Concrete Ron

[Steve67]

Worst case scenario is he stays for another year plays his heart out for a big move mega deal elsewhere and walks for free in 12 months. Everyone's a winner .

Villa don't win if he is still surrounded by the same shit though do they? The best we hope for is survival? No chance. If he doesn't sign, sell and try to replace.

[silhillvilla]

Worst case scenario is he stays for another year plays his heart out for a big move mega deal elsewhere and walks for free in 12 months. Everyone's a winner .

Villa don't win if he is still surrounded by the same shit though do they? The best we hope for is survival? No chance. If he doesn't sign, sell and try to replace.

My fear with selling is lambert will not get the proceeds.

[Steve67]

He'll only spend it on shit anyway mate.

[The Villa Werewolf]

He'll only spend it on shit anyway mate.

You do know who signed Vlaar, don't you?

[Dante Lavelli]

Worst case scenario is he stays for another year plays his heart out for a big move mega deal elsewhere and walks for free in 12 months. Everyone's a winner .

Villa don't win if he is still surrounded by the same shit though do they? The best we hope for is survival? No chance. If he doesn't sign, sell and try to replace.

I don't think the money we would receive would be enough to find a guaranteed replacement for Vlaar let alone more than one position (due to the contract situation), on that basis I'd prefer to keep him and accept he is likely to leave next summer.  By which time there's a decent dance we'll have new owners looking to impress and splash some cash.

[SoccerHQ]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I sure as hell wouldn't. Not when the ownership situation is up in the air, the team aren't very good as it is and the club is in extreme cost cutting mode so god knows what the terms on the extension will even be.

I would be looking at what our ambition is.

I haven't seen anything from the club in a long while which suggests our ambition extends beyond not getting relegated, absolutely nothing.

We ended last season saying how much we needed to invest in players, and what sort of players, to return to an acceptable level, and since then we've signed three free transfers, one of which is a 33 year old who is made of glass and hasn't done anything for years, one of which is an underwhelming centre half, and the other is a bog standard left back.

It's football fans' optimism that we're increasingly talking about the return of the injured or pointlessly excluded, and saying they're "like a new signing", but really, we had a need to do a significant amount of squad strengthening, and thus far, we haven't seen anything at all to suggest we're going to do it.

As a fan, it is depressing, but if I were a footballer, aged 29, looking at my last deal, had had a very good World Cup and had only a year on my contract, there's really no way I'd dedicate the final years of my career to a club which clearly just exists to not get relegated.

There isn't any ambition, ultimately, I wouldn't blame anyone for not fancying that.

I thought the reality at the moment is the club is in a zombie state due to the takeover situation. In an ideal world it all gets sorted out quickly and we can starting moving forward with fresh investment, ideas and impetus. That dosen't look likely atm though so we're left to muddle on as Randy isn't going to suddenly sanction some mass spending spree when it won't be his club in 6-12 months time.

[Steve67]

He'll only spend it on shit anyway mate.

You do know who signed Vlaar, don't you?

You do know who else the same man signed don't you? Other than Benteke, mostly Vlaar and the potential of Okore, he has signed nothing but shit.

[Dave]

Presumably you missed the signings of Westwood, Kozak, Bacuna and Guzan then?

[pauliewalnuts]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I sure as hell wouldn't. Not when the ownership situation is up in the air, the team aren't very good as it is and the club is in extreme cost cutting mode so god knows what the terms on the extension will even be.

I would be looking at what our ambition is.

I haven't seen anything from the club in a long while which suggests our ambition extends beyond not getting relegated, absolutely nothing.

We ended last season saying how much we needed to invest in players, and what sort of players, to return to an acceptable level, and since then we've signed three free transfers, one of which is a 33 year old who is made of glass and hasn't done anything for years, one of which is an underwhelming centre half, and the other is a bog standard left back.

It's football fans' optimism that we're increasingly talking about the return of the injured or pointlessly excluded, and saying they're "like a new signing", but really, we had a need to do a significant amount of squad strengthening, and thus far, we haven't seen anything at all to suggest we're going to do it.

As a fan, it is depressing, but if I were a footballer, aged 29, looking at my last deal, had had a very good World Cup and had only a year on my contract, there's really no way I'd dedicate the final years of my career to a club which clearly just exists to not get relegated.

There isn't any ambition, ultimately, I wouldn't blame anyone for not fancying that.

I thought the reality at the moment is the club is in a zombie state due to the takeover situation. In an ideal world it all gets sorted out quickly and we can starting moving forward with fresh investment, ideas and impetus. That dosen't look likely atm though so we're left to muddle on as Randy isn't going to suddenly sanction some mass spending spree when it won't be his club in 6-12 months time.

The thing is, we have looked in a zombie state for two years now, and seem to be getting more, not less, zombiefied.

[Dante Lavelli]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I sure as hell wouldn't. Not when the ownership situation is up in the air, the team aren't very good as it is and the club is in extreme cost cutting mode so god knows what the terms on the extension will even be.

I would be looking at what our ambition is.

I haven't seen anything from the club in a long while which suggests our ambition extends beyond not getting relegated, absolutely nothing.

We ended last season saying how much we needed to invest in players, and what sort of players, to return to an acceptable level, and since then we've signed three free transfers, one of which is a 33 year old who is made of glass and hasn't done anything for years, one of which is an underwhelming centre half, and the other is a bog standard left back.

It's football fans' optimism that we're increasingly talking about the return of the injured or pointlessly excluded, and saying they're "like a new signing", but really, we had a need to do a significant amount of squad strengthening, and thus far, we haven't seen anything at all to suggest we're going to do it.

As a fan, it is depressing, but if I were a footballer, aged 29, looking at my last deal, had had a very good World Cup and had only a year on my contract, there's really no way I'd dedicate the final years of my career to a club which clearly just exists to not get relegated.

There isn't any ambition, ultimately, I wouldn't blame anyone for not fancying that.

I thought the reality at the moment is the club is in a zombie state due to the takeover situation. In an ideal world it all gets sorted out quickly and we can starting moving forward with fresh investment, ideas and impetus. That dosen't look likely atm though so we're left to muddle on as Randy isn't going to suddenly sanction some mass spending spree when it won't be his club in 6-12 months time.

The thing is, we have looked in a zombie state for two years now, and seem to be getting more, not less, zombiefied.

...and now it's a very public zombified.  I don't envy Lambert's job of motivating a group of players who must feel like they're in limbo too.  The average footballer could not care who owned their club but I suspect most, like all employees, want to know that the organisation have objectives and the opportunity to grow.  You can't say Villa scream that right now.

[Dave]

The thing is, we have looked in a zombie state for two years now, and seem to be getting more, not less, zombiefied.

I reckon that if you were making a 'footballers who could pass as zombies' list then Senderos would probably be on it.

[tomd2103]

Presumably you missed the signings of Westwood, Kozak, Bacuna and Guzan then?

Guzan aside, the other three have hardly been roaring successes have they Dave. 

[Dave]

Presumably you missed the signings of Westwood, Kozak, Bacuna and Guzan then?

Guzan aside, the other three have hardly been roaring successes have they Dave. 

Kozak - yes, I would say that he has been a complete success and I look forward to having him back in the side.
Bacuna - when played in his proper position he is a good goalscoring midfielder, as evidenced by er... all those goals that he scored. And well worth the what, £700,000 that he cost?
Westwood - Has been more good than bad. Certainly not 'shit'.

[SoccerHQ]

Be honest, take away the Villa blood running through your veins and ask yourselves this; If you were an established premier league player (not a youth like Robinson or Grealish) would you be signing any contract the club would possibly be offering.

I sure as hell wouldn't. Not when the ownership situation is up in the air, the team aren't very good as it is and the club is in extreme cost cutting mode so god knows what the terms on the extension will even be.

I would be looking at what our ambition is.

I haven't seen anything from the club in a long while which suggests our ambition extends beyond not getting relegated, absolutely nothing.

We ended last season saying how much we needed to invest in players, and what sort of players, to return to an acceptable level, and since then we've signed three free transfers, one of which is a 33 year old who is made of glass and hasn't done anything for years, one of which is an underwhelming centre half, and the other is a bog standard left back.

It's football fans' optimism that we're increasingly talking about the return of the injured or pointlessly excluded, and saying they're "like a new signing", but really, we had a need to do a significant amount of squad strengthening, and thus far, we haven't seen anything at all to suggest we're going to do it.

As a fan, it is depressing, but if I were a footballer, aged 29, looking at my last deal, had had a very good World Cup and had only a year on my contract, there's really no way I'd dedicate the final years of my career to a club which clearly just exists to not get relegated.

There isn't any ambition, ultimately, I wouldn't blame anyone for not fancying that.

I thought the reality at the moment is the club is in a zombie state due to the takeover situation. In an ideal world it all gets sorted out quickly and we can starting moving forward with fresh investment, ideas and impetus. That dosen't look likely atm though so we're left to muddle on as Randy isn't going to suddenly sanction some mass spending spree when it won't be his club in 6-12 months time.

The thing is, we have looked in a zombie state for two years now, and seem to be getting more, not less, zombiefied.

Yes I know, just surprised people are expecting significant money to be spent when Lerner is trying to sell us. I know it's shite but it's what it is currently. Just hope this dosen't drag and drag and drag...

[pauliewalnuts]

Presumably you missed the signings of Westwood, Kozak, Bacuna and Guzan then?

Guzan aside, the other three have hardly been roaring successes have they Dave. 

Kozak - yes, I would say that he has been a complete success and I look forward to having him back in the side.
Bacuna - when played in his proper position he is a good goalscoring midfielder, as evidenced by er... all those goals that he scored. And well worth the what, £700,000 that he cost?
Westwood - Has been more good than bad. Certainly not 'shit'.

You could argue that Westwood has been more good than bad, but the question is whether he's been good enough to play regularly in this league. See also Lowton.