quayside

Well a jailed owner would be a first as far as I am aware - if it happens let's hope it spurs the lads on and gives us some sort of competitive advantage.......

And there it is. It really is f***ing easy to make this club a success as all one needs is common footballing sense. Ashley and his cronies have clearly lacked this and here we are, slowly clawing back to normalcy despite the fat one's ineptitude. I wish. If it was as easy as you make out how come the people who have done the best job of trying in over half a bloody century are despised by so many and thought of as s***, unless the "so many" who think this way are total know-nowts? You tell me, mate. tell me who they are. the vast majority think they done very well for a while then lost it in their last few years in charge. Unfortunately in some peoples world view opinions are immutable and indivisible by time period. Thinking a film started well means you have to stand by the whole film being good, even if it ended weakly. Conversely, expressing the opinion that it ended weakly means you think it was all s****. There is no way for them to reconcile having two opinions about the same thing at different time periods. Very true. And it is truly staggering that this point needs to be made time and time again.

Don't mind if we get him - just as long as we also address the lack of depth in our back four.

Don't know why people are talking about him moving to the centre. There are plenty of centre backs around and plenty of people who can play right back- but left back is a different ball game. We, of all people should recognise that, we haven't had a proper left back for about 5 years and until Fat Sam bought Enrique no one addressed that problem (ok he didn't play the guy but at least he recognised the problem). Anyone remember people like Huntington, Ramage even Carr trying to do the left back job and getting raped?

There are only benefits if we get promoted - absolutely none if we don't. He's as thick as s*** but after what didn't happen today I have an inkling that he's realised that. Nothing too much to lose if we don't get promoted though (unless we get relegated again). Crowds are still big. Results are going our way. The economy might improve by next year. Couldn't be hated much more than he already is. Ashley will be wondering if his losses over the year will be worth the gamble. Sad to say but there is little incentive in him selling up right now. Agree he has gambled to some extent. I think that if he had wanted to unload Staylor, Enrique, Collo, Jonas and maybe one or two others he could have done, I'm sure there would have been takers. I would like to think that those players are still here because there is a recognition that some of our players, although heavy on the wages, are amongst the best players in this division and if we are to get promoted they are needed. And yes the spirited start by the squad means that selling now is probably not his best option.

Lovepants' accent is cool but Aladiere is in a different class tbh - Obi Mickel is on the way to getting there though.

He's got pace, an eye for goal, it's all good - we're in the Championship ffs.

There are only benefits if we get promoted - absolutely none if we don't. He's as thick as shit but after what didn't happen today I have an inkling that he's realised that.

Think this is a bit harsh. He was out of the game a bit before coming to us, I think he did well in a very tough situation and out shone Owen for goals from January onwards. He 'shone' did he? Thought he was lacking in the tackling, tracking back, first touch and timing of runs department. The first two will come if the squad is as tight as Hughton reckons, the other two matter less now. Having seen him, i wouldnt have wanted to keep him if we had stayed up. Would you? That is a deep and loaded question. It depends on what the alternative(s) might have been. If the plan was to rely on Ranger, Ameobi and Carroll being able to cut Premiership defences to ribbons this season then I might, somewhat resentfully, have welcomed Lovenkrands as an alternative outlet. If there was a plan to shake things up a bit and INVEST by bringing in some cutting edge striking options then I am with you all the way.

Its the reason Shola, Ryan Taylor and one or two others look like players this season I think.

Apart from Everton at home. That miss was almost as bad, if not worse, than Owen's versus Pompey, or Martins against Fulham. That was a shocker. But the finish against Boro was class, and the WBA and ManU goals showed a predator's insinct imo. Love his pace too - all in all would be a first class signing for us I think.

Lovenkrands looked to have more of a predatory instinct than Michael Owen based on the evidence of last season, it would be good to snap him up before Sir Alex realises this and offers him a contract tbh.

Based on Ashley's history at the club it's hard to come up with anything convincing to contradict that right now. The only bit of the whole thing that seems out of kilter is why he went to Seymour Pierce, who are not cheap advisors. Why waste good money on professional fees? He could have just let Llambias field the emails, bid offers etc. and keep the press and the fans at bay with crap and fictitious progress reports.

John Gibson maybe - apparently he told some people that Taylor was at Goodison discussing terms the other night...

There is some unmitigated shyte written in our national press.

Swap Barton for Butt and I'd back that side to get the job done against most Championship sides. Of course Guthrie and Nolan aren't strikers but they both know how to score goals and Nolan is decent enough in the air - not ideal but it could work. As others have said there's always Smith up front as an option. They need to be careful with Nile and not throw too much at him too soon, he's still young and getting used to the idea of being a first team squad member. He has talent but his appearances so far suggest he hasn't taken to first team football like a duck to water imo.

Class

No Barton?

I know, it's proper mad isn't it?! I mean, it's not as if they train every da... oh. Could be that its a tactical "injury" as the club think they might sell him and don't want him out there on the pitch getting injured for real.

might take the kids out for their dinner somewhere. I expect to take my family out for dinner some time in the next two weeks. Got at least two firm bookings and I'm just waiting for proof of funds to come through. I put the funds into the holding account last week but I'm having a problem because you spent all your overdraft and Barclays want to lower it. Do you have anything you can sell before this transaction can go through? If i was barclays i woud insist one of his children are sold to reduce the over draft and the cost of the meal He can always get a replacement child on loan tbh. Yes, or bring one of his sperm up through the wanks. FYP

might take the kids out for their dinner somewhere. I expect to take my family out for dinner some time in the next two weeks. Got at least two firm bookings and I'm just waiting for proof of funds to come through. I put the funds into the holding account last week but I'm having a problem because you spent all your overdraft and Barclays want to lower it. Do you have anything you can sell before this transaction can go through? If i was barclays i woud insist one of his children are sold to reduce the over draft and the cost of the meal He can always get a replacement child on loan tbh.

Too early to say. Hasn't hit a rough spot yet and Villa have done reasonably well for a couple of seasons (not as well as we did with crap owners though), but even now they're getting lower crowds than we are with all that's going on at our club, and the supporters who do turn up boo their players after conceding a couple of goals. Their debt (to him) is larger than ours was and it has all been spent on "trophy" players, not on stadium expansions or new training grounds/academy facilities for example. Exactly the sort of short termism our last lot were accused of but on a bigger (more expensive) scale. Their wage bill will have shot up in the last couple of years, but their turnover is still a lot less than ours was in the premiership. I doubt he'll be funding them as significantly in the next couple of years unless they manage to get in the CL. Let's see how he copes when the supporters get restless because they have a couple of poor seasons, they don't spend £10m+ every Summer, he has to get a new manager in, or even just because they are only getting into the UEFA cup every other year. He's certainly pretty good at PR though, and that's what counts most for some. I don't want to get involved in the old board stuff in that post, we've been there once or twice before but will just comment on Lerner's funding of Villa. From the latest available accounts his loan stood at £75 million, but he had also stuck in a further £50 million as share capital. Investing funds in a football club by way of share capital is pretty unusual these days, in fact I don't think any other new owner has done it. Also a bit puzzled about the PR comment - can you explain? Maybe I have missed something because my take on Lerner is that he keeps a pretty low profile. for a start they gave away their shirt sponsorship for nothing to a childrens foundation for 2yrs, thats not bad PR OK most clubs do their bit for local charities and it gets in the press, but fair enough.

Too early to say. Hasn't hit a rough spot yet and Villa have done reasonably well for a couple of seasons (not as well as we did with crap owners though), but even now they're getting lower crowds than we are with all that's going on at our club, and the supporters who do turn up boo their players after conceding a couple of goals. Their debt (to him) is larger than ours was and it has all been spent on "trophy" players, not on stadium expansions or new training grounds/academy facilities for example. Exactly the sort of short termism our last lot were accused of but on a bigger (more expensive) scale. Their wage bill will have shot up in the last couple of years, but their turnover is still a lot less than ours was in the premiership. I doubt he'll be funding them as significantly in the next couple of years unless they manage to get in the CL. Let's see how he copes when the supporters get restless because they have a couple of poor seasons, they don't spend £10m+ every Summer, he has to get a new manager in, or even just because they are only getting into the UEFA cup every other year. He's certainly pretty good at PR though, and that's what counts most for some. I don't want to get involved in the old board stuff in that post, we've been there once or twice before but will just comment on Lerner's funding of Villa. From the latest available accounts his loan stood at £75 million, but he had also stuck in a further £50 million as share capital. Investing funds in a football club by way of share capital is pretty unusual these days, in fact I don't think any other new owner has done it. Also a bit puzzled about the PR comment - can you explain? Maybe I have missed something because my take on Lerner is that he keeps a pretty low profile.

it's been explained a thousand times. it'll be going into the black hole of debt the club had. even the better than expected crowds (only 2 so far so it wont make much of a dent in things) and tv revenue (not a great deal in the fizzy pop league) will not alter things. my guess is we are still running oat a quite considerable loss. It's staggering. Even if Ashley were to sell up for £80 million and agree to write off £100 million of debt there will still be people saying he's coined money out of the club.

The horrible, gnawing worry that all wasn't well with Keegan in the transfer window and the blind, desperate hope that everything would be ok.