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

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Aston Villa are still a big club and a big draw. Bent thought so,.

I wonder if he still does?

[Mazrim]

We know McLeish uses the loan system fairly well. I'd be amazed if he didn't get a few loans in before the end of the window if need be.

[Rick_avfc]

Aston Villa are still a big club and a big draw. Bent thought so,.

I wonder if he still does?

Bent will be gone next season IMO

[SHEPS]

If you're Aston Villa and you're after a Wigan player, do you need a pitch?

Didn't work when we were after a Wigan manager.

We dont need to do this again do we?
He wasn't offered the job and had already agreed to stay at Wigan.

He didn't want to talk to us about the job, even though we asked for permssion to speak to him.  We're not a big draw anymore.

That's certainly how Whelan spun it and how anybody having a dig at us will including our own fans. They had an agreement whereas Martinez stayed if they stayed up. They did, so that was that.
Sorry, I'm not having it. Aston Villa are still a big club and a big draw. Bent thought so, Makoun thought so, N'Zogbia thinks so according to rumours and why not.
We're a big enough draw for him anyway.

Would Bent have signed if we didn't have Downing and Young to supply the ammunition?  9 months later and we are (it would appear) a different proposition.  A couple of new high quality signings and yes we probably are but we are lead to believe that this will not be the case.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Aston Villa are still a big club and a big draw. Bent thought so,.

I wonder if he still does?

Bent will be gone next season IMO

I agree.
He raved about the supply line of Ashley and Weasel a few months ago, they're both obviously gone.
Couple this with the obvious lack of ambition from the club and you couldn't blame him for going elsewhere.

[Greg N'Ash]

yep. Bent will be gone before the January sales start if he carries on from last season.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I have reservations about whether he will want to join us...which is the only factor in determining whether he does or doesn't.

I think that in the modern game you know if a player is interested before you bid.  If we've bid I'd guess we've already spokne to his agent and had the reception been luke warm, we wouldn't have put the bid in. 

They had the North West correspondant from The Times on the Radio a couple of days ago, and I caught a bit of it. He said that he'd spoke to "someone in the N'Zogbia camp" last weekend, and that he wants to come to Villa, he wants to play for McLeish, and he's frustrated with Wigan/Whelan for supposedly saying he could go if a club offered £9m, then back tracking on this.

[eastie]

We know McLeish uses the loan system fairly well. I'd be amazed if he didn't get a few loans in before the end of the window if need be.

maybe 2 decent loans to bolster things up would be enough.

[CJ]

Look i was quite prepared for us to rationalise the squad, even in favour of it. But 14 players out (and 5 of them regulars) and only 2 in, isn't rationalisation its asset stripping.

I normally don't bite to your posts but using the '14 out' argument is just ludicrous. Are you seriously suggesting that letting players like Pires, Osborne, Salifou, Berry, Deeney, Flanagan, Forrester and Halfhuid go (half of whom I've never even heard of) has any impact on anything other than the wage bill? With Given's arrival we are down 4 (two of them our best players which is a huge concern) and one of those was on loan. Arguably Carew may be missed as well but saying we're 14 down is a bit silly.

[eastie]

george boateng signs for forest -i didnt think he was still playing.

[Mazrim]

I dont know if Bent would have joined if Young and Downing weren't there. Nobody else does either.
I seriously doubt that he would have never considered that they would leave Villa. And I also doubt he thinks they are the only worthwhile suppliers of the ball around. They are not the be all and end all but will need replacing and replace them we will in one way or another.

What I am sure about is that he signed because he thought we were a good bet and that we're paying him more, he's closer to his family and is less likely to be racially abused in the midlands.

We'll still get the ball to him and he'll still get lots of goals (and keep his England place). No need to over complicate things. It was a good move for him and will continue to be so.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We know McLeish uses the loan system fairly well. I'd be amazed if he didn't get a few loans in before the end of the window if need be.

maybe 2 decent loans to bolster things up would be enough.

A far cry from when Mr Lerner Sir took over and everybody was predicting us stomping all over Europe like A German Stormtrooper with St.Vitus' Dance.

Predictions of world class players and the like.

Now we're hoping to scrape a few loans from the Premier big boys.

[eastie]

Look i was quite prepared for us to rationalise the squad, even in favour of it. But 14 players out (and 5 of them regulars) and only 2 in, isn't rationalisation its asset stripping.

I normally don't bite to your posts but using the '14 out' argument is just ludicrous. Are you seriously suggesting that letting players like Pires, Osborne, Salifou, Berry, Deeney, Flanagan, Forrester and Halfhuid go (half of whom I've never even heard of) has any impact on anything other than the wage bill? With Given's arrival we are down 4 (two of them our best players which is a huge concern) and one of those was on loan. Arguably Carew may be missed as well but saying we're 14 down is a bit silly.

greg has always been a glass half empty man !

[Chris Smith]

Dunne was shit most of the time at Citeh - thats why they got rid.. He's also not getting any younger or slimmer probably. Collins is erratic at best. Warnock was bobbins before GH arrived so blaiming his form on GH is wishful thinking to say the least. Petrov struggles to last 90 minutes anymore. I really think we'll struggle to stay up with injuries and lets face it we don't need last years injury list to be down to the bare bones - we already are. The only upside is the youth players as i think some of them could step up this season but really again thats just hope.

dunne was player of the year in 2 of his last 3  seasons there and was loved by fans, hardly shit greg!
would you spend an extra £30m in the hope of getting to 6th and an extra £3m in prize money thereby losing £27m?

i wish we had an owner splashing millions but randys dream appears over and realism has set in.

one wide man coming in is ok as i doubt we will use 2 wingers in any case, and makoun on signing did say he is very effective as a defensive midfielder and can play either midfield role,

Look i was quite prepared for us to rationalise the squad, even in favour of it. But 14 players out (and 5 of them regulars) and only 2 in, isn't rationalisation its asset stripping.

So Mr Nash, given the squad as it is now, with no other players sold but assuming CNZ signs, which other positions would you like us to sign? In answering please take note of your long standing campaign against the previous manager for having players on big wages but not contributing.

[VillaAlways]

yep. Bent will be gone before the January sales start if he carries on from last season.

Surely that would mean he would be getting good service,scoring goals, and you never know winning some matches ??