Houllier confirms Ireland wants to leave!

[Greg N'Ash]

read eigentor's link dave. it mentions there that milner denied he ever asked to leave. Given what we now know about MON would you bet against it?

[Dave]

read eigentor's link dave. it mentions there that milner denied he ever asked to leave.

No it doesn't.

Given what we now know about MON would you bet against it?

Quite happily. If the only issue was between O'Neill and Milner then logically, once O'Neill leaves then there is nothing to prevent Milner from staying? Unless of course, he actually did want to go to Man City.

I know that you've argued some pretty inarguable stuff in the past - but just to clarify, are you really saying that Milner didn't want to move to Man City until O'Neill lied to say that he did?

[Dave]

I think there is little doubt that Milner wanted to leave in the summer. However, he didn't want to say this in public because he didn't want a backlash a la Barry if the transfer didn't go through. This means that he was prepared to stay and do his best if we managed to keep him. But after MON's comments the latter was no longer a possibility.

Now that is something that I think we can all agree with.

I'm sure greg will find something to argue with in there though.

[Greg N'Ash]

i'm saying that Milner was probably asked in the meeting about Citeh and probably said if you want to sell me, then i'd be interested. Just like Young or gabby would say now. There's a big difference to that conversation and your manager announcing to the world that you want to leave.

[KevinGage]

I'm not going to speak for Greg, but would it be entirely out of the question that Milner was interested in joining Citeh, had even held preliminary talks re wages and so on via his agent but might have had doubts about leaving?

Only for MON's comments to make his mind up and push him past the point of no return.

Pure conjecture on my part, but there was very little from the Milner camp either way up until MON's comments in July.

Edit: The above two posts cover that.

[Chris Smith]

I'm not going to speak for Greg, but would it be entirely out of the question that Milner was interested in joining Citeh, had even held preliminary talks re wages and so on via his agent but might have had doubts about leaving?

Only for MON's comments to make his mind up and push him past the point of no return.

Pure conjecture on my part, but there was very little from the Milner camp either way up until MON's comments in July.

Edit: The above two posts cover that.

The point of no return that meant he signed two weeks after the manager left and after playing in our first league game? All MON did was let the cat out of the bag. There are no quotes to be found of Milner denying the claims just scources close to the player (i.e. agent) suggesting that he was pissed off because he knew that if Man City didn't come up with the cash he might have to stay.

[Villa'Zawg]

hmmm. i think we're on about the ones from the 22 July.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Villa's friendly with Bohemians in Dublin on Saturday, O'Neill confirmed Milner had rejected the chance to stay at Villa Park.

He said: "I had a conversation with James before the World Cup and he intimated that he'd like to go.

"City made an offer but it did not meet our valuation. I'm sure matters will be resolved soon. James is back next week having had an extended holiday."

The ones where Milner denied any knowledge of the conversation and reportably tried to phone MON to find out what was happening

Ah yes, July 22nd – First day of pre-season training

Martin O’Neill gives radio interview where he says that Milner intimated he wanted to leave and that we’d have to sell to buy some players.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/8846298.stm

Later that same day Pelty had his little meltdown…

July 22, 2010, 07:22:44 PM »

This was pathetic. MON needs to stop whinging about how hard life is and set about improving the team (and, concurrently, not wasting money on the wages of players that never sniff the pitch). If there were a sell-to-buy policy (which there is not), then he would only have himself to blame for the exorbitant wages spent on horrible players. The top wage earner at the club is Emile Heskey. Whose fault is that, I wonder? He has had plenty of money at his disposal and used it on a fair amount of garbage (not in total, of course, but his record in this is only so-so). He is fickle in his player selection and then, when he settles on a side, he runs it into the ground. Further, he has proved himself incapable of identifying talent outside of the country and thus is force to pay these higher wages; again, his fault. This whole moan would be laughable if it were not so infuriating.

And less than 5 minutes later (from the same IP address??) The General confirms that we are getting to grips with the wages and have to sell some players.

« on: July 22, 2010, 07:26:55 PM »
General Krulak here:

1.  Sorry for being off the site...your "military star and illustrious fan" is back...and I didn't take the comment as sarcastic but, rather, as an indication that I am first and foremost a fan.

2.  I know that I have mentioned on more than one occasion that we need to understand that all Premiership Clubs...yes, all football clubs...are a business.  Revenue and expenditures need to make sense.  One of the issues we face, and we have talked about it before and so has MON and others is the issue of the on-going wage bill.  This issue needs to be kept in perspective and needs to be understood.  It is not just the cost of the transfer...it is the on-going wages.  If you don't get that right, you cannot adequately pay your good players much less go onto the market and get new ones.  What we see right now is the Club getting a handle on the wage side of the house.  This is no different than what we have done once before.  This means we have to sell some players...no different than most Premiership Clubs...you see them doing it all the time.  Randy has NOT lost his passion for the Club or has he lost his vision of the goal he has always set for the Villa.  He has spent more time in the UK in the last 2 months than he has ever done before...he has been focused on the Club and has been working closely with MON.  As always, I am NOT going to get into a discussion of transfers BUT I will say that everyone needs to cool down a bit and see what happens.

I think Martin O’Neill’s “crime” was letting the cat out of bag.

[Eigentor]

I'm not going to speak for Greg, but would it be entirely out of the question that Milner was interested in joining Citeh, had even held preliminary talks re wages and so on via his agent but might have had doubts about leaving?

Only for MON's comments to make his mind up and push him past the point of no return.

Pure conjecture on my part, but there was very little from the Milner camp either way up until MON's comments in July.

Edit: The above two posts cover that.

The point of no return that meant he signed two weeks after the manager left and after playing in our first league game?

Yes, but it was well-known that the hold-up at the end of the transfer saga was due to issues between Ireland and City and had nothing to do with Milner and Villa.

[Legion]

If I remember correctly, he was holding out for a 'loyalty' payment or bonus of some sort?

[Villa'Zawg]

If I remember correctly, he was holding out for a 'loyalty' payment or bonus of some sort?

According to the Irish press, they awarded him £1.5m but the contract contained a confidentiality clause. Man City has since withheld the payment because they claim he slagged them off in an interview and our Stevie is suing them for the £1.5m.

[ronshirt]

If I remember correctly, he was holding out for a 'loyalty' payment or bonus of some sort?

According to the Irish press, they awarded him £1.5m but the contract contained a confidentiality clause. Man City has since withheld the payment because they claim he slagged them off in an interview and our Stevie is suing them for the £1.5m.

That's why he's not playing very well - he's got money worries.

[pauliewalnuts]

hmmm. i think we're on about the ones from the 22 July.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Villa's friendly with Bohemians in Dublin on Saturday, O'Neill confirmed Milner had rejected the chance to stay at Villa Park.

He said: "I had a conversation with James before the World Cup and he intimated that he'd like to go.

"City made an offer but it did not meet our valuation. I'm sure matters will be resolved soon. James is back next week having had an extended holiday."

The ones where Milner denied any knowledge of the conversation and reportably tried to phone MON to find out what was happening

Ah yes, July 22nd – First day of pre-season training

Martin O’Neill gives radio interview where he says that Milner intimated he wanted to leave and that we’d have to sell to buy some players.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/8846298.stm

Later that same day Pelty had his little meltdown…

July 22, 2010, 07:22:44 PM »

This was pathetic. MON needs to stop whinging about how hard life is and set about improving the team (and, concurrently, not wasting money on the wages of players that never sniff the pitch). If there were a sell-to-buy policy (which there is not), then he would only have himself to blame for the exorbitant wages spent on horrible players. The top wage earner at the club is Emile Heskey. Whose fault is that, I wonder? He has had plenty of money at his disposal and used it on a fair amount of garbage (not in total, of course, but his record in this is only so-so). He is fickle in his player selection and then, when he settles on a side, he runs it into the ground. Further, he has proved himself incapable of identifying talent outside of the country and thus is force to pay these higher wages; again, his fault. This whole moan would be laughable if it were not so infuriating.

And less than 5 minutes later (from the same IP address??) The General confirms that we are getting to grips with the wages and have to sell some players.

« on: July 22, 2010, 07:26:55 PM »
General Krulak here:

1.  Sorry for being off the site...your "military star and illustrious fan" is back...and I didn't take the comment as sarcastic but, rather, as an indication that I am first and foremost a fan.

2.  I know that I have mentioned on more than one occasion that we need to understand that all Premiership Clubs...yes, all football clubs...are a business.  Revenue and expenditures need to make sense.  One of the issues we face, and we have talked about it before and so has MON and others is the issue of the on-going wage bill.  This issue needs to be kept in perspective and needs to be understood.  It is not just the cost of the transfer...it is the on-going wages.  If you don't get that right, you cannot adequately pay your good players much less go onto the market and get new ones.  What we see right now is the Club getting a handle on the wage side of the house.  This is no different than what we have done once before.  This means we have to sell some players...no different than most Premiership Clubs...you see them doing it all the time.  Randy has NOT lost his passion for the Club or has he lost his vision of the goal he has always set for the Villa.  He has spent more time in the UK in the last 2 months than he has ever done before...he has been focused on the Club and has been working closely with MON.  As always, I am NOT going to get into a discussion of transfers BUT I will say that everyone needs to cool down a bit and see what happens.

I think Martin O’Neill’s “crime” was letting the cat out of bag.

"From the same IP address?" - Christ almighty, you really need to get over this paranoid obsession you have with this. As for accusing anyone of having a meltdown over it, there's only one person you could level that accusation at, and it is you.

[dave.woodhall]

I think Martin O’Neill’s “crime” was letting the cat out of bag.

I can think of at least one thing he did that was much worse.

[Legion]

Playing Cuellar as right-back?

[pauliewalnuts]

Ireland has been a massive disappointment since coming here - to do with attitude, rather than talent, but a disappointment nonetheless.

I can't help thinking that the same people who are now moaning that we signed him without a manager would have been moaning if we'd signed nobody (and in some cases are the very same people who are suggesting that we didn't appoint a manager until after the window closed in order to save money).

Lose - lose.