Jenas

[KevinGage]

Problem is though Chris I very much imagine Spurs have got insurance in place to cover terminal injury to a player's career.   If he goes back completely knackered they can claim.   If he goes back and plays again we have picked up the tab for his rehabilitation.   Are we good at wasting money.  Houllier got millions in compensation and so did Small Heath while O"Neill was boasting that he did not break his contract with Villa and we cannot even put our side of the story because presumably the payment of compo confirms that he was the wronged party.

We do not have the proverbial pot to piss in for new players but we are a bottomless pit of money to waste on keeping people schtumm.

It does increasingly seem like we decide our financial policy on the hoof.

No clear strategy -other than telling the world that we are cost cutting and not competing.  As if that alone conveys an image of prudent Aston Villa.  It doesn't if we leave ourselves open to these kind of stupid arrangements, and have to pay compensation to managers who no good Chief Exec would consider in the first place if money was such an issue.

I never really was a fan of GH, dating back to his time at the Redscouse.  Yet on the occasions when he removed his foot from his mouth and the football did the talking, there was a bit there to admire. Sometimes.  At least the vague outline of a plan, transitioning from an archaic style of play to a more modern one.  Thing is, even during his short sting with us he spent a fair whack-  as he did at Liverpool.  What truly marked him out as a manager who would work well with limited resources?

But big wages to him, money to him for transfers (as all managers will want their own players to work with) then a big settlement to him when he had to quit on health grounds (a little investigating suggests that life expectancy after the kind of heavy duty surgery he underwent in 2001 is 10-14 years -was this ever considered?).    After all the faffing about in the summer we get McLeish. Again on tidy wages, a settlement to B-lose and his own money to spend on players.

Are the club to be complimented for backing these managers financially?   Perhaps.  But both appointments carried more than a passing resemblance to a pig in a poke.  If the first one was understandable (to a degree) due to the timing of the vacancy, the second one definitely wasn't.

No, the money thrown at both, in the form of wages, settlements, and transfer fees and now wages to crocked players (who aren't even ours) is about as far removed from financial prudence as that chav who won the lottery a few years back and rode rally cars around his back yard.  At least he had a bit of fun as he pissed his money away.

[luke25]

How the fuck is Randy Lerner a billionaire? He's done nothing but throw money away since he brought us.

[bertlambshank]

Time for Randy and/or Paul Faulker to go.
Randy couldn't pick his arse with a banjo.I fear we are in big big trouble.

[brian green]

You are absolutely correct KG.   The only thing I can add to your resume of our position is that the man who styled himself as King of the Chavs when he won the lottery began by racing rally cars around his garden but as the money ran out he came up with the master plan to solve his problems by racing rally cars pulling caravans around his garden.
 We may well be moving into that zone of insane financial profligacy.

[PeterWithesShin]

I wonder how much the fee we paid for him was? Half a mill, a million? Add about 1.5million for wages and it's a genius move by a club that is cutting costs left right and center.
And we pay people to do these deals!

[Greg N'Ash]

makes me wonder with those terms whether we were planning to buy him in January or the next tax year

[Dave]

Absolutely absurd.

I can't think of an equivalent case. A loan player who gets injured and the loaning club picks up the bill.

It's an absolute joke. Well done Spurs.

[Moorski]

Doomed from the start, only a Mug could not have seen it!

[JUAN PABLO]

Been out all day busy and just come back to read this.

This unbelievable .  this club is a shambles .       Dark future Im afraid .

[Vanilla]

If this is true, it shows absolute naivety on the part of all those involved with the deal.

[Stu]

It clearly is an awful deal for us but I've a feeling it's the standard terms.

Think of it if we were on the receiving end, having to pay the wages of a payer who we'd loaned out for the season but who then got crocked and came back. We'd be feeling we'd got the worst of it.

Like with Stephen Ireland last season?

Played about one game, came back to us injured and we paid his wages.
Newcastle were actually cute enough (or we were so desperate to pack Ireland off)  that they struck a deal whereby they would only pay his wages if he played -and even then not even the full amount.

And there you are. That's the precedent the board were shown with loans and still went ahead and signed the terms of the Jenas loan deal. Unreal.

[Rigadon]

Happy christmas 'Arry.

[ozzjim]

I know we are taking the interview with Eck at his word, but I cannot for a minute believe the legal team at Villa did not sort a clause like this, especially as he was injured just before coming. I reckon it will come out in a few weeks that we are not paying his wages any more.

[LeeB]

I know we are taking the interview with Eck at his word, but I cannot for a minute believe the legal team at Villa did not sort a clause like this, especially as he was injured just before coming. I reckon it will come out in a few weeks that we are not paying his wages any more.

More likely that we no longer employ a legal team, due to cost cutting.

[lovejoy]

Never mind the injuries, who thought he was worth £45,000 a week in the first place?