Bent 'We've still got top players here'

[Rip Van We Go Again]

and the pr spin excercise begins....

Yes, because it's absolutely disgraceful that a player should say he's happy or that the club should be positive. How dare they.

i never said it was, or that they shouldnt...

it just appears to me that whenever there is what would appear to be some bad news, there is almost immediately a positive spin article put out to the media...

not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, merely commenting on the predictability of it all... and if its predictable, then that begs the question about its sincerity...

i hope that darren bent is right...

That's the point of a PR department.

so on the one hand when club doesn't do a good job with PR they get lambasted. Then when they send out something positive, they get lambasted. Oh, I see how it works...

I think they fucked up with this PR.
Darren mentioning about everybody wanting to play in the Champions League was a bit dodgy.

[TimTheVillain]

It's quite a mature statement, but clear that he's short term also if he has a 20 goal season.

[Toronto Villa]

and the pr spin excercise begins....

Yes, because it's absolutely disgraceful that a player should say he's happy or that the club should be positive. How dare they.

i never said it was, or that they shouldnt...

it just appears to me that whenever there is what would appear to be some bad news, there is almost immediately a positive spin article put out to the media...

not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, merely commenting on the predictability of it all... and if its predictable, then that begs the question about its sincerity...

i hope that darren bent is right...

That's the point of a PR department.

so on the one hand when club doesn't do a good job with PR they get lambasted. Then when they send out something positive, they get lambasted. Oh, I see how it works...

I think they fucked up with this PR.
Darren mentioning about everybody wanting to play in the Champions League was a bit dodgy.

publicly or privately, every footballer on the planet wants to play at the top level in their profession. We shouldn't get so intimidated by it when they say it. Darren Bent could have angled for a move to clubs other than Sunderland and Villa after Spurs yet he's always seemed more comfortable playing outside of the spotlight. I'm sure if he kicked up a Downing style fuss he could have joined a CL contender last season, but he came to us or even this summer. He might want another kick at the can at some point, but the comment about the CL doesn't bother me. I would expect Albrighton, Clark, Makoun, Ireland etc etc, to all harbour the exact same ambitions.

[Greg N'Ash]

Carries about as much weight as Downing's comments last season. If Citeh/Arsenal/liverpool/chelsea/Mancs come calling in January, he'll be off

[TheSandman]

Football is a simple game.

At its most simplest, you'd imagine that a man like McLiesh, given all his experience in the game, could fashion a defence capable of the fundamentals so lacking in last years un-cohesive displays.

Yes but he has typically done that by bringing in defenders that he would like. At Blues he saw something in Dann and Johnson and so he signed them. Here he has Warnock and Dullins foisted upon him due to his lack of financial backing. I have no doubt he can spot a good defender but he's not being asked to do that.

[pablopicasso_10]

That's the point of a PR department.

indeed, which is what i said originally...

so lets leave it at that...

[Mister E]

[it just appears to me that whenever there is what would appear to be some bad news, there is almost immediately a positive spin article put out to the media...

I wish we did get positive spins in the media .... all I've read in the last 3-4 weeks has been over-the-top negative stuff.

[not3bad]

Carries about as much weight as Downing's comments last season. If Citeh/Arsenal/liverpool/chelsea/Mancs come calling in January, he'll be off

On the plus side, if they do come calling in January, it will mean that Bent has had a cracking first half of the season and scored lots of goals.  That will mean there's a strong chance that Villa will be in a good position.  If Villa are in a good position then we could either persuade Bent to stay until the end of the season or at least get an And Carroll type sum for losing him.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Ireland's going to be like a new signing

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Holy Trinity]

Everyone wants to play in the top competition, which is the Champions League."

Uh oh.....

its worrying but not that much so, no current top 6 side would want him maybe liverpool, so unless an offer from over seas arrives we're safe

que the why not argument, bent has been knocking around the prem for a decade and no top 4 club has ever shown interest due to his tendency to miss a total sitter, its ok doing it for us vs bburn in the league but doing it vs barca in the satanic cup(cl) semi would be to much of a risk, at least that how the top managers in the prem see it i hope
 

[TheSandman]

I've never seen Torres or Rooney miss total sitters.

[Holy Trinity]

I've never seen Torres or Rooney miss total sitters.

everyone does but the fact fergie and wenger have passed up on him 5 or 6 times tells you they dont want him, his names not fancy enough for man city, spurs ruined him once chelsea can sign anybody in the world so why buy bent? liverpool maybe after andy carol fall flat on his face, unless its a new challenger to break from the pack i cant see him moving to anyone in the prem unless we cock it up and get relegated with the exception of maybe liverpool

[ASHTONVILLA]

Uh oh.....

Yeah that's what I thought. Best hope no clubs in the top four show any interest else we wont see him for dust.

[Fuse]

For Bent to leave it will ahve to be a top 4 club as no one else coudl afford him. Let's face it if he is to attract one fo them he needs to score 20+ next season in which case his value will be in the £40m bracket in terms of market value. Which for us means if we did sell it would give us a load of money to reinvest.

I'm accepting of our status for now and think we just have to make it work for us. If we keep selling players at a huge profit and reinvest then we aren;t going to struggle.

[Rigadon]

Ah, "Every player wants to play in the champions league and I'm no different".   The catch-all pre-cursor to a move to Manchester Utd, Manchester CIty, Arsenal, Chelsea or (if the money's good enough) Liverpool.