Houllier confirms Ireland wants to leave!

[VillaZogmariner]

But if the club have signed a deal in principle with Man City, and Milner had signed his deal at Wastelands too it couldn't have been cancelled could it.

[Chris Smith]

But if the club have signed a deal in principle with Man City, and Milner had signed his deal at Wastelands too it couldn't have been cancelled could it.

The transfer was 2 weeks after MON left, Milner even had time to play in our first league game. If the deal was all done and dusted he wouldn't have appeared.

[Greg N'Ash]

as offers have said, the whole milner deal would have collapsed. Citeh wouldn't have offered us cash instead and another player would have had the same drawbacks as Ireland. They were between a rock and a hard place because of the manager leaving

[Chris Smith]

as offers have said, the whole milner deal would have collapsed. Citeh wouldn't have offered us cash instead and another player would have had the same drawbacks as Ireland. They were between a rock and a hard place because of the manager leaving

You can't possible know what Man City would or wouldn't offer although their pursuit of Lescott shows what they are capable of when they want a player. There are plenty of reasons why the club wanted to do the deal but I just don't buy the idea that they had no alternative but to take Ireland.
Why would the deal collapsing have been so bad? As I said the manager walking out gave them the perfect excuse but they chose not to take it.

[Greg N'Ash]

as offers have said, the whole milner deal would have collapsed. Citeh wouldn't have offered us cash instead and another player would have had the same drawbacks as Ireland. They were between a rock and a hard place because of the manager leaving

You can't possible know what Man City would or wouldn't offer although their pursuit of Lescott shows what they are capable of when they want a player. There are plenty of reasons why the club wanted to do the deal but I just don't buy the idea that they had no alternative but to take Ireland.
Why would the deal collapsing have been so bad? As I said the manager walking out gave them the perfect excuse but they chose not to take it.

well lets say it had collapsed. You'd have milner who as far as he's concerned, has signed for Citeh and was waiting for Ireland to tie up his end. He's already spent his first 80k weekly wage in his mind and now he's been told to head back to Villa Park. Now that's gonna be a headfuck for any player and he's not going to be particurly sympathetic to the club. The best case scenario is he would have stayed under sufferance till January and gone to Citeh for less or seen out his contract in spite.

Anyway, rightly or wrongly i don't think the board were ever fully in control of the situation. As pelty said, the manager started this fiasco with his comments about milner, agreed the deal to sign Ireland and then walked out. God knows what he was playing at

[BILL DE VALL]

It's a shame that this deal hasn't worked out
on his day Ireland is a very good midfielder-great vision passing etc

but we all knew he was 8 kinds of mental
so he will now go somewhere else to gibber and cluck

farewell you mental baldie

[Dave]

well lets say it had collapsed. You'd have milner who as far as he's concerned, has signed for Citeh and was waiting for Ireland to tie up his end. He's already spent his first 80k weekly wage in his mind and now he's been told to head back to Villa Park. Now that's gonna be a headfuck for any player and he's not going to be particurly sympathetic to the club. The best case scenario is he would have stayed under sufferance till January and gone to Citeh for less or seen out his contract in spite.

A bit like say, when exactly the same thing happened when he wanted to join Villa in 2006? When he was in the carpark on his way to sign his contract when he was told to turn around and drive back to Newcastle?

And then went on to become one of Newcastle's better players that season and triple his transfer value?

I don't know how we would have coped if that had happened again.

[Pete3206]

Whatever middling club he ends up at, you can bet they'll be a Sun exclusive 'My Villa Hell' accompanied by a picture of him sprawled over a leopard skin sofa with his increasingly orange wife.

 

[Greg N'Ash]

oh come on dave, you know how these things work. Its like when Barry stayed. A poor game from him and this place was full of "bugger off to liverpool" posts. If Milner really had signed a deal to join Citeh then even given his professionalism i think he would have struggled

[Dave]

oh come on dave, you know how these things work. Its like when Barry stayed. A poor game from him and this place was full of "bugger off to liverpool" posts. If Milner really had signed a deal to join Citeh then even given his professionalism i think he would have struggled

Wasn't Barry pretty damn good that season, in spite of the occasional dimwitted post on a message board? Again, possibly not one of your better examples.

All I'm saying is the previous time the scenario arose in Milner's career, your vision of doom and despair didn't come to pass. He just got on with things.

[Greg N'Ash]

oh come on dave, you know how these things work. Its like when Barry stayed. A poor game from him and this place was full of "bugger off to liverpool" posts. If Milner really had signed a deal to join Citeh then even given his professionalism i think he would have struggled

Wasn't Barry pretty damn good that season, in spite of the occasional dimwitted post on a message board? Again, possibly not one of your better examples.

All I'm saying is the previous time the scenario arose in Milner's career, your vision of doom and despair didn't come to pass. He just got on with things.

he still left as soon as he could. Anyway the manager wanted to keep him. Its pretty obvious that MON wanted rid of milner and helped instigate the whole situation by his public comments. Given that situation, i believe Milner would be a bit pissed to say the least if the deal was pulled at the 11th hour

[ronshirt]

oh come on dave, you know how these things work. Its like when Barry stayed. A poor game from him and this place was full of "bugger off to liverpool" posts. If Milner really had signed a deal to join Citeh then even given his professionalism i think he would have struggled

Wasn't Barry pretty damn good that season, in spite of the occasional dimwitted post on a message board? Again, possibly not one of your better examples.

All I'm saying is the previous time the scenario arose in Milner's career, your vision of doom and despair didn't come to pass. He just got on with things.

he still left as soon as he could. Anyway the manager wanted to keep him. Its pretty obvious that MON wanted rid of milner and helped instigate the whole situation by his public comments. Given that situation, i believe Milner would be a bit pissed to say the least if the deal was pulled at the 11th hour

Mon wanted rid of Milner?

[Greg N'Ash]

thats the opinion i get, probably to fund his spending. Go back to Pelty's post on page 11 where he talks about certain comments MON gave to the press that made Milner's position untenable. If they're the ones i'm thinking of, Milner hotly denied them at the time and was reportably  furious with MON

[ronshirt]

thats the opinion i get, probably to fund his spending. Go back to Pelty's post on page 11 where he talks about certain comments MON gave to the press that made Milner's position untenable. If they're the ones i'm thinking of, Milner hotly denied them at the time and was reportably  furious with MON

Ok. Just don't let Evil Dr ADZ666 find out or we'll never  hear the last of it.

[Clampy]

I think that if the deal had been pulled at the last minute, Milner would have been disapointed yes, but he comes across as professional enough to have put it behind him. Let's take the West Ham game, he could have took it easy, had a quiet game and got it over and done with, but he played well, worked hard and weighed in with a goal.