The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[richard moore]

I wish he would hurry up and go. I'm not going to be behind Milner this season even if he stays, pretty much as I wasn't when Barry stayed on a season. Let's just get rid, particularly at £25m or so which is a fantastic amount for someone so ordinary in the bigger scheme of things...

[olaftab]

Milner to have a medical tomorrow?

More `ITK`.

Sure.....

Is it for insurance policy?

[Chris Smith]

As just said on another thread, MON has said it is totally in the hands of Lerner re this transfer and he does not know who he will and won't have in his squad this season as he is not in control of it basically. From being all things to all men to relinquishing a fair amount of control over transfers, some pretty hard words must have been had between Lerner and O'Neill, and the former clearly does not have the same trust as he did, and rightly so.

I think you're reading far too much into it.

The price has been set, which I'm pretty sure wopuld have been mostly down to MON, so all that is to be done is the haggling. I'm sure that neither MON or Mancini would be involved. It was the same with Barry.

[Concrete John]

I think Martin and the player have said everything they can/want to to each other, so now it's a matter of whether Man City pay the asking price or not.  If they do they it's a matter for the likes of Faulkner to do the necessary and if not manager and player get on with their respective jobs.  

Sounds to me as if the decision is made, £30m or no deal, as opposed to Martin being removed from the decision making process.

[ozzjim]

As just said on another thread, MON has said it is totally in the hands of Lerner re this transfer and he does not know who he will and won't have in his squad this season as he is not in control of it basically. From being all things to all men to relinquishing a fair amount of control over transfers, some pretty hard words must have been had between Lerner and O'Neill, and the former clearly does not have the same trust as he did, and rightly so.

I think you're reading far too much into it.

The price has been set, which I'm pretty sure wopuld have been mostly down to MON, so all that is to be done is the haggling. I'm sure that neither MON or Mancini would be involved. It was the same with Barry.

The stance from a year ago is vastly different to that now though Chris, and I would immediately expect certain posters to say it is not significant etc, but MON has a history of either engineering a board out, or saying goodbye if the board start to take more grip on proceedings. He won't like it one bit if Lerner is getting more involved in setting fees and player negotiations, although I agree with Mazrim, that MON should not allowed his own credit card if some of the reported wages are accurate, and judging by our financial outlay they would appear to be so.

[Risso]

As just said on another thread, MON has said it is totally in the hands of Lerner re this transfer and he does not know who he will and won't have in his squad this season as he is not in control of it basically. From being all things to all men to relinquishing a fair amount of control over transfers, some pretty hard words must have been had between Lerner and O'Neill, and the former clearly does not have the same trust as he did, and rightly so.

I think you're reading far too much into it.

The price has been set, which I'm pretty sure wopuld have been mostly down to MON, so all that is to be done is the haggling. I'm sure that neither MON or Mancini would be involved. It was the same with Barry.

I don't really think what O'Neill said (interview in the Torygraph) is open to whole heap of interpretation:

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."

He doesn't know who's coming or going, so can't make concrete plans.  It's not just the Milner sale.

[Concrete John]

He doesn't know who's coming or going, so can't make concrete plans.  It's not just the Milner sale.

I think it is.  We've said all through the summer that targets and priorities would shift depending on whether Milner goes or not, and all I read into that is Martin saying much the same thing.

[Risso]

You must admit it's a bit of a change from the General saying things like:

When it comes to a CEO, his/her efforts are not focused on the Football side of the house...that is the purview of the man charged with running that side of the house...in our case, MON. MON does have people who help him with transfers...he has lawyers, coaches, scouts, etc. etc. He does not need a CEO looking over his shoulder...and he does not have one.

and:

Martin will NOT report to Paul...he will continue to have a one on one relationship with Randy.

[Concrete John]

But is he saying he isn't deciding who is coming or going, or that he's waiting to see if his requests/instructions go ahead?

As an example, Martin has told the board that he wants £30m for Milner or £20m and Ireland.  His decision and not effected by the boards own views.  They are now negotiating with Man City along those lines, but while that's happening Martin will not know exactly what his funds are or whether one player is going and maybe another coming.  

Under those not circumstance, which aren't exactly fantastical, all statements made still ring true.

[pauliewalnuts]

As just said on another thread, MON has said it is totally in the hands of Lerner re this transfer and he does not know who he will and won't have in his squad this season as he is not in control of it basically. From being all things to all men to relinquishing a fair amount of control over transfers, some pretty hard words must have been had between Lerner and O'Neill, and the former clearly does not have the same trust as he did, and rightly so.

I think you're reading far too much into it.

The price has been set, which I'm pretty sure wopuld have been mostly down to MON, so all that is to be done is the haggling. I'm sure that neither MON or Mancini would be involved. It was the same with Barry.

I don't really think what O'Neill said (interview in the Torygraph) is open to whole heap of interpretation:

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."

He doesn't know who's coming or going, so can't make concrete plans.  It's not just the Milner sale.

I think his more recent comments about the Milner situation indicate a certain amount of disenchantment going on.

I think the best thing that could happen now is to reach decent terms to get rid of Milner so we can move on. It is going to start affecting the club negatively pretty soon.

[Risso]

I think it's simpler than that.  The CEO used to have nothing to do with transfers, and now he does.  Presumably to try and stop the waste of wages happening again.

[ozzjim]

I think it's simpler than that.  The CEO used to have nothing to do with transfers, and now he does.  Presumably to try and stop the waste of wages happening again.

It is fairly clear from the comment that this is the case. And MON won't like it at all.

[Concrete John]

I think it's simpler than that.  The CEO used to have nothing to do with transfers, and now he does.  Presumably to try and stop the waste of wages happening again.

If that's the case, why are we talking about a CEO being involved in relation to an outgoing transfer only?

End of the day a lot can be read into these comments, but we'll never really know the exact mechanics behind the scenes

[Risso]

sorry John, but I'm certain something HAS changed.  The General always made such a big point of telling us how closely O'Neill and Lerner worked together.  Quotes like:

"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."

don't seem to indicate that that is the case any more.

[Mazrim]

I wouldn't rule out relationships changing slightly if not significantly. I for one am glad too, as I suggested earlier, I want the manager suggesting his targets and who he has no further need for, then leaving the rest up to the business monkeys whilst gets on with preparing the squad.

I still think he's very much "the man" when it comes to playing matters but he can and should defer other duties to make his job easier and if he didn't want to defer them they should be taken from him.

The wages are out of control vs value for money. They need to be brought under control again. I dont even think the amount of wages as % of turnover is the problem as I think its largely budgeted for. I think its the poor return from a sizeable share of those wages is the issue.