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

[bertlambshank]

He's leaving in a month for a coaching position but has already done enough scouting for us to use I would imagine.

Whats the betting Paul Faulkners dog eats that list.

[Toronto Villa]

Clark at LB is too slow. he'd be no different how Gaz Baz was when he played there on occasion including the nightmare at Reading when Glen "Neymar" Little took him apart

[Bottom Right 89]

I'm all for getting Reo Coker back he may not have been the most gifted player to pull on a Villa shirt but he was fully committed and a leader on the pitch, exactly what we need to get out of this mess. He also knows most of the squad so if we want an experienced flag carrier for a couple of seasons and stop teams waltzing through our midfield we could do a lot worse. In the early O'Neill days he was one of the main reasons we won so many away games.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Clark at left back (where he's been beyond woeful before) and getting Reo Coker back ... it's all getting too much

ARRRRGGGGHHHH

[Clampy]

Clark at left back (where he's been beyond woeful before) and getting Reo Coker back ... it's all getting too much

ARRRRGGGGHHHH

Another no to Clark at left back.

[Des Little]

Can we please stop this NRC thing?  He was yesterdays man when he left.  He's the day before yesterday's man now. 

[DerHammer]

So who the fuck are we signing then?

[tomd2103]

I hope that we can get rid of our high earners, but to be honest who would want them!

They have let this club down big style.

I will never forgive the likes of Ireland, Bent, Hutton, Warnock, Dunne for the way that they have both played for our club, with there half hearted effort and the way that they have behaved off the pitch  (slagging off Cowans etc...) and yet fans say give them another chance... FFS if I were the manager they would all be training by themselves after everyone else had gone home.

I don't understand how or when Dunne has ever let us down ?
Injury prone maybe, but letting us down ? 

Really ? Do you remember Houlliers season when he turned up about 2 stone overweight?

He was disgrace at the start of that season. Never forget the home game v Bolton where he looked and played like a whale. Was one of our best players when he came back into the side around Xmas time and turned things around.

Injured a lot last season too. I dont think Dunne has much time left as a professional footballer. He didnt look after himself when he was younger (honey monster), now has suffered about 12 months of injuries and is 33. Id be surprised if he plays any more than one more season with a club after Villa.

Stephen Ireland is finished as a top level player. Considering the wages we pay him, the best we can expect is that he can on loan and we pay some of the wages. He will leave on a free to go play in Australia or Qatar when his contract runs out.

Not happening for Nzogbia at all at the club. Might find someone to take him off our hands but we are talking about about a 6m hit.

Given has suffered a run of injuries over the last few years and doesnt seem to have put the Euros debacle behind him. To be honest Im getting less convinced by Guzan of late so might see Given back in goal soon enough.

Gabby - 5m or so is all we can expect for him. Swap deal for Gardner is our only play with him I feel.

Warnock off at the end of the season, will bleed the club dry for the last few months. McLeish didnt even want to keep Hutton on at Forest. Makoun wont play for the club again.

Bent is injured again and we would be mental to sell him before the summer to another side in the relegation dogfight anyway.

We will do very well to shift even one of the big earners before the summer.

I agree that we are going to struggle to move any of the above on.  After watching N'Zogbia on Saturday, I agree that he just isn't going to do it for us and would maybe start looking to offer him as part of a deal to bring someone in.

[eastie]

Kendricks latest piece-

Paul Lambert’s job is safe – but the manager admits he “knows the pitfalls of the game” if Aston Villa get dragged deeper into a Premier League relegation battle.

Saturday’s controversial 1-0 home defeat to survival rivals Southampton dumped the struggling claret and blues in the bottom three with 16 matches remaining.

With just 19 points so far, Villa are averaging 0.86 points a game, which over the course of the 38-game season would leave them with less than 33 points.

Lambert’s position is not believed to be under any immediate pressure, although Randy Lerner is growing increasingly exasperated following recent results.

However, it is thought the present predicament, which leaves Villa in very real danger of relegation, will prompt investment in the playing squad rather than another change in the manager’s office.

Lambert, Villa’s fourth boss in three years, was quizzed about the situation after Jay Rodriguez’s dive conned referee Mark Halsey into awarding the penalty that Rickie Lambert converted to win Saints the match on Saturday.

Asked if Lerner was showing any concern over recent results, the manager replied: “I’m pretty sure he is astute enough... I’m not silly.

“I know the pitfalls of the game. He’s been great with me since I’ve been here.

“I always speak to Randy. I’ve always had a good relationship with him. He runs this club.”

Lambert essentially ruled out the prospect of Villa being in a financial position to recruit big-name, big-money proven Premier League players, such as Joleon Lescott and Scott Parker this month.

But it is thought Saturday’s setback, which Lerner watched on television at home in America, has underlined to the owner the urgency for some squad investment before it is too late.

Lambert refused to comment on the level of transfer funds at his disposal nor if that sum has changed in light of an alarming run of just one point from the past five Premier League matches.

“Listen, we have conversations all the time and it would be wrong for me to say there is X amount available,” he said.

“You can work with what you’ve got and if one or two come in, then great. As I said the other day, we will try and do something.”

Lerner has invested more than £200 million into Villa since taking over in 2006 and Lambert insists the chairman cannot be faulted for what he has done for the club.

“If that figure is right he’s put in, then it’s a hell of a lot of money,” he added.

“That’s a lot of money, an incredible amount of money. I understand the finances of it.

“But it’s a privilege to be here, and we will give it a right good go, and we go with what we’ve got.

“If a couple come in during January, then great, but you can’t fault Randy for what he’s done for this club, that’s for sure.”

Asked if he still thinks Villa will stay up, Lambert replied: “Yes.”

Asked why, he responded: “I just do. I said that from day one. I just do.

“If you look at the middle of that table, there is not much in it. There are about eight or nine teams.

“We have to do something about it, we have to. I’m not going to blame anyone at all. I’m the one who picks the team and the group. If we can get a couple in, then great.”

[nick harper]

For all those yelling no to Reo-Coker, is there another defensive midfielder out there who can immediately fit into the Premier League pace, does not require any settling period from another league/country, costs wages only and is a leader/talker?

All things we need right now - there is no point in looking for someone who will cost more than we can afford and will take a dozen games to settle in. It will be too late then.

Don't get me wrong, I think he's pretty limited but he will give us those benefits we are currently crying out for - now.

[DerHammer]

Asked if he still thinks Villa will stay up, Lambert replied: “Yes.”

Asked why, he responded: “I just do. I said that from day one. I just do.

To me, that smacks of "we just need to turn up" & it's not the attitude we need right now, we need some fight.

[ASHTONVILLA]

You can add me to the list of people that would give NRC a contract (albeit lower than he was on last time). He was the best player on the park most weeks in the run that kept us safe at the end of Houllier's season, and he has leadership, energy, and the ability to dish out tackles and win the ball. With better passers around him like Westwood and Bannan I think he would do well for us.

[PaulWinch again]

Asked if he still thinks Villa will stay up, Lambert replied: “Yes.”

Asked why, he responded: “I just do. I said that from day one. I just do.

To me, that smacks of "we just need to turn up" & it's not the attitude we need right now, we need some fight.

I'd just rather there was a bit more of a plan to engineer our survival.

[Risso]

That statements in that interview are the ramblings of a madman.  A more blinkered, head-in-the-sand approach I have not seen since Comical Ali was insisting that Iraq would win the war as the tanks were rolling in behind him.


Why will we stay up?  We just will!  That's the sort of thing my four year old son would come out with.
 

[UK Redsox]

Asked if he still thinks Villa will stay up, Lambert replied: “Yes.”

Asked why, he responded: “I just do. I said that from day one. I just do.

To me, that smacks of "we just need to turn up" & it's not the attitude we need right now, we need some fight.

I'd just rather there was a bit more of a plan to engineering our survival.