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

[Mazrim]

Aaaaarrrrgghhhhh!!

Are you a pirate?

[Jimmy Rimmer]

Aaaaarrrrgghhhhh!!

Are you a pirate?

Aye, Mazrim, lad.

Sorry. Just very frustrated. This is my 8th window on this forum. Watching, waiting, worrying along with everyone else. And it's all so depressing...

I just want a couple of signings to get excited about. Preferably including one who can score goals.

But it does feel like we're searching for mythical treasure.

[Mazrim]

Dont worry Jimmy. It all kicks off in the last two weeks of August traditionally. No point stressing until then. And not even then.

[sid1964]

1st Villa game was 1975 against Leicester draw 1-1 My first Villa Hero Ray Graydon scored the equaliser if my memory is correct

Just remember looking at the Holte End and it seemed like mount Everest!!

[MattW]

The Martin O'Neill quotes in this story aren't particularly encouraging (Telegraph):

In one of the more revealing episodes to come out of the midfielder's proposed move to Eastlands, O'Neill as good as admitted he is no longer the sole arbiter of the club's football policy, and in so doing challenged the established opinion that the balance of power between O'Neill and Lerner is one of the healthiest for a manager in the Premier League.

The rapport between chairman and manager, and how much influence the former chooses to exert over football matters, is understandably scrutinised every season at every club, with player transfers the battleground on which most blood tends to be spilt.

Yet Lerner has always been described as one of the better employers, an absentee landlord who leaves O'Neill to get on with it.

O'Neill has said as much himself in the past, stressing that they have a gentlemen's agreement which allows him to do things his way without need of justification.

"It has never been anything more than a handshake between the two of us," he told supporters in a speech in 2009. "We talk things over, about how we can improve, but I am not going to explain things. I am not here to patronise him or to be a sycophant. We have a mutual understanding."

Contrast that, then, with O'Neill's comments in Portugal, where the club last night played Benfica in the pre-season Guadiana Trophy.

The Villa manager accepted that "ideally it is better if you know who is going to come and go then you can start making some sort of plans", but when asked whether he could request Lerner to hurry things along O'Neill said: "It is really in the owner's hand at the end of the day.

"Whatever they come up with, we will go with. I am not going to be running around dictating. If you own a football club, you can do what you want with it.

"If you had spent some money buying a football club you would want that as well."

For O'Neill, a command and control type of manager, it came across as a rare admission of deference.

[Monty]

I do not see how those statements are particularly conflicting, nor especially unhealthy.

[Mazrim]

It depends who you ask. People who arent particularly fond of MON will find it encouraging for instance.

[ozzjim]

I think it just clearly shows the club have taken a larger roll in the transfer side, be it through Faulkner or Lerner directly. I don't think MON will like it, and his comments could be moulded to show that, but I think it is the best thing for Villa.

[maidstonevillain]

As with any MON comment, wildly open to different interpretations. Could simply be that MON tells RAL what he wants, and then leaves him to sort as best he can.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

It depends who you ask. People who arent particularly fond of MON will find it encouraging for instance.

If it means he spends more time on team matters then yes, I find it very encouraging. I may not be his biggest fan but assuming he's here for another season, of course I'd love it if he was successful.

[Concrete John]

As with any MON comment, wildly open to different interpretations.

This is true.  He's very guarded and tries to give very little away, so that by it's nature will mean any comment can be taken in a number of ways.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Where is the new sponsorship money?

Shouldn't we use that to sign new players?

[Mazrim]

Hasn't Randy told you where he put the sponsorship money? He told everybody else. Maybe he doesn't trust you?

[adrenachrome]

Yes, Randy hid the sponsorship stash in a cake tin and then we spent it on a fantastic picnic with ham and turkey sandwiches, bags of lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, heaps of tomato, and lashings of ginger beer.

[KevinGage]

Mcgeady is flying to Moscow tomorrow for talks. If MON really wants him, he should wait it out. Let him sign for Moscow, then after a season when he is homesick, sign him for £2m.

Yes. For Sunderland.