From £22.5million to £80million in 4 years - AVFC wages

[Villa'Zawg]

£80m a year for that shower? Christ on a bike.

MON played his part but there's only one man who signs the cheques, I'm afraid we can't hide behind the evil O'Neill notion forever.

If Lerner is guilty of anything, it is naively backing O'Neill unquestioningly for far too long.

He's not free from blame, but to suggest that he's mostly to blame for O'Neill signing a succession of underused, overpaid duffers we now can not give away is in the realm of fantasy, unfortunately.

I suspect that the very same people who would now have it be known that they blame Lerner for that are the same ones who were muttering "well, he forced MON out, because he wouldn't sanction deals for player x, y or z" (where x, y AND z are all overpriced, mediocre UK based players).

We didn't underuse our squad any more than other teams utilise their squad, we didn't overpay our players any more than other clubs overpay their players and we don't lose more on our squad investments than other clubs do.

Sorry Paulie, you have been blinded by the amounts of money involved in football today and have no perspective on what is happening in relation to our competitors.

[Matt C]

Never said it was 'all Lerner's fault' nor did I say O'Neill was blameless - far from it. However, I don't accept the notion its somehow all O'Neill's fault - it isn't. Naivety sums it up because i dont doubt for a minute the owner had the best intentions. Sadly he backed the wrong horse.

[hilts_coolerking]

We didn't underuse our squad any more than other teams utilise their squad, we didn't overpay our players any more than other clubs overpay their players and we don't lose more on our squad investments than other clubs do.

Yes we did.  I remember doing the stats for that, what seems like a thousand years ago.

[pauliewalnuts]

£80m a year for that shower? Christ on a bike.

MON played his part but there's only one man who signs the cheques, I'm afraid we can't hide behind the evil O'Neill notion forever.

If Lerner is guilty of anything, it is naively backing O'Neill unquestioningly for far too long.

He's not free from blame, but to suggest that he's mostly to blame for O'Neill signing a succession of underused, overpaid duffers we now can not give away is in the realm of fantasy, unfortunately.

I suspect that the very same people who would now have it be known that they blame Lerner for that are the same ones who were muttering "well, he forced MON out, because he wouldn't sanction deals for player x, y or z" (where x, y AND z are all overpriced, mediocre UK based players).

We didn't underuse our squad any more than other teams utilise their squad, we didn't overpay our players any more than other clubs overpay their players and we don't lose more on our squad investments than other clubs do.

Sorry Paulie, you have been blinded by the amounts of money involved in football today and have no perspective on what is happening in relation to our competitors.

I'd suggest that spending the enormous sums we've spent on the likes of Heskey and Beye for no apparent return is pretty daft all round. What's more, there's then the sums spent and wasted on the likes of Curtis Davies, Steve Sidwell, Nicky Shorey, plus the purchase of an entire new defence in two consecutive seasons.

O'Neill had the chance to spend some money wisely and move us on, but he blew it on overpriced, underperforming home market dross because he couldn't be arsed to scout players anywhere other than his own front yard.

Unless, of course, you're preparaed to look at the fact that with the exception of two players, every single player MON signed was UK based, and that that just reflected that those were the best players available, rather than just "hey, they cost a load more because they're already playing in the UK, but fuck it, they're easier to spot".

You can moan all you like about there now being no money, and I'll join you in that, but if you're going to start to suggest that it wasn't anything to do with O'Neill and his lazy profligacy with cash, we're going to have to disagree.

[Villa'Zawg]

We didn't underuse our squad any more than other teams utilise their squad, we didn't overpay our players any more than other clubs overpay their players and we don't lose more on our squad investments than other clubs do.

Yes we did.  I remember doing the stats for that, what seems like a thousand years ago.

I suppose I could accept what you say about "utilisation" as proof but I'd appreciate something more informative than "I remember doing the stats".

Other people have done the stats and their conclusion is "Their [Aston Villa] squad and starting XI expenditures were in line with 9th to 11th place finishes, and O’Neill’s utilization rate was right at the average for the seasons in which he managed.

[pauliewalnuts]

Oh, is that a fact fact, or a suspected fact, or a partial fact, or what?

[hilts_coolerking]

I suppose I could accept what you say about "utilisation" as proof but I'd appreciate something more informative than "I remember doing the stats".

Well search for them then; they're there somewhere.

[Villa'Zawg]

£80m a year for that shower? Christ on a bike.

MON played his part but there's only one man who signs the cheques, I'm afraid we can't hide behind the evil O'Neill notion forever.

If Lerner is guilty of anything, it is naively backing O'Neill unquestioningly for far too long.

He's not free from blame, but to suggest that he's mostly to blame for O'Neill signing a succession of underused, overpaid duffers we now can not give away is in the realm of fantasy, unfortunately.

I suspect that the very same people who would now have it be known that they blame Lerner for that are the same ones who were muttering "well, he forced MON out, because he wouldn't sanction deals for player x, y or z" (where x, y AND z are all overpriced, mediocre UK based players).

We didn't underuse our squad any more than other teams utilise their squad, we didn't overpay our players any more than other clubs overpay their players and we don't lose more on our squad investments than other clubs do.

Sorry Paulie, you have been blinded by the amounts of money involved in football today and have no perspective on what is happening in relation to our competitors.

I'd suggest that spending the enormous sums we've spent on the likes of Heskey and Beye for no apparent return is pretty daft all round. What's more, there's then the sums spent and wasted on the likes of Curtis Davies, Steve Sidwell, Nicky Shorey, plus the purchase of an entire new defence in two consecutive seasons.

O'Neill had the chance to spend some money wisely and move us on, but he blew it on overpriced, underperforming home market dross because he couldn't be arsed to scout players anywhere other than his own front yard.

Unless, of course, you're preparaed to look at the fact that with the exception of two players, every single player MON signed was UK based, and that that just reflected that those were the best players available, rather than just "hey, they cost a load more because they're already playing in the UK, but fuck it, they're easier to spot".

You can moan all you like about there now being no money, and I'll join you in that, but if you're going to start to suggest that it wasn't anything to do with O'Neill and his lazy profligacy with cash, we're going to have to disagree.

Spurs and Man City have had similar issues with building top-six squads except on a grander scale haven't they? There is nothing special about the fact that some players haven't worked out for the Villa. The players that turn out to be write-offs are a normal part of football.

[Villa'Zawg]

I suppose I could accept what you say about "utilisation" as proof but I'd appreciate something more informative than "I remember doing the stats".

Well search for them then; they're there somewhere.

I don't need to search for them, I'm not relying on them to make my point, you are.

[hilts_coolerking]

I don't need to search for them, I'm not relying on them to make my point, you are.

You're not interested in what they show?

[Villa'Zawg]

I don't need to search for them, I'm not relying on them to make my point, you are.

You're not interested in what they show?

I'm not interesting in going and searching through your old posts. I think you need to find them and use them to illustrate your point.

[hilts_coolerking]

I'm not interesting in going and searching through your old posts. I think you need to find them and use them to illustrate your point.

I'm not sure that I do actually; I did all that at the time.  If you want to see the point illustrated, look it up; it's all there somewhere.

[Greg N'Ash]

MON's reign was a complete fiasco. At least half his signings we could have done without because they were either complete bobbins or he refused to play them. I don't need to tell anyone how useful 40m in transfer fees and and probably the same in wages could have been now. Lerner should have kept an eye on MON more, but knowing how much of a control freak the manager was i'm guessing he was wary of doing anything to upset him especially while results were improving. By the time he realised MON had hit a glass ceiling with his style of play the money had gone.

[Woofles The Wonder Dog]

I remember SSN showing player utilisation stats from O'Neill's last season. It was something like: we used substitutes the least of all PL clubs and were something like 2nd or 3rd in the fewest squad players used.

[Greg N'Ash]

The telling thing to me is less than a year after he left there's nothing left really of his signings. He didn't leave a basis of a good team for the future and by next summer all of them could be gone. All thats left are old men, deadwood and failures. Delph is the only one you can still see playing a part in 2 or 3 years time