Aston Villa

[Easy 10]

Don't they have a BERK style transfer operation which is one of the reasons Sherwood gave as he couldn't sign who he wanted ?

They spent £32m raiding the French league to sign young unknowns like Ayew, Amavi, Veretout, and Gueye. Plus £6m on a Championship striker (Gestede), £8m on Traore and some buttons on the likes of Sinclair, Lescott and Crespo. Of those signings, Ayew looks quite decent. The rest of them, added to the dirge they were already saddled with, is why they'll be visiting Burton next season.

 

[Ernest]

They spent £32m raiding the French league to sign young unknowns like Ayew, Amavi, Veretout, and Gueye. Plus £6m on a Championship striker (Gestede), £8m on Traore and some buttons on the likes of Sinclair, Lescott and Crespo. Of those signings, Ayew looks quite decent. The rest of them, added to the dirge they were already saddled with, is why they'll be visiting Burton next season.

I wouldn't give you a MILLION for the lot of them

 

[Easy 10]

If £52,000,000 isn't enough it would appear there has been more than one BERK at play.

Just have a look at the junk they spent it on. Having lost 3 players that helped just about keep them up, that squad was in desperate need of some proven quality. Instead they went for unproven, cheap, old, or bang-average (which is pretty much what they already had). A net spend of £8m, when they've received £70m in Sky money for the season, was pitiful.

Lerner hasn't properly invested for years in that squad, and now the chickens are roosting. A club of that size and resources should be comfortably top half / fringes of Europe, but he's run them into the ground.

 

[Stat Brother]

Lerner hasn't properly invested for years in that squad, and now the chickens are roosting. A club of that size and resources should be comfortably top half / fringes of Europe, but he's run them into the ground.

Absolutely.

Didn't Lerner 'go for it' with O'Neil only to get his fingers burned?

 

[Easy 10]

Absolutely.

Didn't Lerner 'go for it' with O'Neil only to get his fingers burned?

O'Neil spent something like £120m, recouping about £40m through sales (and this after Houllier had already spent £24m on Darren Bent). Once that still fell short of bringing in the CL riches, Lerner pulled up the drawbridge on the spending and they've drifted into their current malaise. I guess after that outlay, he just wanted to trundle along doing just about enough to stay in the PL and no more, but its caught up on them now.

 

[Stat Brother]

O'Neil spent something like £120m, recouping about £40m through sales (and this after Houllier had already spent £24m on Darren Bent). Once that still fell short of bringing in the CL riches, Lerner pulled up the drawbridge on the spending and they've drifted into their current malaise. I guess after that outlay, he just wanted to trundle along doing just about enough to stay in the PL and no more, but its caught up on them now.

I appreciate this is a completely hatstand mentals thing to write but:-

even by today's standards that's a lot of money to waste.

Gotta wonder whether to or

 

[narly101]

Sorry to resurrect this tired thread, but onlyfound about this today. Trying very hard not to piss myself laughing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...pite-relegation-winger-s-clause-contract.html

£60k!!!!!!

 

[severnside gull]

Still a shambles behind the scenes. Would be no surprise to see them go straight through to League 1.
Lots of talented individuals but players who aren't interested and players with no confidence. Neither the will nor the courage to battle in the Championship.

 

[Easy 10]

Still a shambles behind the scenes. Would be no surprise to see them go straight through to League 1.
Lots of talented individuals but players who aren't interested and players with no confidence. Neither the will nor the courage to battle in the Championship.

Agreed.

And yet the bookies have them at 8/1 2nd favourites behind Newcastle to win the League. Baffling.

 

[GT49er]

Sorry to resurrect this tired thread, but onlyfound about this today. Trying very hard not to piss myself laughing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...pite-relegation-winger-s-clause-contract.html

£60k!!!!!!

Not trying as hard not to laugh as Traore, I'll bet!

 

[Me and my Monkey]

Still a shambles behind the scenes. Would be no surprise to see them go straight through to League 1.
Lots of talented individuals but players who aren't interested and players with no confidence. Neither the will nor the courage to battle in the Championship.

I don't like to wish ill on other clubs (most of the time), but can't help agreeing with you that they could be about to go into freefall. The good news is that it would free up one of those top spots that the bookies are so insistent are going to go to relegated teams, for a nice, normal, hard working team like ours.

 

[LlcoolJ]

So he could be earning £90k a week in League 1? Amazing!

 

[Filipino Pat]

I have a very good mate who's a die-hard Villa fan. Unfailingly, each season for the last 15-20 he has optimistically predicted great things for his team. This season he reckons they'll be relegated. Says it all for me...

 

[Stat Brother]

I don't understand this bit:-

Aston Villa may be forced to pay Adama Traore £60,000 per week in the Championship after it emerged the young winger does not have a relegation wage cut in his contract.

Were Villa forced to sign the contract with that stipulation?


I do genuinely get why the Albion struggle to sign THE striker, I've been banging on about, news stories like this underline the point.

I hate what modern football has become when sheer stupidity, greed and egos are so intertwined the end result can only involve creeks but no paddles.

But there's no point being on the outside saying it's not fair having spent hundreds of millions to be on the inside.

 

[severnside gull]

Don't get me wrong, Villa will play some super football this season. But when they concede a goal all the self doubt will flood back. I'd take odds on them losing more games from winning positions than any other side this season.
As for the contract mess that ultimately risks tearing them apart, it's eerily reminiscent of us when we fell from grace and gave silly contracts to the likes of Steve Foster. Recipe for disaster & if anyone knows it should be us.

 

[Easy 10]

Don't get me wrong, Villa will play some super football this season. But when they concede a goal all the self doubt will flood back. I'd take odds on them losing more games from winning positions than any other side this season.
As for the contract mess that ultimately risks tearing them apart, it's eerily reminiscent of us when we fell from grace and gave silly contracts to the likes of Steve Foster. Recipe for disaster & if anyone knows it should be us.

Will they ? Not sure what you're basing that on.

 

[lizard]

May have a couple of quid on them getting relegated again.

 

[daveinprague]

AV owner has joined the Wurzel fan club

 

[BensGrandad]

Agreed.

And yet the bookies have them at 8/1 2nd favourites behind Newcastle to win the League. Baffling.

I would go with the bookies and make them automatic promotion favourites along with Newcastle and the rest including us are playing for the play off place.

 

[daveinprague]

I would go with the bookies and make them automatic promotion favourites along with Newcastle and the rest including us are playing for the play off place.

Nailed on relegation for AV then