A selling club.

[VillaAlways]

The worrying thing is if Stevie Ireland doesn't find his previous form under GH we have practically given Jimmy away.It was only a good deal if Stephen was the player he was in 2008/9.We've taken a gamble

[Chris Smith]

Interesting although you wonder whether the players are actually any better informed than we are on the financial side of things.

There was that much publicised meeting between Milner, MON, Randy and Faulkner. I'm assuming that this would be the type of thing they'd be discussing.

[citizenDJ]

Interesting although you wonder whether the players are actually any better informed than we are on the financial side of things.

There was that much publicised meeting between Milner, MON, Randy and Faulkner. I'm assuming that this would be the type of thing they'd be discussing.

I don't think it tells us anything new though, does it? We know that the wages issue needs to be addressed, and doing so means shifting a few players. If we manage to somehow offload Heskey and his apparent wages, and sign a better player on less wages, then job done. We sold, we bought.

[Chris Smith]

Interesting although you wonder whether the players are actually any better informed than we are on the financial side of things.

There was that much publicised meeting between Milner, MON, Randy and Faulkner. I'm assuming that this would be the type of thing they'd be discussing.

I don't think it tells us anything new though, does it? We know that the wages issue needs to be addressed, and doing so means shifting a few players. If we manage to somehow offload Heskey and his apparent wages, and sign a better player on less wages, then job done. We sold, we bought.

It wasn't enough to convince Milner to stay and so might not be enough to persuade better players to join.

[monkeyboy]

Interesting although you wonder whether the players are actually any better informed than we are on the financial side of things.

There was that much publicised meeting between Milner, MON, Randy and Faulkner. I'm assuming that this would be the type of thing they'd be discussing.

I don't think it tells us anything new though, does it? We know that the wages issue needs to be addressed, and doing so means shifting a few players. If we manage to somehow offload Heskey and his apparent wages, and sign a better player on less wages, then job done. We sold, we bought.

Interesting although you wonder whether the players are actually any better informed than we are on the financial side of things.

There was that much publicised meeting between Milner, MON, Randy and Faulkner. I'm assuming that this would be the type of thing they'd be discussing.

I don't think it tells us anything new though, does it? We know that the wages issue needs to be addressed, and doing so means shifting a few players. If we manage to somehow offload Heskey and his apparent wages, and sign a better player on less wages, then job done. We sold, we bought.

Can we sell Heskey and replace him with a Raleigh Grifter - both inanimate objects, the Grifter will only need a drop of oil instead of wages and will be just as potent up front - i'd love to see that!

[citizenDJ]

Interesting although you wonder whether the players are actually any better informed than we are on the financial side of things.

There was that much publicised meeting between Milner, MON, Randy and Faulkner. I'm assuming that this would be the type of thing they'd be discussing.

I don't think it tells us anything new though, does it? We know that the wages issue needs to be addressed, and doing so means shifting a few players. If we manage to somehow offload Heskey and his apparent wages, and sign a better player on less wages, then job done. We sold, we bought.

It wasn't enough to convince Milner to stay and so might not be enough to persuade better players to join.

Perhaps you're right, but then we've never shopped in the 'high end' of the market, really (although the wages and fees MON has splashed put over the last few years mean we perhaps could have been, but that's an argument for another thread!). As to persuading Milner to stay, I doubt there was much we could have done, sadly, once Man City came calling. In that respect, we're no different to Arsenal, Everton, Barcelona, really.
We'll just have to hope Houllier and McAllister between them can sign up some new gems for us over the next year or so.

And then we can sell them for a huge profit....

[KRS]

If selling some of the dross that MON signed on high wages is classed as "sell to buy" or makes us a "selling club" then so be it. Its completely logical to sell these players so the resources can be reinvested. If the resources are not used to make improvements in the squad then we should be rightly concerned, but until then we should give Randy the benefit of the doubt.

[The Man With A Stick]

The worrying thing is if Stevie Ireland doesn't find his previous form under GH we have practically given Jimmy away.It was only a good deal if Stephen was the player he was in 2008/9.We've taken a gamble

What about the £16m+ that Citeh gave us as well?

[Chris Smith]

If selling some of the dross that MON signed on high wages is classed as "sell to buy" or makes us a "selling club" then so be it. Its completely logical to sell these players so the resources can be reinvested. If the resources are not used to make improvements in the squad then we should be rightly concerned, but until then we should give Randy the benefit of the doubt.

The player we sold was our best player though, not the ones you dismiss as dross. As you say we need to see what happens in January and whether Houllier is allowed to spend or will he still have to sell first.

[VillaAlways]

The worrying thing is if Stevie Ireland doesn't find his previous form under GH we have practically given Jimmy away.It was only a good deal if Stephen was the player he was in 2008/9.We've taken a gamble

What about the £16m+ that Citeh gave us as well?

Which will seem cheap if Ireland doesn't step up to the plate is what I'm saying.I'm just praying GH will know how to get the best out of him.I don't think I've ever wwanted a player to succeed this much if only to justify the selling of Milner

[PeterWithe]

Whatever our list of targets were, they were never going to be as impressive as City's. I've every respect for Jimmy Milner but I doubt that our financial policy was at the forefront of his mind when deciding where to play this year.

[KRS]

As has been said many times already in this thread, lots of other EPL clubs have sold some of their best players given the right offer so we're no different. The quote from Milner suggests the sell to buy policy is getting rid of the dross and thats fair enough, however Milner (as our best player) wasnt prepared to patient enough to sit around whilst the squad is rebuilt.

The way I understand it, MON was under instruction to get rid of some of the dross first and foremost...he failed to do this, and we then have the subsequent disagreement over the Milner funds. I dont blame Randy for not wanting to give the Milner cash for MON to piss up the wall again having failed to meet his first objective. I expect GH will be under the same instructions however as the new manager he may (or should) be given some funds to play with in January with players being removed in summer.

[Somniloquism]

Taken objectively we have definitely been a selling club this year. We have let more players go then we have brought in and we have not spent money on any players. Unlike most of the other clubs mentioned, we have not adequately spent the windfall on replacements for the player who has left. We have also had comments like today from Milner and other from KMac about us having a sell to buy policy. Plus the comments from the General several weeks ago. I don't blame them having that stance as we cannot afford the wage levels we have compared to turnover, especially as it is on Players like Heskey and Beye, but from an outsiders view that seems to suggest a selling club.

Although Pelty seems to suggest MON forced the Milner move, isn't there also rumours that MON walked because he didn't want Ireland and wanted the deal as cash only. Now I wouldn't have wanted McGeady but Keane could have been a good purchase. When MON walked we could have stopped the Milner sale (it took 10 days between the two events) but we continued even though we did not know what the new manager would want. I agreed at the time we still had the better deal but until we get a system that brings the best out of Ireland or spend the rest of the money to strengthen the team then it is a bad deal.

[pauliewalnuts]

Whatever the new manager wanted, he wasn't going to change Milner's mind at that late point. 

I thought the person who sounded most like he wanted the Milner sale in the early part of the summer was MON. Something which the generals recent comments back up.

[Hopadop]

Can we sell Heskey and replace him with a Raleigh Grifter - both inanimate objects, the Grifter will only need a drop of oil instead of wages and will be just as potent up front - i'd love to see that!

You don't win anything with kids' bikes