Brett Holman

[eamonn]

He scored a sexy breakaway goal at Reading. Harnessed correctly he could have been half-decent for us. O'Neill's fault really.

[Mazrim]

For the record, I think Harewood was comfortably better than Heskey at Villa.

[Risso]

For the record, I think Harewood was comfortably better than Heskey at Villa.

In terms of what they cost the club, I think they were both shocking.  Heskey was the worst though, as his arrival effectively ushered in the end of the good times (without it being all his fault of course).

[Percy McCarthy]

You're right OCD, he was good from the bench in his first season. But we never sold him.

[pauliewalnuts]

For the record, I think Harewood was comfortably better than Heskey at Villa.

In terms of what they cost the club, I think they were both shocking.  Heskey was the worst though, as his arrival effectively ushered in the end of the good times (without it being all his fault of course).

I agree. Neither of them were anything like good enough to move us to the next level. Or even for where we were at that point.

The most galling thing, though, and this is not the fault of the players, is that a decent, reliable striker was, if not the final piece in the jigsaw, crucial to moving us on.

It says it all about O'Neill's lazy, myopic transfer policy that he ever thought Heskey or Harewood would be the answer.

It is also noticeable how frequently we hear people say things like "Harewood repaid his fee with that goal against Liverpool" or imply that Harewood cost peanuts. He didn't. He cost us £4m, and probably, knowing O'Neill, something like £2m in wages for each of the three years he was here, contributing next to nothing.

I'd say Harewood is a poster boy for the sort of half-arsed, reckless, short term thinking O'Neill fell back on too often.

[Risso]

Totally agree.  Same as when we were toe-to-toe with Arsenal for 4th.   We needed options in attack as a back up for Gabby and Carew, so signed the ageing Heskey on a three year deal who had scored 7 goals for Wigan in a year and a half. 

Anyway, back to Holman.  I just think that Lambert is clearly a manager who places a gret deal of importance on ball retention, and as with most managers may prefer to play players he has bought himself rather than those he has inherited.

[mrastonvilla]

You know a striker is crap when they can't hit the target during the warm up. I've never seen anyone put more balls into the Holte before a match than Marlon.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I'd love to dig up the comments on the imminent signing of Heskey.
Most on here were saying how great he was and objections to his signing had you labelled as a 'MON hater'

[john e]

i remember Marlon being hailed by some as a MON masterstroke, and the new Peter Withe

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I remember somebody on here responding to my criticism of Heskey with
'Successive England Managers rate him and I think they know a bit more about football than you.'

As john e remarked above, some on here hailed the Harewood signing as an under the radar masterstroke.
This despite the piss taking when it was rumoured the Dog Shit were looking at signing him.

[Ger Regan]

I remember somebody on here responding to my criticism of Heskey with
'Successive England Managers rate him and I think they know a bit more about football than you.'

As john e remarked above, some on here hailed the Harewood signing as an under the radar masterstroke.
This despite the piss taking when it was rumoured the Dog Shit were looking at signing him.

That's not how I remember it (particularly the Harewood signing). I remember people trying to find some positives in a situation they had no control over, rather than going straight to "everything's shit" mode. Similar to the transfer window just gone, actually.

[Risso]

I remember somebody on here responding to my criticism of Heskey with
'Successive England Managers rate him and I think they know a bit more about football than you.'

Peter W said that a couple of pages back!

[Chris Jameson]

I'd love to dig up the comments on the imminent signing of Heskey.
Most on here were saying how great he was and objections to his signing had you labelled as a 'MON hater'

I can remember having the same feeling of dread when we signed that big useless lump as the day we signed Ian Ormondroyd. As it turns out Ormondroyd was far better for Villa than that bloody clown Heskey ever was.

[pauliewalnuts]

i remember Marlon being hailed by some as a MON masterstroke, and the new Peter Withe

I don't remember it quite like that.

What I do remember, though, is that pointless Peter Withe argument getting trotted out, "Well, I remember us once signing a journeyman, underwhelming striker, and he turned out to be Peter Withe!" which is totally irrelevant in any sense beyond crossing your fingers and praying it works out.

It's like signing a player who spends every waking hour pissed and saying "well, i remember once, we signed a player with a drink problem, and he turned out to be GOD".

What happened was we signed two players lots of us had seen play lots of time, and who we thought were shit. We got told to judge them on what they did in a Villa shirt. That turned out to be exactly what we thought it'd be - fuck all.

I'm sure they're both lovely blokes and never moaned - in the case of one of them - at being paid 65k a week to sit on the bench at age 35, in the twilight years of his career - but that's really not very relevant.

[Risso]

What I do remember, though, is that pointless Peter Withe argument getting trotted out, "Well, I remember us once signing a journeyman, underwhelming striker, and he turned out to be Peter Withe!" which is totally irrelevant in any sense beyond crossing your fingers and praying it works out.

It's like signing a player who spends every waking hour pissed and saying "well, i remember once, we signed a player with a drink problem, and he turned out to be GOD".

That argument gets aired regularly on here.  Most recently in support of the Bowery and Westwood signings.  They may turn out to be good signings, and I hope they do.  If they do succeed it won't be because David Platt played for Crewe though.