R.Bear

He has one year left on his contract, Dave Whelan doesnt have a choice.

Please see this through Villa, not least because of the bet I put on yesterday @ 5/4

Toon Blog Agree with every word

Yeah Twitter is first for pretty much anything. Obviously 99% of it is bullshit but when something is true, its on Twitter first.

I've got all over that 5/4 bet. My mate has put £50 on too after I texted him He better sign now

Yep William Hill is still 5/4. Every other bookie has caught on. I would lump on if I were you.

Its all over Twitter!!

Good news!! I've forgotten what that feels like Utterly superb signing.

We had better **** sign him. He is a better player than Downing IMO. I've always rated him, even in the early days at Newcastle circa 2005-06, I used to tout him around to my mates as being a future star. I'm amazed taken this long for him to become a influential player. I will be ecstatic i f we see this through. Goals from midfield are something we're really lacking too. Not to mention the extra set-piece threat.

It isnt possible. So get that pipe dream out of your head. We dont have the funds to get anywhere near those expectations. We could spend outside our means to push for it but would almost certainly fail, bankrupt ourselves and do a Leeds.

The danger is now whether N'Zogbia would even consider Villa a step up from Wigan...

No, it isn't. So what do we do? Say to Downing "you're not going anywhere". He bitches and moans. We go through the same thing in January, then again next summer when he leaves for a fraction of the fee. He's left because as a club we are going absolutely nowhere and he's right. He's just had his best season in the Premier League, why would he want to spend the next couple of years scrapping for 12th position for half the money he's probably getting at Liverpool?

Look, when a player wants to leave the club, that's all that matters. The rest is just paperwork, PR, spin and bollocks. As much as I hate the clearing in the woods right now, the more important thing to consider is why our best players want to leave. The answers are obvious and are hard to take but that's football. One thing though, has Ash signed a new contract and stayed, there is no way Downing would have said a word.

A penny for Darren's thoughts right now He's probably scouring Birmingham looking for a DeLorean to travel back to January... :shock:

Do you know what the worst thing is about this? What players of any glass would want to come anywhere near Villa Park right now? We are an utter joke.

Only in a BUSINESS sense was it a good thing. Of course for the squad it isnt. I'm saying we didnt get fleeced by these players leaving. They didnt leave on frees like many stars have done at other clubs. When a player wants out then all you can do as a club is get the most money you can for him. We have done that three times with these players.

So "we wont accept anything less than 20m" then? Tbf it's a great price for a player of his ability. Milner - Bought for 12m, sold for 26m Young - Bought for 9.65m, sold for 18m Downing - Bought for 12m, sold for 18.5m Not bad business really, all things considered. of course its bad business. because we havent replaced any of them with better players and have thus gone backwards in what world could that be considered good business ? not that we've agreed to sell Downing for 18.5m of course It's good in a purely business sense. Three players wanted to go, and we got good prices for them. Never forget that people laughed at the time for the fees we paid for all three.

So "we wont accept anything less than 20m" then? Tbf it's a great price for a player of his ability. Milner - Bought for 12m, sold for 26m Young - Bought for 9.65m, sold for 18m Downing - Bought for 12m, sold for 18.5m Not bad business really, all things considered.

Because our manager is Alex McLeish and not Craig David.

It really is a sad indictment of how far we have fallen in 12 months that we cant even keep hold of Stewart Downing...

So nothing like the last 20 years then

So it looks like this one is as good as done. About goddamn time.

I think Weimann may have a lot more first team football this season, could be a useful squad player.

I hope he goes now. He wants out so I dont want him here. It's like finding out your missus cheated on you, she admits it but you keep her anyway. You may still be together but its never the same after that point.

I have to be honest, I'm amazed that clubs bigger than us arent making a concerted effort to sign N'Zogbia.