Someone emailed me a link earlier from the Independent which has a season review from the fans perspective.

The Aston Villa fan was Matt Cutler and if he were here now, I'd buy him a pint, for his almost spot on answers to the questions.

I won't copy all his answers, as you can see them here but he scored our season an eight out of ten, which having never thought about how I'd score it before, is probably exactly the same number I'd give it, but Matt, you've got to want more than Jimmy Bullard.

His player of the season, is spot on as is his match of the season, as I scribbled about it last week, but I've got pull Matt up on his 'perfect but realistic signing' of Bullard.

He's a decent player, don't get me wrong, but he's not going to move us forward. Sure, he's got a decent free kick and he likes to run and run, but so does Ashley Young and I've got a little more confidence in a player that is only going to get better.

Which is the point. Our team is going to get better but the likes of Bullard will help us stand still. A lot of people said last summer that we can't attract quality players because we don't have European football, well we do this season, even if it may only be two matches in the Intertoto.

As fans, we've got to start to expect more or at the very least hope for more. Sure, Martin O'Neill will get the best out of all the players he has but wouldn't it be nice to get a player where we didn't have to hope for the Martin O'Neill effect before seeing his best?

Anyway, I thought you'd like the link and well done Matt, eight out of ten is exactly how I'd score it, but I'm actually interested in how others would score it, so comment below.

Comments (22)

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Dizzy Mugs said:

Yourslef eh? Edit that Yeah, Jimmy Bullard should definitely not be our main target of the summer. Sure, i'd like him to be a Villa player, but our best signing? No ways.

May 13, 2008

Damian said:

i'm playing with a new toy that hasn't as of yet got spellchecker extension installed .. its going on now

May 13, 2008

Kieran McGrath said:

id prefer mcbride than bullard, i know there different positions but if we had to buy a fulham player id buy mcbride

May 13, 2008

Dizzy Mugs said:

McBride is 36 and retires next season and wants to finish his career at Fulham. So no chance.

May 13, 2008

PaulE said:

I think I'd give the season 8/10 too. I'm happy right now with the way everything went. I'm just hoping for a bit of football 'downtime' at some point so my stress levels can return to normal!

May 13, 2008

madladdy said:

To pull him up with "you've got to want more.." is a little harsh, the question was 'perfect but REALISTIC signing' I think he was been 100% realistic - lets be honest we SHOULD be able to get Bullard if we want him.. Perfect though? No. Depends how you want to answer it and I don't think you can do both - but the PERFECT signings we may not get as better teams may go in for them too.

May 13, 2008 | url

Damian said:

madladdy its a bit of banter .. but perfect and realistic would be bentley for me .. and thats without doing any real thinking think, young, english and on the fringes of the england team

May 13, 2008

Simon L. Read said:

Bullard would be a superb signing. He's the kind of player that can change a game. Jimmy would become a cult legend at Villa, no doubt.

May 13, 2008

The Mighty Steve said:

Thanks for the link, Damian, good read. Particular like the Blues' supporters comments: Again, I have to say Villa (away) - the first team I have seen really take us apart piece by piece. Why he has to call our ground Vile park in a sensible review, though, I don't know.

May 13, 2008 | url

essjaydee said:

Damian, as good a signing Bentley would be, i dont think, realistically anyway, that he would want to come to Villa. Yes were a bigger club with bigger aspirations, higher attendances and more money, but I think if he were to move it would only be to a top 4 club. He's 22-23 right? I presume if he were to move from a mid-top 10 club like blackburn i think he would go to a top 4 club, and i think he's been linked to one or two of them before. I personally think that Villa, this close season, will only be able to buy foreign players, players from bottom half teams or out of favour top 4 teams. Any young player doing well in the premiership will most likely go to a champ league team this year i think.

May 13, 2008

richie p said:

bullard would be a good signing but i think only as a rotational player, maybe we should try and get hunt and doyle from the newly relegated reading only as back ups though then spend the big bucks on some real quality.

May 13, 2008

Luke said:

Mighty Steve, you have to give him something - we did them good and proper twice! I'd give the season 7/10 because if we hadn't lost at home to Sunderland and Wigan, both games we should have won, then we would have finished 5th.

May 13, 2008

mike S said:

i worked out that if we didn't hav pathetic results like sunderland (0-1) wigan (0-2) middlesbrough (1-1) aon at arsenal beat bolton away chelsea away and many more we would of managed 4th and beaten livepool. p.s. as for bullard grrrrrreat signing. p.p.s. seaeson rating 8/10 p.p.p.s. theres a kid at my school called matt cutler

May 13, 2008

lurman said:

how on earth could you not pull him up on the "proven record of signing players" comment with regards to MON. MON has a proven record of signing very average players. he did it at leics, he didnt need to sign anyone good at celtic and hes done it (so far) for us, for more than they're worth too! OK he does well with them, but imagine if we'd signed better than knight, harewood, reo-coker & petrov. OK it may have cost us even more but £20-25m for those 4 is NOT good buying. and i dont buy the "everyones after the same players" argument i seem to remember from last year. thats lazy scouting. theres more than 10 good players in the world. its MON & our scouts' (if we have any?) job to find them. christ it cant be that hard. just ask wenger for the ones he very nearly signed if you cant be arsed to actually do it yourself

May 13, 2008

lurman said:

ignore everything i just said. earnshaw to forest for £2.5m! the worlds gone mad. harewood for £4m, NRC for £8m etc? all bargains!

May 13, 2008

MR VILLA said:

well first things first we need a world class GK, a RB and two at that as we need one for back up, two CBs with Melberg gone, a LB as we cant use Barry for cover we need him in the middle, LW RW need cover on the both flanks, two CMs and a 20 goal a season forward so with that being said it sud b a busy summer for MON. i would say that we was very lucky as we only had one bad injury so i would say it was a 8/10 lucky season but we need to buy. i would like to see Ashton or Lita with Bullard and Bentley.

May 13, 2008

the bizniss said:

I reckon we should sign the following or should at least make an attempt to prove to barry where really want to be.. swp..Wayne bridge..ashton..milner..deigo..nasri..would love micah richards and bentley..glen johnson..kircland..lahm..mertersaker some of these youmight fink are out of our reach but to kick on we need at least 4 of them to improve the quality.. Would give the season a 9/10 because we now pretty much have europe..Also the fact of how far some of the players have come on very good to see just hopw we dont start pre season dissapointed wht you think lads

May 13, 2008

brett said:

id rather have bullard than sidwell but neither of them is a step forward for me personally i hope MON has some scouts in france this weekend with either lens, psg or toulouse going down this weekend there should be at least 4/5 players worth a glimpse

May 13, 2008

Ghosthunter said:

I'd like to see us get Milner back - surely he'd come and I reckon he's just the type of player MON would work wonders with.

May 13, 2008

matt clark said:

why is everyone saying we need to by all these players :| we need a right winger, a right back and another centre-back. the cover we have now will do. especially as we seem to be really 'lucky' with injuries. surely its just done to our excellent coaching/physio staff and our top of the range training facilities??? that will easily get us a european spot next season, and continue our push for the championsleague. we MAY even get some points of man u!! xx

May 13, 2008

Zidave said:

Ashley Young, player of the season. I don't know how anyone see's this any other way. And young player of the season? Gabby has not had anywhere near the type of season Ashley has. Go look at opta stats if you want proof. Game of the season, 4-4 vs. Chelsea, definitely. That was an absolute thriller, should be game of the season for the entire league in my opinion. 8 goals, red cards, drama, last minute goal. It does not get anymore exciting. (other than for us if it was a win of course!) I also disagree with Bullard. He's too good to be a squad player for a mid table team, but he's also not good enough to be a starter for one either. He's just a great lower third team player. We need to make a statement of intentions from the beginning. Bently,completely agree I would be absolutely thrilled to have him in the team, but the likely hood... I'm afraid is low. One signing of whom I even remember would welcome a move... Miguel. Why not splash for him now. Use him like blonde bombshell us gentleman have used in the past. As an object, someone to show off and attract bigger better things. I'd really like to see, as would every Villa fan, MON splash some cash and bring in 2-3 very pleasing signings. As much now as last summer... Faith in MON O_O

May 14, 2008

mike s said:

ive got a friend at school (12 years old) called matt cutler no seriously

May 14, 2008

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