i hope so fast cause im gettin more pissed off as the dayz go by

I hope to god that you are right, but as time ticks on and the same old names are just trotted out I just dont see it happening. If it doesn't though yes the people in charge, not just MON, will have quite a few questions thrown at them which will really need to be asked. At this moment in time the momentum I think is still very much in place but if these signings dont materialise then I can honestly say that everything could come crashing down around the clubs ears. Obviously I dont want this to happen so please please please Mr Lerner and MON please prove us all wrong and start to bring these signings in this week and then add a couple more next week!!! UP THE VILLA

Get a life. 2 games in, looking vastly improved on loast season, better squad, depth needed. But you are so bloody negative! Stop you whining, get out more, go and build a well in Africa and provide water to the millions that are dying in Africa from things as ridiculous as the squits, and leave the club to make it's moves and pass comment if we dont finish in the top 9 at the end of the season. Sam

at Sam Butler

did you read the first paragraph?
[quote]On July 16th Kevin banged the drum that world class signings were coming to Aston Villa and even though they are going to be arriving a little later than I'm sure the manager would have liked, I still believe they are coming.[/quote]

I cant see much happening other than a right back coming, I hope Im proved wrong, but I feel the fans (so far) have been sold down the river, nothing would make me happier than having to eat a VERY large slice of humble pie, I have criticised MON regulary on several boards, have emailed the club directly, and will happily write a letter of apology should these "top class" signings appear, I maye even buy a season ticket for the remaining games, as I said I was not renewing when we singed Marlon Dingle.

On a positive note, just HOW good was Martin Laursen saturday

i have compleate faith in what mon and randy are doing and am one of the few villa fans that believe the club will move forward this season even if we only get a couple of players.
the first two games have shown we can compeate with most teams and just need a bit of balance in the short term and some conciestancy in the long term , there are some very good young players at the club that will only get better and some senior players who are not playing at the top of there game at present , but mark my words all the critics of mon will be on the blog saying how great he is within 2months

Spot on article in every way, not that all the doom merchants will agree though, send them all to Coventry! {No offence Coventry}
Or better still - S.t Andrews

just a little something to chew on. what world class signings has mon ever made. he's always gone for the lesser class of player and tried to mould them into a team, with the exception of henrik larsson he has never signed a top quality, high profile player in his life. what makes you think he'll change now.

sam, you need to wise up pal, if he's got his so called targets in his sights, why hasn't he got them earlier, why wait until the window is nearly closed. it's a needless method of management, there are so many things that can go wrong when making signings, if they do, what time is left to make alternatives, i'm sorry, this is just rank bad management, the majority of his targets should have been here before the season started.

MON wants to win at least as much as we do. So wouldn't he want to bolster the squad as much as we do? I, too, am confident that new players---plural---will arrive before the deadline runs.

Fair enough point about MON never making any world class signings but has he actually been at a club big enough to buy world class players or to actually afford them?? The only place possibly could be celtic and with the greatest of respect to celtic do you really think that they could attract world class players to the spl???

Emile Heskey is a top class signing for a club like villa
Same gose for muzzy izzet and many others

Ohhh well never mind they might get it right one day

MON hurry up the transfer window is going to shut soon and we need some more players and at the moment im in doubt that we wont get any world class players cus u r sayin that u have interest in a player but u dont put a bid in quick enough thats y players arent coming to villa. Sort it out cus im dissappointed.

take your point jammer, but the signing of harewood i think proves my point, if mon is thinking about improving the deapth of the squad with top quality players, then the likes of harewood shouldn't even have been on his radar. i'm more than a bit worried of what his so called top quallity players really are.
no more harewoods please, lets try and get our name mentioned with top quallity players for once, not 2nd rate 'neverwas's'

Yes harewood was a disapointment to me too but MON has always used a big target man and the only possible thinking behind him must be cover for carew. Also did you ever think that every signing would be world class?? Totally agree though that a few big signings would be very welcome right now and I am still hoping and praying that they will materialise before the transfer window slams in our face. If we dont sign anyone then yes I do think our current 1st 11 can give most teams in the prem a decent game, but and its a massive but if we have just a few injuries/suspensions we really will be in trouble. We do though still have 10 days until the window closes so lets try and keep the faith because the last thing the club or more importantly the players need is for us to start getting on the clubs back as this will only demoralise the team.

this is the most frustrating pre season ever.
i just can't believe the mangement have'nt got some signings lined up,but i find even harder to believe that it's taken this long.
if some of the targets turn us down at the last minute we're knackered.
but MON & RANDY have my trust.

Sam, vastly improved on last season, better squad? Read the team sheet - its no different to last year with the exception of Coker and now 'loanee' Carson. I agree they are starting to play better as team and that we need more stregth in depth. There is one thing lacking at Aston Villa and it has been for years and years - creativity - making goal scoring opportunities. We have always been reasonable defensively (which you have to be in this league) but never seem to be able to create enough goal scoring opportunities. IMO thats where the money needs to be invested. Petrov is not cutting it and im not convinced with Young although he may come good. Carew is quality if and when he gets the service. I personally think Moore should be playing instead of Gabby - werent we most effective with Moore in the middle, young on the left and Gab on the right last year before Moore went for surgery? What happened to that formation?! Anyway just my two penneth

I've read this "and if the club tells us so, I believe they are coming" refrain so many times..I don't share your blind faith despite my admiration for MON. If the players we have been linked with (Hoyte, Rosenior et al) are world class, then I'm at least good enough to play for Leeds Utd. And for the love of God, just reading the name "Heskey" sends shivers down my spine: truth is, I'll believe it when (and if) I see it, this summer's been a complete nightmare.

have faith lets go hi jack riquelme from spurs as they decide who there manager is going to be. then when jol leaves lets get defoe and chimbonda.

We'll get what we need, and we'll progress. Wouldn't want to be in Spurs shoes right now....would you lot ? Snake, Harewood will be a snip at £3m, no Thierry Henry I admit, but will prove important this campaign, and if anyone had any doubts about Laursen, then they are very bad judges of class, as the last part of my username suggests, I saw a lot of Laursen in the rosseneri colours at the San Siro and he is world class, only Nesta and Maldini kept him on the bench, if he gets over the last injury properly, which he seems to be doing, he will become a legend at Villa Park. A little more quality in soon for this season, maybe a face or two in January and we will slowly progress to where we want to be, without all the hassle that Surs are going through i.e: discontent and trouble in the dressing room, back stabbing from the board etc.... The team is starting to form at match level now, and MON will adjust to suit, but we are starting to look competitive. Things will only get better, we will walk before we can run. UTV

10 days till the shit hits the fan.

at Mick

i've got no other option

some will tell you things have changed with the new owner and to some extent they have:

1. they built a pub (which will pay for itself)
2. got nike in (which fulham have also done)
3. paid for travel to chelsea (which also paid for itself)
4. built a training ground (which had already started to happen but was put on hold when an offer came in and has only really put us on a par with other clubs)

oh and lets not forget the advertising board changes

while i am very worried we won't get the players in that we need to kick on. like i said, i've got to believe. until september 1st that is

I think Larrson was at Celtic before MoN...
Anyway, the advantage of waiting until the end of the window is that we are less likely to be held to ransom. Take Curtis Davies for example; The Baggies know we want him and that we have money so they slap a ridiculous price on him. Davies doesn't want to play for them anymore so with a day left on the transfer window they will cash in on him at a much reduced price rather than have a half hearted player collecting their wages. This is how MoN did things at Celtic and while it was only the SPL they did destroy everybody up there and took some major Champs league scalps.

The final 48 hours of the transfer window is going to be very exciting, 3 or 4 players all of a sudden I reckon, then we will be a very solid team.

To everyone expecting "world class" signings would you please name some of the world class players you want at villa.Please dont make me laugh with names like defoe.

No honest Villa fan who watches them week in week out home and away like i do can say that up till now MON has done a good job - cause has not, he's got a hell of a lot to prove

keep the faith??? my faith went when I paid £500 for season ticket only to see our promised top class signings turn in to Marlon Harewood

I agree with most of your posts, The team are looking better than last season, but injuries will hurt us badly. if the squad isn't bolstered then what will the starting line up be come New years day and early January?
For me, my complaint has always been ambition...aim high.. reach for the stars. at the end of last season we were linked with a number of quality players. we were told that Wesley Snjieder could be available for around £18 million. We didnt pursue that. real Madrid came along 2 months later and paid that same amount. Reminds me of the phoney bid deadly made for Kluivert all those years ago.. just to keep us quiet for a bit.
Let's get out there... and if a player is available...and we have the money... lets get him first and not wait to see how much other people offer for them.. Let's face it.. once there are other teams involved we can forget it. We may have a "Proud history and a Bright Future" but currently have next to no european Kudos.
To conclude
"If you're not fast.... You're Last...
Rant over
I Thank you

IMAGINE THIS MON SIGNS NO ONE..WE HAVE A FEW INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS AND PLAYERS NOT IN FORM.THIS TEAM WILL SURELY FRIGHTEN EVERYONE.IT DOES ME
CARSON
GARDINER
CAHILL
MELLBERG
BOUMA
OSBOURNE
BARRY
BERGER
YOUNG
HAREWOOD
MOORE.
ON THE BENCH WELL UR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE
TAYLOR.
BARRY SUSPENDED
GABBY INJURED
CAREW INJURED
PETROV CRAP
COKER GETTING TOO FAT
AND MALONEY WELL WHO KNOWS WHY HE DONT GET A GAME.
ITS GONNA HAPPEN..PLAYERS ARE FALLING LIKE FLIES,ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE WE GET IT..MY GUESS IS EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER THE FULHAM GAME...THEN THE PLANKSTER ONEIL MITE WELL HAVE TO SPIN SOME MORE OF HIS FAMOUS OLD BLARNEY.

Damien, things have changed in 12 months, £30m on new players, salary grabbing deadwood gone, a training FACILITY that is better than all but a few in England and Europe including the sports science staff, therapists, consultants and fitness innovations that have been brought in, but most of all a collective hunger and spirit that I haven't seen at Villa for a long time, all in 12 months. We've spent the previous 25 years treading water with a few brief spells of optimism. Remember Fergie when he took over Man Utd, Benitez with Liverpool, Wenger with Arsenal ??? 12 months mate, lets have a little patience shall we. Big names go to Big clubs, lets get up there first shall we, give them something to think about then compete with Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Madrid (Sneidjer, remember him?), Barca, Inter, Juve, Milan for signings, cause thats where they go to play.....

Somersetvilla, you've spent too much time on your XBox mate, a couple more players and we will be good for any disasters.

To Damian. I agree, the foundations are impressive: I like the advertisement boards at Villa Park very much and it's nice to see the Villa moving forward by building a (very) impressive training ground. I think MON is a top, top manager and Lerner seems to have the good of the club at heart. I have been keeping faith throughout the summer because I had this funny feeling things were - at last - moving forward after years of mediocrity. The team plays more as a unit now and we have a wealth of young talent any club in England would like to have. But all this sitting around waiting is draining the optimism out of me, the silence of the club is showing little or no respect towards people who pay a big chunk of their income into watching a team "with a big past and an even bigger future", to quote one of the most popular soundbites fed by the club to anyone who would have the time to listen. But with 10 days to go the silence is beginning to set off very loud alarm bells - are Villa looking at Riquelme? Are Villa aware Trabelsi is still available? Have Villa even bothered to try and enquire about real top class talent? The Carson loan signing tells me that something is very, very wrong at this club, because we either don't have the right people able to find quality players or we just don`t have the money after the expenditures mentioned above. It may be a 5 year plan, it may be that we should all be in Africa building water wells as suggested by "Red Cross Sam" or it may be about time that this club starts coming up with something more useful on the pitch than a bloody Nike shirt. All I know is that, come the 1st of September, we all will understand a hell of a lot more with regards to the people in charge at this club.

at Astonmilan

i know things have changed but all those things, while very nice, are not what i want and i'm only basing my wants on what the club promised; top class signings

it is frustrating and the point of the initial post was to say, chill out, we've got until the end of the month ... however, saying that, its not very prepared. which IS the club motto

I think some people need to remember that things can't change overnight, and while its something thats said very often, its very true especially when its applied to our football club. When JG said that deadly was stuck in a time warp it was no exaggeration, the club was in the dark ages and in my opinion before the training ground was completed as well as all other aspects of the club were at least 10 years behind - we couldn't even negotiate a decent sponsorship deal.

From what i have seen the club is moving in the right direction and QUICKLY. The infrastructure is being improved greatly and cause the villa fans can only see some changes, they think nothings changed. Unbelievably Pessimistic. The problem with villa fans is that they are far to fickle. And this is coming from someone who has had season tickets, and would go to every game if my student loan could afford.

The only thing thing that I agree with really is that old rich should have made his comments about top class players. But being a realist and all there is no way we could attract the likes of Saviola and and Sneijder, we need to offer CL football to attract players of this caliber. Which brings me to the main other problem, our scouting network is terrible, only covering Scandinavia and England it seems, meaning that we can't pinch young players on the cheap a la spurs and arsenal.

Anyways lets have some optimism and faith in MON!!!

UTV!

Well put Mick - roll on September anyway - Riquelme, Gudjohnsson and Bosingwa will all have signed by then - im not going to hold my breath :)

At AsstonMilan,

Please explain to me how with a couple more players we will be ok to cope with any disasters.
That would leave us with 21 players (still the smallest squad in the premiership). MON admitted last year the squad of 27 was too small and we were down to the bare bones then. We were unable to cope with the mid season disaster with numerous injuries and suspensions.
And the only defenders we have are mellberg, laursen, cahill, Bouma and a kid in ohallaran. Imagine if mellberg and laursen both got injured/suspended. Could well happen - where does that leave us. Man utd had to cope with 6 defenders out at the end of last season and it prob cost them the champs league - we dont even have 6 defenders!!!
Cant wait to see a defence of gardner osborne Harewood and Barry!!!
In fact Marlon may be better there!!!

Am I the only optomistic Villa fan left?

Tone u reckon Marlon could do a Chris Sutton and play CB when we're down on defensive numbers? ha ha

Also out of the players that left, JPA was in and out, J Lloyd was deadwood as was DJ2, McCann and Aaron Hughes were much maligned and not up to standard, Davis did nothing last Year, Lee Hendrie was loaned out and Ridgewell was (and is) a Liability...

UTV!

i cant see much happenin now, its took mon a month n half to bring in 3 players n 1 of those is only a loan deal, our 1st 11 is good accept we need a permanent right back but we are in desperate need of cover otherwise we are really gonna struggle when injuries n suspension kick in.

Im hoping signings will come we have not had a bad start but we do need more numbers in defence or come october / november we will be in a world of pooh if we get injuries.

Curtis Davies looks like he wont be coming,hes got a ridiculous price on his head.

Lets face it centre halves do get injured and they do pick up bookings so it will be just a matter of time before were playing with harewood at centre half if we dont sign someone.

come on martin pull your finger out.

bob

i agree that we have a quality training ground, a quality hotel/pub, a quality kit, even quality electronic advertising (which is a pain in the arse, cus it keeps catches your eye when the games on)we've also got a quality pitch and stadium.
what we need now is quality signings to go with all that.
i couldn't really give a toss about the rest, i pay my money to watch quality players in a quality team, how much bloody longer do we have to wait for it. i thought things on the pitch would be different when sadam ellis went, but it seems to be worse than ever at the moment, at least we had a few more players to choose from when he was there. plus we knew more about what was happening at the club, we don't seem to exist in the papers or on t.v or radio........i am so frustrated with the load of complete nothingness coming out of villa park...c'mon o'niel c'mon lerner, give us somthing to shout about.
lets just hope all our players who are away on international duty come back in one piece, because we're in the shit if they don't.

Right I am MON and it is international week. I have a large percentage of my squad (although only a few as I have the smallest squad around) away at international level. I am sure these was something I was supposed to be doing this week with my spare time, can't quite remember. I think I might re-double my efforts in remembering what it is I am supposed to be doing!!
Lads surely this is the week to get the players ready to sign. When they come back from international duty I would be dissapointed if we haven't added 3 new players before Saturday's game, otherwise I think MON has probably gone on holiday.
We need a Director of Football who can handle the transfer negotiation and leave MON to find targets and get on with coaching the team.

Personally i can't see anyone "World Class" signing for us at this stage. Just can't help feeling let down by this whole pre-season! I actually paid more attention to transfer speculation, rumour and innuendo more this season than any other and its giving me a headache! We need a RB and sufficient back up a CB or 2 and a playmaking midfielder at the very minimum. If we haven't signed at least 4/5 players in those key positions, i think we will need amazing luck with injuries and suspensions etc to make any kind of impression on the top 10! This isn't good enough! >:(

ps.If one more person tells me to have faith in MON i'll go beserk! I've got my season ticket now its about time MON did something for us and stopped messin about and start repaying that faith that i and many others had in him when he took over! >:( >:(

merlin1

have faith in MON

LOL

19 players lets say 5 get injuerd leaves us with 14 which would leave us with 3 bench players lmao do the F.A even allow games to go ahead if you cant make a bench up?

Great work martin top class

THIS SITE IS DIVIDED BETWEEN 2 OPPOSING FORCES

THE MO'N - ERS

AND

THE MOANERS

ON WHICH SIDE DO YOU STAND?

For gods sake, do u all want DOL and doug back, think of the signings he and Graham taylor made, useless de la cruz is a beta signing than reo-coker and harwood then is he?

Maybe MON should go and buy players like Useless De La Cruz just to keep the Moaner's Happy. Is that what you really want? Just go & Panic buy, if the players aren't out there then theres nothing to buy otherwise we're just panic buying!

panic buy? o'niel? he don't look like he's panicing to me, he seems to be half soaked over the whole issue. as far as usless de la cruz is concerned, anybody is better than no-bloody-body.
i've just read the express & star, guess what? not one single word about the villa, never mind a rumour, not one single solitary word, we're just not mentioned. does that sound like a club that's about to set the world on fire with 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 new signings. the whole thing is bullshit we are being taken for glory starved morons. it would be interesting to really know how the few players we have think about it all. 10 days to go, and counting, befor the brown sticky stuff hits the fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s

mr lyons, why sell all the players we have if you don't intend to sign or can't get the players you want. sorry pal, it's shite management which ever way you look at it, shite management.

I can't believe the negativity on this site.
Do you really think MON isn't doing stuff behind the scenes?
Do you really think he's a total fool who can't see what is needed?

MON is well known for doing the business at the last minute.
He's said himself he has "one or two" deals lined up.

I have to agree that I can't see any world class signings coming, but I bet it's not for the want of trying. We just aren't in the position to attract the top players yet.

But then, MON gets the best out of players, which can only be good news, as it means they appreciate in value.
The bloke was wanted by Manure, Newcastle and England and suddenly he's an idiot?
Sorry, but some of you lot make me laugh.

I just hope MON and RL don't read this stuff, else they'll probably be wondering why they ever bothered with the club.

By all means slate the club when the window finishes, but until then KTF and basically, have some bloody patience.

Have to admit am getting a bit tired of waiting

badger, not got a problem with the way o'niel coache and manages the playing side of things (although luke should be picked every time over the headless chicken abgonlahor) it's his transfer policy and management that's shit, it's way too risky to sell and leave your purchases to the 11th hour, russian roulette springs to mind.

at Badger

its not just this site. if you search other football sites and other aston villa sites you will see the same frustrations. i wouldn't class them as negativity, but how you class them is your opinion

however, THE CLUB told us we were getting top class signings

MARTIN O'NEILL told the supporters he wanted more players than he had last season

it's fair to say that expectations were set quite high by the club

however; nobody has said he's just sitting on his arse doing nothing or if it was implied i'm pretty sure it was said in jest.

we know he is trying; like he tried with craig gordon - a hearts spokesman suggested villa were haggling over the price

people have a right to vent frustration but most here also understand that the window is still open. the point is however, that we've had 2 games and possibly dropped 5 points. not very prepared is it?

just been on the official site, o'niel says he's sweating over the fittness of berger & carew, he'll melt away if our internationals get injuries. bye-the-way, same old villa web site, absolutly nowt, there's more life in my kitchen sink.

great escape status already with are squad size

I agree give them till september 1st without moaning and if we haven't made the right or enough signings we let them know about it then. For now we just have to trust, surely there not stupid enough to let this go on as long as it has without something up their sleves?

It's strange when you see that people are talking about us having 19 players and if they're injured we're down to " " Obviously we don't have a youth team at all then.
You forget that half of our squad now came from our youth. And that's obviously what will happen year after year. Regardless of how many are sold on or retire, there are kids coming up through the ranks to replace them. Our squad isn't as tiny as people make out it is.

I agree that there does at this moment in time lack a bit of gap where there are a few holes for some positions, but the whole idea was the take the club forward.
Granted we need defensive cover, but would signing Glenn Johnson, Titus Bramble and Tomas Repka take us in the right direction as a club, or would it just give people something to read about for a few days.
Anyone could go out and spend a silly amount of money on 4 or 5 players that couldn't give a toss about playing for Aston Villa or were already over the hill, but that would be against what this new regime is trying to do, build for the future. As it stands I'm happy with Gardner playing at RB at least he's proving he's hungry for the game, he's passionate and determined. And what did he cost us? Not a penny.

xandeh give me a team if we get 6 injuries and suspensions at once?its hardly impossible. then imagine if they are long term (fulham lost 2 in 1 game) and tell me where we'd be in the league?our squad is definately short plus you wouldnt want to put that much pressure on 16,17 year olds who havent played a first team game before.

Don't know which is less exciting; waiting and surfing for villa transfer news or watching big brother. They both waste hours of time but seem to be adicive in 2007. I'm sorry Martin but we are spoon fed take away culture every day and night so we expect everything now (Sad eh) and now we think that instant access to information means we should know and see all goings on. The gaffer has said he will get players in and on his head be it, that's what the salary is for. I guess patience has become an artform in Aston this summer.It's been 25 years for me so another few days won't matter if MON gets it right. Meanwhile can we get the Samaritans number on line for the last day of Aug. I havn't seen so much nervous hysteria since Take That split up!!

Woodyo, I'm convinced MON know what he is doing.
He wouldn't sell all the deadwood, without knowing he has replacements.

Would you sell your workforce and have no-one at all coming in?

The reason Villa keep quiet, IMO, is so they don't fall into the trap of accusations of false bids etc.
I firmly believe things are being sorted and there's nothing to worry about.

Damian, there's frustration and negativity mate.
But there's a difference.
I don't think calling MON a Dickster helps in any way at all, myself.
It's not aimed at you anyway, I just think some people are going over the top, big style.

Oh Damian, have a look at our home record against Pool lately.
It was a tactical decision that lost that game, but managers don't always get it right, so I'll forgive that one.
A point against Newcastle away ain't no disgrace either, IMO, especially as I think we should have won.

Not 5 points dropped exactly, more what I expected, if not better.

I understand what you mean though re having a couple of better players.

We're on the right road and I bet after the winter window we'll all agree that we have a better squad.

As I said, patience.

Well said, Badger. And the Texas Villan.

Don't you think MON wants to win more than any of us? Isn't he the one with all the pressure and spotlight on him? You don't think spending his entire life in football he's as aware of which players are available and at what cost as we are? You don't think he has any idea of how good they actually are? MON has no idea that players get injured or suspended? Can't recall the difficulties of having a small squad riddled with average to poor players?

Of course not. He can't possibly know anything more about playing or coaching than the blokes down the pub.

The final table is the only criteria for judging this, or any season. Everyone has the right to an opinion, obviously, and MON and RL would certainly agree. But that doesn't mean the opinions are actually worth anything. Obviously experience has taught Villa fans to be negative. It's time to put the past aside, relax a bit, and know that in a couple years' time you'll be eating your words. Nothing substantial gets built overnight or over a summer. Look at the other squads vying to get into the top 4. And look at what's happening to Jol with all the money Spurs have spent. Money and names only get you so far.

And you can obviously see the idiocy of 15million for Davies, and many of the other numbers being asked. One could easily spend 45 million and come up with virtually nothing.

MON obviously knows fans are anxious. His arrival was virtually unanimously hailed. Get out of the Ellis mindset and enjoy the good things that are happening and will continue to happen. This very threadbare, young squad played Liverpool as well as Chelsea did, after all, and controlled Newcastle at home. That seems like a good foundation to me. And the team will obviously only get better.

People keep saying MON is working hard behind the scenes which may be correct,my question is are all the other teams making panic buys and is MON very astute, Or is there a very big problem with Villas transfer policy or wages.

Swin, no your not, there's me as well. Oh well, at least there's two of us left!

merlin 1, Keep the faith...at least until 1/9/07 anyway :D

This will be my last post until 1st Sep due to the fact that the majority believe we can attract world class players and it is doing my nut.

Villa will sign players in the next 10 days and im positive that the cretins will moan about them just like they did with marlon when he signed.

a true villa fan would know that we have at least 5 players in our reserve and youth teams that are capable of filling in for a game if the apocolypse does happen and someone gets suspended for 1 game against derby.

Erik Lund is a 20 year old RB who plays for Swedens u21 team i believe. he came on against walsall for gardner. he is a quality prospect. Shane Lowry is a DC who plays for ROI U19.
Tobias Mikaelsson is a swedish striker who was courted by JUVE and BARCELONA. Zoltan Stieber is a top quality hungarian left winger who should be pushing for a first team place this season.
Christopher Herd is also a quality player who can operate anywhere across midfield.

Like i said a few days ago, MON is a quality manager who belives in giving youth a chance and he did so with players like Shaun Maloney, Liam Miller, John Kennedy, David Marshall and Stephen Pearson. All of which played their way to the Uefa Cup Final.

There is no way possible that we will sign players of Riquelmes quality. His wages would be too much for us. as would many of the players i have heard on this site.

The best players for us IF WE ARE TO SIGN ANYONE should be
Glen Johnson 5 mil 35,000 Chelsea DR
Hatem Trabelsi FREE 18,000 FREE DR/C
Brede Hangeland 6 mil 20,000 Copenhagen DC/DM
Petri Pasanen 4 mil 20,000 W. Bremen DR/C
Thomas Kahlenberg 7 mil 20,000 Auxerre AMC

come on the villa - ill be there on saturday no matter what!!!!!

i agree with villarevolution, for at least the last 4/5 seasons now our youth team has shown flying colours in the face of adversary, why not this season?

and i dont see it to be that big a problem (other than RB) gabby was awesome for the u21s tonight, im sure petrov will find at least some form and there will be at least 2 new signings before the deadline, MON probably just testing to see who buckles first, and at 11pm on the 31st id be amazed if porto still want 12mil for bosingwa

gabby didnt score though did he! , i think we realy need a goal scorer , gabby and moore are good young players and carew is a good target man, but none of them are prolific. ive sort of stoped looking at transfer activity now coz its doin me head in, but we realy need at least three players in by 31st. rb / cb / cf/ idealy attacking midfielder aswell coz petrov just doesnt look interested or is lacking confidence. fingers crossed!!

Damian, good article again. Some of your correspondents do seem to be OTT with their criticisms, understandable really. As one of the posts said, it's more frustration than anything else.

WBrom apparently want 15m for Curtis Davies. Another rumour has it that they also want Luke Moore. I may be paranoid, but are we being set up for an exchange, based on THEIR valuations? Perhaps Luke plus £11m for CD. It may work if we have; a) first refusal to buy back at whatever they paid, or b) some sort of loan deal. Why, though, should we even consider parting with Luke?

As for this Summer's tranfer speculation, it's like very sloooow, tantalising, teasing, titillating, tooth gnashing, headboard biting, pillow pounding, UNREQUITED sex. (never done that myself).

carson-cahill,melberg,bouma,barry-petrov,gardener,young-stieber,harewood,berger. bench-sorensen,osbourne,maloney,williams,bellon.(maloney still wouldnt play?he he)injured-taylor,laursen,agbonlahor,moore,carew,ohalloran.Wouldnt be ideal but still not that bad if there good enough ther old enough.

xandeh thought i would answer for you.Do some of you think we can have over 27 top class international players with the games we will play this season?Im getting bored of reading about the players we let go Samuel and Mccann play for bolton,Djemba has no club,Hendrie plays in the championship,Ridgewell will play in the championship next season,Delaney and Sutton retired,Olejnik is a sub in scotland,Hughes and Davis are doing ok but fulham wont finish above us so they still took a step down to get first team football,and finaly Angel the only one i miss but he wanted to FINISH his carrier playing first team In America not begin a new era at villa probably not even on the bench when all are fit.

I agree,we do have lots of brlliant up and coming young players.some of which might make the grade in the prem..But are we all not waiting for world class signings to replace the deadwood,davis and hughes.
If it was in MONS head to use our brilliant young kids and save loads of dosh,then why didnt he say so back in june..then we could have all relaxed knowing that we have such a large squad we dont need to worry about anything..just think we could have just sat and laughed at all the mugs spending loads of cash on over priced proven experienced players,,when the way forward is use the under 18s,,wonder why know other club thinks like MON,,hes just so amazing...
DONT SAY IT IF YA AINT GONNA DO IT..

PS IM 42 DONT PLAY XBOX...DIDNT MIND A GAME OF SENSIBLE SOCCER ON THE AMIGA THOUGH

I laughed when I saw that Pearce played Gardner at RB. Surely the Under-21s have an actual RB!

MON will bring some players in, but be prepared that not all of them will be of the 'world' class' that we keep talking about - Damo is right in stating that one persons' definition of this is different to another. But he will bring reinforcements in, and they will want to play for the club, and they will offer more than some of the lads we let go - it may not be ideal, but the nucleus is in place and we can build on that slowly and surely.

im also really startin 2 doubt young, i mean ive seen both games and i dont think he put in 1 cross in2 the box, he looks slow and a put dull, really i think hes a cheaper SWP, people on here sayin he was good and did well, u must be retarded wid no knowledge of attackin play. come on get that checkbook out u tight fools

i dont no how people can say hav faith in mon. i had lots of faith 2 months ago but now 2months later mon is takin da
p
i
s
s

i just cant see mon bringin in many more players considering its took him a month n half to bring in 2 permanent players n 1 loan player. i think our squad now is good but any injuries or suspensions we are really gonna struggle and i dont mean to be negative but if we get any injuries or so on there is no way we are gonna be challenging for europe. last season we started well but mid season we had injuries n thats when our form dipped terribly. we really need some numbers and fast we dont even have a right back.

Villarevolution: I admire your knowledge of the Villa kids but kids they remain. And AVFC are supposedly loaded with cash, which is exactly why so many people on here are baffled we have to put the club hopes on barely out of nappies players, just like in the Doug Ellis days. I'm the first to enjoy watching young players coming through the academy but given the ins & outs of this summer I'm surprised - in fact I'm more bloody pissed off than surprised - no money have been spent. My fear is that we don't have the scouting network in place to compete with other clubs - the results on the transfer market so far would suggest that. Faith in the club is one thing, being taken for a ride by a bunch of marketing clowns another: 9 days to go before we find out exactly what have we got ourselves into.

Incidentally, Mertesacker of Werder Bremen has been mentioned on this website LINK

Yup Villain From Texas, he played right-back, obviously since he's been playing for us and has played well enough. Gabi was good in the 1st half..never saw the 2nd half unfortunately, had to give up the TV. >:(

I reckon we'll sign good players but when you mention top-class i expect we're all thinking players who (Davies aside) would be worth £15mn. each, players such as Riquelme, Owen, Forlan, Sneijder, etc. Truth is, we don't have what these players want -- Champions League football. Sneijder is now at Real Madrid, shows how good he was, and we were tracking him! :P We'll find a few gems out there willing to get a team into Europe but have the quality to be playing there already (Carew, thankyou) but it's a very difficult market that we're looking at.

I don't know if anyone has said it previously, but did anyone else hear about the bloke from Black Sabbath wanting to invest in the mighty Villa? I don't know how much of it is lazy journalism, or a joke...but that's just wierd right? If he wants to give MON 15mil to buy someone, then fine.

Damian - could you do a piece on the kit for discussion? Specifically, the staggered release. Eg. At Inter the training kit was on sale (and pratically sold out), then the home kit comes out, then bits more of the training kit and finally the away kit. Someone has even said there might be a 3rd kit too. Is this just a ploy to get us to snap up pieces with our hard-earned cash, only to spend again when more appears on the shelves? I guess the money goes back into the club, via Nike's coffers, but it doesn't feel quite right to me.

@ Alfred The Lion

General Krulak has already answered these questions on the VillaTalk Forum. Basically we only got the deal with Nike late because we had to buy out the year remaining with Hummel. The club knew that things we be delayed (such as the home kit coming out late and the away kit pushed back to October), not a ploy by the club but simply because we were late in getting the deal so as a consequence everything is pushed back..

Player's i'd like Mon to sign *Stays in dreamland* lol ;D

GK Carson (Permanent)
RB Bosingwa & Hoyte
CB Hangeland & Mertersacker or Davies
LB Sylvestre
RM Routledge
CM Nolan or Van Der Varrt (for the creative spark sorry petrov)
LM (None) We've got a few there
CF Yakubu, Defoe or Diego Milito ;D here's hoping just a few of them arrive *crosses fingers* 8)

ONIEL SAID:

"I have to admit now that inflated prices is the norm at the moment, so I may have to re-evaluate my thinking about this," he told the Birmingham Mail.

"Sometimes you have to go by what the other club says, but I am not panicking at all. Like everything else you always have to have a plan A, plan B, plan C, call it what you want.

"But the people I have pursued to begin with, I think, are worth pursuing."



DUNNO ABOUT U LOT BUT THIS DOES SEEM TO SOUND LIKE MON ADMITTING HE FUCKED UP. AN ATTEMPT TO DIG ONES SELF OUT OF ONES FUCKING GAPING HOLE


LMAO

All he is saying is he will have to pay more than he hoped!
End of story. The players will arrive soon and i cant wait!

I Agree they're coming soon but it's annoying watching Everton agree an 11mil fee for yakubu and spurs offer 10mil for riquelme. I Just want to see Villas name in the headlines for having an offer accepted or in talks with a club over a player. Rather than speculation in papers and on the net. I just want MON to be in a press conference grinning like a cheshire cat purring over his new player's oh pleaseeee let it happen and lift the spirt of the villa faithful *sighs* But i shall wait patiently like i have over the summer *starts twiddling thumbs*

I think martin just needs to accept that every club is going to charge them over the odds because they have a billionaire running the club it happens to chelsea man u and liverpool yet they just accept it and get on with it

No matter how long he wants to wait the price of his targets wont drop because they no that villa have got pleanty of cash to burn

So when west brom say 10million for davies thy should just pay it cause west brom aint going to budge nor will any other club

One of martins favorites is these words i wont be held to ransom

Ransom are to do with kidnappings not football so when a club says this price and that price just flamming pay it or u wont get no where

finally has MON seen the light!!!!!

LINK

LINK

nuno gomes how about him?not that am gettin desperate scouring the sports pages lol!!!

No not Nuno Gomes, we need a proven goalscorer thats done it in the premier league if any other attacking options!

I would think someone like defoe personally but name dropping is pointless because i aint in charge!