Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[DeeBoy1]

While I understand his reasons, part of the reaction from Villa fans was.. well it just hurt.

We were in the final death throws of truly awful years at Villa. After standing by Delph after his injury we had, for a brief moment in time, some fucking hope.

We had a great Wembley game against Liverpool things FINALLY seemed to be turning around, then the news of Man City's interest and we all assumed he was gone, then a miracle, someone showed loyalty, we were giddy, money didn't always talk! Maybe things were looking up for us as a club again!

Then his U Turn and he was off. We were all reminded that in fact things were not going to get better. He bore the brunt of a lot of that anger and frustration. I dont blame fans for the way they reacted and I dont blame him for the decision he made. It was just, well it sucked, all of it.

What an excellent summary.

Seconded

[martin o`who??]

Always wanted to go as soon as Citeh showed an interest, seemingly agonized about it (which i suppose does actually point to a certain Conscience about him whether we like it or not) but it always will rankle about the on-off, i`m staying/no i haven't manner of it. Just a bit sad that he seems quite content to be a bit-part player in project Citeh - waste of a perfectly serviceable career really (apart from on the 23rd of every month i expect).

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I was speaking to a scout the other day who reckoned Delph had the chance to come back to Villa or the Albion this summer but turned us both down.

[SoccerHQ]

Great stuff from Chelts.

I'm not angry at Delph moving, blimey going from the state we were in to Man. City was far more of an obvious move than when Milner did it.

What I've always objected to is him about to go and then changing his mind a week later and then coming out with "this is my club" comments. Sherwood felt confident enough to come out and praise him for that so to then decide to go up for the medical 7 days later totally undermined an inexperienced and soon to be out of his depth manager and made us a laughing stock.

Given he was pretty close to Lerner I do wonder if he was holding off from moving as Randy had told him a takeover was going to happen...and when it didn't it became easier for him to move.

I'd have rather he hadn't signed the deal and just left on a free. Yes we'd have lost money (our fault for not starting contract talks earlier) but Vlaar went on a free and we could've easily got 5-10m for him given how well he played in the World cup.

[Canadian Villa]

Great stuff from Chelts.

I'm not angry at Delph moving, blimey going from the state we were in to Man. City was far more of an obvious move than when Milner did it.

What I've always objected to is him about to go and then changing his mind a week later and then coming out with "this is my club" comments. Sherwood felt confident enough to come out and praise him for that so to then decide to go up for the medical 7 days later totally undermined an inexperienced and soon to be out of his depth manager and made us a laughing stock.

Given he was pretty close to Lerner I do wonder if he was holding off from moving as Randy had told him a takeover was going to happen...and when it didn't it became easier for him to move.

I'd have rather he hadn't signed the deal and just left on a free. Yes we'd have lost money (our fault for not starting contract talks earlier) but Vlaar went on a free and we could've easily got 5-10m for him given how well he played in the World cup.

When he did the turnaround the club should have slapped down a new contract without the release clause. Having him re-sign would have avoid a lot of the nonsense. I cant fault him for going to City, but it was the way he did it, being our captain, making the video and making us look small time. What made it worse for me was some gobby manager here that supported City goading me in a pub after work. I took a lot resolve not to hit him. I told another manager to shut him up before I do, but he couldn't understand why as it was just 'banter' as we Brits call it.

[tomd2103]

With a few honourable exceptions, generally the better the player the quicker they have been to scarper.

Yep, he did the club a real favour by signing a new contract in iJanuary as it meant we would get a fee for him.  He really didn't have to do that as I'm sure the majority of players would have just let their contract run down and gone on a free.  The mistake he made was coming out with all that nonsense when the Manchester City deal initially broke down.  He should have just kept his mouth shut and seen how it would unfold seeing as there was plenty of time left in the transfer window. 

[john e]

I was speaking to a scout the other day who reckoned Delph had the chance to come back to Villa or the Albion this summer but turned us both down.

does the lad know what he’s missing out on
he was lining up with De Bruyne on Saturday when could have been alongside Glenn Whelan

[eamonn]

So is he a left full back for them now? If he's currently starting in by far the greatest team the world has ever seen. fair play.

Seem to remember him playing there for us against Brighton in the cup after his latest lay-off and he played a beauty of a pass for one of our goals.

[Ian.]

I was speaking to a scout the other day who reckoned Delph had the chance to come back to Villa or the Albion this summer but turned us both down.

does the lad know what he’s missing out on
he was lining up with De Bruyne on Saturday when could have been alongside Glenn Whelan

What’s more crazy is he’d rather play under the attacking style of Pep than our, erm way of playing under Bruce. What a foolish lad he is.

[sickbeggar]

He wasn't that good. He was just the last vaguely decent player we had, and his loss was probably the final straw that saw us relegated. IMO Milner/young/barry were much bigger losses but him going tipped us over the edge. Good luck to him i say - only an idiot couldn't see the writing on the wall.

[in exile]

I was speaking to a scout the other day who reckoned Delph had the chance to come back to Villa or the Albion this summer but turned us both down.

Bob a job week?

[Ad@m]

IMO Milner/young/barry were much bigger losses but him going tipped us over the edge.

Bigger losses and better players.  I'm amazed we're even talking about him at this stage.

[Dave]

IMO Milner/young/barry were much bigger losses but him going tipped us over the edge.

Bigger losses and better players.  I'm amazed we're even talking about him at this stage.

I reckon any of our former players who were starting regularly for the team at the top of league would be being talked about.

He was a better player than Marc Albrighton and was being discussed quite a lot  a couple of years ago.

[Damo70]

Great stuff from Chelts.

I'm not angry at Delph moving, blimey going from the state we were in to Man. City was far more of an obvious move than when Milner did it.

What I've always objected to is him about to go and then changing his mind a week later and then coming out with "this is my club" comments. Sherwood felt confident enough to come out and praise him for that so to then decide to go up for the medical 7 days later totally undermined an inexperienced and soon to be out of his depth manager and made us a laughing stock.

Given he was pretty close to Lerner I do wonder if he was holding off from moving as Randy had told him a takeover was going to happen...and when it didn't it became easier for him to move.

I'd have rather he hadn't signed the deal and just left on a free. Yes we'd have lost money (our fault for not starting contract talks earlier) but Vlaar went on a free and we could've easily got 5-10m for him given how well he played in the World cup.

The only way anyone would have paid that for Vlaar would be based purely on that world cup and involve them never having seen him play for Villa or looked at his injury record (which stretched back way before he joined us).

[Pat McMahon]

IMO Milner/young/barry were much bigger losses but him going tipped us over the edge.

Bigger losses and better players.  I'm amazed we're even talking about him at this stage.

I reckon any of our former players who were starting regularly for the team at the top of league would be being talked about.

He was a better player than Marc Albrighton and was being discussed quite a lot  a couple of years ago.

He was also our last truly mobile midfielder. Not blustering pace, but very energetic with the ability to tackle ( often reckless lunges at times) and get forward.