January Transfer Speculation (or lack of) Thread

[Concrete John]

These are indeed embarrassing days to be a villa fan. Do the board have any sense of self respect?

If Bent is sold, every single penny better be spent on genuine quality.

The nightmare continues. When will we be able to wake up?

I've never been embarrassed by being a Villa fan but each to their own I suppose. Why are you getting so upset over a Twitter rumour?

I'm not embarrassed to be a villa fan, I'm proud. Bad choice of words.

There's just an inevitability about our plight now. Any good players we have get picked off. I can see this deal happening. I really can. We all can. We have 20 points on the board and facing into the second part of the season without our main goal threat would make staying up quite a challenge.

We have had nothing only bad news since May 2010 and still McLeish is talking about needing to reduce the wage bill having alread let many big earners go. It's a disastrous policy.

Well, since May 2010 we've signed N'Zogbia and Bent himself, so it's not been 100% one way.  Plus lets not forget that NOBODY has been forced out - all the players that have left have wanted to go.  Although I suppose the 'why' of them wanting to leave is a concern.  And finally, we don't need to reduce the wagebill any further from what AM has said - we just need to keep it where it is now, presumably until turnover increases to the point the ratio allows wages to also.

[Irish villain]

These are indeed embarrassing days to be a villa fan. Do the board have any sense of self respect?

If Bent is sold, every single penny better be spent on genuine quality.

The nightmare continues. When will we be able to wake up?

At this time of the season there are a million different rumours and 99.9% of them are completely unfounded. For your own sanity don't take any notice of them.

Sound advice, normally. But in this situation I'm especially worried because of the way Bent has been deployed by McLeish, the continued talk of reducing the wage bill.

[PaulTheVillan]

The problem is we can't force people out.

[Rick_avfc]

Just seen a tweet from Brendan McLoughlin ( a midlands journo) saying that those rumours about Bent to LFC are untrue.

There were lots of denials about Downing too. I just hope we hang onto Bent, we've needed a player like him for as long as I've been a villa fan. We need some stability at the club and it'd be nice to get a few years service out of our top players.

I agree.  I've seen some villa fans tweeting saying we should get rid of him because he is on high wages and he doesn;t want to be at the club blah blah blah.  So we cry out for a goal scorer, love him when he signed for us and banged in goals which helped us stay up and the moment the waters get a bit rough, they want him out?  moron's I say! 
We should be building a team around him as we all know he can score 20 goals in a season but I can see a bid coming in for him in Jan which will make Villa and the AM think twice. 
Only problem with selling bent is how much of that money will AM get to reinvest?  I mean, he didn't really get that much from the sale of Downing and Young did he?

[timeoutbigbar]

Yes we've needed a goalscorer like Bent for ages, but if the calibre of creative player we are currently fielding is any indication of where the club is heading, we would probably be better suited to having a bit of a workhorse upfront (Gabby for instance).  Is it a coincidence that we have started playing a better style of football since Bent has been out?

[PaulTheVillan]

Yes we've needed a goalscorer like Bent for ages, but if the calibre of creative player we are currently fielding is any indication of where the club is heading, we would probably be better suited to having a bit of a workhorse upfront (Gabby for instance).  Is it a coincidence that we have started playing a better style of football since Bent has been out?

One game, v Arsenal and Gabby was toss.

[Concrete John]

When Bent was last in the side we weren't playing Albrighton and N'Zogbia's form was poor.  They're both now delivering, so when he returns the creativity issue shouldn't be a problem at all!

[Rick_avfc]

Does anyone have any idea of how much we have reduced the wage bill per week, by?
Who are still the high earners ?  Heskey, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Petrov, Warnock & BENT?

Ireland, Gabby & Given are up there I'd imagine.

Ahhh I forgot about Mr Ireland. But I cant see us getting rid of Ireland considering AM signed him. Im refering to the high eaners who we want off our wage bill.

[PaulTheVillan]

When Bent was last in the side we weren't playing Albrighton and N'Zogbia's form was poor.  They're both now delivering, so when he returns the creativity issue shouldn't be a problem at all!

Agreed.
Look at the Bolton game, Bent had numerous chances & that was the first game of 4-4-2.

[PaulTheVillan]

Does anyone have any idea of how much we have reduced the wage bill per week, by?
Who are still the high earners ?  Heskey, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Petrov, Warnock & BENT?

Ireland, Gabby & Given are up there I'd imagine.

Ahhh I forgot about Mr Ireland. But I cant see us getting rid of Ireland considering AM signed him. Im refering to the high eaners who we want off our wage bill.

Wrong.

AM didn't sign Ireland. He came in when we sold Milner & didn't have a manager in place. Even though it was rumoured MON wanted him.

[Concrete John]

Does anyone have any idea of how much we have reduced the wage bill per week, by?
Who are still the high earners ?  Heskey, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Petrov, Warnock & BENT?

OK - lets try and work this out starting from last summer when Milner went and excluding loans:-

Out
Milner - £60k
Shorey - £40k
NRC - £50k
Downing - £60k
A Young - £60k
Davies - £40k
Sidwell - £50k
Freidel - £50k
L Young - £50k
Have I forgotten anyone?
Total - £450k a week

In
Ireland - £60k (heard he acceopted Milner's wages)
Bent - £80k
Hutton - £40k
Given - £60k
N'Zogbia - £60k
Total - £240k

So I make it an almost £11m a year saving from where we were during our wages height under MON

[Rick_avfc]

Yes we've needed a goalscorer like Bent for ages, but if the calibre of creative player we are currently fielding is any indication of where the club is heading, we would probably be better suited to having a bit of a workhorse upfront (Gabby for instance).  Is it a coincidence that we have started playing a better style of football since Bent has been out?

Dont all shoot me down at once but Im not really a Gabby fan.  Yes he is a workhorse but he is too inconsistent for my liking.  Ok, he is a local lad and tries but he is not clinical in front of goal for me.  Im not saying sell him or anything but just saying that I dont really see him as the "future" of Aston Villa.  He is the type of player that if he has too much time to think about something he messes it up.  There was an example of this against Stoke in the first half where he wont he ball in their half and ran towards goal, as he was doing this, I said to my missus "watch him mess this up" and he didn't let me down.  Also, he keeps doing what Wayne Rooney does for Man Utd when he plays up front - he will come deep to collect the ball. I would prefer him not to do that and to be more of a nuisance in the box.  Ive seen him on numerous occasions on the wing to collect a ball and then will pass it short to another player and then just hang about there.  Now, Ive also seen Bent do the same thing but as soon as he makes that pass, he makes that run towards the box to get into a goal scoring position.  I wish Gabby would have that same mentality to in the mix and poach a few more goals for us.  This is just my opinion and many of u may disagree with me, but hey, I guess we are all entitled to it.

[timeoutbigbar]

Yes we've needed a goalscorer like Bent for ages, but if the calibre of creative player we are currently fielding is any indication of where the club is heading, we would probably be better suited to having a bit of a workhorse upfront (Gabby for instance).  Is it a coincidence that we have started playing a better style of football since Bent has been out?

One game, v Arsenal and Gabby was toss.

Fair point, but he isn't normally that poor.

Also take John M's point about the form of Nzog and Albrighton, long may that continue.  I just hope Darren hasn't had his head turned by the rumours.

[Rick_avfc]

Does anyone have any idea of how much we have reduced the wage bill per week, by?
Who are still the high earners ?  Heskey, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Petrov, Warnock & BENT?

Ireland, Gabby & Given are up there I'd imagine.

Ahhh I forgot about Mr Ireland. But I cant see us getting rid of Ireland considering AM signed him. Im refering to the high eaners who we want off our wage bill.

Wrong.

AM didn't sign Ireland. He came in when we sold Milner & didn't have a manager in place. Even though it was rumoured MON wanted him.

OOOPS!  Yes I am wrong,  I have AM on the Brain at the mo!   
Ireland was defo a signing before AM arrived so not sure why I even typed that. 

[Rick_avfc]

Does anyone have any idea of how much we have reduced the wage bill per week, by?
Who are still the high earners ?  Heskey, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Petrov, Warnock & BENT?

OK - lets try and work this out starting from last summer when Milner went and excluding loans:-

Out
Milner - £60k
Shorey - £40k
NRC - £50k
Downing - £60k
A Young - £60k
Davies - £40k
Sidwell - £50k
Freidel - £50k
L Young - £50k
Have I forgotten anyone?
Total - £450k a week

In
Ireland - £60k (heard he acceopted Milner's wages)
Bent - £80k
Hutton - £40k
Given - £60k
N'Zogbia - £60k
Total - £240k

So I make it an almost £11m a year saving from where we were during our wages height under MON

It is rumoured that Bent is on alot more that £80k per week.  More like £110k p/w plus bonuses.