Woody1000

Is anyone else sick of hearing what that self-important tosser Howard Hodgson thinks? I wish he would just bore off....hasn't he got some pictures of his yacht to take or something?

It's one of those signings that will always divide opinion, but yet people would be cussing Lambert if he'd gone to someone like WBA and we hadn't even tried to sign him!

My cousin saw Marc in Ibiza over the weekend, and he confirmed that Lambert didn't fancy him so that was why no contract was offered. He said he was gutted to be leaving, but was glad that he'd been able to stay in the Prem as he feared he may have to drop down to the Championship. Really nice lad apparently.

The more I think about this, the more I think this could be a decent little signing. What a breath of fresh air to hear from a footballer who isn't purely motivated by £'s. Good luck Joe, UTV

Best of luck Jordan! I hope he goes on to have a good career!

Quite pleased with this to be honest. If we can get 25 performances out of him, I think he will add something.

It's one of those that if were weren't so handicapped by our wage bill I wouldn't mind, but for the sort of wages he's after I would rather we looked elsewhere. Funnily enough, this was my main fear when Rooney got his £300k p/w deal at United - the amount of average footballers who would be demanding £100k p/w!

That away is beautiful! I'm sorry, but you cannot be a villa fan and not love that! Even the macron logo's on the shoulders seem less visible! #newkitboner

A bit condescending don't you think? It's pretty obvious that it's for themselves. Each to their own....

I believe the 'bombing out' of certain players was to try and force their hand into a move elsewhere. Unfortunately a lot of our players on higher wages simply aren't as good as their wages would suggest, so they've simply decided to sit out their contracts. The football purist in me feels a bit let down that professional footballers would rather sit on the bench (the majority of our 'bomb squad' didn't/don't even do that!) than play for another club on a lower wage, but at the end of the day it is AVFC that have given them that deal, and you cannot blame them for making us honour it. Could Lambert have handled things differently? Sure, but we don't know the whole story regarding appearance bonuses etc, only snippets for ITK's. For me, probably my biggest disappointment with Lambert is the performances regressing from 12 months ago when the team that he had built looked like it was going somewhere, which IMO has nothing to do with the 'bomb squad'.

I like that, very smart. I'm not normally keen on collars on football shirts, but I really like that. Assuming that the away is what was posted then that will be £100 of my hard earned gone!

Unfortunately it seems the majority have indeed turned. If we don't get off to a good start, I can see things turning very nasty, very quickly. Personally, I think it's a shame as I wanted him to succeed here, and I think with a bit more time that he can, but I do understand the fans that want him gone - our home record has been poor, and perhaps more importantly the performances have gone backwards over the last 12 months. Perhaps I'm a fool, but I hope that he is given until Xmas to see if he can turn things around - if we are still where we are, I will accept that this is just not going to work and that he then has to go.

Amen to that. If I had a choice of Gabby or Marc, i'd pick Marc without a moments hesitation.Wow! And to think you ask in a previous post if we actually watch football....

Oh no, Marc's leaving......what will we do? Let's face it, he's bang average! Always looks shite when he starts for us, looks reasonable off the bench. If he's looking for £35k pw to stay, I think those wages would give us somebody much better than Marc. At the end of the day, if all our players were fit and in form, would Marc get in anybodies best 11?

He did hang around, hence our last 3 seasons being our 3 worst ever prem years.I can't speak for him, but I imagine that Randy thought that once the wage-bill was sorted, then we could have another go. He has probably seen the last 2 years as having to spend £25m per season to stand still, and finally realised that he does not have the finances to fire us back up the table. I can't agree at all. I think the last two seasons have all been about setting us up for a sale.But still spent nearly £40m in those 2 seasons. Would your beloved Herbert have done the same?

He did hang around, hence our last 3 seasons being our 3 worst ever prem years.I can't speak for him, but I imagine that Randy thought that once the wage-bill was sorted, then we could have another go. He has probably seen the last 2 years as having to spend £25m per season to stand still, and finally realised that he does not have the finances to fire us back up the table.

It would've been naive at best to attack them. It could've ended 10-0!!

Serious question, does Lambert not at least deserve an opportunity where he is not massively handicapped by our finances? His more expensive signings have generally been his better ones, and he has shown in glimpses that he can get us playing some decent stuff. Believe me, I'm as disappointed as the rest of you that we weren't able to build on our performances and form from the end of last season/start of this season, and sure he has made a lot of mistakes, but I just feel that he has been hindered by a number of factors such as injuries/players loss of form.

Personally, I would like to see him given until Xmas assuming there is a larger budget for him to spend. I just feel that he has had some bad luck, and just to give him a final chance to succeed here rather than go through another 12-18 months of transition. He's made a lot of mistakes, sure, but I'm not 100% convinced yet that he cannot do the job. That said, I can't help feeling that he has "lost the fans" somewhat, and that is near enough impossible to turn around.

Tease! ;-)

I just feel that 8 years on, we are back to square one. We are just existing, sure it's in the top division in the country, but we are just there. Because of the generally average players in our squad, we are too easy to play against and teams have us all figured out. I can understand that RL has had his fingers burnt somewhat, but the level of investment over the last 3 years has been ridiculous - you can't expect to move forwards while the spending goes backwards. I'm now firmly in the camp that hopes to God we manage to stay up on 35 points (because I can't see a win coming anytime soon), and that Lerner sells in the summer. I think back to 2008 and how proud I was to be a supporter, and it feels like it was 20 years ago.

If we were going to look abroad, the best realistic choice for me would be Roberto Donadoni at Parma - he has them playing some really good stuff, and has just that right amount of experience. I also think he'd jump at the chance to manage in England.

Well it seems like this is actually going to happen..... As good as it will be to get carried away with the spunking of millions of £'s on world class players, I would be more than satisfied with just competing in the top 8 and being run properly from a financial point of view. It's a real shame that things weren't run a bit more prudently with RL from the start, we might not have had the 3 6th place finishes when we did, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have had the last 4 seasons that we've just had either!

Best 11 we could've picked with players available. I hope we carry on with the confidence shown last week. I've got a feeling that this is going to be good, but you know what normally happens when you're convinced Villa will win....

I think the target now for the total points has to be 45 points minimum. With home games against Stoke, Hull & Fulham, as well as games against Crystal Palace and Swansea, I think it is reasonable to be optimistic. The only one of our remaining fixtures that I'd write off is Citeh away, that game is pretty terrifying to be honest especially if Citeh need points for the title!