The January 2015 Transfer Rumour Thread

[saunders_heroes]

Milner ran his nuts off for Villa, and as midlanders we love hard working players. Barry was classy. Both deserve respect for coming from a time when we were good to watch and competitive, comparable with some of the better teams around us. Not the shower of shit we are currently served.

Milner couldn't wait to get out of the door. Never understood the love-in for him on here.

[saunders_heroes]

Barry was enemy number one under O'Leary. The amount of people slagging him off at away games was unreal. I can remember losing to Sheffield United away in the cup under Dolly and Barry scored a decent goal, the bloke stood near us who had been slagging him off all game thus far refused to celebrate. Things change, including opinions, such as Barry's "10 good years".

Barry was a fantastic player for Villa and contributed far more than Milner ever did. Familiarity breeds contempt though and that's probably why he got a bit of stick when things weren't going so well.
I can remember Petrov getting unmerciful stick at times here as well.

[ozzjim]

Petrol got stick for not getting stuck in in the early days, then not being able to run after 60 minutes towards the end of mon but that must have been more to do with tactics than anything else

Barry was excellent for us mostly and so was Milner. Both did the right thing moving on.

[brian green]

As somebody put it James Milner was a Midlands kind of player.   That is probably why he is held in such high regard.  Strong, hard working, adaptable, always put in a shift.   I wish we had a couple with those qualities right now.

[Dr Butler]

Petrol got stick for not getting stuck in in the early days, then not being able to run after 60 minutes towards the end of mon but that must have been more to do with tactics than anything else

Barry was excellent for us mostly and so was Milner. Both did the right thing moving on.

This will only fuel more puns I'm afraid

UTV
The Doc

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Petrol got stick for not getting stuck in in the early days, then not being able to run after 60 minutes towards the end of mon but that must have been more to do with tactics than anything else

Barry was excellent for us mostly and so was Milner. Both did the right thing moving on.

This will only fuel more puns I'm afraid

UTV
The Doc

Thankfully, you've poured a little oil on the water there Doc!

[Phil from the upper holte]

Petrol got stick for not getting stuck in in the early days, then not being able to run after 60 minutes towards the end of mon but that must have been more to do with tactics than anything else

Barry was excellent for us mostly and so was Milner. Both did the right thing moving on.

This will only fuel more puns I'm afraid

UTV
The Doc

petrol deserved stick but then in some places its £0.99.9 so Im much happier

[ozzjim]

Bloody phones

[Clampy]

Petrov and Milner both had good engines.

[Dave]

Milner ran his nuts off for Villa, and as midlanders we love hard working players. Barry was classy. Both deserve respect for coming from a time when we were good to watch and competitive, comparable with some of the better teams around us. Not the shower of shit we are currently served.

Milner couldn't wait to get out of the door. Never understood the love-in for him on here.

That doesn't make him "snide" though. Man City made an acceptable bid for him, he then chose to accept their contract offer. It's no different to nearly every transfer, including the ones that we make.

[richard moore]

Milner ran his nuts off for Villa, and as midlanders we love hard working players. Barry was classy. Both deserve respect for coming from a time when we were good to watch and competitive, comparable with some of the better teams around us. Not the shower of shit we are currently served.

Milner couldn't wait to get out of the door. Never understood the love-in for him on here.

I am a little bit of the same opinion, though perhaps halfway between the 'love-in' and thinking this. My problem is that while I think he is and was a good player, he's never for me been quite as good as he has been cracked up to be

[saunders_heroes]

Milner ran his nuts off for Villa, and as midlanders we love hard working players. Barry was classy. Both deserve respect for coming from a time when we were good to watch and competitive, comparable with some of the better teams around us. Not the shower of shit we are currently served.

Milner couldn't wait to get out of the door. Never understood the love-in for him on here.

That doesn't make him "snide" though. Man City made an acceptable bid for him, he then chose to accept their contract offer. It's no different to nearly every transfer, including the ones that we make.

It does in comparison to Barry. At least he was upfront in wanting to leave and explained it to the fans. Which obviously backfired somewhat but at least he thought the fans were owed an explanation. Milner on the other hand never once opened his mouth and couldn't wait to get out of the door. Yet one comes back and is applauded, the other is greeted with disdain.
I'll never understand some football fans.

[saunders_heroes]

Milner ran his nuts off for Villa, and as midlanders we love hard working players. Barry was classy. Both deserve respect for coming from a time when we were good to watch and competitive, comparable with some of the better teams around us. Not the shower of shit we are currently served.

Milner couldn't wait to get out of the door. Never understood the love-in for him on here.

I am a little bit of the same opinion, though perhaps halfway between the 'love-in' and thinking this. My problem is that while I think he is and was a good player, he's never for me been quite as good as he has been cracked up to be

True. I'm actually a fan of Milner believe it or not. He was a decent player who I'd love to see back at the club but it disappointed me that he left when he did, and I don't think he deserves the love-in from some Villa fans.
Barry on the other hand was a far batter player for Villa who contributed a lot more than Milner ever did, yet he's sneered at when he returns. Bizarre when you consider he was here for 11 years.

[Ads]

Did Barry actually hand in a trasnfer request in the end?

[passitsideways]

I think the manner in which they left is relevant (but I say this as someone who thinks Barry doesn't deserve the stick he gets). Barry turned the summer of 2008 into a circus in trying to get a move to Liverpool, came back and had a pretty decent season (as one would expect from a professional like him), and moved on to City, which looked like a money grab at the time given that it was the first season of the sheikhs. I suppose Milner did something similar, but of course he turned in an outstanding performance for his last game. Yes, I know in hindsight that West Ham team was utter crap, but I certainly respected him very greatly for putting in that sort of effort even though we all knew that the transfer was practically done by then, and an injury could have cost him a ton of money.

Maybe also relevant is how we dropped after their respective departures. We still finished 6th the season after Barry left, mostly because Milner stepped into the middle and proved to be as influential as Barry was. But we've never found a replacement for the dynamism that Milner brought.