Summer transfer rumours, speculation and out-and-out b*ll*cks.

[Concrete John]

Why do people harp on about resale value???

Err could it be something to do with habib beye costing us 8 million and getting fuck all back?

heskey - 3 million No resale
Salifou - 2 million in wages No resale
NRC - 8 million No resale
Cuellar - 6 million loss
Sidwell - 5 million then 3 million loss
Davies - 5 million loss

So off the top of my head that is over 20 million wasted but it's fine

I'd argue about the term 'wasted'.  We had some good usage out of NRC and Cuellar as they're both useful players.  Whether or not that'senough for the outlay/loss is another matter.

Some signings you mention were doomed from that start and never should have been made, but as we all know most clubs will have some of those.  Others looked decent enough signings at the time, but didn't work out - see Davies and Sidwell.

Taking a loss on players is acceptable as it's part of running a football club, but my issue is with getting something for that loss.  On too many of late we haven't.

[Rick_avfc]

Why do people harp on about resale value???

Err could it be something to do with habib beye costing us 8 million and getting fuck all back?

heskey - 3 million No resale
Salifou - 2 million in wages No resale
NRC - 8 million No resale
Cuellar - 6 million loss
Sidwell - 5 million then 3 million loss
Davies - 5 million loss

So off the top of my head that is over 20 million wasted but it's fine

So what are you saying?  we shouldn't sign anyone that has no resale value even though they could improve our team? i.e. Parker?  We should only sign younger players in hope their value increases? Say if that younster fails, then what? we make another loss?
The list above is irresponsible buying by MON.  All clubs buy players that fail to cut the mustard and are sold on  for a cheaper value.  Thats football and has been happening for years at every club including Man Utd and Chelsea and Liverpool - the list goes on!

[eastie]

a good mix is needed of younger and older players ,resale value shouldnt matter in every case as older players add a lot to a team and younger quality ones will have resale value anyway.

[Mister E]

Why do people harp on about resale value???

Err could it be something to do with habib beye costing us 8 million and getting fuck all back?

heskey - 3 million No resale
Salifou - 2 million in wages No resale
NRC - 8 million No resale
Cuellar - 6 million loss
Sidwell - 5 million then 3 million loss
Davies - 5 million loss

So off the top of my head that is over 20 million wasted but it's fine

So what are you saying?  we shouldn't sign anyone that has no resale value even though they could improve our team? i.e. Parker?  We should only sign younger players in hope their value increases? Say if that younster fails, then what? we make another loss?
The list above is irresponsible buying by MON.  All clubs buy players that fail to cut the mustard and are sold on  for a cheaper value.  Thats football and has been happening for years at every club including Man Utd and Chelsea and Liverpool - the list goes on!

2 points re this:
1. no one on that list was a duff purchase when originally brought in (with the possible exception of Salifou). What killed them was the wages we paid and the fact that MON either didn't play them enough (e.g. NRC) or didn't develop them into the players (e.g. Sidwell) they could / should have been.
2. Interestingly, if you look at the 5-year net spends for Premiership clubs (rather than simply one player or another) you'll see that Villa has the 4th highest net spend. ManUre - since you mention them - ar 14th with a net spend of only £15m. Well-managed clubs are able to both buy and sell within their means.

We've allowed contracts to run down to a point where the re-sale value is negligible - it's probably not even an issue of poor purchases by MON; it's about timing. This probably explains the reason to sell Downing now; to max the re-sale value and deal with an issue rather than leave it for another 12 months.

[garyshawsknee]

Regarding Parker,id see it as a similar signing to the one of Townsend . He was 30 when we bought,and was well in his prime,but we still got three good years out of him.

The only thing we need to worry about is if a signing would improve the team,and no doubt that Parker would.

[pauliewalnuts]

Everyone thought Heskey was a duff purchase, too.

Interesting that we dont seem to give five year contracts out, so if a player has a season settling, then a good season, like Downing, we're at that tricky "two years left" point.

I appreciate that it's a gamble giving long contracts, but if they're players you spend a lot of money on and confidently expect to do very well for you, it seems a gamble you should take at times.

[Dave P]

Why are we moaning about resale ?  What if Parker signs and plays with us until he retires at 38 ?  What if he scores the winning goal in the FA Cup Final ?  What if he scores the goal that beats Norwich on the last day of the season to keep us up ? 

We can't really think like this, if a quality player becomes available then we should be in the queue to get him.

[Chris Smith]

Everyone thought Heskey was a duff purchase, too.

Interesting that we dont seem to give five year contracts out, so if a player has a season settling, then a good season, like Downing, we're at that tricky "two years left" point.

I appreciate that it's a gamble giving long contracts, but if they're players you spend a lot of money on and confidently expect to do very well for you, it seems a gamble you should take at times.

My understanding is that wages go up the longer the contact. So, for example, a player will accept £50k per week for a 4 year deal but will ask for £60k if it is 5 years. It could be argued that it's a false economy but I suppose a balance has to be struck on the overall salary budget.

[Rick_avfc]

A rumour circulating in Glasgow is that Villa are after Steven Naismith.  Don't know anything about him to be honest but all this could be bull generated from the highlands

[pauliewalnuts]

Everyone thought Heskey was a duff purchase, too.

Interesting that we dont seem to give five year contracts out, so if a player has a season settling, then a good season, like Downing, we're at that tricky "two years left" point.

I appreciate that it's a gamble giving long contracts, but if they're players you spend a lot of money on and confidently expect to do very well for you, it seems a gamble you should take at times.

My understanding is that wages go up the longer the contact. So, for example, a player will accept £50k per week for a 4 year deal but will ask for £60k if it is 5 years. It could be argued that it's a false economy but I suppose a balance has to be struck on the overall salary budget.

You're probably right there.

[King of the Nørth]

I'd be horrified if we signed SWP. Or Joe Cole for that matter.

We already have enough expensive has-beens at the club. I would have thoght we'd have learned our lesson by now. We'd be better off buying no one at all.

 Agreed. Hopefully Wigan will get SWP after we nick N'Zog off them and that'll be the end of that viscous rumour. Id rather we get get Verhoek or Shaquiri who are both reportedly about £5m. If they flop at least it wont be too expensive and we have Alby as backup.

[Concrete John]

Why are we moaning about resale ?  What if Parker signs and plays with us until he retires at 38 ?  What if he scores the winning goal in the FA Cup Final ?  What if he scores the goal that beats Norwich on the last day of the season to keep us up ? 

We can't really think like this, if a quality player becomes available then we should be in the queue to get him.

Yet if said player fails to deliever, or does so short term and then goes crap, the board/manager will be criticised for signing him on a long deal and high wages.  And when you work on a limited budget/turnover this ca them hamper buying others in the future, as we are currently experiencing.   

For us it's easy - good player so sign him.  For them they also need to ensure a balance between the footballing issues and the financials. 

[eastie]

my concern is what happens on the pitch - randy and co can sort the finance , i go to see aston villa play football not worry about wage and resale issues.

[Dave]

Everyone thought Heskey was a duff purchase, too.

Interesting that we dont seem to give five year contracts out, so if a player has a season settling, then a good season, like Downing, we're at that tricky "two years left" point.

I appreciate that it's a gamble giving long contracts, but if they're players you spend a lot of money on and confidently expect to do very well for you, it seems a gamble you should take at times.

My understanding is that wages go up the longer the contact. So, for example, a player will accept £50k per week for a 4 year deal but will ask for £60k if it is 5 years. It could be argued that it's a false economy but I suppose a balance has to be struck on the overall salary budget.

You're probably right there.

I'm not sure the logic quite works out there.

Players normally want as long a contract as possible. That way if they get crocked or lose form then they still get paid. Our complaining about the length of contracts given to Beye and Heskey is good evidence of that.

They're hardly going to be worried about committing for longer - it's not as if any player gets stuck with a club if they really want to leave.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Matt Kendrick saying if Wigan mess us around, we're willing to go to Plan B and Plan C, namely McGeady and SWP!

We all need to collectively pray that Plan A comes off.