John

I think buying a football club represents a vanity project for most club owners maqroll. If you have enough money to spare that the likely drain on your finances will have no significant impact on you along with the interest in football then owning a football club has a lot going for it. But in our owner's case his pot of money has been reduced due to circumstances outside of football and his interest in us has fallen to the extent he does not attend games at Villa Park so just wants his money back or as much of it as he can get back. I hope he gets his money quickly and sells to someone with the money and desire to provide as well as to sustain that once promised bright future for his own new vanity project.

I think the speculation quoted earlier from The Telegraph given it is in the finance rather than the sports section may be a little more than just rumour/guesswork. That paper and particularly their finance section would be unlikely to speculate on a football club sale simply for the fun of it or put 2+2 together in the knowledge that their suggested answer had no chance whatsoever of happening. It might happen and it might not. But it sounds a tad more likely than Borat walking into the club just now and no news is not currently good news at B6.

"I would like to think the lower price paid = more money pumped into the team". So would I Andy C but it could also just make buying the club a more affordable deal for any potential owner and therefore open the club up to someone with limited funds who would not be able to put the higher figure together. If the owner wanted to make the money he would not be getting from the sale into the transfer kitty he could agree that on top of the sale price as did the former chairman with him when he himself took over albeit with £20m rather than £50m.

"Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Cole at Liverpool". Playing for us shaggy? More seriously you could well be right but for me he will go to the club that offers him most so it will 110% not be us it could it be Cole to Newcastle though.

Any suggestion that we are prepared to drop the asking price (even from The Mirror) would suggest to potential buyers that we are desperate to sell and may take half of the original asking price or less so it would be likely to drag out any potential sale. It would also suggest if it is correct that any potential new owners might not have a lot of cash to spend on players if they are prepared to wait on a deal to save cash that may place our PL future at risk.

I doubt Lambert would have looked to bring in a potential threat to his job if it was his decision to make so that might have reduced the list of candidates as would have our current limbo status. But if Keane is willing to come in as a number 2 then it is worth a look for me. He knows the game, he is a winner, his name may tempt players to join us and he might well offer something next season that Lambo needs as do the players we will have available to us. I had previously been thinking whether the likes of Lampard, Paul Scholes, Ferdinand, Brian McDermott, Ray Wilkins, Phil Neville, Mike Phelan, Steve Round, David Platt or Dean Saunders for example might have been tempted to come in as our number 2. I had thought having turned down Celtic Keane would not want to move to us but we do possibly tick some boxes for him and we could do a lot worse as some of the names I have mentioned suggest.

I think a lot of players we have been linked with in the past along with others that we might have hoped we would make a move for will find new clubs this summer Cliffy Biro. Sadly it seems we are waiting for a bus to come along without the fare to ride on it. Other clubs will jump on board and will become stronger in the coming weeks. We will hope 3 of them will still end this season below us knowing one season soon our luck will run out unless someone with money and the will to spend it buys us a ticket.

I am sad to report that another of our 1957 FA Cup winning team has passed away. Stan Crowther was aged 78 and made 62 appearances for us scoring 4 goals in seasons 56/57 & 57/8 before moving to Manchester United following the Munich air disaster. He went on to play 20 games for them including their 1958 FA Cup Final defeat dispite having appeared for us in that competition already that season.Stan then moved to Chelsea where he played 58 games between 1958 and 1961. Stan was born in Bilston and made 3 England under 23 international appearances. He joined us in 1955 from Bilston Town for a £750 fee and left us for a fee of £18,000. After watching the 57 Final on DVD many years after the event it was clear that Stan's wing half performance had played a massive part in our win that day and that was a view shared by Stanley Rous as confirmed on the club site below. Stan said in 2012 that "I was never as happy as I was at the Villa". My thoughts are with his family.Holte Ender in the sky! http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~3864258,00.html

I do not expect our current owner to finance any permanent or loan signings Richard.

"but we can't match West Ham's wages so it's a no go." So sad but so right CarewsEyebrowDesigner.

Yes looks like Lambo to me. Looks like he may be looking over a colour chart for the new club shirts and it seems he does not wear his glasses to read.

"Didnt someone post on here that randy has been offered £180 but is holding out for more?" I myself am happy to offer £200 to move a deal forward Sam Taylor 123.

"Awfully quiet on the takeover. Good sign or bad sign?" No news is good news omariqy. Although in this case it may well not be.

"Lambert was on a flight back from Germany tonight. Any german based players we are linked with? Did he wave a piece of paper on his return joewhitticase and was that the same one that was filled with top players that our former chairman once waved at a press conference? I doubt he was looking at players with money being too tight to mention at Villa Park just now. Possibly he had booked a short break or was giving Jurgen Klopp the run down on the squad he is about to take over?

"It has gone on to Naples this morning, so looking unlikely to be Villa related after all. Sorry!" - No need for any apology thetrees. It was an informed guess that it was B6 related and it gave us hope where there is little concrete grounds for it. Keep those eyes on the runway for incoming from the USA, Russia, India, Saudi or anywhere else.

"Would be nice if the club came out and said what stage we are in in the selling process." I guess if they did they would just say that the club remains for sale to someone who ticks the right boxes the first of which would be to have a wad of cash (£200m +) burning a hole in their pocket tomaspg. I think any sale information will be released on a need to know basis and that Randy considers as fans we do not need to know. I would guess any potential bidder would want to remain unknown at an early stage and that should their identity become known that may put any bid going through at risk.

The final league table and the number of points we gathered towards the end of the season shows we were some way off being anything other than bad. Nothing positive has happened as yet to change that.

I think we would need a new owner's money to offer Lampard anything like the sort of money he would want to come to us and we would also need to attract him to us by showing him a list of players we would be bringing in to play alongside him. He will most likely stay in London or move to a club in the North West if not abroad for a final pay day.It is a nice thought though.

"IF Faulkner goes to the World Cup in a few weeks time with the F.A., what's your reaction or how would you sum that up?" I think if he gets an invite from the FA he will go as will all of those free loaders on the FA gravy train mini-beest. I very much doubt that he has any future at Villa Park under a new owner or that his being in B6 or Rio would have any impact on whether a deal to sell the club goes through or does not.

I understand Barry wanted to come back here last season dnmacf but we would not pay the wages and Everton would as was the case with Lukaku. I think if we would match his wage demands then he might be left with a 50/50 decision to make between us but Everton may not be the only club that want him now and I think wages remain an issue for us.

Deals for players are being agreed by clubs now prior to the World Cup. Each day that we go without a takeover will make it more difficult for us to make the changes we need to make for next season. If we have any sort of budget for even loan signings we need to be acting now but it looks like everything is on hold pending a deal that may or may not come before the close of this window.

We stand second in the table currently!

Great news for the player and the club.

Yes it was a very, very good night. The boys were in The Post Office Vauts before the event and it was great to see them again. The team spirit is still very much there for all to see 30+ years on as it was back then. Interesting that Gibbo said that he only left for Manchester United because our former chairman refused him a 10 year testimonial and that the break up of the team by Turner still stings with the players as does our current plight. Loved Tony's answer that members of the current team would struggle to get a place in the reserve team let alone the first team squad of the early 80s. I thought Newbon put Sid on the spot at the end but he was his usual honest self with his reply and the meagre transfer budget Lambert was given to work with last season was an eye opener.

Back to that interview. Pat Murphy asked "Can i just get this right then. As you understand from Randy Lerner, there's nothing imminent, there's no concrete bidder?" Could this be a clue to potential bidders from Pat? If so, step forward the Comer Brothers who made their money from construction and were linked with buying the club back in 2005....I'll get my concrete overcoat...