Doug Ellis on radio later.

[Rick_avfc]

Whichever way you dress it up Villa ARE are selling club. The consistent selling of Barry, Milner, Young and soon Downing backs that theory up. The drain of top talent will continue as the players can't see top-four status or even top-six anytime soon. Lerner will not commit the significant funds required to take this club to the very highest level.

Youre right, how can he say we are not a selling club when we always sell our best players?  He went on to sya that when you look at the match day programme, the villa squad is always bigger than the opposition!  WTF!?!  Im sure the squad printed in the programmes is made up of the reserves and youth players as well as the first team!  Rather than selling the best players, we should be selling the deadwood to reduce that number.

[oldtimernow]

When HDE mentions the word culling I wonder how many managers still feel their collars nervously?

[JUAN PABLO]

He also said not to worry about signing a goalie , as he said he can easily fill in that position .

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Did he mention the bicycle kick? He invented it you know.

No he didnt, but as it was radio he did say he tried to sign Guglielmo Marconi before getting Benito Carbone.

[not3bad]

Heard the interview but nothing really much interesting about it.  was a bit pointless if you ask me.  He honestly believes that the glory days can one day return to Villa - not sure how he came up with that idea?

Because he's got faith, like a fan?  Crazy I know.

[Rick_avfc]

Heard the interview but nothing really much interesting about it.  was a bit pointless if you ask me.  He honestly believes that the glory days can one day return to Villa - not sure how he came up with that idea?

Because he's got faith, like a fan?  Crazy I know.

Personally, I can't ever see it happening unless which get a rich Sheik (spelling  ???) or if all the teams above us some how lose all their players and they are left with the reserve team.

[not3bad]

Heard the interview but nothing really much interesting about it.  was a bit pointless if you ask me.  He honestly believes that the glory days can one day return to Villa - not sure how he came up with that idea?

Because he's got faith, like a fan?  Crazy I know.

Personally, I can't ever see it happening unless which get a rich Sheik (spelling  ???) or if all the teams above us some how lose all their players and they are left with the reserve team.

Maybe you're right, but if you lose all hope you might as well just give up supporting.

[Rick_avfc]

Heard the interview but nothing really much interesting about it.  was a bit pointless if you ask me.  He honestly believes that the glory days can one day return to Villa - not sure how he came up with that idea?

Because he's got faith, like a fan?  Crazy I know.

Personally, I can't ever see it happening unless which get a rich Sheik (spelling  ???) or if all the teams above us some how lose all their players and they are left with the reserve team.

Maybe you're right, but if you lose all hope you might as well just give up supporting.

Its not about losing hope, its about being realistic.  Why hold onto hope of becoming something you will not?  In the modern game, its called being realistic.  and nope, I wont stop supporting villa just because I do not believe we will dominate.

[Lucky Eddie]

Doug's far from perfect and his self promotion has driven me nuts for years; however he'll see a lot more of Villa Park than many of our equally opinionated contributors next season that's for sure.

[not3bad]

Heard the interview but nothing really much interesting about it.  was a bit pointless if you ask me.  He honestly believes that the glory days can one day return to Villa - not sure how he came up with that idea?

Because he's got faith, like a fan?  Crazy I know.

Personally, I can't ever see it happening unless which get a rich Sheik (spelling  ???) or if all the teams above us some how lose all their players and they are left with the reserve team.

Maybe you're right, but if you lose all hope you might as well just give up supporting.

Its not about losing hope, its about being realistic. 

I honestly don't see the difference between the two the way you're talking.

EDIT: I came back and saw this post looked like a right dog's dinner.  This new forum has been a pain in the arse since it started. 

[CJ]

Whichever way you dress it up Villa ARE are selling club. The consistent selling of Barry, Milner, Young and soon Downing backs that theory up. The drain of top talent will continue as the players can't see top-four status or even top-six anytime soon. Lerner will not commit the significant funds required to take this club to the very highest level.

Agree with you about the selling club bit but to be fair Randy committed significant funds only for MON to piss much of it up the wall on the likes of Davies, Beye, Sidwell and Harewood. Not all his signings were bad by any means but for every Ashley Young there was an Emile Heskey. Solid but unspectacular and unlikely to push us on that last step. If he'd bought Darren Bent when he was first available we may have broken the glass ceiling of 4th and the finances would then have been self-perpetuating. The fact that our wage bill is such a significant slice of our turnover backs the fact that Randy has made funds available, but having missed the boat when we had the opportunity I for one can understand why he's having to reign things in.

[DR PETERS]

Whichever way you dress it up Villa ARE are selling club. The consistent selling of Barry, Milner, Young and soon Downing backs that theory up. The drain of top talent will continue as the players can't see top-four status or even top-six anytime soon. Lerner will not commit the significant funds required to take this club to the very highest level.

So are Arsenal also a selling club ? They sold Overmars, Petit, Viera, Henry, Clichey and are about to lose Nasri and Fabregas

[TimTheVillain]

Very few clubs aren't 'selling clubs.'

We certainly are in the main, we can't dispute that after Barry, Milner, Young .......

[Billy Walker]

Whichever way you dress it up Villa ARE are selling club. The consistent selling of Barry, Milner, Young and soon Downing backs that theory up. The drain of top talent will continue as the players can't see top-four status or even top-six anytime soon. Lerner will not commit the significant funds required to take this club to the very highest level.

So are Arsenal also a selling club ? They sold Overmars, Petit, Viera, Henry, Clichey and are about to lose Nasri and Fabregas

Yes they are.  Fortunately for them, though, they have a manager with a keen eye for young European players and bargains.  (Mind you, I think Wenger's pool of young French talent is drying up which could make for an interesting future for Arsenal.) 

Having a manager who can work such a system is a great boon for any club.  Can McLeish be our Wenger?

[bill]

Every club is a selling club, Liverpool sold Rush, Keegan, Owen Torres. Man. Utd sold Ronaldo, Beckham, Tevez. Man city and Chelsea move players in and out faster than anyone. Spurs sold Berbatov Defoe, Gascoigne. Keane etc. The list goes on. ALL players have their price. The real point is to replace with as good. Selling doesn't bother me, unlike us fans, they come and they go. Failing to replace with players as good if not better would be a concern. But the jurys still out on that one.