I’m only putting this up as it seems a few of you were seemingly clinging onto this as our last hope.
It was always a load of rubbish for me, but I can’t blame anyone that dares to dream that things might get better than the sad situation that we currently find ourselves in.
It’s quite simple, in that Gerard Houllier has said straight out that Red Bull have no interest in taking over the Villa;
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gerard-houllier-red-bull-not-6560487
Of course, it might all be a smokescreen and I’m very much a believer in conspiracies on the whole.
But I suspect this statement really is the truth.
So it’s back to the utter mediocrity that we’ve seen all season, unless we follow on from the Liverpool game with a similar performance that indicates that we really are progressing.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news guys.
I never thought it to be true anyway, we are not the model Red Bull look at as you can not rename and rebadge us.
Agreed mate, but part of me really wishes it was true.
The rebadging, renaming, changing our colours and renaming the ground apart.
well no point was it … the red B ull rumours were bollocks with no substance and least of all we never fit their model.
If they look at a team in England it has to be one near collapse, Blues makes more sense …
so Ianrobo, do you still think we are up for sale mate?
yes I do … if he has cleared the debts now, nothing else makes sense
I really hope your right.. I can see how you would come to this conclusion but im sure Matt Kendrick is accurate about the 90m Lerner put in truly is routine house keeping
OK I go on past records, every time he has took more shares (and I do presume he has) then you swap debt for equity. Yes in someways it is housekeeping, fine, but if it has cleared the debt, that is bloody significant and Kendrick knows it but won’t dare ask the Q.
Any truth in knowing about these supposed Japanese men with Lerner at the Arsenal game?
I am very intrigued as to what we will end up doing this summer. Ian’s thoughts of us being up for sale could well ring true.
for me a renewed commitment in terms of spending or a sale are as likely as each other. Which could be likely or not very likely i don;t know yet based on what i have read.
I just can’t ignore the sum of 90M.
whatever was done or not done with it.
It will also be 2 years into Lamberts 3 years here.
Most of the legacy spending will have been dealt with.
It will be Lamberts team fully and wholly by the end of this summer.
What then i wonder?
continue with the thrift approach? or more spending or with the probably sale of benteke .. will an Everton sell to buy like approach unfold.
A lot will depend on how the rest of the season goes
Lets be havin’ ya Albion!
c’mon the Villa!
Colonius, serious spending by Lerner is about as likely as me winning the Lottery.
And I don’t even play it.
Before now, I’ve not been convinced that Lerner wants to sell, but I’m more open to the idea that it might be true.
What’s telling for me, is that we’ve spent nothing in this window, Holt apart.
Either Lerner doesn’t trust Lambert, or he just isn’t willing to spend, full stop.
We’re not going to sign a “name” that might galvanise the fans and the team, imo.
Of course things could change in the remaining time, but I very much doubt it.
Which really does make you wonder why?, seeing as morale is only just off rock bottom.
And if we spend nothing now, I don’t see it changing in the summer.
More likely, Lerner will say “you said you could do this on peanuts, so why isn’t it happening?”, just the same as any inexperienced mug owner would say.
Then it might get interesting.
Whatever happens, things don’t bode well.
If we scrape survival by the skin of our teeth again, would Lambert really be the manager to take us forward next season?
Whereas, if we finish mid-table, Lambert will have ticked the boxes and won’t require major funds.
we didn’t spend anything last January either, except sylla for a small loan fee
Yep, fair comment (sorry I was doing a big edit on my previous reply).
Big difference this time though, in that Lambert ought to know his players this time.
I suspect he might have asked for some funds, but has been knocked back, myself.
Don’t forget that the rumour was that he’d been offered money, then had the rug pulled from under him, last winter window.
What I do know and many fans do is this window this time Lambert is different, ratty, seems to be desperate almost in justifying himself.
Another rumour is that IF he does well (in Lerner’s terms) with little spent he will get big cash. However another rumour is that he can not deal with so called big names.
If lambert gets a mid table finish which is likely then why would Lerner give him more money. Tge squad will be more than good enough for mid table next season bar a couple of small additions so what’s the point.
I don’t believe that sorry, this time last year we had just come through the hardest periods in our recent histoty in terms of results. If he was offered money im sure he would of sprnt at least some of it?
as for IANROBO comment, maybe he cant handle big name players.. but if that’s the case he might aswell retire now as he obviously has no personal ambition to manage at the highest level as you need, BIG PLAYERS for that?
He will have ticked the boxes and not require major funds … thats based on the presumption that our ultimate long term goal is a mid table finish. ..
asked for money .. didn’t get it .. can’t handle big players .. thats all very much speculation.still. it is as unlikely as it is likely.
also i think Benteke is a “big” player. ie top goalscorer in the prem, part of the belgian golden generation, linked with all the top clubs hands in a transfer request
..yet a manager unable to handle big players gets him to sign on for another season on a rumoured 50k a week contract ..
i don’t know that seems to be an example of “handling” to me.
If we ain’ts bin taken ova then someone with the initials RL wants to spend some lolly UTV
Villa4me, why do you think many are complaining about Lambert?
It’s simply a rumour, just like the RB one.
But Lambert hasn’t helped himself, in that he has got rid of anyone of that ilk and hasn’t signed one.
I’d say a £10 mill no 10 player would provide a massive filip to the club as we stand now.
Will it happen? No chance, imo.
Why this is, is the big question.
Either Lerner won’t pay for it or Lambert doesn’t want it.
Of course, we already have one who’s capable, in N’Zog, but he’s been totally sidelined, regardless of the shit that the club come out with.
He’ll never kick a ball for us again, imo, as I’ve said many a time.
just like with the Richard Dunne ‘injury’ ….
I know I’m going to sound like an MON apologist but isn’t Lambert doing the same thing MON was doing in many ways?
He made a load of purchases, many of which didnt work out (except Milner, Young, etc). Most of Lambert’s purchases were terrible (except Benteke, maybe Vlaar). MON paid overinflated wages because he had to…to convince quality players (or what we thought would be quality) to come. Lambert paid cut rate wages to low quality players because he had to…because he cant get quality players to come. MON did this all w Lerner’s uneducated blessing and it didn’t work. Lambert did this with Lerner’s blessing and it didn’t work.
Lerner tried one idea and then went for the polar opposite. Seems like success could be found some where in the middle. The common thread seems to be Lerner’s incompetence. He has destroyed Villa. Established quality players don’t want to com he here.
Maybe my thought is too simple but oh well. UTV. Please don’t judge all Americans by Lerner’s incompetence.
My prayers have been answered!
Fuck off Lerner, Red Bull and any other twat who wants to change our name, ground or colours…the Villa is OURS
Good news mate,on the road to sunderland booze galore on the coach happy days. 😀 UTH
This summer is key to what is going on at Villa, the bomb squad has almost gone, the first part of replacing the squad is finished, the youth team potentials are out on loan.
For me its obvious we are heading in one of three directions.
1)No where everything stays as it is, the project conitinues mistkaes have been learned we need a bit of experience as well as young and hungry
2) We are sold, the Red bull rumours died off sometime ago, there was an Asian group in the directors box at the Arsenal game, this has been confirmed by people who do sit in the box. Not sure where japanese has come from i think this is people adding two rumours up to make one, (Kiyotake)
3) Randy will invest into the team heavily having learned from the mistakes of the past so we remain sustainable.
Now i know these are obvious but this summer will show what the true intentions of our board and the ambitions of the club are come the 1st September it will be clear where we stand
I like your thinking Morgan villa about the Villa and I hope it comes about , Red bull from the start was all bollox, as for the Asians seen in the directors box that could have been them in Birmingham talking to council on investments with HS2, most probability they was given a chance to see a football game, All this talk of selling is just rumours, in 2015 is the start of the Japanese investing from the city , Saltley, Coleshill, and the London line, that’s my take on what’s coming.
Lerner has obviously fell out of Love for the Villa and on the QT we are up for sale at the right price. But in the current economic climate he won’t get his desired price, therefore he wants no cup runs as they are a risk to the squad, and continuous mid table finishes on a shoe string….He has a bean counter as CEO and a Manager who he thinks can work with cheap players. The big wage earners are kept apart from the low earning players so they don’t upset the apple cart. Oh and Lambert is in a mood because he presumed he was getting some cash the window and he has been told NO, so is throwing his toys out of the pram like the moody stubborn baffin that he is…… !!
and this years academy award for most consecutive assumptions in one paragraph .. goes to … lol that is probably the most pessimistic outlook on Villa i could imagine. nothing is obvious about villa to me Saddenned .. its one of the more frustrating things about following Villa, they don’t say much.
how do you put a football club up for sale .. “on the QT” ..? how do you know what Lambert presumed ?
He is probably fed up with the expectations from Fans that he should be higher than 10th right now after inheriting at team that fought relegation for the last 3 seasons more like.
The majority of Villa fans in all fairness want to see a decent football match, if we dont the stadium will gradually empty, this expectation you speak of is only a few in my experience.
First shot on target against Sheffield Utd was the 60th minute. I dont think wanting more is being over zealous with our expectations. Expecting more than 25% possession is not too much to ask either. i think most fans gripes have been tactics the Palace, Swansea and Sheffield Utd games were massive warning signs and this is when most fans turned myself included.
You are right Morgan but so is Colonius. Lambert is clearly frustrated, and defensive about our performances. The biggest criticism this time last year was the defence. That has tightened up a lot but unfortunately the general quality of football has been poor, and our attack has underperformed. The latter stages against Arsenal and the game against Liverpool suggest that that might change. Let’s hope so as we need something to get the fans feeling more positive.
Bizarrely I think the Palace game saw us with the lions share of possession. This does prove to a point that it’s what you do with that possession that really counts. Clearly though, if you dominate possession the football will probably be more pleasing to watch, and more successful as well.
It’s perfectly reasonable to expect more than we have seen to date, but at the same time we maybe need a bit more patience, hard though it is.
Colonius, we are agreeing on the same thing just on different ways to get there, maybe I am being a little assumptive…….. But we have no interest in cup runs which is a fact and the high earners being kept apart from the new recruits is fact, Lerner being absent is a fact and finally Faulkner being a useless tosser is also probably one of the most definite facts in the history of this great club…lol
Personally I just want to see passionate, entertaining football from a club who communicates and appreciates its fans….. Maybe I am just too old fashioned !!
For all the criticism on here about lack of information from the club, what is happening is exactly what we were told a long time ago. The club is being put on a sustainable footing so it stops draining cash. The lack of investment in proven quality players is the direct result of having a bunch of expensive purchases on high wages that we couldn’t sell. We have even been struggling to give them away because of the contracts they were on. If we had been able to sell our players for a decent turn I guess more money would have been available for transfers in.
Is Villa up for sale? I don’t think you can tell. There has been plenty of speculation as to where the £90M came from which I think has been answered. Does it mean an imminent sale? No, absolutely not. If the club is not losing cash there is no pressing need to sell unless someone wants to pay Lerner a serious sum of cash. I personally can’t see that happening. I also can’t see why Lerner would want to exit with a big loss unless he is seriously short of cash and I don’t think anyone thinks that is the case.
God damn it will someone saves us from that american twat and Scottish baffon starting to hate villa
Agreed DS, but why the bloody hell is Faulkner still in a job when he nearly bankrupted us and is still fucking up with his transfer dealing- Jed steer being the latest example of his ineptitude, he makes the villa look amateur.
Bankrupted us? what are you talking about? Jed steer? he is a back up young keeper who has played the odd time who signed for pittance under a tribunal fee? where is the outrage over Steer coming from?
Colonious81 look at the accounts, without our sugar Daddy the banks could have pulled the plug at any time and we would have gone to the wall, our transfer activity made us technically bankrupt, (88% of turnover on wages) under a CEO who is meant to be financially astute.
We fumble from one disaster to the next, just look at our Management appointments, we even had to pay compensation to get Mcleish, then pay more to sack him and Grant oh and comp for Lambert, then the settlements for McAllister and O’Neill… £15m in settlements in 4 years its a joke and I think Faulkner is incompetent..And I have no problem with Steer but surely a professional club can agree a fee, not be made to pay one.. !
To be fair our transfer dealing under Lambert has been OK given the low sums paid out for most players. It’s all the signings prior to that that were mostly wrong. I would much prefer to see us buy players that we can sell for the same or more money after a few seasons service. Considering all the players we have bought in the last 6 seasons you can name those we made a profit on on one hand. Unless you’re winning trophies that has to be the road to disaster.
If we finish mid table I can see us perhaps buying at a higher level, but still with the emphasis on future value
Jed Steer I’ve no problem with. That stuff happens all the time.
IF Lerner doesn’t sell.. i think in the summer we will buy a decent midfielder and a RB.. last two windows we have spent 10M on Benteke and Vlaar then followed it up with 10M on Kozak and Okore..
So come summer we could easily see 10M on a RB and CM at the very least.. now if these two players turn out to be good quality then we will progress..
Obv if Benteke is sold then a striker will come in too..
If Lerner dosnt sell in the summer expect exactly the same next season you are deluded if you think we will ever be more than bottom 8 team under Lerner
Where in my post did i say we will be top 8?
What I find worrying is that an AM doesn’t seem to come into Lambert’s plans, there doesn’t appear to have been much urgency in finding one. On the other hand if we can land Hoolahan and he knows how to link up with Holt then we have the midfield linked up to the strikers. And then there’s always Wiemann, who already wears the number 10, who looked good behind the strikers in the last match.
I think in the summer we’ll need a LB as well as an RB, if Bertrand continues as he played in the first game he’s going to make Luna look even worse than he already does! I actually liked the look of Luna at the start (that goal against Arsenal too) but he seems to have no pace and energy and that’s not right, there’s something going wrong there.
After that Liverpool match I’m itching to see the next match, I know there’s a good chance there’ll be a return to (no) form but Benteke actually looks interested again, and if that lifts Wiemann and the rest, and Gabby hasn’t broken his shins, we could be in for a treat.
Hardly anyone has spent money this window, we’re not unique.
We’ll be what we are, a club that it limited to spending what it earns.
I can’t see any hope other than having a manager who buys his own players and develops them for three, four or five years.
Is Lambert the right man for this ? Who knows ?
Utd 40m in mata chelski 12m on Salah window not closed yet. We will def get hooligan but Norwich will wait until last min to piss us of but he will come
To my mind Lambert didn’t spent that much last January. I don’t really have a major issue with January spending. I think its ideal time for loans to be honest otherwise its panic buying and overpaying.
Utd and chelsea are simply in a different league in terms of finance.
bottomless pit of russian oil money and 800m fans and counting
40mil for Mata! Evidence of why its best to shop abroad. What a joke.
Same as arse signing ozil for £40m in the summer. What’s the difference?
Except Ozil is world class.
So is Mata
So is Mata
Remember when Lambert joined us there were many that thought he’d use us as a stepping stone to greater things?
What a crock of shit. The guy is totally out of his depth at Villa, never mind one of the Sky Six…
He’s out of depth for the sky 20 never mind sky 6 ffs
UTH. 😀
Morning Giddy…hard luck yesterday mate. Hope you had a good day ……time to sober up!
🙂
Cheers mate they did the town proud,good piss up though. 😀
Hi giddy,at least you went to a cup match and we didn’t, just to get on a coach and have that day out means a lot to us fans, One day we might do that I’ve done it loads of time win or lose, but over the last 10 years had to sit and see my team play like shit. Anyway 26th of Jan what have we got in new players? Sweet fuck all, well done the Villa , hey just heard we are going to get Wain Rooney, Lampard, Hazard, David Luise , do you think its all shit talk.? Like we have had over the last few post.
why do we look at other teams and judge ours, this time last year, we all wanted 2b like QPR, now its man utd well utd av more wrong with um than lacking a playmaker like mata, but panic buys are nothing new we panicked with bent. January is the time 2 panic if u av money 2 panic with ~ gambles are very high risk and success is few
if we get hoolahan I think we done a good window shop~ then we go again in summer that’s the rite time 2 shape ur squad. last summer recruits need 2 be reassessed. then a few more added ~
I would bet my beer on us being 10th or 11th this season and nxt year we will be solid top 10 and healthy in the bank to push alittle more
Nath i wouldn’t bet my booze not a fucking hope mate. 😀