Ashley's representatives to meet with Villa today

[hilts_coolerking]

Take Milner and Young out of our side from last season and we start to look very ordinary.  There's a lot of goals and assists wrapped up in those two players.

All things being equal, we didn't want to sell Milner and we don't want to sell Young.  But, as we've seen with Milner, evidently some offers are too good to turn down.  It seems a short-term view to me but I'm not privy to the true state of the finances.

Personally, I would have thought that Ashley would wait to see who the next manager is before deciding where is the best place for him to be.  But if it takes a while to make an appointment then who knows?

I doubt our new manager would be terribly fussed about Ireland being here when they arrive, but I'm certain they would want Ashley to be here.

[john e]

if we sell Milner and get Ireland, we will be equal, or in my view a bit better of, as he has been sort of replaced.

how would you replace Young ? with Bentley SWP, Lennon, i'd rather stick with Ash

[Mazrim]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere. Out of interest, who is supposed to be able to afford him?
Chelsea, Man City arent interested apparently because we'd know by know. Arsenal could perhaps but I cant see Wenger being after him.
Spurs? Do me a favour.
Just look at how difficult its been for moneybags City to get Milner. All that money and a really good player in Stephen Ireland and we'd ask for more for Ashley Young, I'm certain of that.

No, a few quid and Robbie Keane arent going to cut it even if I thought there was serious interest from Spurs (which I dont).

[sfx412]

If he feels that we're not going to sign the players that will give us a realistic go at getting into the CL then he might decide he fancies going to a club that will.

he probably feels he won't get the same prime treatment from the bloke who comes in to sort Mon's crap and wants to state his desire to follow his runaway mate, but we don't know, unlike Mon's departure its just press conjecture.

Be interesting times if RL sells both Milner and Young, based on his policy he won't keep unhappy players and there is no time to sign a manager before the window closes
Be great for the clubs finances, great for his own personal fortune and the clubs liquidity and he can put it out he's blameless.
He didn't arrange for their sales, they wanted to go Gen K will say, he didn't arrange for there to be no manager and he's not going to rush and appoint some fool especially as it will just  put himself under pressure to provide transfer funding, now is he.

He can sit back without much blame, and reflect as he chooses carefully and not worry about providing further funding until January, when he will have a better indication how his new manager is doing, how the accounts look, how his divorce has sorted his finances and how good the offers for the club he has, are.

Seems a perfect scenario to me

Wonder how long before the tabloids pick up on that one, bet Chris has already 

[Chris Smith]

If he feels that we're not going to sign the players that will give us a realistic go at getting into the CL then he might decide he fancies going to a club that will.

Fuckin hell Chris, whats up with you man? Your not normally this downbeat, Has your Mrs hid the knives?

More sort of thinking out loud, Phil. We're all confused about what is going so I imagine the players are even more so.

Cheer up, Chris. It is just newspaper nonsense.

Normally we'd just write this sort of story off as bullshit. That's probably the best approach now until we see how it all pans out, if only for sanity's sake.

I'm just saying that there's a fair chance given what has gone on this week that Ashley might be considering what is best for him. I don't think he's likely to demand a move and I'm fairly confident that we'd not be in a hurry to cash in but it would be a major surprise if he didn't at least want to have a chat and get some reassuarances.

[sfx412]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere.

Were you not one of those saying that about Mon.

I know I did because I didn't think RL wanted him out yet and I thought Mon was telling the truth when he said he never quit a half finished job. I should have trusted my instincts more where he was concerned

 

[midnite]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere.

Were you not one of those saying that about Mon.

I know I did because I didn't think RL wanted him out yet and I thought Mon was telling the truth when he said he never quit a half finished job. I should have trusted my instincts more where he was concerned

 

Let's just hope theres no more
"I'll bed a donkey" talk LOL!!

[Chris Smith]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere. Out of interest, who is supposed to be able to afford him?
Chelsea, Man City arent interested apparently because we'd know by know. Arsenal could perhaps but I cant see Wenger being after him.
Spurs? Do me a favour.
Just look at how difficult its been for moneybags City to get Milner. All that money and a really good player in Stephen Ireland and we'd ask for more for Ashley Young, I'm certain of that.

No, a few quid and Robbie Keane arent going to cut it even if I thought there was serious interest from Spurs (which I dont).

If Spurs get through their CL qualifier then they'll be in a position to bid based on the guaranteed revenue from that.

[LeeB]

Malcolm, do you think you've missed any threads out in your desire to tell us all how right you were.

I don't think so, but it's best to make sure in case anyone this side of the moon missed it.

[Summers]

Out of interest, if Young and his reps did roll into Lerner and Faulkner and say he wants to leave, no matter what we do or say, would you all still slate the board? If a player wants to go, they normally go. Obviously if Ash is happy and wants to stay, the board would be insane to consider selling - but if he wants to go, not much can be done.

Let's hope he doesn't.

[Chris Jameson]

Malcolm, do you think you've missed any threads out in your desire to tell us all how right you were.

I don't think so, but it's best to make sure in case anyone this side of the moon missed it.

Do you mean you actually understand what he's banging on about most of the time?

[TheSandman]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere. Out of interest, who is supposed to be able to afford him?
Chelsea, Man City arent interested apparently because we'd know by know. Arsenal could perhaps but I cant see Wenger being after him.
Spurs? Do me a favour.
Just look at how difficult its been for moneybags City to get Milner. All that money and a really good player in Stephen Ireland and we'd ask for more for Ashley Young, I'm certain of that.

No, a few quid and Robbie Keane arent going to cut it even if I thought there was serious interest from Spurs (which I dont).

If Spurs get through their CL qualifier then they'll be in a position to bid based on the guaranteed revenue from that.

It probably won't be enough as they would only get £15million for playing in the group stages of the CL. Maybe we won't want any of their players in exchange as well?

Considering your willingness to believe idle paper talk you must believe that Loic Remy is their no1 target. What is to say that they will have enough to sign Ash after spending an eight figure sum on him?

Spurs already have Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Niko Kranjcar, Danny Rose and David Bentley as wide midfield options. Why on earth would they spend twenty odd million to add to those?

Redknapp has intimated that he won't pay what we ask as he doesn't have anything like the money needed, spending that much money is very much not his chairman's style.

Ashley Young has already intimated a desire to stay at Aston Villa and sign a new contract.

Does he want more money? Perhaps. Will he get it from Spurs? Not fucking likely as their wage structure is similar to ours (in terms of high earners not mediocre footballers who seldom play).

Ash is a lifelong supporter of Arsenal. Not much of a reason but it may prove a factor.

There is more holes in this story than a top of the range sieve.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere. Out of interest, who is supposed to be able to afford him?
Chelsea, Man City arent interested apparently because we'd know by know. Arsenal could perhaps but I cant see Wenger being after him.
Spurs? Do me a favour.
Just look at how difficult its been for moneybags City to get Milner. All that money and a really good player in Stephen Ireland and we'd ask for more for Ashley Young, I'm certain of that.

No, a few quid and Robbie Keane arent going to cut it even if I thought there was serious interest from Spurs (which I dont).

If Spurs get through their CL qualifier then they'll be in a position to bid based on the guaranteed revenue from that.

If there is a meeting and Ash isnt pleased with what he hears & he does want to go, I'll agree with that statement. Spurs will be certain of a lot of money for qualifying

[sfx412]

Malcolm, do you think you've missed any threads out in your desire to tell us all how right you were.

I don't think so, but it's best to make sure in case anyone this side of the moon missed it.

Is that how you see it Lee, how strange.

[Chris Smith]

Ashley Young isnt going anywhere. Out of interest, who is supposed to be able to afford him?
Chelsea, Man City arent interested apparently because we'd know by know. Arsenal could perhaps but I cant see Wenger being after him.
Spurs? Do me a favour.
Just look at how difficult its been for moneybags City to get Milner. All that money and a really good player in Stephen Ireland and we'd ask for more for Ashley Young, I'm certain of that.

No, a few quid and Robbie Keane arent going to cut it even if I thought there was serious interest from Spurs (which I dont).

If Spurs get through their CL qualifier then they'll be in a position to bid based on the guaranteed revenue from that.

It probably won't be enough as they would only get £15million for playing in the group stages of the CL. Maybe we won't want any of their players in exchange as well?

Considering your willingness to believe idle paper talk you must believe that Loic Remy is their no1 target. What is to say that they will have enough to sign Ash after spending an eight figure sum on him?

Spurs already have Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Niko Kranjcar, Danny Rose and David Bentley as wide midfield options. Why on earth would they spend twenty odd million to add to those?

Redknapp has intimated that he won't pay what we ask as he doesn't have anything like the money needed, spending that much money is very much not his chairman's style.

Ashley Young has already intimated a desire to stay at Aston Villa and sign a new contract.

Does he want more money? Perhaps. Will he get it from Spurs? Not fucking likely as their wage structure is similar to ours (in terms of high earners not mediocre footballers who seldom play).

Ash is a lifelong supporter of Arsenal. Not much of a reason but it may prove a factor.

There is more holes in this story than a top of the range sieve.

You really should try to read and understand what I've posted before you go spouting about what I'm willing to believe.

I'll re-post it to save you the trouble of having to look for it.

I'm just saying that there's a fair chance given what has gone on this week that Ashley might be considering what is best for him. I don't think he's likely to demand a move and I'm fairly confident that we'd not be in a hurry to cash in but it would be a major surprise if he didn't at least want to have a chat and get some reassuarances.