What's your view on Paul Faulkner now?

[PaulWinch again]

He's doing well at the moment. Sign Christian Benteke up over the next week and we'll be very very happy.

[sonlyme]

I like the new kit. Never heard of any of the the players we've been linked with. A bit too early to be shooting your load yet, so lets wait till the season starts

Too late for me.  Shot my load when Tonev signed - a great player.  Just about reloaded when news came in of Bacuna (Dutch Essien is how my mate describes him) and shot it again.  Now Jores Okore signs - after impressing in the Champions League - attracting interest from Man Utd and actually turning down the offer to go the Chelsea when his club had accepted a bid - and I find myself all wrung out.

If Lambert, Faulkener, and Lerner keep this up I'll be down to the doctors for some Viagra.

And one more thing.  Does anyone else notice he is not signing big time charlies.  He is going after young guys who possess a simple professional attitude of wanting to play football.  Read the Okore interview.  How many would turn down Abramovich's money and the lure of a glamour club.  The same with Leandro Bacuna.  He wants to play - not pick up £30k a week to sit on a bench or be sent out on loan.  All our signings so far have spoken about wanting to be a part of something special - a team - and a club that gives talent a chance no matter its age or pedigree.  I think Villa's policy has not gone unnoticed in Europe and if these lads are the sort of quality we are attracting as a result - then I for one say this is good.

And it's not over yet.

Credit where it is due and a little faith.

UTV

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Falkner has made some terrible mistakes. Mainly Mcleish. But he seems to have got his act together. One final act is making sure the money/contract is good enough to make Benteke sign a new contract ......

[silhillvilla]

In a weird sort of way, we almost needed the all time low of McLeish in order that we had a "ground zero" to build up from. It didnt look at all good at Xmas for Lambert, I'll hold my hands up after that Wigan 0-3 I just couldn't see any way he'd turn that around.
Credit to Faulkner for not pulling the trigger (I would have) credit to lambert for showing such resiliency .

[dave.woodhall]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

[dave shelley]

It might be time to roll out the old cliché, " the darkest hour is just before dawn".

[nigel]

We haven't signed anyone for 10 minutes. Faulkner out!

Bacuna's signed. Panic over.

Faulkner in!

You're so fickle PWS 

[silhillvilla]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

[garyshawsknee]

I like the new kit. Never heard of any of the the players we've been linked with. A bit too early to be shooting your load yet, so lets wait till the season starts

Too late for me.  Shot my load when Tonev signed - a great player.  Just about reloaded when news came in of Bacuna (Dutch Essien is how my mate describes him) and shot it again.  Now Jores Okore signs - after impressing in the Champions League - attracting interest from Man Utd and actually turning down the offer to go the Chelsea when his club had accepted a bid - and I find myself all wrung out.

If Lambert, Faulkener, and Lerner keep this up I'll be down to the doctors for some Viagra.

And one more thing.  Does anyone else notice he is not signing big time charlies.  He is going after young guys who possess a simple professional attitude of wanting to play football.  Read the Okore interview.  How many would turn down Abramovich's money and the lure of a glamour club.  The same with Leandro Bacuna.  He wants to play - not pick up £30k a week to sit on a bench or be sent out on loan.  All our signings so far have spoken about wanting to be a part of something special - a team - and a club that gives talent a chance no matter its age or pedigree.  I think Villa's policy has not gone unnoticed in Europe and if these lads are the sort of quality we are attracting as a result - then I for one say this is good.

And it's not over yet.

Credit where it is due and a little faith.

UTV

Well said Sir.

[chrisf]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

That's interesting.

I've been quite anti Paul Faulkner because I couldn't see for the life of me how a kid with a degree in history and five years experience as Relationship Manager with MBNA could possibly become CEO of Aston Villa Football club. The various managerial/player contract debacles of the last few years only confirmed my view.

The way we've done business since Lambert took charge though has been much much better and PF has to take much of the credit for that.

Hopefully this recent set of transfers is a result of the new global super talent database that Paul's been putting together and the fact that they're all well rated on FIFA 2013 is a coincidence.

[ozzjim]

Although Fifa and Football Manager are a couple of the most extensively researched databases on footballers you could find. Not suggesting players should be judged by it, but a lot of good players on there that I have never heard of, 2-3 years later are suddenly very good in real life.

Faulkner should be praised for everything that has happened since he who shall not be named was sacked. Realised his mistakes in both player recruitment and manager recruitment, set out a plan of what the wage bill needed to hit and the type of player Villa wanted and then got in the manager to achieve that, and kept his nerve when said manager went through the inevitable rocky patch with such constraints. Fair play to all.

[dave.woodhall]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

No idea, but they're obviously doing some work.

[LeeB]

I like the new kit. Never heard of any of the the players we've been linked with. A bit too early to be shooting your load yet, so lets wait till the season starts 

Yawn.

It's my opinion. If you don't like it don't read it.

Your opinion is posted to be argued with. If you're too precious to deal with criticism, then don't post.

I rarely agree with saunders on footballing matters, but just posting "yawn" is hardly a robust or erudite criticism of his position.

Yeah, but I'm on pay-as-you-go internet on a campsite so I need to be succinct.

[pauliewalnuts]

When I did that interview with him a couple of years ago he spoke about how we were putting in place a scouting network/database that basically meant whatever type of player we were after, we could check and find them. Maybe that's what's coming to fruition now.

Dave do you have any knowledge who our scouts are ? Since Henke left I've heard very little. Do we have directly employed scouts or do we rely on consultants / agents ?

No idea, but they're obviously doing some work.

I'd imagine this is almost entirely to do with Lambert and his team.

At Norwich, Karsa was the one who did all the work on scouting and preparing dossiers on upcoming opponents, and Norwich fans seemed to think he was absolutely key to Lambert's success there.

Had we been developing some sort of gigantic scouting software system (which you don't actually need to develop yourself, these days, you can get them off the shelf), then the season before last wouldn't have happened. The transition from McLeish's transfer acquisitions to the ones the last year is enormous.

[maidstonevillain]

We may have a squad of more than 12 players for the first time in a decade.

The previous time we had a squad of players we did alright.

That was meant to say 12 players.