quayside

The only thing I'm bothered about is getting a better player in than Routledge. SWP will give us more at this level than Routledge did imo. His wages are Ashley's problem not ours.

I guess the hatred is due to the mercenary thing, but ultimately most people in any job would give serious consideration to going where the coin is highest. From the club's and fans' point of view if you replace a player with someone better you've strengthened the squad - and that should be it really.

Dyer's replacement wasn't he? Aye, seem to remember Alan Oliver (yes, I know) banging on for months about how Allardyce had the option of buying Elano but went with Smith instead. Seem to remember quotes from BFS about replacing Dyer the day before Smudger arrived. do we have to have "replacements" ? could we not just buy players we think are good and can do a job for us. No but it seems to be what was going on at that time.

Smith replaced Dyer. Geremi replace Solano. F*cking tragic really.

Based on AP's pronouncements this window if there is a replacement the odds are it will be a player who first and foremost can cross a ball accurately.

Won't happen - no stock exchange involvement as neither Sunlun nor Villa is a public company. It will all be a bit speculative but based on solid rumour from carefully chosen sources.

Good appointment. Has a 100% record as our manager as well. Played 1 Won 1 - Goals for 3 - Goals against 0.

Agree so far. Said it before but if he was going to prove that there was any credible reason for him to replace CH it was to get results when key players were missing. He has.

Three dudes btw.

I'll join you in a I'm on for this as well. Where and when?

It would go down as a massive achievement for Hughton if we did

It wasn't necessary to even ask the question of the referee though. Decisions like that are frequently given. But the match was over, we were several goals down, there was no time left and he was only on the pitch to get some game time for the relegation avoidance run in.

I can understand that plenty will have thought he wasn't worth the effort when his off field issues were going on. But anyone who voted get rid because they thought he wasn't good enough wants their head examining. He was pretty s**** when he wasn't injured or in trouble. Been a revelation this season, but let's not rewrite history. He even admits it himself. Disagree - no history is being rewritten, he was class at Man City when he got picked for England and he's simply getting back to that level. He was terrible before this season, and I'd have happily got rid. I don't care what he was like at Man City, he literally gave us nothing. Played well for Keegan (wideish left) which was one of the few proper runs of games he had.

I can understand that plenty will have thought he wasn't worth the effort when his off field issues were going on. But anyone who voted get rid because they thought he wasn't good enough wants their head examining. He was pretty s**** when he wasn't injured or in trouble. Been a revelation this season, but let's not rewrite history. He even admits it himself. Disagree - no history is being rewritten, he was class at Man City when he got picked for England and he's simply getting back to that level. He was good for Man City but not for us. When he then got into bother (and was frequently injured) I think it was perfectly fair for people to want rid of him. He was a waste of space on and off the field. As mentioned he's said so himself so I don't really see the debate here. I don't want a pedantic debate on this either and I did say I could understand why people might want rid of him because of the off field stuff. He got what he deserved for his stupidity and he had a string of injuries and all that added together led to him not contributing much. He also got brainlessly sent off in our relegation season when he could have made a difference to us staying up. I'm not rose tinting this I was simply saying that I think purely as a footballer he's plenty good enough to play for us.

On occasions yes - but he's got better players around him now. He used to run the whole show at City and they were absolutely nothing when he wasn't on the pitch

I can understand that plenty will have thought he wasn't worth the effort when his off field issues were going on. But anyone who voted get rid because they thought he wasn't good enough wants their head examining. He was pretty s**** when he wasn't injured or in trouble. Been a revelation this season, but let's not rewrite history. He even admits it himself. Disagree - no history is being rewritten, he was class at Man City when he got picked for England and he's simply getting back to that level.

I can understand that plenty will have thought he wasn't worth the effort when his off field issues were going on. But anyone who voted get rid because they thought he wasn't good enough wants their head examining.

Did well today, got a very decent result (so nearly a heroic result) with key players missing. It's down to a very dubious decision by both AP and a referee that one of those is missing but so be it. Getting results when players are missing is what he was brought in to do.

He is supposed to be on a low basic salary with good bonuses based on performance. He is also supposed to have agreed to a clause in his contract that means a very low payout if he gets fired. All rumour and supposition of course but based on what we've seen there's no way Ashley is going to stitch himself up with a contract that entitles Pardew to a massive payout if he fails.

Cant see us spending much in any market - summer or winter - until Ashley leaves. They club will only regress while the fat f***er stays. So as of right now the club is in a worse state than when he took over?

Smith

I don't Joey going deep is our best option given the resources we've got.

I don't think there'll be a queue of clubs ready to offer much more. You might get the odd desperate club like Birmingham or Blackburn but the well run ones aren't throwing money around unless they are in Europe. However good a player he is (and he is very good) there is also the "baggage", no one would ever bet on that having been banished forever. He really would not be a risk free investment which has to reduce his value. Right now to us he's priceless, the chances of us finding someone that we could afford with his ability are at best slim. But for another club he's damaged goods.

If it happens it happens - he might come to us and really kick us off but right now I'm more concerned about keeping the key players we've got.

Thanks for that. By the way the bit in your post about our reliance on Carroll - we've just taken 6 points and scored 6 goals in two League games and he's not been anywhere near the pitch.