January Transfer Window - Rumours, Links, B*llsh*t and Made-Up Nonsense

[Surrey Villain]

His horse did. He was just the little berk weighing it down a bit.
Should have given it to the horse(s). Ridiculous award.

In the same way that a Formula 1 driver is just weighing the car down.

No not at all. A Formula one car is not an animal with a mind and will of its own.
It cannot win on its own. It is completely dependent on the skill of the driver. It is "equpiment".

Sorry, even though I was being deliberately flippent and mishceivous, I'm not having it. When you have the world's best spin bowler, a champion multi-discipline athlete, a world heavyweight boxing champion amongst others as competition, I cant believe they gave it to a glorified horse ornament.
Just my opinion. Nobody has to agree with it.

Well I don't agree with you. Wasn't it voted for by the public?

it was voted for by the public, so it wasn't given to McCoy by the bbc, and he polled 40% of the vote, which is massive in a 10 horse race (get it) so maz your opinion is very much in the minority this time, and phil the power taylor came second

I agree with you.  The same public who voted for Anne Widdecombe and Wagner!
As a slight aside can anyone remember why the public can't vote for Goal of the Month on MOTD these days?

[eamonn]

Summat about the fallout from the ITV phoneline scandal when they were charging poor buggers even after competition lines were closed.

I've not seen Goal of the Month this season - have there been any Villa goals in the monthly top tens?

[Surrey Villain]

Summat about the fallout from the ITV phoneline scandal when they were charging poor buggers even after competition lines were closed.

I've not seen Goal of the Month this season - have there been any Villa goals in the monthly top tens?

But ITV are still having public votes for X Factor (many 'swayed' shall we say by campaigns on Facebook etc) and the BBC for Strictly - the final of that must have been swayed by Eastenders viewers.  So why not a relatively harmless competition on MOTD?  Sorry this has got off topic but I needed to get it off my chest!

[eastie]

 I always thought the winner had to from the uk as they already have an award for overseas winner? If ap McCoy is from southern Ireland how can he win it?

[ColinMac]

He isn't from the south. He is from Antrim.

[BedsVillain]

How good was Houllier's transfer record at Liverpool (and for the John Blackwell usurpers out there, at Lyon)? I remember a lot of third-rate shite - Titi Camara, Eric Meijer, Diao, Diouf, Biscan etc. Did he buy Nick Barmby aswell? He wasn't so bad but I don't remember there being that many unqualified successes.

Not ever imagining I could usurp the Blackwell....but it seems that Houllier signed amongst others:

John Carew
Fred
Thiago
Nilmar (on loan)
Jeremy Toulalon
Alou Diarra
Kim Kallstrom
Sébastien Squillaci
and Milan Baros...

He also gave Loic Remy his break through as a 19 year old. Looking at the lists of ins and outs, it's clear to see that he a) likes to mark his own stamp on a club and b) likes to promote from the youth team! Both fairly promising signs for the future. Plus he seems to have a liking for Defensive Midfielders and Strikers!!

Thanks for that. Hmm, I must say that does restore my confidence somewhat. Some really quality players there - would be even more impressed if they actually improved at Lyon (which I honestly don't know). Kallstrom was the golden boy for the Champ manager generation but did he pull up any trees after leaving Sweden?

John Carew - £6.6m from Besiktas
Fred - £13.7m from Cruzeiro
Thiago - £8.8m from Chelsea
Nilmar (on loan)
Jeremy Toulalon - £6.1m from FC Nantes
Alou Diarra - £5.5m from RC Lens
Kim Kallstrom - £5.2m from Rennes
Sébastien Squillaci - £3.9m from Monaco

Some pretty good deals there to be fair! Biggest fee was for Fred, but to be fair he was a 21 year old Brazilian wonderkid at the time, 40 goals in 43 games for Cruzeiro in one season. He scored goals for Lyon too 41 goals in 119 games, which isn't too bad.

Also worth noting is, GH was in charge when Lyon sold Essien to Chelsea for £26m and Mahamadou Diarra to Real Madrid for £23m. So he knows how to hold out for proper money too.

[JJ-AV]

Please sign Nilmar again.

[eastie]

Cheers for letting me know colinmac!

[adamski villa]

Barton is a good player who would improve us.

But he is on £80k a week, he isn't going nowhere, the same reason they all stayed there when they were relegated.

Joey Barton is a scumbag who would improve our scumness definitely.

100% agree, i wouldnt piss on him if he was on fire, I will not go to VP EVER while he is wearing a Villa shirt

[JUAN PABLO]

hope he signs another brazillian wonder kid  ;-)

[spangley1812]

How good was Houllier's transfer record at Liverpool (and for the John Blackwell usurpers out there, at Lyon)? I remember a lot of third-rate shite - Titi Camara, Eric Meijer, Diao, Diouf, Biscan etc. Did he buy Nick Barmby aswell? He wasn't so bad but I don't remember there being that many unqualified successes.

Not ever imagining I could usurp the Blackwell....but it seems that Houllier signed amongst others:

John Carew
Fred
Thiago
Nilmar (on loan)
Jeremy Toulalon
Alou Diarra
Kim Kallstrom
Sébastien Squillaci
and Milan Baros...

He also gave Loic Remy his break through as a 19 year old. Looking at the lists of ins and outs, it's clear to see that he a) likes to mark his own stamp on a club and b) likes to promote from the youth team! Both fairly promising signs for the future. Plus he seems to have a liking for Defensive Midfielders and Strikers!!

Thanks for that. Hmm, I must say that does restore my confidence somewhat. Some really quality players there - would be even more impressed if they actually improved at Lyon (which I honestly don't know). Kallstrom was the golden boy for the Champ manager generation but did he pull up any trees after leaving Sweden?

John Carew - £6.6m from Besiktas
Fred - £13.7m from Cruzeiro
Thiago - £8.8m from Chelsea
Nilmar (on loan)
Jeremy Toulalon - £6.1m from FC Nantes
Alou Diarra - £5.5m from RC Lens
Kim Kallstrom - £5.2m from Rennes
Sébastien Squillaci - £3.9m from Monaco

Some pretty good deals there to be fair! Biggest fee was for Fred, but to be fair he was a 21 year old Brazilian wonderkid at the time, 40 goals in 43 games for Cruzeiro in one season. He scored goals for Lyon too 41 goals in 119 games, which isn't too bad.

Also worth noting is, GH was in charge when Lyon sold Essien to Chelsea for £26m and Mahamadou Diarra to Real Madrid for £23m. So he knows how to hold out for proper money too.

I understand that GED did not deal with transfers @ Lyon, he had to go through/deal with a director of football who had the final say

[TheSandman]

Chelsea have put a possible £15m move for Blackburn defender Phil Jones on hold after his season-ending knee injury.

What about us doing a Downing and trying to get him cheap whilst he's injured?

[SoccerHQ]

Can anyone name all those Liverpool players in the pics?
I bet Dave (from Bath) can.

From the last pic, it's Kewell, Finnan, Le Tallec and Sinama Pongolle.

From the other pic, It's Stephane Henchoz, Hyypia, Smicer, Titi Camara, Westerveld and someone else.

Suggests to me Houllier was better at signing defenders than strikers at Liverpool and at lyon it was the other way round.

[Mazrim]

Whilst I'm fairly certain it is, I hope that the link with Barton is bollocks.
I dont want that scuttering eejit anywhere near this club, never mind wearing it's shirt.

[Toronto Villa]

Whilst I'm fairly certain it is, I hope that the link with Barton is bollocks.
I dont want that scuttering eejit anywhere near this club, never mind wearing it's shirt.

Maz, I don't think there's any chance of that happening. I think someone posted this earlier that Houllier may have tried to get him for Liverpool when he was at Man City. So from a column inches to be filled standpoint, Houllier must be after him again.