. You're right about strikers, though. Neither team seems to possess someone capable of hitting a barn door at the moment. Overall, I'd say the Newcastle and Villa squads are both average to decent, but really nothing to write home about. The difference is, Roeder doesn't seem to have the first idea how to get the best out of them. Watching him motionless on the touchline yesterday was spookily reminiscent of watching O'Leary last year, with the exception that O'Leary's expression was usually one of utter indifference, whereas Roeder comes across as being transfixed by fear.

There's no point explaining this to you, BlufPurdi made all the points very clearly in the post above, but I wonder how much of your slightly odd view of MON is actually down to the fact MON is Villa's saviour and not Newcastle's?

D'you think he's "lost interest" post the transfer deadline day shenannigans?

What is the modest transfer budget? Well, it's only paper talk, I suppose, but I've seen things like £20m mentioned at various points since he took over. Either way, what I'm trying to get at is, if you're a team like Villa, looking to break into the top tier you're going to need to spend a lot of money. I rate O'Neill's skills to get the best out of everyone highly, but I don't think he can acheive that. Fair enough, but surely if Lerner is prepared to fund MON to the tune of, say, 100m (figure plucked from the air), he's hardly going to shout about it, is he? We're already getting (over the top) "new Chelsea" comments, we're going to get fleeced every time we go for a player. FWIW, I think this season will be about consolidation, I don't think he'll spend a lot in January, not because the cash isnt there, but because it is much harder to get players in Jan than it is in August. Going back to the original thrust of the thread though, only a blind man could deny that what he has done thus far has been nothing short of phenomenal, and if we are going to have a crack at breaking into the "elite", then him as manager and Lerner as chairman is pretty much the ideal combination to have.

What is the modest transfer budget?

Which is quite an achievement having played at least half the season with a SMALLER squad than O'Dreary had. If you'd laid out Roeder's results so far and said they were MON's, how many people would believe that?

Yes, he's rubbish isn't he? Only remaining unbeaten until the end of October, what a muppet! Incidentally, did any of you watch this match? Liverpool were awesome in the first half, very impressive. Second half was more evenly balanced.

You need to get a grip. If most of us (ie other clubs) had put up with the shit you've put up with, there'd be nobody left to watch, end of.