MikeMcKenna

Ellis: "I" spent £120 million one year..." Ellis: "You can't spend money you havent got and "I" didnt spend it" Ellis: "I like to be humble..." Q: ".. Villa's greatest success happened when you weren't the chairman. Does that rankle with you?" Ellis: "Does a bit because I knew the majority of the team and the staff behind the team were my appointments" Makes me want to throw up!!! :puke: :puke:

I don't think anyone would say it isn't. But the point is the wages those were paid was 3 times as much as the current squad. That unfortunately had to happen. however the money is greater from tv 2013 to 2005,but this squad was funded by doug lets not forget,their a few diamonds in that squad,doug sold avfc to RL 20m light as doug wanted 20m invested in the team. it would be interesting to see how much the wage bill was then to now What are you on? Ellis never invested a penny in AVFC, never "funded" any players and definitely didn't sell the club for £20m less than he could have got. It never ceases to amaze me that some fans still think Ellis put any of his own money into Villa!

Don't really see why we should've kept Collins and Bent. Collins is shit (and still is), was on high wages and was apparently a bad influence. Bent was never going to be first choice with Benteke in the frame and it didn't make sense to have a benchwarmer on his kind of wages. Do a search for Krulak and Mysteryman. Mysteryman wasn't club PR like Krulak - he was just someone was a bit of inside info (and he was also wrong occasionally). I think people are confusing people giving us an insight into what goes on behind the scenes with club PR. Krulak was PR yes but besides him I can't think of anyone who has come on here with inside information that would fit that description, certainly not HairyHands. I agree. I don't think HH is club PR. If he was he wouldn't be so critical toward certain aspects of the club. I don't doubt for a second that the club knows he is posting but at the same time I don't think he is just forwarding club-approved statements. It seems that, within reason, the opinions are his own and the facts are those which he has been authorised by the club to tell us. Actually rather than being "authorised by the club", I think it is more like his comments have been authorised by Lambert or that he trusts HH to open a channel to the fans. As we all know PL is publicly not that articulate and needs someone to communicate his situation and plans. I doubt very much that PF would approve of the footballing side selectively leaking stuff to one fan forum and that it is more a reflection of the fact the Club Is NOT very good at PR.

I agree it's improved (but we haven't played the likes of Man Citeh away, Man Utd away yet....). But it's still the worst defence in the Premier League talent wise - and that's where Lambert deserves a bit of praise as they are at least organised better. Just a shame about his purchases, style of play and results, really I don't for one minute think our defence is acceptable, but on what basis are they the worst in the premier league? Is that just opinion or do you have anything to back it up? Just look at all the teams below us. They all have conceded more goals which ultimately is the main performance measure for any defence - which considering our poor possession and the injuries to Okore and Vlaar is something. I would like another CB but if money is limited, midfield is where I would invest. It is clear that our main problems are primarily midfield and attack.

I know what you mean, but I would rather have some insight than nothing. Also allowing the fans to fester doesn't help anything. Lets face it, if PL doesn't manage to sign these key players and the situation doesn't turn round the fans will come down on him like a ton of bricks,

If Lerner told lambert that there was little money for wages and the budget was tight, how is everything Lerner's fault ? Lambert clearly understood whatever constraints were in place and felt he could operate within them. The problem is not financial, most of the team that played the final half of last season are still with us. We played some promising football between February and May, and yet Lambert tinkered with things to such an extent that this year we're a team of strangers once again. Lambert gas spent over £40M since he arrived. In the same time, Steve Bruce he spent around £20M, got Hull promoted and looks to be establishing them in the premier league. In the same period, Everton have spent £47M and are now challenging for champions league football. The budget is not the problem, Lambert is just not up to the job. IMO The problem was and still is financial. If you read my posts you will see I questioned whether lambert was stupid to have accepted the job in the first place. Maybe he thought he could take a radical approach and has been found out. We will have to agree to disagree, as for the foreseeable future, I have set out my stall and decided to back the manager - as you say "we played some promising football" in the past under lambert, and my hope! however forlorn it may currently seem is that he can get them to click again. If I am wrong, I am wrong but we will see. I think there is no way he is going to get fired in the short term and prefer to back him for now as I see no alternative option.

You know he only came on for last 20 mins right? On another note it was nice of Gabby to finally draw level with KEA's goal tally this season. Yeah I know that but I'm speaking in general terms. He looses the ball to much and did again today in which Swansea could have scored from Wow that's really weird. He get's dispossessed about the least in our team excluding defenders. 9 times all season compared to Delph's 23 times But I guess you see what you want to see and dislike who you want to dislike. What u on about. He looses the ball all the time. He can't string 2 passes together I think you will find Delph loses the ball a hell of a lot more than KEA as you can see in the above stats. I'm sorry that doesn't suit your agenda. Lol your comical. You decided to use disposition stats to suit your agenda and I never mentioned the word disposition. I know what I see every week and if you think he is better than Delph then you're the one with the agenda. I'm not sure you have the disposition to comment on dispossession. I never said he was better than Delph. I was highlighting the ridiculous myths that people spout and use stats evidence to back it up. Delph get's dispossessed almost 3 times more than KEA. KEA has good passing accuracy. Just like every one else in the Anti-KEA brigade you see one mistake which becomes emblazoned into your mind and in your head he is doing this all season. Surely it is you that is using "stats evidence to back it up"? "He get's dispossessed about the least in our team excluding defenders. 9 times all season compared to Delph's 23 times" I prefer my own eyes and they tell me far more than any sets of stats after a game. KEA simply inspires no confidence whatsoever. He looks very uncomfortable on the ball and rarely makes an incisive pass. As I have said IMO he is part of the problem. As regards your comparison with Delph. Maybe it is because Delph at least tries to break "forward" - I am not certain that KEA understands the word.

You know he only came on for last 20 mins right? On another note it was nice of Gabby to finally draw level with KEA's goal tally this season. Yeah I know that but I'm speaking in general terms. He looses the ball to much and did again today in which Swansea could have scored from Wow that's really weird. He get's dispossessed about the least in our team excluding defenders. 9 times all season compared to Delph's 23 times. But I guess you see what you want to see and dislike who you want to dislike. What u on about. He looses the ball all the time. He can't string 2 passes together Agree. I have always thought he is ineffective and part of the problem. He is totally incapable of dominating play. I really don't see what others see in him. He is easily pressured and rarely pulls off a decent pass. Delph is by far the better player.

And we are suppose to rely on this as ITK? Hmmmm BTW that is the son not the father. What's your issue with the crebility then? you don't think he spoke to PF or that PF would tell him? To answer your question I would be surprised if PF would discuss the possibility of replacing the manager with a fan wherever he sits in the ground. HH claims to sit in the directors' box, I have no idea whether he does or even if you can. Based on what he used to tweet I would be sceptical anyway. Just my opinion of course and more than happy to be proved wrong Harry I don't know whether PF said this, but HH jnr does sit in the directors box and I am almost certain that a former VT ITK was fed stuff by PF so I wouldn't be at all surprised. All that said even if PF said this, so what? It is only what I would expect the CEO to say. However if he said the reverse it would be totally unprofessional. Mike, I have a natural scepticism of so called 'in the knows' but accept that fans/posters do occasionally hear things as I have done on occasion. As regards HH much depends on whether PF openly volunteered the information or whether he was asked a direct question by HH. If it was the latter, which I guess it was, I would hardly expect PF to say he was going to fire Lambert or that his job was under threat so why tweet about it it, apart from the obvious reasons? Back on topic..... The simple fact for me and many fans who have hitherto backed Lambert is that matters are going from bad to worse and Paul Lambert is like a rabbit in the headlights of the oncoming juggernaut. I have little faith in Faulkner although he talks a good game when I have heard him speak and as for Lerner it's abundantly clear he has neither the inclination or the money, or both, to take the club forward. Given how he has been let down by successive managers I can hardly blame him although the lack of any real financial discipline sits with him. It's a sad state of affairs that I am sitting down in Bournemouth on holiday, your neck of the woods I recall!, not caring one jot that I missed todays game and my STs have been wasted. Sad state of affairs but is suspect common to many fans. That is how far we have fallen when you have no real expectation that we can beat an average side at Villa Park although we all travel in hope rather than expectation these days. Ha ha - I wish I had stayed in Bournemouth on Thursday and today! I actually quite like Faulkner but I think he is a CEO in name only and that Lerner pulls all the strings. As for Lambert, I actually agree that he is currently bewildered but I do wonder whether any of the other likely candidates would have done any better. The day Lerner signed McLeish was the day I totally lost confidence in him and he has done nothing since to change my mind - quite the reverse. Sadly however I think if lambert doesn't get some experience in during January he is a dead man walking and Lerner will bring someone else in on exactly the same terms who will do no better.

I'm sorry Mike, but who signed that lot? El Ahmadi isn't up to the PL. Helenius doesn't seem to be rated by the bloke who bought him. Sylla seems to have gone backwards. Bowery, I'm calling shenanigans on - the new Ali Dia - we'll find out in the future that Lambert was duped into buying him. Kozak has scored some goals, but I really don't think we needed him; he can't play the Benteke role which is the reason he was purchased and the money would've been better spent on a CM. I know Lambert has wage & transfer fee restrictions, but I don't believe the money spent on that lot couldn't have been spent better. As I said I will find it very hard to defend him, but IF it is true that he was told that he had a very limited wage budget I am not certain he could have signed much better and gambled on kids and foreign players - clearly many haven't worked out but the fact that Martinez turned us down twice must tell us something about the constraints. I don't know a lot about the average wages of premiership standard players but my sense is that Lambert didn't have any choice.mike as you well know I think that you are a top bloke who typically talks so much sense but i think you are wrong to remove blame from lambert. The bloke is awful, a weak manager with little of the attributes needed to take any club in villa's position forward. To see some of the quotes here about him still being a top manager are laughable but understandable because they are more about people not wanting to admit they are wrong rather than based on reality. Lerner certainly should get blame for where we are but Lambert is the key man at the moment and is consistently failing at delivering any sort of progress under the constraints lerner has set and squad lambert has built. So reality is yes Lerner accept blame and change but certainly more so Lambert get out of ourclub, take those **** idiots who surround you also and let avfc try and survive again because at this moment Lambert is killing us In fairness I haven't said lambert is a top manager and fully accept that many of the players he has brought in haven't delivered. My main points are that given the constraints I don't think "a top manager" would have taken the job or that anyone else could have done much better. If I am honest I think lambert took on an impossible job and now needs a massive amount of luck and more importantly backing by Lerner in terms of adding experience whether through loans or full signings. I really think any manager who agreed to Lerners terms would be in the same mess now.

Ohhh, we could have bought Bony and Shelvey then, instead of Kozak Tonev and Luna. Also Lambert should have had a smooth transition too, cause at the moment he's playing the same shit McLeish did!! Even if we use the reported figure of 7 mill for Kozak (which I believe is under 5), 2.5 for Tonev and 2 for Luna, we are 5.5 mill short to buy those two. And how well have they done, playing in a team that has only fetched one more point than us? But I think the 40 Million spent would have covered it. BUT we had lost Petrov. Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Hutton, Ireland were all **** - so we had to buy defenders and midfielders and attackers - our squad was in a total mess in July 2012.

I'm sorry Mike, but who signed that lot? El Ahmadi isn't up to the PL. Helenius doesn't seem to be rated by the bloke who bought him. Sylla seems to have gone backwards. Bowery, I'm calling shenanigans on - the new Ali Dia - we'll find out in the future that Lambert was duped into buying him. Kozak has scored some goals, but I really don't think we needed him; he can't play the Benteke role which is the reason he was purchased and the money would've been better spent on a CM. I know Lambert has wage & transfer fee restrictions, but I don't believe the money spent on that lot couldn't have been spent better. As I said I will find it very hard to defend him, but IF it is true that he was told that he had a very limited wage budget I am not certain he could have signed much better and gambled on kids and foreign players - clearly many haven't worked out but the fact that Martinez turned us down twice must tell us something about the constraints. I don't know a lot about the average wages of premiership standard players but my sense is that Lambert didn't have any choice. Incidentally I would like us to have signed Huddlestone for £2.5 million but at £30k per week his wages were too high so we probably didn't even bother having a look.

I'm sorry Mike, but who signed that lot? El Ahmadi isn't up to the PL. Helenius doesn't seem to be rated by the bloke who bought him. Sylla seems to have gone backwards. Bowery, I'm calling shenanigans on - the new Ali Dia - we'll find out in the future that Lambert was duped into buying him. Kozak has scored some goals, but I really don't think we needed him; he can't play the Benteke role which is the reason he was purchased and the money would've been better spent on a CM. I know Lambert has wage & transfer fee restrictions, but I don't believe the money spent on that lot couldn't have been spent better. As I said I will find it very hard to defend him, but IF it is true that he was told that he had a very limited wage budget I am not certain he could have signed much better and gambled on kids and foreign players - clearly many haven't worked out but the fact that Martinez turned us down twice must tell us something about the constraints. I don't know a lot about the average wages of premiership standard players but my sense is that Lambert didn't have any choice.

I am going to stick my neck out here and say that we the fans have to stick with PL. The guy killing our club is LERNER! In very recent times like many I have been very critical of PL and even now find it very hard to defend him, especially after the last two games. BUT when the game started today I looked at the 1st 11 and the subs and actually felt sorry for him. We didn't even have one outfield defender on the bench: El Ahmadi, Helenius, Albrighton, Steer, Sylla, Bowery, Kozák Lambert maybe stupidly decided to leave Norwich and take on the AVFC challenge. He inherited a dysfunctional squad which included Collins, Warnock, Dunne, Hutton, Makoun and lazy ***** like Ireland and Bent. Our best GK; Guzan had been released. He inherited the useless Holman a Mcleish signing and too cap it all sadly there was no prospect of our team captain Petrov coming back. His first jobs were to get rid of the big earners, cut the wage bill, then find sufficient players quickly to make up our depleted squad while working within an imposed wage cap and limited transfer budget. Dempsey turned us down for Fulham (low wages) and we signed a bunch of lower league/foreign players. As I have said maybe he was stupid to take on the job but most wanted him and didn't realise the constraints he had agreed to. OGS had been warned off Villa by Ferguson who obviously knew Lerner was mandating that costs had to be cut (too) quickly. Martinez turned us down (twice) when he heard the deal being offered and preferred Everton who hadn't imposed such ridiculous financial constraints. I may regret this but I am going to start supporting Lambert again because he accepted the poisoned chalice when others wouldn't and hope (maybe against hope) that he can turn this mess around. LERNER OUT!!!!

And we are suppose to rely on this as ITK? Hmmmm BTW that is the son not the father. What's your issue with the crebility then? you don't think he spoke to PF or that PF would tell him? To answer your question I would be surprised if PF would discuss the possibility of replacing the manager with a fan wherever he sits in the ground. HH claims to sit in the directors' box, I have no idea whether he does or even if you can. Based on what he used to tweet I would be sceptical anyway. Just my opinion of course and more than happy to be proved wrong Harry I don't know whether PF said this, but HH jnr does sit in the directors box and I am almost certain that a former VT ITK was fed stuff by PF so I wouldn't be at all surprised. All that said even if PF said this, so what? It is only what I would expect the CEO to say. However if he said the reverse it would be totally unprofessional.

I doubt it very much. Hodgson senior couldn't stand Ellis and neither could his son. It wasn't a suggestion that they would invite Ellis in, merely an observation that the HH senior of those years ago closely resembled HDE is terms of arrogance and disdain for those he saw as beneath him, which in Ellis's case is just about everyone. I know what you mean. I saw the same programme. But I have also met him on many occasions, found him to be quite affable in person and he always said he was never interested in taking over in any way shape or form.

If Villa were worth £110 million in 2006, given the massively increased SKY income since what is the club worth now? Putting Lerner's loans to one side, I believe the club would be valued at around £200 million. Anyhow, no time for further speculation, time to get off on another long trek to VP to experience more humiliation!!!

I doubt it very much. Hodgson senior couldn't stand Ellis and neither could his son.

The jigsaw pieces are starting to fall into place. Recently I was told by someone at the club that there would be major developments but that Lerner wasn't selling up. Then wasn't there some change in the business articles also? Almost certainly Howard Hodgson Junior has been given the nod by Faulkner. It wouldn't surprise me if Lerner is selling a major part of the shares but retaining a significant number with a view to bowing out completely when his debt is repaid.

Yes sack him for a mistake he made with a fan. But it is not the 1st time, Culverhouse has done it on several occasions. If he can't take the slagging he shouldn't be in the job. Proof? I am sure the abuse has been mutual. Move on. I saw and heard him. Culverhouse is a clearing in the woods who cannot handle the pressure.

Yes sack him for a mistake he made with a fan. But it is not the 1st time, Culverhouse has done it on several occasions. If he can't take the slagging he shouldn't be in the job.

Ok I didn't see the incident yesterday but I can well believe it. I have definitely seen and heard Culverhouse behave like this on several occassions. He is IMO a nasty bit of work, who has no affinity with the fans.

I really haven't go a clue whether we will go down or not. But the fact that we are talking about it AGAIN after last years debacle is ******* depressing. Looking at the next few months it is hard to see where this squad are going to get any results.

Or score one from the left ;-)

I have a feeling in my water he will set Gabby up for a goal tomorrow :-)