Gone: Downing shows real loyalty to us

[Ponky]

Lay off Julie guys - she's just relating what she's heard and putting forward what she thinks. Agree or disagree but no need for all this aggro.

Lots of people on this site 'hear things' and chose to share them but as far as I can tell Julie has never claimed to be 'ITK' and is always very explicit about what information she gets from Twitter and what she gets from people she knows. She has been mistaken in the past but never a bullshitter.

And, on top of all that she has very bit as much right to theorize and voice an opinion as anyone. And probably more so than someone who has a dozen posts to their name.

I get that we are all a bit volatile

[Ponky]

Player wanted to leave. By coming out and publicly stating Downing was not for sale we forced him into placing a transfer request thereby avoiding having to pay the word removed a million pound loyalty bonus. Job well done.

Pretty much this.

For me the only real question has ever been - has McLeish got the ability to do what it takes to replace Young & Downing & further strengthen the squad?

[JulieB]

What part of he handed in a transfer request do you not understand? **** me, not difficult this. Do keep up. It's not £19, it's £18.5m. Possibly rising to £20m.

Ok, lets start off with....where did their owner say he'll be spending 100m??

The Sun 12/11/2011

"Kenny will Stew on £100m spree"

Tailed in other newspapers also on that day.

Birmingham Evening Mail article about the price being £25M...

ASTON Villa have told Liverpool to stop wasting their time on Stewart Downing – as Alex McLeish focuses instead on raiding Blues this weekend for his potential new assistant boss Peter Grant.

It has emerged that Kenny Dalglish’s side originally had a £12 million offer for Downing rejected out of hand three weeks ago before returning with an improved £15 million bid on Tuesday.

Villa are insulted by the Anfield giants’ valuations of Downing, particularly the opening gambit which was the amount Villa originally paid for the winger when he was injured two years ago.

A mooted third bid predicted to be around the £18 million mark has not materialised and the claret and blues are keen for Liverpool to now divert their attentions away from the England wideman.

Randy Lerner, Paul Faulkner and McLeish are adamant there is no need or desire to sell the former Middlesbrough favourite who still has two years on his contract despite rejecting a new deal.

Even if Downing attempts to force the issue with a formal transfer request Villa are prepared to stick to their stance and keep him against his wishes, unless Kenny Dalglish returns with an irresistible offer, possibly as high as £25 million.

B'ham Mail July 9th

[FCVilla2011]

What part of he handed in a transfer request do you not understand? **** me, not difficult this. Do keep up. It's not £19, it's £18.5m. Possibly rising to £20m.

Ok, lets start off with....where did their owner say he'll be spending 100m??

The Sun 12/11/2011

"Kenny will Stew on £100m spree"

Tailed in other newspapers also on that day.

Birmingham Evening Mail article about the price being £25M...

ASTON Villa have told Liverpool to stop wasting their time on Stewart Downing – as Alex McLeish focuses instead on raiding Blues this weekend for his potential new assistant boss Peter Grant.

It has emerged that Kenny Dalglish’s side originally had a £12 million offer for Downing rejected out of hand three weeks ago before returning with an improved £15 million bid on Tuesday.

Villa are insulted by the Anfield giants’ valuations of Downing, particularly the opening gambit which was the amount Villa originally paid for the winger when he was injured two years ago.

A mooted third bid predicted to be around the £18 million mark has not materialised and the claret and blues are keen for Liverpool to now divert their attentions away from the England wideman.

Randy Lerner, Paul Faulkner and McLeish are adamant there is no need or desire to sell the former Middlesbrough favourite who still has two years on his contract despite rejecting a new deal.

Even if Downing attempts to force the issue with a formal transfer request Villa are prepared to stick to their stance and keep him against his wishes, unless Kenny Dalglish returns with an irresistible offer, possibly as high as £25 million.

B'ham Mail July 9th

You said the owner publicly stated he'll be backing Kenny with £100m, that is an article which adds up the fees Liverpool may have paid, not taking into consideration Torres £££ I might add. The owner said nothing.

Why are you believing the the Birmingham Mail about the POSSIBLE, POSSIBLE £25m bid the other day, yet when tonights actually says a £20m fee, you dismiss it???

[JulieB]

Do you know what. I'm not going to bother to discuss this with you anymore. I really don't care to. It's late and I'm off to bed.

It will be interesting to see what comes out in next few days regarding the sale and who we sign.

Wonder when someone is going to tell Downing - LFC aren't actually in the Champion's League next season.

Parker, N'Zogbia, Given for starters please.

[FCVilla2011]

Thought as much.

Nite.

[Boumasbabies]

Good on you Julie

[Ponky]

Thought as much.

Nite.

[macandally]

Well this window is starting to have shambles written all over. I'm not surprised that Downing has gone. He put a 'for sale' sign over himself the moment he stalled on his contract negotiations. £20m is the lowest end of my expectations but if he put a transfer request in he has forgone quite a bit in bonuses.

Throw in the expected departure of Young plus the uninspiring appointment of AMcL and who we seemed to be linked to it's all pretty depressing.

We have brought in £36m in transfer fees plus saved massively on the wage bill so every fan is expecting some really decisive moves in the transfer market. I was very optimistic at the end of the season that the only way was up. Sadly we just continue to spiral downwards.

AMcL is a decent man but so far off a marque appointment its untrue. RL for some reason has seemingly done a complete U turn in how he sees the club. I think he is like Ellis now in that all we need to keep is a seat at the top table and nothing more.

I have no idea what Paul Faulkner brings to the party and I am sick to the back teeth of being patronised by General Krulak, someone who clearly knows little of Villa and nothing of football in general.

I would love the club to surprise me in the next few weeks but I won't hold my breath. The best we seem to have to look forward to is the arrival of a too old semi crocked cast off goalkeeper on high wages.

Rant over......

I dont see that as a rant Harry, a pretty truthful assessment of our current predicament.

I said we had raised the white flag on competing for the top four with the appointment of McLeish, what did we expect the more ambitious of our players to do???

I think Randy will recognise what he has done when season ticket sales and gate attendances drop, plus shirt and merchandise sales fall.

We are not in a good place.

[Banger75]

...and it farking shits me that Liverpool 'supporters' don't even appreciate Downing....I've read posts like.."too much, poor player" and "it's all man city's fault" and "good squad player only". rocket polishers. MEanwhile, we have lost a valuable asset, who was adored by most, started every week etc. I hate football sometimes, and Downing is a prick for making me (and millions of others) feel like that.

[macandally]

The most frustrating thing imo is that we have no replacement as usual. We shouldn't be getting into the position where have to replace the player going out as teams start to drive the price up as they know we're desperate.

This shouldnt get lost in the wave of other posts.

If we had anything about us, we could have agreed the price but asked Liverplop not to disclose it until we brought in a replacement, probably NZogbia.

Now Dave Whelan knows what we have in the kitty, he is in a position to play hardball!!

Prettty shit and amateur planning full stop!!!! :x

[DelboyVilla]

Lerner was always going to sell because he seems to have very little interest in building a decent side and more interest in recouping as much of his investment as possible now.

I could never understand the McLeish appointment but now it seems alot clearer to me. AM is a man who doesn't mind been treated like a prick, he's quite happy to sit infront of fans and make statements only for the top brass to do something different!! The man's a failure throughout his career , 2 relegations in 3 years, hell the man came third in a two horse race in the porridge league! People like AM just take whatever shit thrown at them and don't seem to care!!

[macandally]

Where have I ignored something?.. I've answered every point you've raised!

I've been posting on VT for long enough now for people to know that I don't spout tosh.

No wonder people don't bother posting ITK stuff anymore.

You don't know what is going to come out in the next week or so, who is going to sign... or what McCleish is going to say to the fans

The same person who told me Downing was going for definite had agreed terms in fact ALSO told me Milner wanted to come back

for definite at the same time. Which is why I thought he was wrong!!

You've dodged pretty much everything, going off on one, taking the convo onto other irrelevant things.

I very much doubt that and as I said before the Downing to Liverpool story was EVERYWHERE weeks ago. So much for ITK. :winkold:

The player agreed terms, do you mean?

Mate have you even read this forum before?? You have come on here badmouthing people who actually are just either putting an opinion across or drawing logical conclusions based on what is out there either on twitter or in the media.

You, as far as I can see have caught this bad habit of just commenting on other posters instead of contributing anything of value yourself.

[TheTransferWindow]

Well this window is starting to have shambles written all over. I'm not surprised that Downing has gone. He put a 'for sale' sign over himself the moment he stalled on his contract negotiations. £20m is the lowest end of my expectations but if he put a transfer request in he has forgone quite a bit in bonuses.

Throw in the expected departure of Young plus the uninspiring appointment of AMcL and who we seemed to be linked to it's all pretty depressing.

We have brought in £36m in transfer fees plus saved massively on the wage bill so every fan is expecting some really decisive moves in the transfer market. I was very optimistic at the end of the season that the only way was up. Sadly we just continue to spiral downwards.

AMcL is a decent man but so far off a marque appointment its untrue. RL for some reason has seemingly done a complete U turn in how he sees the club. I think he is like Ellis now in that all we need to keep is a seat at the top table and nothing more.

I have no idea what Paul Faulkner brings to the party and I am sick to the back teeth of being patronised by General Krulak, someone who clearly knows little of Villa and nothing of football in general.

I would love the club to surprise me in the next few weeks but I won't hold my breath. The best we seem to have to look forward to is the arrival of a too old semi crocked cast off goalkeeper on high wages.

Rant over......

I dont see that as a rant Harry, a pretty truthful assessment of our current predicament.

I said we had raised the white flag on competing for the top four with the appointment of McLeish, what did we expect the more ambitious of our players to do???

I think Randy will recognise what he has done when season ticket sales and gate attendances drop, plus shirt and merchandise sales fall.

We are not in a good place.

Downing had been tapped up in the England camp and changed his tune about a new contract well before McLeish was even discussed as a possibility. Him putting in a transfer request was just the final nail in the coffin and prevented a summer long saga.

[TheTransferWindow]

The most frustrating thing imo is that we have no replacement as usual. We shouldn't be getting into the position where have to replace the player going out as teams start to drive the price up as they know we're desperate.

This shouldnt get lost in the wave of other posts.

If we had anything about us, we could have agreed the price but asked Liverplop not to disclose it until we brought in a replacement, probably NZogbia.

Now Dave Whelan knows what we have in the kitty, he is in a position to play hardball!!

Prettty shit and amateur planning full stop!!!! :x

Whelan has admitted he has to sell N'Zogbia because he's not signing a new contract and has 1 year left. He's not in a position to play hardball. All his posturing in the media about the value of other players in relation to his player won't change the price too much.

[MrDuck]

The man's a failure throughout his career , 2 relegations in 3 years, hell the man came third in a two horse race in the porridge league! People like AM just take whatever shit thrown at them and don't seem to care!!

A failure throughout his career you say?

Let's just see if he's won anything...

Winners medals as Aberdeen player:

European Cup Winners Cup 1982–83

European Super Cup 1983–84

Scottish Premier League 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85

Scottish Cup 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1989–90

Scottish League Cup 1985–86, 1989–90

3rd most capped Scotland player of all time.

Management honours:

Motherwell 1994–1998

Scottish Premier Division runners-up (1): 1994–95

Hibernian 1998–2001

Scottish First Division winners (1): 1998–99

Scottish Cup runners-up (1): 2001

Rangers 2001–2006

Scottish Premier League winners (2): 2002–03, 2004–05

Scottish Premier League runners-up (2): 2001–02, 2003–04

Scottish Cup winners (2): 2002, 2003

Scottish League Cup winners (3): 2002, 2003, 2005

Birmingham City 2007–2011

Football League Championship runners-up (1): 2008–09

Football League Cup winners (1): 2010-11

A more accurate assessment would be that he's a winner throughout his career who has had a couple of crap seasons. I'm not exactly overjoyed about the appointment, but "a failure throughout his career"? Hmmm...

[DelboyVilla]

A more accurate assessment would be that he's a winner throughout his career who has had a couple of crap seasons. I'm not exactly overjoyed about the appointment, but "a failure throughout his career"? Hmmm...

Don't care what he won as a player it doesn't make you a good manager!

Winning tin pot cups in the Porridge league means nothing!! OK the Carling Cup was an acheivement but when you couple that with throwing away the Premier League status then it kind of tarnishes the season!

I glad your happy.

That doesn't mean that I our anyone else has to be does it?

If I went down my local park on a Sunday morning (because IMO that is the level of Scotish football) I could probably find someone with a similar record to McLeish? Doesn't mean I want them to manage my club.

In my opinion Lerner appointed a manager who would do as he's told and not kick up to much fuss mainly because he is still wondering how the **** he got the job!

Well the proof of the pudding will be where we are come February next year, top ten and will apologize and admit I was wrong! If we win a cup and stay up 100 quid to VT.

[Ponky]

The most frustrating thing imo is that we have no replacement as usual. We shouldn't be getting into the position where have to replace the player going out as teams start to drive the price up as they know we're desperate.

This shouldnt get lost in the wave of other posts.

If we had anything about us, we could have agreed the price but asked Liverplop not to disclose it until we brought in a replacement, probably NZogbia.

Now Dave Whelan knows what we have in the kitty, he is in a position to play hardball!!

Prettty shit and amateur planning full stop!!!! :x

Whelan has admitted he has to sell N'Zogbia because he's not signing a new contract and has 1 year left. He's not in a position to play hardball. All his posturing in the media about the value of other players in relation to his player won't change the price too much.

This, and the other interest out there was Liverpool (Red Herring) and Sunderland & Newcastle who (a) have apparently shied at the current asking price and ( can't/won't implement his wage demands into their current structure.

So Whelan can sell him for a reasonable price now or lose him for nothing.

[macandally]

Whelan has admitted he has to sell N'Zogbia because he's not signing a new contract and has 1 year left. He's not in a position to play hardball. All his posturing in the media about the value of other players in relation to his player won't change the price too much.

I think that there will be an extra 5 mill tagged on for good measure now that the transfer window dealings are moving in earnest.

He was going to blues for what, 10 mil?? Lets see what he goes for in this window

[DelboyVilla]

He was going to blues for what, 10 mil?? Lets see what he goes for in this window

We will no doubt pay more than we should (9m) because Whelan knows we are as desparate to buy as he is to sell!!