Summer Transfer Thread: Speculation, Lies, Absolute Cr*p and Bosman Rumours

[Lambert and Payne]

Angel and Dublin where my fave signings. I buzzed for them, still hold a special section of VP to me

[Mazrim]

I bored anybody who knew me about Villa signing Nilis for years. He was just about my favourite player in the world back in the 90s.
I never thought we actually would sign him. It still angers me to think of what we missed out on.

Also, I heard a rumour he was going to help bring van Nistelrooy (still a relatively unknown rising star at the time) to Villa.
 

[N'ZMAV]

Carbone?

[Summers]

I bored anybody who knew me about Villa signing Nilis for years. He was just about my favourite player in the world back in the 90s.
I never thought we actually would sign him. It still angers me to think of what we missed out on.

Also, I heard a rumour he was going to help bring van Nistelrooy (still a relatively unknown rising star at the time) to Villa.
 

It was 2000 we signed him, right? The same year United were originally going to splash 18m on RVN (an injury stopped the original timing of the deal).

Such a shame we never saw what could have been. Nilis was fantastic.

[fbriai]

I bored anybody who knew me about Villa signing Nilis for years. He was just about my favourite player in the world back in the 90s.
I never thought we actually would sign him. It still angers me to think of what we missed out on.

Also, I heard a rumour he was going to help bring van Nistelrooy (still a relatively unknown rising star at the time) to Villa.
 

You could see how much class he had in that first game against Chelsea. He was a quality player.

[Ian.]

Carbone?

We never signed him. I wish we did though I loved him playing for us.

[Summers]

Just watched the compo video of him at the top of the page. My god that man could really hit a football.. He woulda lit up the league with ease.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I feel we missed something special with nillis, hopefully we can find another one

[Clark W Griswold]

The 3 most exciting signings since i've been a fan (late 80's)

1 D Saunders - Broke british transfer record the year before, not too old and in the top 4 or 5 strikers in the league.
2 D Bent - England international with excellent scoring record and slightly younger than Saunders had been
3 P Merson - top class, former league champion albeit a little older and close to passing peak.

[Sexual Ealing]

Merson was quality but I always associate him with frustration as he was Gregory's only nod towards doing something in the opposition's half - it felt like he was on his own.

I'm a self-confessed MONette but I think I can understand a lot of the (pre-walk-out) angst towards him from on here just from the way I felt about JG.

[peter w]

Rumour Accuracy For Aston Villa

Source       Right Total Num   Accuracy

Daily Record   6   13   46.2%
The Times    21   50   42%
The Guardian   18   47   38.3%
The Independent12   34   35.3%
The Express   23   69   33.3%
Goal             1   3   33.3%
Daily Star           45   141   31.9%
Daily Telegraph9   30   30%
Footy Bunker   3   11   27.3%
Daily Mirror   129   520   24.8%
Daily Mail           54   221   24.4%
The Sun           42   175   24%
The People   12   55   21.8%
Metro            1   8   12.5%

Oh, and...

Talk Sport         0   7       0%

[olaftab]

Collymore was a marquee signing turned out to be a leaky tent!

[N'ZMAV]

has Dan Gosling signed yet?

[Damo70]

On the subject of our marquee signings...does Peter Withe count?

Seen as the final piece of the jigsaw and cost a club record £500,000...the rest as they say is history.

You don't win anything by buying journeymen knocking on thirty for half a million quid. If only we had shown some ambition that summer like Forest and Palace and spent a million quid on a top youngster like Ian Wallace or Clive Allen who knows what we could have achieved.

[JD]

I think Luc Nilis was a brilliant signing at the time.  That goal against Chelsea showed his class but the way he moved in that match, finding space etc. would have been great for the younger players at the time to have worked alongside.

All dashed that afternoon at Portman Road.

Luc Nilis was a brilliant player and his injury was so cruel. He was a world class finisher, who was genuinely a two footed player. We were robbed when he got injured. He was the last true marquee signing.