SSN: "Downing won't commit to Villa"

[ozzjim]

'I'm enjoying my stay here. I've enjoyed it since the first day I came. It's a terrific football club. It's fantastic they want me. There are terrific players here. I'm confident, despite this season, we're going in the right direction and if we get the right players in then I'm happy. 'The important thing in football is - if you're happy why change it? I know it's been a disappointing season, but I can see the bigger picture. It's great here."

Quote Downing 2 weeks ago.

Since then we have beaten Arsenal and Liverpool, and he is not so sure about sticking around.

If we are offered over 15 million we should sell.

[Chris Smith]

'I'm enjoying my stay here. I've enjoyed it since the first day I came. It's a terrific football club. It's fantastic they want me. There are terrific players here. I'm confident, despite this season, we're going in the right direction and if we get the right players in then I'm happy. 'The important thing in football is - if you're happy why change it? I know it's been a disappointing season, but I can see the bigger picture. It's great here."

Quote Downing 2 weeks ago.

Since then we have beaten Arsenal and Liverpool, and he is not so sure about sticking around.

If we are offered over 15 million we should sell.

He's not sure about extending his contract "at the moment", big difference.

[Brend'Watkins]

...and the first game we're up against him we should instruct the team to 'concentrate' on his bad ankle just to remind him which club looked after him in his hour of need. 

One good season is his return for the faith we put in him.  At lease Barry, Milner and Young have given us more than that.

[adrenachrome]

'I'm enjoying my stay here. I've enjoyed it since the first day I came. It's a terrific football club. It's fantastic they want me. There are terrific players here. I'm confident, despite this season, we're going in the right direction and if we get the right players in then I'm happy. 'The important thing in football is - if you're happy why change it? I know it's been a disappointing season, but I can see the bigger picture. It's great here."

Quote Downing 2 weeks ago.

Since then we have beaten Arsenal and Liverpool, and he is not so sure about sticking around.

If we are offered over 15 million we should sell.

I think the above quote was from his online chat with the fans. The quote on which this thread is based is presumably in response to a journalist's question which is not stated but  which was probably loaded to get the response.

"I know the club are keen for me to extend my contract as I only have two years left on my deal and that my agent had a recent meeting with our chief executive (Paul Faulkner)," Downing confirmed.

"However, I am 26 and at a major crossroads in my career so I won't be committing to a new deal at the moment."

One could choose to emphasize the phrase "at the moment" as meaning he wants to see what transpires next season. You could also argue that he would be a mug to sign at this juncture.

[pauliewalnuts]

'I'm enjoying my stay here. I've enjoyed it since the first day I came. It's a terrific football club. It's fantastic they want me. There are terrific players here. I'm confident, despite this season, we're going in the right direction and if we get the right players in then I'm happy. 'The important thing in football is - if you're happy why change it? I know it's been a disappointing season, but I can see the bigger picture. It's great here."

Quote Downing 2 weeks ago.

Since then we have beaten Arsenal and Liverpool, and he is not so sure about sticking around.

If we are offered over 15 million we should sell.

He's not sure about extending his contract "at the moment", big difference.

Not really, the message is the same.

All the classic snippets are there - mentioning his age, wants to play in the CL etc etc.

[Merv]

That's really pissed me off.

Let's sell him for £20m, get N'Zogbia for £10m.

[Toronto Villa]

there's no point getting worked up over this. It's going to happen to us and almost every other club for the rest of eternity. The relative success of club just delays the inevitable. Barcelona for example, players may only up and leave at the very end of their careers. In contrast, current day Aston Villa and clubs everywhere in a similar position, the most "loyalty" we might get out of a player is 3 to 4 years. The better we become, the more chance that 3 to 4 years gets a little longer. Whether it is players from our own youth system or those we have acquired (players who have shown ambition and left their previous clubs for the very same reason we will lose ours), they are going to want to improve their personal situation.

Downing's comments don't suprise me in the least, any more than Ciaran Clark's won't in 2 or 3 years time if we are still an average PL football club.

[Chris Jameson]

Footballers are gobshites, very rarely bother reading anything they have to say particulary when it's through official channels, they only bother to say what they think you want to say. If Heskey were to say he's retiring from playing football for a living and returning to his plastering business i'd be happy to read that particular interview.

[Toronto Villa]

That's really pissed me off.

Let's sell him for £20m, get N'Zogbia for £10m.

the same N'Zogbia who left Newcastle, and in order for us to sign him, he'll leave Wigan for exactly the same reason as Ash will leave us?

[Merv]

Yeah, him. That's the one.

I'm allowed to be pissed off for a moment and make a knee-jerk comment, TV. It's the first time I've been pissed off in the five years or so I've been posting on here. Am I not allowed to be annoyed that Downing might be leaving?

[chrisw1]

That's really pissed me off.

Let's sell him for £20m, get N'Zogbia for £10m.

Ha!  Makes me smile how we always over value our own players and under value other clubs players.  Is Downing worth double what NZobia's worth?  I doubt Wigan fans would take a straight swap if it was on offer. 

[Toronto Villa]

Yeah, him. That's the one.

I'm allowed to be pissed off for a moment and make a knee-jerk comment, TV. It's the first time I've been pissed off in the five years or so I've been posting on here. Am I not allowed to be annoyed that Downing might be leaving?

off course you are Merv. Maybe I've just become a little immune to it to be honest because I expect something like this every year (at least recently anyway), but it's not like it hasn't happened before. And it most certainly will happen again. Whether it's Barry, Milner, Young, or Platt, Yorke or McInally, history will repeat itself.

[TheSandman]

It makes me laugh how fans get so upset when a player dares to want to move on from the Villa.
Usually the reason they joined us and moved up the ladder was because they were ambitious - so why do we expect them to stop being ambitious once they pull on a claret and blue shirt?

If you're lucky enough to have football as your job/career then you're going to try and play at the highest level you possibly can and make as much money as you can whilst doing it.

They're just men at work.

I absolutely agree with this. Most of the people on this thread are being absolutely hysterical.

The great irony is that so many of the people who are complaining about him being a disloyal little gobshite go on to suggest we replace him with N'Zogbia. A player who will have one good game and demand a move to Liverpool.

I don't see him leaving this summer if we sell Young but do have to concede there has been a marked turn around from his comments a few weeks ago. Even if he does go I can't bring myself to be too upset. It's football and if you were not a supporter of the club you would probably sign for Liverpool or Tottenham too. I would.

[Markerton]

It makes me laugh how fans get so upset when a player dares to want to move on from the Villa.
Usually the reason they joined us and moved up the ladder was because they were ambitious - so why do we expect them to stop being ambitious once they pull on a claret and blue shirt?

If you're lucky enough to have football as your job/career then you're going to try and play at the highest level you possibly can and make as much money as you can whilst doing it.

They're just men at work.

I absolutely agree with this. Most of the people on this thread are being absolutely hysterical.

The great irony is that so many of the people who are complaining about him being a disloyal little gobshite go on to suggest we replace him with N'Zogbia. A player who will have one good game and demand a move to Liverpool.

I don't see him leaving this summer if we sell Young but do have to concede there has been a marked turn around from his comments a few weeks ago. Even if he does go I can't bring myself to be too upset. It's football and if you were not a supporter of the club you would probably sign for Liverpool or Tottenham too. I would.

What annoys me is not the fact he wants to leave, but the fact two weeks ago he was going 'WHEEEYYYYYY!! I FUCKIN' LOVE IT HERE, WHERE'S THE PEN?!!', and all of a sudden it's a case of 'Hmmm ... I might not sign, actually.'

[Risso]

It makes me laugh how fans get so upset when a player dares to want to move on from the Villa.
Usually the reason they joined us and moved up the ladder was because they were ambitious - so why do we expect them to stop being ambitious once they pull on a claret and blue shirt?

If you're lucky enough to have football as your job/career then you're going to try and play at the highest level you possibly can and make as much money as you can whilst doing it.

They're just men at work.

I absolutely agree with this. Most of the people on this thread are being absolutely hysterical.

The great irony is that so many of the people who are complaining about him being a disloyal little gobshite go on to suggest we replace him with N'Zogbia. A player who will have one good game and demand a move to Liverpool.

I don't see him leaving this summer if we sell Young but do have to concede there has been a marked turn around from his comments a few weeks ago. Even if he does go I can't bring myself to be too upset. It's football and if you were not a supporter of the club you would probably sign for Liverpool or Tottenham too. I would.

I agree that it happens at every club, but it seems to be a bit of an epidemic at Villa.  We lost Barry and Milner, if we add Downing and Young to that this summer, then it's a poor state of affairs.  I can't think of another club who will have lost four players of that quality in two years.