After 4 years of MON at Villa we should be used to his comments and the way of thinking but these comments today whilst in Portugal I have to say I am not encouraged by the words but do they reflect the reality ?
ON TRANSFERS
On incoming activity, he added: “There’s nothing imminent – let me put it that way.
“We’re on the lookout and we’ll see what does develop.”
This will of course anger many as it is clear we need a few gaps filled with quality players. However with caution that MON could say this today and sign someone next week and to add that the number of current moves are very low.
DISMISSING YOUNG and PETROV RUMOURS
On Young “I had a bit of a wry smile about it. It’s part of the game, it’s just that some things go close to the knuckle, if there are certain things that are well off the mark and are detrimental to the football club and the way we’re running it of course I’ll get irked.
“But not those type of things.”
On Petrov “But that doesn’t mean that teams like Liverpool wouldn’t be interested in him because he’s a top quality player. But as we speak, no-one from Liverpool has contacted us.
ON PETROV CAPTAINCY
“Players will say things through him and he will voice that opinion to me, whatever that might be and from that viewpoint it works pretty well. He’s not frightened to put his own opinion across and he’s not frightened to act on behalf of the players. He’s been excellent.”
ON MILNER
“I’ve left that with the chief executive and the owner and I’m sure that they’ll fill me in with what might have developed.
“I think that there is some sort of dialogue going on and I think that you can see that Manchester City have made an offer which has not been accepted and it hasn’t reached the valuation that Aston Villa are putting on James. Who know what might happen in the foreseeable future? The answer is I’m not sure myself.”
This interview on the OS is one of the most comprehensive I have seen from MON for a long while addressing all the recent news and rumours and either dismissing or confirming them.
From this interview I can only conclude the future of Milner and the selling of the likes of Sidwell and Shorey is vital to our whole transfer policy. Also very noticeable is that every interview when asked about Milner he is making it clear he has nothing to do with whether he gets sold or not, which as I posted a couple of days is a major gear shift for MON.
Aston Villa News 24/7
That more or less confirms that there is none, or very little money for incoming players, until some assets are sold on.
If that’s so, supporters could be on MON’s back wrongly, and the whole lack of cash is down to the owner, but to be honest, I really have no idea what’s going on at Villa park regarding players, be it in or out.
What is clear, is there is a lot of unrest from fans, who want the best for Villa, and this statement goes nowhere near placating their fears.
Kebo, thing wages, last annual report showed 89% of revenue that does not include Dunne’s, Warnock, Beye and Collins wages
revenue would have gone up by a bit but I reckon we could have hit 92% of revenue, that is not substainable
However is not the down side that the kids will get more of a chance and don’t we want that ?
Surely quality new signings are what we want? These kids will not take us to the next level, they will do as squad players but to push on we need real quality and at the moment doesnt look like we have a penny to spend.
Kebo, you don’t know whats going on, I don’t know and part of MONs methods I believe is to make sure NO ONE knows what is going on, including Gary Cock and ‘appy ‘arry the bung.
The press get frustrated as NO news ever leaks unless MON wants it to.
Frustrating for all but this is how he has always worked.
I’d rather this and have some success.
indeed Denis, as I wrote, it could all be part of a game, but you know what, this time, I doubt it
the financial figures backs up we have to get rid first to free up wages
That wage bill, and the amount paid to average players, that are now happy to sit around collecting their cash, shows a distinct lack of good business by the club.
Hence the problem of selling them on, and I often wonder why the hell some of them were signed in the first place, on bloated wages, and not used by the manager! Again, I have no idea what is going on at Villa Park!
Example, Luke Young, signed for over £5m, paid wages of £4m, and being sold for a reported £2.75m, hardly used, a complete waste.
I agree with the youngsters being involved much more, and it might come to pass, that it will be a necessity, and I’m positive they won’t let us down.
Kebo, the answer is you buy a player and hope that he will be a success. Success stories of MON are Milner, A. Young, Dunne, Collins, Friedel, Petrov. Mediocre are Downing (at the moment, will improve), Carew, Warnock, L. Young. And failures are Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Shorey, Heskey. For me that´s not so bad. It´s trial and error. And maybe he will get rid of some players where he knows that young players can overtake their positions.
Some guy on a rumours site said that O’Neill’s actually fighting for his job. He said Lerner’s unhappy with O’Neill’s spending and really isn’t willing to give him bundles of cash. If he doesn’t prove himself with a limited budget he could be fired.
Thanks Andrew, got the link ?
Of course all that could be BS, however a rumour flew around last summer something similar, but in what MON has done so far this pre season looks relaxed enough
{I don’t know much about the names in and out of Villa (other than McGeady), but I do know you are mostly right about Lerner being unhappy with some of MON’s moves in the transfer market and taking tighter control over things.}
This is what truly was said, but too me it looks like O’Neill is going to have to prove himself much more in the transfer market and under a budget before he gets the cash.
It’s not so much he’s not good enough in the transfer market, it’s that he’s wasting money on players. 50k a week sits on the bench in Sidwell, Shorey sits the bench (or on loan), Davies sat the bench, Reo-Coker sits the bench) and we’re losing bright youth in which positions aren’t needed to be filled with buys which Lerner continues to have to waste on money on because O’Neill doesn’t use them.
Andrew, if Lerner was unhappy with MON, MON would already be out–not fighting to keep his job.
Also, frankly, who thought that Sidwell would be as mediocre as he has been? Nobody did given his form for Reading. It was a smart signing, at the time, and an inexpensive one. The same goes for Davies, who was in a rich vein of form before his injury problems. Don’t forget that he got an international call up. I haven’t given up on him. As for Shorey, Bouma went out, we needed a left back, and Shorey was the best option available. But for Bouma’s injury, Shorey wouldn’t be here.
Suffice it to say, I don’t fault MON for any of those purchases.
To clarify, Davies certainly wasn’t an inexpensive signing—quite to the contrary. But it wasn’t a poor signing.
VFT, totally agree, some signings do not work out and some do, every manager has the same proble, look at how much Man City have spent before the sheikh and under Thaskin and wasted
look at how much in wages Chelsea reserves pick up
rafa at Plop ?
I find it quite strange that Villa fans constantly talk about our lack of strength in depth, but then criticise when we’re paying high wages for players to warm the bench or not even make the squad as a waste of money.
This is what good backup costs people.
I’m sure MON would love to know how you get backup players who can drop in no problem and maintain the standard for a couple of grand a week.
“Some guy on a rumours site said that O’Neill’s actually fighting for his job.”
That’s total bollox, imo.
thats the whole debate badger, I don;t think the issue that some are on the bench, but more the issue of them not playing more games when needed.
the whole debate over ‘rotation’
should Petrov have been rested for a couple of games for NRC ?
should Albrighton have played instead of Downing
etc.
MON in my view should have done this after the previous season when we blew up, did not learn the lesson, happens again and he will in trouble.
“This is what good backup costs people.
I’m sure MON would love to know how you get backup players who can drop in no problem and maintain the standard for a couple of grand a week.”
Good back up costs more than what our starters make? Good back up continues to sit the bench with 0 rotation. I feel bad for our back up because they don’t get subbed on. They’re not good enough and aren’t game fit enough because they don’t get playing time. You look at any other team and you’ll know the core starters, but you’ll guess 2-3 players wrong every game because they change it up. SAF hasn’t started the same players 2 games in a row in over 100+ games. We start the same players EVERY GAME (unless injury or suspension). We’re an obvious 1 dimensional club. I bet if we don’t sign anyone we could all name the starting 11 for West Ham and it would be the same players.
“To clarify, Davies certainly wasn’t an inexpensive signing—quite to the contrary. But it wasn’t a poor signing.”
I’ve absolutely never said he was a bad signing. I’m one of the people that want him to stay as I think he’s the future of England and the future captain of Villa when Petrov and Dunne retire/are sold (first one is most likely). But… Does he play? Nope. When he came back from injury, how many games did he play? 2? Maybe? I know Dunne and Collins were fitting in well, but that just means Davies has no part in playing and he probably won’t want to sit the bench. O’Neill wouldn’t even let him go out on loan like he wanted to when he came back, and then he puts him on the transfer market… Genius isn’t he?
“Also, frankly, who thought that Sidwell would be as mediocre as he has been? Nobody did given his form for Reading. It was a smart signing, at the time, and an inexpensive one. The same goes for Davies, who was in a rich vein of form before his injury problems. Don’t forget that he got an international call up. I haven’t given up on him. As for Shorey, Bouma went out, we needed a left back, and Shorey was the best option available. But for Bouma’s injury, Shorey wouldn’t be here.”
We bought Sidwell from Chelsea, not Reading. Where in 19 total appearances he had 1 assist. And 1 out of every 4 shot was on target. He cost 5m…
We bought Shorey to cover Bouma, that is correct. Then we bought Warnock and Shorey was nowhere to be found and loaned out twice. Why? We had no other LB to rely on and when Warnock continued to get knocks our 2nd choice (somehow) RB had to cover him. Waste of… 4 million. Not 1-2, 4m.
“VFT, totally agree, some signings do not work out and some do, every manager has the same proble, look at how much Man City have spent before the sheikh and under Thaskin and wasted
look at how much in wages Chelsea reserves pick up
rafa at Plop ?”
And this proves that the signings don’t work out? Chelsea just won the league, Rafa continued to keep Liverpool in the title hunt and CL (besides this season) while only getting a total of 20m from the owners. He got the rest from sales and the 100m they collected from the sponsorship. And, he won them the CL. Chelsea’s reserves pick up a lot but they can also fill in very well and have. We have no idea if our reserve players can fill in well in the Premier League because they haven’t been given the chance.
Andrew, to be fair, Davies returned rather late in the season and wasn’t exactly match fit. So I wouldn’t put much stock into how many games he got last season. This season will provide a better indication.