Summer 2010 Transfer Thread: B*llsh*t, Rumours & Wishes

[Greg N'Ash]

he's from the clough school of mangement. he's the biggest personality at the club and  as such he'll never buy anyone who will challenge that. same at celtic and leicester.

[Monty]

he's from the clough school of mangement. he's the biggest personality at the club and  as such he'll never buy anyone who will challenge that. same at celtic and leicester.

...do you think that he's about 7 years old?

[Greg N'Ash]

just how he operates. ask fans of other clubs about us and they latch on to not the players but us being mon's aston villa. like forest was mainly identified with clough rather than the players. current players here are about as timid  as they get in todays game

[Monty]

He's never managed a club capable of attracting truly top name players who might "challenge his authority", not even at Celtic, not even now. People used to say reasonably similar things about Mark Hughes at Blackburn (disciplinarian, likes to be 'The Man') but he gets to Man City and hey presto, there he was lapping up the big signings like anyone else. I'm sure if you offered MON Ronaldo he wouldn't say "No! I'M in charge here!". He'd say "great, he'd really improve the team". Because he is not paid to be The Man With The Biggest Bollocks, he's paid to run as good a team as he can, and Randy wouldn't pay him if he didn't.

[pauliewalnuts]

he's from the clough school of mangement. he's the biggest personality at the club and  as such he'll never buy anyone who will challenge that. same at celtic and leicester.

...do you think that he's about 7 years old?

To be fair, Monty, it doesn't really take a massive stretch of the imagination to imagine that Martin likes to be the biggest person at the club.

[Monty]

It does if you actually think about what that entails. Why would he do that? Because he has a personality flaw like a stereotypical Bad Guy in some Hollywood blockbuster? There's a difference between saying he doesn't like to sign players who are a disruptive influence and saying he likes to be the biggest man at the club.

[Greg N'Ash]

they don't have to be expensive signings. older players with big reputations. you'd never see an owen turn up or viera for example. never has never will

[dave.woodhall]

It does if you actually think about what that entails. Why would he do that? Because he has a personality flaw like a stereotypical Bad Guy in some Hollywood blockbuster? There's a difference between saying he doesn't like to sign players who are a disruptive influence and saying he likes to be the biggest man at the club.

Ron Saunders and Brian Clough both liked to. It didn't harm them.

[Monty]

they don't have to be expensive signings. older players with big reputations. you'd never see an owen turn up or viera for example. never has never will

Maybe because they are totally past it and their wages would cost plenty. Or maybe they got offers from Manchesters United and City. We can't compete with those two.

I'm sure they did to a certain degree, Dave, but the quality of the team came first and foremost. Greg seems to be suggesting that MON's like that maniac who coined that phrase "you can bring your f***ing dinner" at Leyton Orient.

[KevinGage]

he's from the clough school of mangement. he's the biggest personality at the club and  as such he'll never buy anyone who will challenge that. same at celtic and leicester.

Said that for a while.

How else can you excuse such utter dross as Marlon, Heskey et al.

It doesn't automatically preclude us from signing good players, mind (we have done). But it does make it harder.

It's probably also part of the reason why we're unlikely to see some of the top notch names from Europe and beyond pitching up at Villa Park anytime soon.

Martin who?

[pauliewalnuts]

It does if you actually think about what that entails. Why would he do that? Because he has a personality flaw like a stereotypical Bad Guy in some Hollywood blockbuster? There's a difference between saying he doesn't like to sign players who are a disruptive influence and saying he likes to be the biggest man at the club.

No, because he wants to shape the cub in his own image. That's - apparently - why he turned down Newcastle, Shepherd made it clear that wouldn't be the case, so he walked away.

I know not wanting so sign disruptive players and wanted to be the biggest man at the club are two different things. I'm saying that the latter is entirely believable. I don't know if he has a problem with the former, but the two are - as you said - two totally different things.

Anyone who thinks Martin doesn't run the club from top to bottom must have had their eyes closed for the last four years.

[Percy McCarthy]

just how he operates. ask fans of other clubs about us and they latch on to not the players but us being mon's aston villa. like forest was mainly identified with clough rather than the players. current players here are about as timid  as they get in todays game

You spend so much time talking to fans of other clubs, I'm amazed you have time to grace us with your presence on here.

[Monty]

Oh he certainly does run the club from top to bottom (and I'm not convinced at all that that really is a good thing), but that's different to what Greg's suggesting. No, I agree with you, Paulie, but Greg appears to be saying that MON would rather sign bad players than good ones to make himself look bigger.

[pauliewalnuts]

Oh he certainly does run the club from top to bottom (and I'm not convinced at all that that really is a good thing), but that's different to what Greg's suggesting. No, I agree with you, Paulie, but Greg appears to be saying that MON would rather sign bad players than good ones to make himself look bigger.

I don't know about that, but if i learned that were the case, it wouldn't surprise me.

Not in the extreme "no, I think I'll pass on Rooney and sign Marlon Harewood instead" sense, but in the sense that he might look negatively on "personality" players.

EDIT forgot to say, re whether running it top to bottom is a good thing .... it can be (see Clough as cited before, and Ferguson and Wenger are obvious examples), but the flip side is that if it all goes to tit, or goes stale, then there is only one person who gets the blame - it is very much a "no hiding place" way to run things.

[dave.woodhall]

just how he operates. ask fans of other clubs about us and they latch on to not the players but us being mon's aston villa. like forest was mainly identified with clough rather than the players. current players here are about as timid  as they get in todays game

You spend so much time talking to fans of other clubs, I'm amazed you have time to grace us with your presence on here.

It's all a matter of allocating the time you have in each day. Something has to be dropped for all of us, and in Greg's case it's going to the match.