nick76

Humbug to you all.......................... Come on Ronaldinho, you know where the new place to be is..................

forget about us playing tomorrow in terms of hindering a deal, MON wont conduct most of the deal....his part would be, what, an hours conversation with a player and seeing as the game and pre work will be, 4 hours and flight to Newcastle and to and from airports, 3 hours (being generous) that still leaves 17 possible hours to talk to a player.....the financial nucks and crannies will be done by other people

a cheeky swap for mido or keane will do for me cheeky swop for Huddlestone or Defoe more like

Yeah but people are starting to sit up and notice villa over the last few weeks, maybe somebody like Gattuso maybe one of those players....there's a vibe about Villa at the moment.......I think we have made a small statement to European Football....a young talent but highly expensive player and then a player that everybody knows in Carew.

gattuso for me please

Sammi Hyppia, struggling to get first action at the moment for Liverpool cause of Agger and Carragher........an experienced head for our two young defenders....cheeky bid maybe...you never know with Rafa

? Seconded.....'?' Thirded. Fourthed !! whats going on? I think Lukeavfc has some explaining to do! Seconded? Sorry

? Seconded.....'?' Thirded. Fourth'd....would be a good utility player...i.e. up front or in midfield

MON said he's not interested in Saviola before, not thought he was right....so I doubt this happens

would like a new forward to go with Carew though

wayne bridge anyone?

Hi General, The first paragraph you sound a little frustrated and I can understand why after some of the recent rumours, which from my point of view probably started from the press looking for stories in a transfer window where really very little has happened. I dont have permission from the vast majority but I'm going to say it anyway, that I believe 99% of the Villa fans have never doubted Randy's commitment/intentions and it seems the 1% seem to have had a voice recently. So I hope yourself and Randy believe how much we, the villa fans believe in you and trust in you and Randy. Nick

yeah but SB thats why Randy has brought in the directors he has to open these channels

oh yeah, and Beckham has talent.....and how much you talk about about him losing a lot of his talent, it's certainly better than the majority of our current team....I'd love anybody to tell me that if Beckham was in our squad how he would not get a game if he was fit, how our current squad is????????

What kind of revenue would Beckham bring in? And your figures don't match up. Beckham £20m for three seasons. Bent £21m for three seasons. However, Bent would still have a value three years from now. Beckham wont. Exactly my figures dont match up, Beckham would be cheaper and is proven talent, thats what I was trying to prove that value for money was better....... Bent will still have value, yeah but how much....what if he is a one season wonder??? how much money would we have lost, whereas you know Beckham will bring in instant revenue from shirt sales and increased crowd attention.....so for me beckham is a better value for money based on risk. Also yes Real have a global fan base, but we dont have a real global fan base, Beckham would bring a new type of supporter and whether you like it or not, that type brings revenue because Beckhams fans buy goods.

yes please, with cherry on top. We all complain about no creativity or no free kick specialist, yet here is a guy that has a demoned right foot cross, argubly still one of the best in the world and also he's a free kick specialist.........some of you need to wake up and smell the coffee.......yes circus around him, yes stupid wages.....but so many here talk about the next level or the big signing, yet you dont want the media attention or pay stupid wages....we need a statement to the premiership of our intent (I dont mean chelsea intent) but for $4m and three year contract of $100k a week, giving a total package of ~$20m or Darren Bent $15m plus $40k per week for three years $21m, I'd take Beckham. Proven record, played at the highest level....or a one season wonder so far.........and then the revenue Beckham would bring in, the status he would rise the club and then other big player see him coming and we have more chance of getting them.....remember Gullit at Chelsea.....so yes to Beckham

Kepa vid - he scored a fair few headed goals but overall I wasnt impressed...says a lot when a highlights video shows misses as part of it.....I remember seeing Angel's highlights clip....compare the two and theres a big difference

Sorry ArthurRimbaud, not sure you made a point in the end, appreciate you registering but I don't understand after the large text what your point or conclusion was? apologise if I'm dumb

nothing to stop them all the rules do is make sure the player can't play for the new club until the window opens, he can still play for the selling club So for many reasons this rarely happens, the player cant be registered until the window so technically he still belongs to the selling club. Of course the buying club can insist he isnt played but then they get a player in Jan who is lacking in match practice but should they play him to keep him match fit, he could get injured Yes, and let's say we make a deal with Charlton a couple of days or weeks before the window opens... That would make a strange situation. Surely he wouldn't be played. I would find it hard to play a player who's already done and dusted for another team in any game. Think his mind would be elsewhere, to say the least. So I think you're right in that it doesn't happen very often. Yeah but it does kinda happen when players contracts runs out and they sign agreements with a new club in January but doesn't start till July. Ok thats between the buying club and player and not club to club but still happens

It might not (alright, definitely isn't) my place to say this, but what the hell... Stuff like the question (which is a good one), in time, if not now, ought really to be something that should be addressed perhaps to someone at the club who is actually directly responsible for (in this case) turnstile admission. It's tremendous that General K posts and more importantly reads, the interweb, but my view is that it ought not to be just down to him to do that, as welcome as it is. Ideally perhaps people in other roles within the club ought to do similar (maybe they do), or alternatively (and better) there should be a way of contacting people regarding turnstile issues, Holte suite issues, kit issues, shop issues etc...etc... directly. Perhaps any new facility set up under the new initiative should list clear points of contact regarding ticketing and all the other main subjects. The openness and communication from the new team has been exemplary so far, but there's a better way which I'm confident they are looking at formalising, without removing the level of accessibility and personal touch which is just great. This is a good idea, when I worked for my last company they had an internal website which had a facility to ask certain people questions, very similar to how we have have this thread for yourself general. It was an open forum and for the Villa it would include all directors or senior managers covering the business. So there would be a thread to 'Ask the General', a thread to 'Ask the CFO', a thread to 'Ask Marketing', 'Ask Stadium/Facilities'......you get the general idea and there was about 5 or 6 links and within each thread would be topics because obviously people would have similar questions. Then somebody with authority (generally board members) would answer valid questions or would take points away to discuss at board level. It was an open forum so anybody that joined the website could view the responses and it was controlled like JC and limpid do this site and although there were a few abusive/idiotic comments, 99% of the time it worked great especially when our company went through a bad financial time........Just an idea.

Well said BOF, agree entirely. me too, plus they are from London....all full of themselves

I agree with the General, there are more important things that need attention now. If the squad was awesome I wouldnt care if they were running around in claret and blue plastic bags

For my part I think we need a mixture in the Jan/Summer market, it will take time to build up at a team of any proportions. So snap any young good kids like Maloney but try to stabilise/enhance the team with good pro's, not the mark kinsella's of this world but maybe oldies that can give our youngsters some coaching as well. I mean like the Dublins of this world that not only bring something to the team but something to the dressing room because wehave so many kids at the moment that are good but need some wise heads to guide them, and not in the Hendrie way of guiding...... Don't get me wrong if quality comes along and they want to come to the Villa then snap them up, just wondering who is likely to be available in January, so short term experienced players would be a valuable addition if that's what MON wants. In terms of foreigners vs british this is cost versus settling in scenario i.e. Darren Bent wouldn't cost so much if he was playing for a foreign team I wouldn't expect. Then also foreign players that look amazing that don't look so good here like Crespo, Veron, Luque etc. Very few actually do that well here I trust MON and Lerner, it'll be nice to see what they do.

'O' negative, cant remember how I found out...........dont know if that good or bad in terms of blood transfusion because arent some rare.

and 'MEAT' has the word 'EAT' in it......do people not read between the lines