The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Villa in Denmark]

It's not often I defend Doug, but both Brian and Allan Evans said he let them buy the players they wanted; they were just the wrong ones.

I thought we were going to smack everyone in sight and move onwards and upwards once Stan was signed but later realised that by the time he came rot had already set in.

I'd never really thought about it like that before, I'd always associated  Collymore's arrival as the start of the decline, and Curcic as just one of those things.

2 things I'll never forget with Stan.

1. Shocking my plant operators with a stream of expletives when I heard on their radio that he'd signed.
I was convinced that he was a Billy Big Bollocks who'd wreck the dressing room.

2. Can't remember who it was against, but there was one game when we were trying to shoehorn Stan, Savo and Yorke into the same team, where Savo got the ball over by the Witton Lane stand, with an easy lay-off too Stan available, but he seemed to prefer getting kicked for a few seconds until Yorke arrived. The moment for me when it was clear things weren't even close to being right behind the scenes.

[supertom]

Those initial signings by Little almost all seemed to do the business. It was Sasa Curcic which got him into the unfortunate habit of signing erratic under-performers. By the time we bought Stan in it appeared as if the dressing room wasn't as tightly knit as it was 2 years previously, and obviously Yorkie would have been getting itchy feet at that point.
Unfortunate really, that when we generally sign players with the bigger reputations, they're either over the hill or they under-perform. On the basis of ability, players like Curcic and Collymore should have seen us pushing the big boys. Our defence was very solid, we just needed a bit of a boost in midfield and attack.
Close but no Ceeegar. Ditto Gregory. Ditto O Neill.

They got a lot closer than anything those last two managed but you're right about the signings. Our big signings always seemed to have a flaw, whether it be inconsistency, temperament or flattering to deceive. We cornered the market in four star players. 

For a year with Darren Bent it finally seemed as if we'd got ourselves a marquee player in his pomp and it was working. A few injuries and getting the bomb squad treatment  later and it becomes same old, same old, unfortunately.

[AsTallAsLions]

So what really went wrong for Brian Little then? Doug certainly backed him with cash. I've always questioned the signing of Collymore and Curcic. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we didn't build on 1996.

Curcic truly was a horrible signing; he may have been decent for Bolton but his attitude was suspect even then. Definitely not the player we needed at the time. Signing Collymore is hard to criticise except in hindsight - he was one of the biggest players in the game back then and who knows if even his teammates were aware of his mental issues - doubt Brian Little was, and they certainly weren't public knowledge. Given his love for the club and our need to push on with bigger signings, it was a no-brainer at the time.

[pauliewalnuts]

In my almost 40 years watching, the only three signings which made me think we were acting like a big club, signing exciting players, were Dean Saunders, Darren Bent and Stan Collymore.

Say what you like about Houllier but the way he arrogantly swatted away Steve Bruce's whining over Bent made me think our manager was acting like we were a big club, too.

Same with his ruck with that twat Holloway.

I liked that side of Houllier.

[dave.woodhall]

In my almost 40 years watching, the only three signings which made me think we were acting like a big club, signing exciting players, were Dean Saunders, Darren Bent and Stan Collymore.

Say what you like about Houllier but the way he arrogantly swatted away Steve Bruce's whining over Bent made me think our manager was acting like we were a big club, too.

Same with his ruck with that twat Holloway.

I liked that side of Houllier.

I think Ashley Young as well - we asked how much Watford wanted and paid it without blinking. Doug would have spent a fortnight haggling.

[Toronto Villa]

In my almost 40 years watching, the only three signings which made me think we were acting like a big club, signing exciting players, were Dean Saunders, Darren Bent and Stan Collymore.

Say what you like about Houllier but the way he arrogantly swatted away Steve Bruce's whining over Bent made me think our manager was acting like we were a big club, too.

Same with his ruck with that twat Holloway.

I liked that side of Houllier.

As much as we all know Houllier could be a massive cock you also knew that he had operated at the very top level and wasn't afraid of confrontation. Once he was fully integrated into the club and it would have taken a couple of years with the right support we'd have been in the top six again. For the longest time I have felt that we have been a club almost apologizing for ourselves never acting like the big club we are. Sometimes you just want the club to act confident, maybe even a little cocky and big because it makes the fans feel great. Not saying we should forget our core values but just give us something to puff our chests out a bit. We've not had that in a good while.

[dicedlam]

In my almost 40 years watching, the only three signings which made me think we were acting like a big club, signing exciting players, were Dean Saunders, Darren Bent and Stan Collymore.

Say what you like about Houllier but the way he arrogantly swatted away Steve Bruce's whining over Bent made me think our manager was acting like we were a big club, too.

Same with his ruck with that twat Holloway.

I liked that side of Houllier.

I think Ashley Young as well - we asked how much Watford wanted and paid it without blinking. Doug would have spent a fortnight haggling.

We spent near on £7m for a player from Leeds, who was more or less considered at the time 'one for the future'.

[edgysatsuma89]

Another thing against him, he's ORANGE.

Does he look like a golfer? It's bugging me, but I keep going back to golfer.

Olazabal?

there's a touch of Gareth Hunt c1981 going on there too

Yes olazabal! There's an image on google with him looking at the Ryder cup (don't know what I'm doing on my phone) and he's a dead ringer for him. Like a clone gone wrong. Cheers puppyfeat.

[KevinGage]

In my almost 40 years watching, the only three signings which made me think we were acting like a big club, signing exciting players, were Dean Saunders, Darren Bent and Stan Collymore.

Say what you like about Houllier but the way he arrogantly swatted away Steve Bruce's whining over Bent made me think our manager was acting like we were a big club, too.

Same with his ruck with that twat Holloway.

I liked that side of Houllier.

As much as we all know Houllier could be a massive cock you also knew that he had operated at the very top level and wasn't afraid of confrontation. Once he was fully integrated into the club and it would have taken a couple of years with the right support we'd have been in the top six again. For the longest time I have felt that we have been a club almost apologizing for ourselves never acting like the big club we are. Sometimes you just want the club to act confident, maybe even a little cocky and big because it makes the fans feel great. Not saying we should forget our core values but just give us something to puff our chests out a bit. We've not had that in a good while.

I think O'Neill gave us that, to an extent.

The football might have been underwhelming at times, but we went to places like the Emirates and Old Trafford actually looking to win. Almost expecting it, on occasion.


As for Curcic, in some respects it's more disappointing that that deal didn't work out than the Colllywobbles one. The old season reviews for 1996/97 and 97/98 on Villa memories illustrate what he could do on song.  Incisive passing, dribbling could take on a player and had a decent shot on him.

[MyDadIsBiggerThanYourDad]

Oh well. New month and all that! Let's hope this is the month of change!

Its going to all kick off when the stock exchange opens tom. Is that 2.30pm?

Its funny I've also got a dentist appointment 2:30.

- I know very old gag

The old ones are the best!

[Brian Taylor]

Oh well. New month and all that! Let's hope this is the month of change!

Its going to all kick off when the stock exchange opens tom. Is that 2.30pm?

Its funny I've also got a dentist appointment 2:30.

- I know very old gag

The old ones are the best!

Chinese dentist? Tooth hurty

[godzvilla]

It might sound naive but how does the fact that third party ownership and dealing in international players is illegal in the Premier League and FA attract an owner or outfit like Doyen Capital?

I'm sure I read somewhere (probably on here) that FIFA were about to rule it out for leagues in other countries as well, but the only player I am aware of up till now who was involved in this in a PL context is Tevez.

 There had to be a change in the way that transfer was financed and his contract worked, to meet the UK laws, if I remember, which made it difficult for the outfit who 'owned' his contract to get a lot out if it.

This quote from the Doyen Sports Website ( ' Press Room ' )
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=doyen+sports+11+press+release .

Apparently they have a ' second arm ' ( cue 2nd Hand Jokes ) Doyen Sports 2 , who are allegedly about to invest 200mil  "  which will serve to leverage and expand on the current network established by 'Doyen Sports" .  Make of this what you will ............Godzvilla!
100.000.000€ INVESTED !

'Doyen Sports' is pleased to announce that it’s investment arm has reached a total committed sum of €100mn. The canny cooperation with various football clubs includes assisting with cash flow problems for operations as well as signing bright young talent to increase competitiveness on the pitch. In addition to the on-going success of 'Doyen Sports', the group is excited to announce a planned investment of €200mn through 'Doyen Sports II', which will serve to leverage and expand on the current network established by 'Doyen Sports

[LeeB]

It's not often I defend Doug, but both Brian and Allan Evans said he let them buy the players they wanted; they were just the wrong ones.

I thought we were going to smack everyone in sight and move onwards and upwards once Stan was signed but later realised that by the time he came rot had already set in.

I'd never really thought about it like that before, I'd always associated  Collymore's arrival as the start of the decline, and Curcic as just one of those things.

2 things I'll never forget with Stan.

1. Shocking my plant operators with a stream of expletives when I heard on their radio that he'd signed.
I was convinced that he was a Billy Big Bollocks who'd wreck the dressing room.

2. Can't remember who it was against, but there was one game when we were trying to shoehorn Stan, Savo and Yorke into the same team, where Savo got the ball over by the Witton Lane stand, with an easy lay-off too Stan available, but he seemed to prefer getting kicked for a few seconds until Yorke arrived. The moment for me when it was clear things weren't even close to being right behind the scenes.

I felt the same about Stan.

[N'ZMAV]

I was fooled, and caught up in the hype about Collymore. If I was older, then I would have doubted it from the off. Being 14 years old gave me the naive approach the Villa knew what they was doing. Was never going to work, was it?

[silhillvilla]

Collymore should have worked but nobody knew what lerked beneath. The 0-4 debut summed his time up with us well.