Villa Red Bull Project

This is my very first article ever, and could be my last…..I have tried to be as none judgmental as possible, but here goes
There has been much speculation over the last few days and I personally think the writing is on the wall, as they say, “Rumors only come about to prepare us for the outcome”
Red Bull is an Austrian owned business, its high level drink was created in 1987 and was the inspiration to improve performance of high extreme sports, since then the company has gone onto purchasing many sports business’s which have had significant impact in their sports areas, the most notable one being Formula 1, however it has increased its branding in most sports, all of its sports teams have to include the Red Bull name due to its branding status. Another notable item that includes the brand name is the sport home or venue, for example Red Bull Leipzig FC plays at its home stadium Red Bull Arena, and New York Red Bulls home is also Red Bull Arena. If you focus on Football alone it has four current teams in leagues in Austria, Germany, Ghana, and Brazil, all at top level within the designated country.
It would benefit the brand greatly if it gained a premiership team or a championship team which would graduate to the premiership in a short spell
I have tried to get some financial reports on the business but because it’s a privately owned business it does not have to declare its P&L, saying this it has 40% of the drinks market and sold around 5 billion cans in 2012. (That alone is a lot of money)
With all of its branding products it does have a very attractive portfolio when it comes to injecting finances into its projects, 2.2 billion on Formula 1 in 2012.
So I guess the outstanding question is as Villa fans and a product of our own for 140 years, would we accept a dramatic change in Colours, Team Name, and Ground Name, and a New Club Strategy.
Now before any of you go off on one, this site has bemoaned continually for Lerner, Faulkner, and Lamberts head over the past 2 months, some for the past 3 years, so at what price are you prepared to go to, so you are happy with the club? Remember change is always inevitable in our ever demanding society but at what cost is it acceptable.
One more thing to think about no other business has been linked with Villa except Red Bull.


Comments

119 responses to “Villa Red Bull Project”

  1. I dont think the name or colors will need to change at all, if they plan to pump in hundreds of millions then the fact we will be competing at the top, signing big name players and may get champions league would give them enough exposure.

    1. millions or no.. there is
      no guarantee of success unless you are willing to spend toe to toe with ambromivich,the sheik, FSG or the 800m and counting fans of man U.
      then you still face the shrewd operating Spurs and the miracle of Everton who have not 1/10th the resources any of those clubs spend but still seem to compete.

      its a dynamic competition not a rigid benchmark
      there are no magic fail safe methods or minimum targets to hit to ensure x or y.

      I don’t know why a company like RB would enter that scenario with their ultimate goal of brand recognition and market share growth.
      for 250m they could make themselves the main sponsor or stadium name on a few of those top clubs .. the relative success is already there so the recognition would be achieved for a fixed sum not an ongoing money pit of club ownership.

      Also, if brand recognition in the CL or prem is the goal there are cheaper options in the championship or abroad in the benelux leagues or france or whereever. monaco and psg proved better prospects to the last two sugar daddies to enter the club ownership game.

      I still don’t know what to think of the 90m accounting gesture .. it signals an imminent sale as much as it signals longer term commitment from the current ownership.
      I haven’t’t a clue which it is yet I haven’t seen any convincing arguments for one over the other yet.

      my gut feeling is though that it is significant .. 90m .. has never been insignificant.

  2. ejs1111 avatar

    I did some research on the other football clubs that are owned by RB. Buying an EPL team would/is a complete different monster than RB has done before. The Austrian and German teams that were bought are not in the same boat.

    FC RB Salzburg- founded in 1933, this club has already had THREE different names in its history. RB purchased when the club was near bankruptcy. They negotiated with fan/support groups for months and could not reach an agreement regarding tradition/history/etc. FC RB Salzburg was formed and claimed a new club with no history. The fan/supporters group then founded a new club SV Austria Salzburg (clubs original name) and started over again. Again, a much smaller club than AVFC with little success/history by comparison, plus facing financial ruin.

    New York Red Bulls- RB did not follow this ‘new club, new history’ tactic with the NY Red Bulls, they elected to keep the history and tradition of the former New York MetroStars, formed in 1995. They did revise kits, new stadium, etc.

    RB Leipzig- this club was formally called SSV Markranstädt, they were founded in the 1940’s. This original club went through EIGHT name changes until RB bought their football license in 2009. This club was also in serious financial trouble. German leagues didnt allow sponsor name in club name so they use RB initials instead. RB tried to purchase a different Leipzig club initially (one with a rich tradition) and were unsuccessful due to bad press and fan protest.

    Both European clubs were starting at the bottom of the league- I believe both were in 4th or 5th division when purchased. Much smaller clubs with smaller history, etc. They both played in stadiums smaller than 12k. They both now play in a ‘Red Bull Arena’ that seats over 40k.

    I got alot of this info from Wiki and related sites (I actually checked the reference links). The reason for this info is to give some context regarding current clubs they own. RB purchased clubs at the bottom for rock bottom prices, built new stadiums and started fresh to compete. RB purchasing an EPL team will be completely different than this. They will spend more upfront for the purchase, stadiums are already larger, already in the best football league for TV revenue/sponsorships/exposure. They have shown a willingness to work with fans and keep tradition/history.
    I guess what I’m saying is I’m not convinced that RB will come in and try to rebrand and change everything- there is too much history to just wipe it away. I do believe/expect them to clean house and hire new staff, rebrand Villa Park, revise kits (hopefully not the home kit). But change the name Aston Villa?? I’m not convinced that will happen.

    VTID

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
      OohAhPaulMcGrath

      Do u think this takeover will happen EJS1111 and if so will we be able to compete with the top four?

      1. ejs1111 avatar

        Personally I do believe a takeover is coming. I don’t know if it’s RB or another billionaire type. The $90 million explanation from Ian and others is spot on in my opinion. It appears that RL is clearing debt and cutting costs to make AVFC look better on paper.
        Unless our new owner is oil money or a tech giant like Bill Gates, I still see us struggling to compete top4. Sky4 teams just have more money than even a Red Bull ownership. Best case scenario for me would be a billionaire owner with the mentality of the New York Yankees owner. This family lives and breathes Yankee baseball, they only want to see their baseball team win championships.
        This is the type of owner I would love to see at AVFC

        1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
          OohAhPaulMcGrath

          I hope it’s someone like the Yankees owners too. Or a Russian or shiek. I think it is likely to be red bull though which like you say means we will be nothing more than a top 10 team. Gets more depressing as we would prob have to change our name etc for that.

      2. ejs1111 avatar

        That said… RB taking over would still be a vast improvement over RL. RB would make us much more competitive, we would fight for Europe ever year and occasionally challenge top4 for champions league in my opinion.
        I would be ecstatic with that personally.
        Here’s to hoping!
        VTID

        1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
          OohAhPaulMcGrath

          True but unless we get into CL we will never move forward as a club. If someone like RB come in they would have to spend around £200-250m in players to get us challenging for honours again. Do you think they would sirens that? Plus they would need to get us a top proven coach as lambert is out of his depth.

          1. 200-250m? Not really, no. This is the time to come in for a new owner of a team like Villa. 40-50m and we could be challenging for a top 4. Another 50m and an intelligent manager would put us fighting for trophies as well as top 4. I guess you meant the league, than yes, unless we get a scout that can find talents where clubs don’t want them. Looking at Inter’s youth is a good start. The EPL’s quality is garbage at the moment and really 1 team should be feared in City, Chelsea are sporadic and while Liverpool are incredible up front in Suarez, their defense is less than credible for title challenging. Spurs, United, Everton, Newcastle and Southampton wouldn’t be hard to catch with 50m being spent on a few midfielders and a LB. United are wasting their time on the likes of Hamsik, Verratti, Gundogan, Vidal, Pogba and Marchisio who they have no chance of getting. Liverpool despite linked have signed no one, Arsenal are linked with some top players but the 2 positions needed they’re linked to no one good other than Costa who won’t happen. Mourinho doesn’t want a striker so Chelsea aren’t getting any better. The quality of the EPL isn’t there and we wouldn’t need that much to fight for a top 3-4 place as up front and at the back bar LB I can see us doing well enough. I’d change the entire midfield including Delph and allow Bacuna to play but that’s about it.

            1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
              OohAhPaulMcGrath

              Not sure I agree remember utd etc will spend big this summer to compete. Even man city’s away form is dodgy they lost to us ffs. I think Chelsea will win the league this season because of mourinho and it’s usually tge team that eeks out the 1.0 wins home and away that win it as opposed to the team that wins 5.0 most of the time bit like Argentina a couple of world cups ago they stuffed everyone in group stage but only made it to quarters I think.

          2. DSVilla avatar

            Again Andrew that’s all true but the problem is still the same. Lerner has put something of the order of £200M into Aston Villa (sure IanRobo could come in here). It’s not unreasonable for him to want that back. Then add your £50-100M to challenge (across a couple of years that will bring heavy losses to be subsidised) and you have a £250-300M project. Ouch! Villa must be unique outside the Top 6 in having such a high starting point for such a plan.

  3. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
    OohAhPaulMcGrath

    Well straight from faulkner a mouth. We are making progress and lambert is great and wev made a big improvement. No further signings this month reading between lines. We are fucked. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-fan-frustration-paul-3022097?

  4. Morgan Villa avatar
    Morgan Villa

    This Red Bull thing wont go away, tbh i dont know what to think, if the name changes i will still be going to Villa Park etc. The rebranding of stadiums has helped some clubs purchase at least one player extra due to the extra revenue.

    I am not a massive fan of marketing, but the bottom line in this modern world of sports is simple tradition, history and all the rest simply do not pay the bills or bring in players of the standard required to keep us happy and the club where it belongs, as much as i am proud of our past it wont sign Messi for us.

    One of the benfeits of not having just an out and out owner is accountability we have all been pointing fingers at owners managers and ex managers, in this case maybe heads will roll when things go wrong something i cant remember ever happening at VP, just silence and silly PR

    If someone comes in the foundations are there for a massive club, we have great support the crowds have been big this season considering the standard of football served up week in week out, great training facilities and a great stadium.

    If someone was to buy us out we need a DOF of Houlliers standard who worked on youth and scouting, not on first team affairs. We would need a great coaching staff with a style of play and philosophy that ran through out the club. If all the right boxes get ticked to take Villa forward then i am sure most fans would be happy.

    Dont understand all of the anger towards Holt, he has come in on the cheap, he is older so no club will get a better version of him later on. he is here to replace an injured player. Lambert has said in the press before Kozack got injured we need 3-4 players so i still expect to see 3 or 4 players. my problem this season has been the train crash of a left back we signed in the summer and the awful tactics, this is not Holts fault.

    PLEASE SIGN A LB AND A LM/W,

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
      OohAhPaulMcGrath

      No chance of signings. Well straight from faulkner a mouth. We are making progress and lambert is great and wev made a big improvement. No further signings this month reading between lines. We are fucked. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-fan-frustration-paul-3022097?

      1. Morgan Villa avatar
        Morgan Villa

        I thought Randy’s divorce was settled?!

  5. I can’t believe lambert said he wanted a no 10 type player, yet hasn’t even made an offer for anyone yet, I don’t think an offer was even made for hoolahan just speculation and guess work. So what’s he doing? 7 ml will prob get someone half decent I bet holtby would come for that much. I don’t get it. Lerner wake up it’s not going to dent your wallet and it may keep us up which will in turn make you 5 times that!

    1. Giggy well done Kiddy Harriers.

      1. Lol bill why not call me GiGi mate. 😀

    2. Adam, he’ll probably move Bacuna into the number 10 slot.

  6. Cheers mate we’ve managed to do what the villa couldn’t it’s fucking laffable bring on the mackems. UTH

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
      OohAhPaulMcGrath

      I think he signed holt for political reasons. Ie to help him in the dressing room which I think he’s lost tbh

  7. Ooha ive said it before lambert needs mates ie hoolahan & now holt he’s obviously losing the changing rooms & wants these wise heads to build bridges with the team.i think it’s laffable mate.

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
      OohAhPaulMcGrath

      Spot on giddy. It’s a political signing someone that will watch lamberts back for him.

    2. haha there is debate and opinion and then there extensions of that..

      can you expand on the obvious way that Lambert has lost the dressing room.
      and he needs his “mates”

      also .. can anyone expand on the idea that the 90m shuffle in the corporate accounts is an effort and i am para phrasing here

      …” to make us look good on paper..”

      KPMG should start their next recruitment drive from this site.
      We can sniff out corporate accounting tricks and clever feats of financial engineering that poor niave prospective billionaire businesss or business owners would miss.

  8. DSVilla avatar

    Sorry guys but I think Red Bull ownership is a non-starter. We would be too expensive. It’s as simple as that. Everton would be much cheaper and with a realistic chance of Top 4. We’ve had all the Abu Dhabi speculation and lots of people convinced it was a done deal. Villa, much as we will hate to admit it, are just not an attractive option.

    1. DS i agree they’ll be looking for a team with the potential to win things & entering european competitions we do not fit this criteria im affraid to say mate.

    2. IanRobo avatar

      I disagree Everton would be cheaper.

      – wage bill is higher
      – debts are probably now higher
      – huge redevelopment costs for Goodison or a new ground

      Actually we would be quite cheap, little debt now, low wage bill, the rubbish cleared out. so you start out on a decent basis and even Lambert has only one year left on his contract in the summer if you want a new manager.

      I have no idea why Lambert wanted to come but from a selling prospect he has done well …

      1. Morgan Villa avatar
        Morgan Villa

        Evertons training facilities need massive investment as well

        1. do they though? .. they seem to be be pretty well trained to me judging by their league position compared to ours over the last 10-15 years

      2. DSVilla avatar

        Nope. Everton’s debts are way lower than Villa’s. I think to the tune of £80-100M. I think Everton trade at a small loss generally whereas Villa have been doing much worse. We would need a much heavier investment in players to become competitive too.

        1. Debatable as Villa’s team is at least young. Everton’s is aging quite a bit, Howard’s 34, Hibbert’s 32, Jagielka’s 31, Distin’s 36, so that’s 3 of their starting 5 and a sub over 30, an aging 32 year old loaned in midfielder, Osman’s 32, Pienaar’s 31, Kone’s 30 so there’s a few more. They sold their only decent at best back up striker, their current starter’s a loan, Naismith’s proven not to be good enough, Pienaar’s clearly on a downhill slide. While I’d trust (can’t believe I said that) Martinez to do well enough with Everton type money, if they really wanted to have a go, they’d need a lot of replacements and their depth isn’t the best in terms of talent but their starting 11 is of great quality.

          1. Though obviously quality’s massively needed.

          2. DSVilla avatar

            That’s certainly true Andrew but I still know what I would do. The ground/training ground improvements situation hasn’t stopped them being in and around the Top 4 this season along with previous ones. In Ross Barkley they have a real talent (where’s our home grown star in the making?). It just looks to my untrained eye that Everton could be a £100M cheaper option to buy. You can do a hell of a lot with that cash, and Villa’s team might be young but how many are of the quality required for the Top 4? Hardly any really.

            I honestly believe there is no chance of Red Bull buying Villa. As for an imminent takeover – again I don’t think so. I’m quite happy to be proved wrong though as it’s hard to see any satisfactory improvement without it.

            1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
              OohAhPaulMcGrath

              Agreed we have quantity not quality. Look at Liverpool last night Harry someone the new bale apparantly. Club is a joke

          3. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
            OohAhPaulMcGrath

            Everton won’t finish top 4 though no chance they will bottle it. They will get hammered away to Liverpool in a couple of weeks esp as they are without Barkley.

  9. tradition!!!!!! i hate the idea for us 2 lose our identity, sell out ~ look a hull city ~ they av no history, they av always been shit and their fans will not allow money 2 change there name and owner now is threatening to pull out.

    we all want success ~ but 2 wot costs

  10. wittonryan avatar
    wittonryan

    i see know way this RB is going to happen…its just one man said this one man said that…if RB was going to buy a prem team the red tops would be all over it…at the most it could be the ground name or even just shirt sponsorship not buying us out RL need investment or this could just be smoke and mirrors.

  11. ****just a reminder…sky subscribers can Watch Villa play Liverpool in FA Youth Cup 4th rd…its free to sky subscribers…channel 429…Jack Grealish starts for Villa *****

  12. really langford? grealish starting? are you taking the piss ?
    are squads even announced yet ?

  13. lol d’oh .. fa youth cup .. against liverpool .. haha very clever

  14. Badger123 avatar
    Badger123

    My opinion on a Red Bull takeover?

    It’s a load of pony.

    I really don’t know where this stems from, but it’s been doing the rounds for what seems like ages.

    If above figures are correct, they already pump 250 million a year into F1.
    Even for a big company, that’s serious money.
    How much they recoup for being sucessful, I don’t know, but doubt they get it back and it’s probably more a marketing exercise.
    I’d suggest that’s where they see the best return though; a high energy, fast response type of game that fits what (their frankly utter shite drink) offers.

    As for the minnow footy clubs they’ve bought, I’m not sure what the game is.
    But it doesn’t seem to be seriously challenging for anything.

    So how does the Villa fit into anything?

    It doesn’t, to mind.
    We’d cost 200 Mill and then need serious money spending.

    If I was RB, I’d be looking at a London club.
    Like Orient, or as suggested, MK Dons.
    Much cheaper and way more room for improvement at much less cost.

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
      OohAhPaulMcGrath

      Agree mate how about Southampton. Their CE has resigned and rumoured to sell and they play in red and white. RB only have a fortune if around 5b I know that a lot of money but they are 100s of millions into other clubs and racing. Plus like you say they would need £200 to buy and at least that again to turn us into a too 6 team chalking inc for fourth. Can’t see it.

  15. andrew are you serious? 50m to displace one of man city/arsenal/utd, liverpool chelsea. spurs or everton?
    which players at what price have you identified that we could buy for 50m that would make us as good or better than one of those teams?

    if if was honestly that simple it would be done already.
    totenham would not have to have spent 100m last summer to sit in 6th currently.

    for a team to compete for league position against the above
    it would take hundreds of millions.. and even then you are not even guaranteed 8th never mind 4th

    the alternative is Evertons route which in my opinion is the long game based on continuity ..
    that means sticking with a manager for the long term

    its something Aston villa and Aston Villa fans are not particularly well known for.

    1. £50m??? Chelsea paid more than that for Torres.

      Good piece in Mirror (As the Aston Villa doom mongers come out again, is it time for a reality check at Villa Park?) that puts our current plight into perspective.

      1. IanRobo avatar

        well it does if you believe we should be a version of Wigan or Norwich or low mid table rubbish.

        that is why of course we wanted Ellis out for that small minded thinking, I do have greater aims for Villa than that regardless of who is in charge either manager or owner.

        1. Lionheart avatar
          Lionheart

          That article was a load of rubbish..

          James Nursery needs to take his tongue out of Faulkner’s bottom before he writes..

          1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
            OohAhPaulMcGrath

            Agreed mate they’ve got the journos in their pocket

    2. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
      OohAhPaulMcGrath

      To crack the top 4 we need at least one possibly 2 world class players. Look at utd they have Rooney and Rvp and the only reason they are struggling is because they have been missing long periods. City have tourre, aguedo negrado and kompany, Liverpool have Suarez Gerrard, poss Sturbridge and courtinho, arsenal have mezil and giroud , Chelsea Terry, Torres, Oscar mata etc plus a top manager. We have Grant holt, kae and ashley fuckin Westwood ffs! Not only would we have to sign 2 world class players we would need to build a quality team around them and then hang on to them long enough to get into CL. That is £200-250m at least if you include wages.

      1. Except in no way did I say we’d reach Chelsea or City with 50m. However United’s not just missing RVP or Rooney, they have a terrible midfield, their wingers have all been garbage and their defense is a mess. The only thing good about United is that their GK, Rooney and Rafael. And that they’re United.

        Liverpool’s defense isn’t good enough, LB, RB, CB whatever. They’ve dropped Gerrard deeper which has ruined their true creativity and Coutinho’s not been as affective so what do they have? Henderson and Suarez doing it all up front.

        We don’t have to sign 2 world class players to fight for a top 4. Look at Everton, Newcastle, Spurs, and Liverpool who only has 1. They don’t have world class players, but they have great squads and the one thing we don’t have, a talented manager. Give a talented manager 50m to upgrade our midfield from garbage to class, which means about 4 10m midfielders and then bring in a Left Back and with Benteke and Kozak, Vlaar and Baker/Clark/Okore, Guzan, and Bacuna wherever he’s played… That’s not in any way worse than Pool, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle or United.

        1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
          OohAhPaulMcGrath

          But utd had exactly those players last year the only real difference was Rvp and Rooney were fit for the whole time

          1. They also had Fergie, Carrick was so much better than this season, and they were straight up dominating teams. That affect went completely away when he left, and Fergie left Moyes pretty much in the shit and set to fail, but Fergie knew it was his last chance to win something so he signed RVP for himself instead of setting up the next manager in far better standings.

            1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
              OohAhPaulMcGrath

              Agree and tbf if you take Rvp out that side last year they were a pretty ordinary team. Moyes us a patsy to take the club down for a season or so then they can go for a guardiola etc to get them back up as they won’t have the pressure moyes has had.

          2. DSVilla avatar

            Something else has changed. I have seen a few decisions go against Man U recently. Have the referees lost the fear of upsetting Fergie? They would never admit to it but he did exert influence and Moyes just doesn’t have that. About time too IMHO.

            1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
              OohAhPaulMcGrath

              So true ever since the ref let them play till they scored 2 goals which psychologically ended our title hope they have had all big decisions go their way. Fergie and utd are cheats IMO no wonder they win so much with refs giving them all the big decisions especially when they were losing. If refs go against utd at OT then fergie would make sure they never refer there again for a big game. Basically he had a huge influence in who should ref which is why Webb got so many games there. They deserve for some decisions to go against them it’s long overdue

          3. Nor does Moyes have influence to get them dropped. He’s complained multiple times and refs and fans don’t care.

    3. Alright, 50m might have been a bit of a stretch. 20 points would be a hell of a lot to make up. But you also have to remember, Benteke was injured/wasn’t firing, we’ve had defensive injuries all season including having to play Lowton and Herd as CB’s, not a single midfielder of ours is good enough for even a top 10 bar Bacuna and maybe Sylla if played correctly.

      But we have a solid foundation of that of what Newcastle, Liverpool and Everton have. We have a close enough to world class striker… Benteke. Not quite Suarez but as good as Lukaku and Remy. We have a good enough back up in Kozak. Not quite Sturridge but better than Kone and Cisse. Vlaar would start at any of those clubs, maybe bar Everton. Okore would be a future starter at any of them as well. Guzan’s just as good as Mignolet, Howard and Krul. Our problem has and will always be in midfield. We used to have a quality midfield and now it’s so bad, however still we’re 11th with the worst midfield in the EPL. Think about it… 4 10m midfielder’s and a new LB and maybe a back up LB/RB. Then what do we get?

      Guzan

      Lowton – Vlaar – Baker/Clark/Okore – Class LB

      Class DM-Class CM

      Weimann – Class AM – Gabby

      Benteke

      Now tell me… With 4 new starting signings, with back up like Sylla, Delph, Kozak, Bacuna, Helenius, the kids… Is that any worse than what Newcastle, Liverpool or Everton have? No…

      Now I didn’t add Spurs because they’re special. They have a world class CB in the making in Chiriches, but they have an incredible midfield without the quality up front and their fullbacks aren’t good enough either. Their midfield and CB’s are good enough to keep their scorelines incredibly low that they can win 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 games. Playing a 4-2-3-1 and with players good enough in midfield which we have 1 in Bacuna who could even start over Weimann, we’d be better than Southampton and be up there with Everton, Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle and even United. Will we become as good as Arsenal, Chelsea and City? Of course not, we’d need new owners for that one. Oh and all of this revolves around a far better manager, one closer to the talent of Rodgers, Pardew or Martinez, not one closer to Accrington Stanley.

      1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
        OohAhPaulMcGrath

        Don’t forget our so called world class striker will be of soon anyway. Which takes me back to what I said earlier on the rare occasions we get a decent player can we keep them long enough to build a CL squad. Answer to that is a massive no for all sorts of reasons.

        1. “Our world class striker will be off soon”? Just like you predicted he’d go last summer? Then you said he’d be gone in this transfer window? What’s your next prediction, that he’ll be gone next summer? If you predict he’ll be gone in every window eventually you’ll get it right.

          1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
            OohAhPaulMcGrath

            Oh come of it he did want to leave last year and would of done if spurs had bid for him. Your just talking semantics.

          2. You forgot the part where Villa have to accept the bid coming from Spurs. Just because a bid happens doesn’t mean he’ll leave.

            1. OohAhPaulMcGrath avatar
              OohAhPaulMcGrath

              Lambert did say he coukd talk to them if a £25m bid came in thou.

          3. The media came up with that number. I don’t think Villa ever put a price tag on his head.

        2. You claimed the same thing all of last summer and just about every month up till January, and he’s no closer to leaving.

          And you’re right, he’ll eventually go, and we’ll have his money then too. He’s not irreplaceable.

  16. Lionheart avatar
    Lionheart

    The issue with the Prem is that it is killing football really.. there will be a bust come one time..

    You have about 10 clubs playing to stay up.. a couple mid table.. then there are probably 6 trying to get into CL.. look at Liverpool.. haver been very good this year and yet could still finish 5th and end up with nothing..

    Now if Villa ( for arguments sake ) get brought by a mega rich owner.. we would still have to compete with Man City Chelsea and there riches.. Man U and Arsenal.. two traditional top four clubs.. then you have Liverpool and Spurs.. up there too…

    Now 7 into 4 does not go lads.. something has to give..

    Any one buying the club will have to pay around 200M and probably need to pump in 500M ( IMO ) in fees and wages over the coming seasons to sustain it..

    Even then there is NO guarantee of a top four finish with all the other elite clubs..

    There is NO point at all in buying the club and investing to finish 6th/7th.. yes good for us fans to see better players and football BUT for an owner what good is it..

    So yes there is talk of a takeover but unless it is a MEGA MEGA rich owner i can’t see why someone would by us at the moment..

    1. i agree 100% Lionheart, this has been my take on it for quite some time now.
      not just in relation to the RB takeover but in terms of Fans expectations overall.

    2. Wtf? You say the mirror article is rubbish then totally contradict yourself and then space bar81 jumps on the band wagon contradicting every other post he’s/ she’s/it’s ever posted. DOL was right – fickle.

  17. IanRobo avatar

    thats all true but you forget one thing.

    The dream of tall these foreign owners ie negotiating your own TV rights that is what they want.

    Remeber once we get to 14 owners agreeing it can be changed, how many foreign owners now ? is it 13 ?

  18. morgan Villa avatar
    morgan Villa

    great article in the express and star by Matt Turvey

    1. IanRobo avatar

      Great and him in the same sentence, nah not possible

      BTW check the link it is wrong ha ha

      1. Morgan Villa avatar
        Morgan Villa

        yes the link is wrong lol;

        The article summed it up for me without going to over the top with a one sided opinion.

        A lot of rumours about a potential take over not all of them saying Red Bull, we now have a consortium, i will believe it when i see it. A few people on twitter last night were saying Southampton is a better fit for a Red Bull takeover.

        Second atempt at the link

        http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2014/01/16/blog-feeling-a-little-jaded-after-aston-villas-current-form/

        1. IanRobo avatar

          bloody hell that is good and he has changed …

          I think it sums up what we all feel in one way or another.

          As for any takeover who knows, all we see are facts and then we have to put our own interpretation on them.

    2. I will be honest.. when you say “great article in the express and star” .. i automatically doubt you …

      1. Morgan Villa avatar
        Morgan Villa

        lol, I did note the tongue n cheek scouse mockery on the Everton post.

    3. Don’t encourage him Morgan,.