SSN: "Downing won't commit to Villa"

[PaulTheVillan]

One good season and these players think they should be on the same stage as Messi.

Fuck off then Downing. Enjoy being the next Robbie Keane.

[citizenDJ]

A shame if he does decide to leave, I think he's a really good player. But, there are other really good players out there, I'm sure one of them would be prepared to replace him.

[wookster]

[Downing:

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

"When I was injured that made me realise what it can be like to be out for such a long time. It hurt. The most important thing is to play football, but I do want to play in the Champions League at some point.

Amazing how he forgets that we invested in a player that was injured and took a risk on him. Who else buys a player that fails his medical and sits out the 1st 6 months

[damon loves JT]

I am also at a major crossroads in my career. I am thinking of going full-time wearing a paint-stained tracksuit in the car park of B&Q and asking people if they need any tiling done

[Clampy]

A few years back this sort of thing would've bothered me but I lost my feelings for the game a few years back when Barry, Milner left. They're all overpaid, overrated c**ts and I won't line their pockets anymore!! At the end of the day their only motivation is money..........

I feel the same. It's interesting that in the space of 2 seasons we are likely to have lost an entire midfield namely Barry,Milner, Young and Downing that should have been capable of taking us to the top 4.

However it is clear that none of these players were ever particularly interested in the long term objectives of Aston Villa.

Maybe they know the long term objectives of Aston Villa.....and they aren't that interesting.

As fans we always blame the club for not being ambitious enough, if I was Lerner I'd just say 'Fuck it, I can't be dealing with these ingrate egotistical wankers' sell up and wash my hands with football.

It would'nt surprise me in the slightest if Randy's enthuiasm ran out sooner or later. It's his hard earned money he's spending, i would'nt blame him.

[Steve R]

It isn't just us. ManU couldn't keep Ronaldo and Tevez and even had Rooney spouting on about the club's ambition before they managed to kiss his arse the way he liked it.

I suspect that a big factor in footballers 'loyalty' generally these days is that agents make more more from transfers than they do from contract extensions.

All we can do is make sure we get a good price, and more importantly place greater importance on likely resale values when we ourselves sign players. This is something we have been particularly poor at for more than a decade.

As for Downing, he has been prominent this season without being anything special. I'd be more downhearted if Clark or Albrighton were to depart.

[adrenachrome]

I am also at a major crossroads in my career. I am thinking of going full-time wearing a paint-stained tracksuit in the car park of B&Q and asking people if they need any tiling done

Do you fancy a voice-over gig for Talk Shite commercials, Damon? You can record them from your bathroom at home to get the requisite booming echo effects. 

Gardening equipment would be your niche in this area, I would say.

[eamonn]

He's not that special. If he's using his decent (but nothing more) season to gain leverage, that's just the way of the world these days. Be nice if he remembered it was us who paid him a fortune while he spent half a season getting back to fitness (caused by Petrov I know, Stan should really have handed out a portion of his wages to cover Downing's).

The home-grown model with talented players who actually care about the club (Albrighton, Clark) seems to be the only satisfying one remaining these days but unlikely that it'll lead to much success.

[Clampy]

'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.

I think the fact that he's changed his tune within the space of 14 odd days is the main gripe that people have Chris and it's a fair enough argument.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Maybe he's been tapped up and is planning to join MON, Robertson and Walford at Stamford Bridge. The timing of his about turn certainly coincides with MON's return to management and afterall, it was MON that actually signed him. Add to that Champions League football and I think we'd better start preparing to find his replacement.

[SteveN]

 Bastards - all of them.

[Brazilian Villain]

Well if we have to lose our Player of the Year to anyone I'd rather it was Liverpool.

[Big Dick Edwards]

Downing is a good player and has been our best player this season. He's far from irreplaceable though, another one like Milner who may find the grass isn't always greener elsewhere.

[IRISHPHIL]

do people think that downing is saying this as heard that ashley young was going to be offered big wages to stay at villa, there downing is only putting down marker that he wants big contract to stay

[Villanation]

What he's saying is I'm 26, think that I can play at the highest level, come and get me as i've no intention of signing any new contracts here, the doors open, Ash Young has been saying the same thing for about a season and a half now.

It is modern football, as ugly as that looks its a fact of life, what should be happening now is the movers and shakers at the club should be making moves to install a management team with a future game plan as to where we aspire to be going next season, who we are going to be getting in, if we want to keep our better players and if we want to attract the better players we need to at least look like we are going to have a crack at getting into Europe next season.

My thoughts on this are unless we get a new manager in place now I would expect anything to happen, wouldn't surprise me to see one of the top 4 or 5 come in for Bent, proven Premiership strikers being thin on the ground, wouldn't surprise me one bit to see Bent kick up a fuss and p*** of......on the premise that this is a career defining moment at his age.