Is the Doc breaking his word?
Wednesday, 20 June 07, 11:58 AM
Okay, okay. So I promised I would have nothing to do with transfer speculation during the summer.
But am I going to comment on any of the rumours? No - sorry folks, not a bit of it. Sneijder, Drenthe, Antunes, Jaaskelainen, Defoe, Bent, Bellamy, Wright-Phillips, Alves, Gordon, Koumas, Davies...your call.
I will write my stuff when MON's first eleven lines up against the Reds in mid August. And I'll be there, and my Diagnosis (though I say it myself) will be as piercing as ever!!
But in the meantime, I have a question to ask you all - and that is: "would you like to play poker against Martin O'Neill?". West Ham and Newcastle are putting all their cards on the table early in the window. At the same time, and with the exception of the brilliantly-smooth Reo-Coker transfer, O'Neill is keeping quiet counsel.
Two choices: 1) (for the cynics and knockers): O'Neill has lined up his targets, but because Villa aren't in Europe those targets are going to go to bigger clubs, and now O'Neill and the Villa management are panicking and have nothing to say; 2) O'Neill and his scouting team have done the hard work already, know who they want and have pre-season agreements in place, but have been very careful with the press to avoid escalating prices unnecessarily.
Your choice. My own view is that O'Neill is being very, very clever and that we may see some names we haven't even thought of yet. I reckon he's got it covered.
Trouble is, for every one of me there's someone who'd rather we sign Titus Bramble on a free during June.
Comments (14)
definately the second option, he was very angry at transfer speculaton linking us to nakamura. i think that some of the rumours are true such as the babel/sneijder one, whether we get them is another matter. of course there will be names we have no thought of. we heard nothing aout john carew when he arrived, so anything is possible. you can go in all guns blazing and try and waste all your money before the 1st june but i reckon he does not want to be rash. he will want the players that fit in and want to play for villa. taking time is no bad thing as long as it does not result in panic buys.
Nice to see such a positive blog from you for a change :)
My belief in MON is unwavering, but the jury is still out on his ability to keep transfers under wraps. I don`t think Carew is the best example, as I think that could well have been a pragmatic decision on his part, given that Houllier was widely reported to be keen on Baros. The other transfers involving Petrov, Young, Bardsley and Maloney were ALL talked about in the press long before they came about, as was the sale of Baros to Lyon. Here`s hoping he has a few tricks up his sleeve this time.
My support for MON is unwavering, however I think the jury is still out on his ability to keep transfers under wraps.
I don`t think Carew is a good example, as it might well have been a pragmatic decision on his part given that Houllier´s fondness of Baros was widely reported in the press beforehand - as was our own interest in Petrov, Maloney, Bardsley and Young. Here`s hoping he has a few tricks up his sleeve this time around.
did anyone see mon's interview on villa world earlier this week? when asked about names and transfer targets by the interviewer he replied ''if i told you, you would probably laugh at me, so i wont tell you''.
Good article, I've always thought the O'Neill and his team have things as under control as they can do. I would love to have seen us to sign someone by now but that's just childish impatience on my part. It's like Christmas when you were a kid, you had ideas of what presents you wanted to get and you're bursting with anticipation waiting for the day to come around. In reality, I will always opt for taking a considered approach and getting the right people, at the right price. My only note of optomism that we will sign someone relatively soon is that O'Neill likes a full pre-season and would clrealy like to have the majority of his signings in place by then. Whether that happens, we'll just have to wait and see.
There is an old saying that I believe we should all listen to and its: Good things come those who wait.
Up The Villa.
I'd rather nothing was said and then a few good signings got pulled out of the bag in July or even August, rather than sign some half decent players now.
Saying that, the suspense is killing me!
Regarding Stig's comments. I hope he didnt mean Harewood!!!
why is it that the doc has calmed me down with a few paragraphs - i'm a 40 year old man with a large morgage and two kids... i shouldn't be so easily wound up. the more you read the papers and we're not mentioned the more you panic. MON has my confidence too.. i just got worried about no progress that's all. OPTION 2!
at jamtomorrow
it's because he's the Doc ...
yea thanks Doc! no point in paniking MoN knows the craic still loads of time hmmmmmmm think i'll do that food survey now wheres it gone ;D
I reckon Martin has it all covered. He is a very clever man and knows the game like the back of his very wise hands so i would'nt worry. He has it all sorted! 8)
I'd say a bit of both, Sneijder, Alves and Drenthe are all being watched by much bigger clubs than us and will most likely end up at one of them. But i also think MON is so desperate to cover as many areas as possible this summer that he wants to avoid huge prices.