Will GH last the season?

[brian green]

Badger if you think gaelic is a predominant language in Sparkhill my guess is that you originated somewhere in the Irish part around the Bear or the Antelope.   Sparkhill I am glad to say welcomed all its ethnically diverse residents but I thought we had flushed out the noses before I left.   Obviously not.

If you are ever in Port Townsend and you see an old bloke in a Muller away strip Villa shirt and a Fidel Castro cap say hello and I will punch you in the eye.  Unless you are Terry Pullen from Evelyn Road then I will buy you a beer.

[Mister E]

Id like to see Steve McClaren come in - I think he has the right profile really. Did well at Boro though he did leave a bit of MON behind him in terms of older players on big contracts, the failure with England wasnt as bad as was made out either, Russia and Croatia were decent teams, England were no better. Think he learned some humility from that experience and did very well in Holland while Germany didnt go too well there was issues with the board being far too close to the likes of Diego. I think he would jump at the chance of coming to Villa maybe even with Houllier as technical director.

Van Gaal and Magath like Houllier might see Villa as a step down from what they are used to. Plus we cant go down the blank cheque book route to attract big name managers.

McClaren for me. Think it would be a good fit for us if people could see past the 'wally with the brolly' bullshit.

Did well at Boro? - spoken to any Boro fans about that?

[Clampy]

Id like to see Steve McClaren come in - I think he has the right profile really. Did well at Boro though he did leave a bit of MON behind him in terms of older players on big contracts, the failure with England wasnt as bad as was made out either, Russia and Croatia were decent teams, England were no better. Think he learned some humility from that experience and did very well in Holland while Germany didnt go too well there was issues with the board being far too close to the likes of Diego. I think he would jump at the chance of coming to Villa maybe even with Houllier as technical director.

Van Gaal and Magath like Houllier might see Villa as a step down from what they are used to. Plus we cant go down the blank cheque book route to attract big name managers.

McClaren for me. Think it would be a good fit for us if people could see past the 'wally with the brolly' bullshit.

Did well at Boro? - spoken to any Boro fans about that?

Well he got them to a Uefa Cup Final and generally did'nt do too bad in the League. I would'nt want him here though.

[UsualSuspect]

I personally don't like Mcclaren, his hair I find particularly worrying but to say he was complete shit at Boro isn;t true:

In the 2003–04 season, McClaren guided Boro to victory in the League Cup with a 2–1 win over Bolton Wanderers in the final.[21] This was the club's first ever major honour and also guaranteed them qualification for a European competition for the first time in their 128-year history.[

McClaren's five year tenure on Teesside saw him establish himself as Middlesbrough's most successful manager

2 x FA Cup Semi Finals
7th in PL
1 Uefa Cup Final
Won the laugue Cup

So really more successful at Boro than MON was at Villa

[WikiVilla]

Wouldn't really want McLaren but his record seems quite good

[tricky dicky]

no way will he be sacked or leave before the end of the season or there after i think they will stick by him he will sell or release the players who have not adopted his work ethic or who are surplus to requirements and be given money to spend it seems that the club back him 100%

[WikiVilla]

Not sure there will be a massive war chest in the summer (assuming we stay up)
Hasn't our plan/direction been diverted a little ?

[KevinGage]

There might not be mental money, but if we play the free transfer market well there are decent deals to be had. Taiwo and Seb Larsson to name but two.

Realistically I think Ash has gone and I have a sneaky feeling Downing might be off too. Based on recent form that would be a pity, but it's all about how we build from there.

£12 million seems to be the figure touted for Young due to his contract situation (personally I think/hope we can do better). We should be looking for at least in excess of £15 million for Downing, seeing as we signed him for  £12 and he hasn't regressed. So that would be minimum £27 million, plus any money received for the likes of Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov and Luke Young. And any other money RL sees fit to add on top.

For that, we could in theory land the likes of Taiwo, Larsson, Bergovic, Shawcross and N'Zogbia and not be drastically out of pocket. No doubt some will point to the fact that the majority of those players are playing for unfashionable clubs, 'we can do better' and so on. That would actually be the advantage to me, they would see us as a step up, and are at an age to develop further and have their best years with us.

It will be interesting to see who goes down (providing it's not us, of course). There could be rich pickings from the likes of Wolves, Wigan and possibly Stoke at vastly reduced fees too.

[fredm]

What gives you the sneaky feeling about Downing?  I can't recall hearing anything anywhere as to him not liking the current set-up.  Indeed his form under GH has taken off and I would guess he will be in the England squad when it is announced.

[JJ-AV]

I'd just give Ged the Summer and atleast the start of next season. Once we get the finances in order and have the shite shipped out and the younger, hungrier players have developed a bit more if Ged can get us doing what we expect then we can look elsewhere.

He's capable of shifting players on and attracting decent talent. So why not leave him for a while? We aint gonna go down.

[KevinGage]

What gives you the sneaky feeling about Downing?  I can't recall hearing anything anywhere as to him not liking the current set-up.  Indeed his form under GH has taken off and I would guess he will be in the England squad when it is announced.

Linked heavily with Liverpool in the last transfer window and precisely because he's in the England squad he might feel that a side looking like a good bet for mid table or lower is not great at this stage of his career.

Wouldn't want to see him go, but wouldn't be at all surprised if he does depart.

[JJ-AV]

I'd sell Downing if we keep Ash. Can't see it happening, but he'd fetch good money and we could shift Ash back wide and get a real top player to play off Benty.

Yeah we need a squad etc, but between them Albrighton and Bannan offer the same Stew does, so sell him while we can get top dollar and if we're not in Europe we don't need a massive amount of options.

[hawkeye]

i can not believe that any one thinks that A Young will be here next season its not if, its who to

[eastie]

On this seasons displays downing is my player of the season and I would not sell him whatever. We should bring in cash for the players we offload and if gabby went I would not be shocked -we need 2 keepers, 2 full backs and a centre half, plus replacement for ash- it will be a busy window but hopefully houllier has lined up a couple already.

There has been talk that he has a couple of frees lined up from france but surely if true we would have signed them on a pre contract already as we are allowed to sign from a foreign country from jan 1st on pre deals?

[WikiVilla]

Agree eastie, Downing is not going anywhere. Gabby wont be moving either
Larson deal is done I'm told so thats Ash's replacement sorted, new keeper and defence priority now