dn1982

Wembley actually is only 72000 as about 18000 is Club Wembley so I think this is the biggest issue. The FA allocate tickets to its community which is a good idea to reward grassroots but league clubs shouldn't get any IMO. I think once the initial debenture is finished Club Wembley will decrease in its size as people won't pay massive amounts locked in to another 10 year deal.

I think Tim will be the kind of manager who is overly ambitious with his signings. Going for players you wouldn't think we'd be able to sign.

 

Unsure as to whether that will be a good thing. It could go the way of Redknapp, paying too much money for overhyped "names".

Or it could go the way of Allardyce, especially in his Bolton days, adding good marquee signings to his already effective team.

 

Given Tim's approach to youth, I'm tempted to say he'll shy away from over the hill big names, so I'm pretty hopeful of the upcoming window.

 

 

(obviously this is all based on a hunch, so may well be total bollocks)

I'm not actually sure what your thinking is! He'll either buy overly ambitious because of his personality or he'll buy youth because of his approach or then again he might buy old marquess signings!! I'm not sure whether it's a wind up post or not!! Anyway we have a team in place so I think we'll have a budget and use it wisely for players with a resale value.

We have a decent squad in place so even if we only get £20m to spend if spent wisely on 3/4 players we will have a very decent squad.

Lerner is a very loyal man is was a bad thing with Lambert but a good thing with keeping Delph. As CEO you have to look at worst case scenarios and prepare for them. If you read about how Southampton have a succession plan in place it's very impressive. If the manager leaves today for what ever reason you know the options available. I think in Fox we have a CEO like that and seeing the recruitment approach is changing I think this proves that. We are building a club on solid foundations for once and Fox will be key.

said it before but in less than 10 years he has now got 2 cup finals, 3 top 6 finishes and another 2 cup semi finals plus broke transfer record multiple times

on paper he will go down as successful in history

Under Doug in the premier league era, we had top 6 finishes, won two trophies and competed in Europe. That looked good on paper but anyone who looks a bit deeper will know more.

 

true but people will always associate Doug with breaking up the 1982 team because he wasnt apart of it

And also getting us relegated and never having a go to kick us on when winning the league or finishing top 4 was a lot easier than under Lerners tenure.

Whether Tom Fox looked at 200 managers or only looked at Sherwood doesn't matter. What does matter is he gets the choice right and so far that seems to be the case. Personally I believe he looked around for a plan B in the case of PL not working out and with time constraints knowing any change would have to be swift. So I believe he's done everything correctly. What will stand him out and enhance his reputation is getting big sponsorship deals and the continued success of Sherwood. To me he seems a smart operator and when he's talked about us has set out a proper plan of what we want to achieve and more importantly how we will. Things are finally looking up enjoy it whilst we can!

Sherwood has got us scoring goals so people point to the fact we can't keep them out to have a go. Ok I suppose it's a fact as much as its a fact and not just a coincidence that the one area we are suffering with injuries the most is.....defence! Now I know on FM you can swap your defenders and it doesn't have an effect but most people do realise in real football getting a solid defensive unit playing together on a consistent basis can only get them better. If we had our first choice fullbacks Hutton and Cissokho last night QPR don't score 3. Now I'm not saying They're world beaters but for the 2 mistakes Richardson did when Phillips got the corner and created the goal he wouldn't have out muscled Cissokho. Under PL we never threw men forward and if we conceded it was virtually game over now we are exciting to watch and with a more solid defence I think we'll be a decent team but until we get a settled one it's going to be tough.

So managed to almost lose to QPR at home on a crunch match, saved only by the one great player available to him. Don't trust the competence of this fool at all. Spurs will slaughter that defence.

if we stay up it will be in spite of his tactics and benteke just being fit.

Did you watch the game?

what have tactics got to do with Richardson making 2 mistakes? We were the better team by a mile. If our tactics were so bad why did we hammer them in the first half? You can't legislate for mistakes. Vlaar played well tonight and used his experience and strength to nullify Zamora. We would normally have collapsed after going 3 2 down but we fought our way back into it and could have gone on to win it. It seems people personal opinions cloud their judgement. Sherwood has improved us and I'm confident we will stay up. It'll be tight but we will do it and that's something after Hull I didn't think I'd be able to say.

I'll renew regradless of what division. It'll either be a new experience or a rejuvenated Villa so it's win win to a degree!!

If Sherwood keeps his current ratio going we will be fine. 3 of the 4 defeats were very close and we probably deserved more from them. We have 4 winnable home games left and if we show the attacking intent as we have in our previous ones we will get the wins needed. If we had lost badly away to a crap team I could understand some of the apprehension but we just lost to the leagues inform team at a ground we very rarely get anything. Will we have similar panic after every away game seeing as they're the ones we will more than likely lose as we have some top teams to come?? QPR have had 1 good 45 mins since Ramsey took over and it's all doom and gloom. I'm confident for tonight because they're defence is crap so I expect a few goals.

How is Tom Fox a "buffon"? It makes no sense. The real buffoon is Lerner.

Both are

How is Fox exactly? The contract alone isn't enough to warrant that.

How is Tom Fox a "buffon"? It makes no sense. The real buffoon is Lerner.

Both are

How is Fox exactly? The contract alone isn't enough to warrant that.

Giving a man a contract after 4 decent games, completely ignoring 2 seasons of shite makes him a buffoon. Look what happened after the new contract.

 

The new contract happened under fox's watch - If Fox thought it was wrong he should have blocked it - as CEO of a multi million pound business  'I hadn't been here that long' shouldn't cut it.

 

He then waited far to long to axe lambert 

 

He then appointed the easiest option available - The most inexperienced manager Ive known us appoint in 40 years 

 

Hes been here since august - that's 3 almighty clangers at his door IMO - That could well cost us our premiership status and hundreds of millions in lost revenue - Only at Aston Villa could he get away with that.

 

Just pray a new broom comes in - and cans the lot of em

Or the Chairman wanted to reward Lambert with a new contract for carrying out his orders and as we know contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on all they do is increase the pay off but they also convey to the players support for a manager. Then when after having ample time to turn it around Fox acted swiftly and decisively by firing PL and getting in a manager that's up and coming instead of the same old stale crap out there. Ultimately if we get relegated you can say you was right but seeing as we were in the bottom 3 and nailed on for relegation and now find ourselves in an FA Cup semi with home fixtures that should ensure a survival that's now back in our hands I don't think you can lay blame just yet.

I like Gil and think he may turn out to be a decent player for us although he is well over hyped on here!

 

If he impresses enough in training I expect (or hope) Sherwood will give him the opportunity.

This is bollocks now! My guess is he don't play him for personal reasons. Weimann in front of him is criminal, an playing a part timer like Cole in front of him proves all is not well.

Obviously.

Or he does this to piss off everyone at VT!

No ones saying this! What 'I' am saying is its most probably personal, can't see no other reason.

It's not most probably personal that's just your opinion. Sherwood at Spurs dropped Sandro who was a fan favourite then brought him back against us and he was man of the match. He's said himself he can't afford to hold grudges as we haven't the squad to exile people and you never know when you'll need them.

He had a big fall out with Sandro!

That's the point he fell out/ dropped him yet picked him when he needed him

I like Gil and think he may turn out to be a decent player for us although he is well over hyped on here!

 

If he impresses enough in training I expect (or hope) Sherwood will give him the opportunity.

This is bollocks now! My guess is he don't play him for personal reasons. Weimann in front of him is criminal, an playing a part timer like Cole in front of him proves all is not well.

Obviously.

Or he does this to piss off everyone at VT!

No ones saying this! What 'I' am saying is its most probably personal, can't see no other reason.

It's not most probably personal that's just your opinion. Sherwood at Spurs dropped Sandro who was a fan favourite then brought him back against us and he was man of the match. He's said himself he can't afford to hold grudges as we haven't the squad to exile people and you never know when you'll need them.

I can't believe we got hammered away to that crap oh hold on we lost by 2 goals the last being in stoppage time to Man Utd away one of the inform teams this year? Even though we didn't play well we was still in the game at 90 min. We aren't as good as Utd and this isn't the game that'll decide our season. Anything from today would've been a bonus. Tuesday is massive. For every one clamouring for a semi final ticket there's a final at Villa Park on Tuesday and we need the place rocking We can't afford to lose and realistically we need to win. I just hope we can get some injured players back. I think there must be a bug going around or something as no Sinclair or Westwood and it seemed Nzogbia was only staying on for so long.

People pick and choose what game to go to for varying reasons. Mine is I like watching Aston Villa. Every one who's been to a few games this season will get a ticket so there's nothing to worry about. A lot of people have got theirs on later days so they can sit with friends who didn't meet earlier criteria. What game is easier to go and watch Man Utd or Blackpool? If people are choosing games because of financial reasons does it make them a worse supporter? I think the way the criteria has been done is very good. It's limited queueing and as I've said before if you've been to a few games you will get a Semi ticket. The final on the other hand will see the moaning increase ten fold!!!

In 10 years we've got to an FA Cup semi final twice hopefully that'll be a final this year. A coca-cola final and a semi. If we never had Phil Dowd as ref we would've won it so even though the last 4 years has been awful in the league overall it's been quite decent. I think the negativity McLeish brought alongside of the crap football we've been fed recently has soured everyone's memories a bit. Lerner can leave us this summer with a solid legacy if we win the FA Cup and he hands over to an ambitious owner who hopefully will gamble a bit like Lerner did but also learn from his mistakes and not over reach too much.

The same old names get mentioned as better than Sherwood but what have they won? Fat Sam? nothing Redknapp? An FA Cup and bankrupted the club. Sherwood wasn't my first choice but since he's been hear he's impressed me. He's picked a good back room squad. He's talked sense and motivated the players. What I hated about PL was the constant we played great crap. Sherwood says it how it is. He may turn out to be a flash in the pan but at the minute he's ticking all the boxes and if he keeps us up he deserves a full crack at it next year. It's nice to have our Villa back.

Do you not think it's more likely that Bent is talking about staying because the manager who didn't want him has been sacked, he has a good relationship with Sherwood, and he's also out of contract in the summer so i'm sure he's listening to all offers...

 

 

Or it's because the Qatari's are taking over, Bent knows all about it, and is hoping they will give him one big final pay-day.

Seeing as Sherwood said he's not look at players at other clubs as he's focus is on us staying up I'd say Bents saying there's other people interested to give himself a better hand when negotiating his contract. Under FFP we need a balanced wage bill that grows alongside revenue so no matter who buys us next year will be consolidation as the big TV deal doesn't kick in till the year after.

 

Hmmmm....

 

Bent is on 60k a week here apparently.

 

There's no way he'd get a new deal if Lerner was still counting the pennies next season as the opportunity to get someone earning 3m a year for doing naff all would be too good to miss.

 

I get the feeling Lerner is sanctioning this knowing it will be someone else's problem in a few months time e.g. the wage bill.

That's assuming we'd offer him a new 60k a week contract. Which we wouldn't. 

 

Anyway, this is going off topic a bit. I don't personally see Bent considering an option to stay at the club an indication that we're being taken over.

 

It is what it says on the tin - his contract is up at the end of the season and he is looking at options.

He scores goals it's as simple as that. He was still getting used to the physical side of the premier league when he got injured and wasn't winning that many headers outside the box when used as a target man but in the box he did well. We are playing a different style now with actual crosses getting in the box so I think he'll be better off.

Aren't the whole point of non disclosure agreements to stop anybody making statements? This would stop insider dealings and if a company pulls out during due dilligence no harm comes to any party. I'd assume once due dilligence is done this would change. Either way it seems something is happening and as a lot of people said the new TV deal would make us a very attractive purchase now we just need PL safety.

 

All this talk of takeover being ever closer is making me a little bit wet.

 

However, I think that's more to do with how much I dislike Lerner being in charge.  My big problem with all this is the "stumbling block" that is our premier league status, indicates clearly to me the reason for buying the club would not be purely footballing interests but rather venture capital.  Our status only guarentees one thing, more money coming in...and buying a premier league club with the driver as making money is not a good place to start.

You can argue that looking to make money is something done through investment in the team, and better on pitch performances which would tick many boxes.  I would, however, feel very uncomfortable with the new owners if the "deal breaker" was which division we're in next season...

No one would pay £150m for something if it could lose half its value in a matter of weeks. Didn't that happen to Yeung at Blues? For me it's good business sense to find out what division you're in before buying a club. It does sound like a sale is likely to go ahead regardless of the division with only the price changing.

Aren't the whole point of non disclosure agreements to stop anybody making statements? This would stop insider dealings and if a company pulls out during due dilligence no harm comes to any party. I'd assume once due dilligence is done this would change. Either way it seems something is happening and as a lot of people said the new TV deal would make us a very attractive purchase now we just need PL safety.

Club Wembley ticket holders can put their individual tickets for sale on a game for game basis. You will be able to get them but the only problem is you need some one with access to buy you one. If we get Blackburn I think you'll see more availability.

Benteke is good enough to play as a 10 so him and Kozak could play together. He was bought by a manager who was averse to playing 2 up top so it seemed it was as signing to compete with Benteke but now we do play 2 up it'll be different.

Do people really think it will go to general sale? I'd absolutely love to go but haven't been to a game this year as we've been pants & I'm in Ireland. I'd definitely go if I had a ticket, I was in the United end for the Carling Cup in 2010. Would we get more tickets if Blackburn beat Liverpool?

I think you'll need a history from this year by a cheap QPR ticket just incase.

Selling 31000 tickets is always going to be difficult for the ticket office. They could have wider criteria but then the queues would be massive. We are likely to have 10000 tickets for sale with 10'days to go. Which bearing in mind our opponents will have 10 days to sell all theirs shouldn't be an issue.