http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=40...es+Villa+chance

Alan Curbishley and Sam Allarydyce have in record quick time already declared no interest in the Villa job. Which pretty much leaves us hoping and praying that Martin O Neill will accept, otherwise the other likely options are Graeme Souness (imagine him as manager and Doug as Chairman, would last about a week i would say) Brin Little, a dude who wasnt good enough at Tranmere, and of course Roy "The Cheap and thus likely Option" Aitken.

Worse than any Freak Show

Curbishley is simply to good for Villa, however if there was a change of management and some transfers which shows progression, Curbishley may want to get in.

Graeme Souness at Villa, that would be a laugh a minute. I hope for your sake he isn't appointed.

I disagree with the too good for Villa. We are in stature, fan base and historical achivement one of the top 5 clubs in the league. He is exactly the right calibre to take over, but it would be a suicide mission, i will give you that, as long as Doug is in charge. Its looking more and more likely that Aitken is going to ge the job, which is a fucking disaster

It'll be a brave man to step into that job now, so I don't blame Curbishley for distancing himself. O'Neill would be perfect, even if it's only an outside chance. He could be the man to revitalise the club and get Villa back in shape again.

What am I saying? No manager can get Villa in shape. Not with that tosser of a chairman you lot have. A takeover is the only way out I'm afraid.

I'd disagree with you mate. Your structure is reasonable in terms of bringing in youths, decent facilities, good stadium, etc but as for fan base, I live in the Birmingham area. Mlot of Villa fans around me and to say they are the most negative set of supporting fans is an understatement. When a big game comes up, 90% of my mates are like "yeh, we'll be looking for a good 3-0, damaged limitation job" and i'm like.. nice optimism, but they know what Villa is like nowdays

As for Historical Achievement, tis true but as much as History is great to have.. come on, us scousers go on about it enough It doesn't change the fact that you not only need a strong history, but also a strong future and at the moment Villa just don't have that. Curbishley would never take over Villa in the situation it is in at the moment, once you get a Chairman who doesn't have on his table for his motto "money doesn't mean success" so he always uses that same old excuse when he refuses to spend big. Doug is the worst Chairman in the Premiership right now, and until he goes your team is going in one direction and its not in the way you want it to be.

Doubt Aitken will bring any success either, although if i was a Villa fan i would class your taget this season as "Keep in the Premiership".

Dont get me wrong Oli, i totally agree with you. As long as Ellis is in the Chair, we are goin nowhere but down. I dont want Aitken in the job, but it looks like he is gonna get it unless htere is an UNBELIEVBALE twist of faith. And as for your comments on fan base, i wasnt on about fan base optimism, i was on about fan base quantity. We have a fair monoply on the midlands for fans, and we have a large number in Ireland, due to the Paul McGrath, Andy Townsend and Steve Staunton connection, so having a fan base isnt a problem, getting us to be optimistic is

NFL owner eyes EPL's Aston Villa


Associated Press

CLEVELAND - Browns owner Randy Lerner is exploring investments in the United Kingdom that could include the purchase of English Premier League club Aston Villa.

Bill Bonsiewicz, a Browns spokesman, would not comment on British news reports Monday saying Lerner is one of several businessmen bidding for Birmingham-based Aston Villa.

Lerner, a billionaire and former chairman of credit card giant MBNA, assumed ownership of the Browns in 2002 following the death of his father, Al.

Bonsiewicz said Lerner was unavailable for comment.

If Lerner does purchase Aston Villa, he would be the second NFL owner to buy a club in England's Premier League. Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer purchased Manchester United in 2005.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4069210.html

Read this in the newspaper today, was pretty suprised.
Don't know if it has been posted before.

Im hoping somebody can merge the curbishley and takeover threads into here please. Im creating this as i feel im gonna hava bit of ranting to do over hte seasons course and well, would like some where to do it. Otherwise this palce would be awash with a MASSIVE amount of Villa threads.

Thanks Brian...i assume it was you...now i can respond!

Now to the thread. For the first part, Doug Ellis claims to have 12, yes im actually gonna have to repeat this TWELVE people interested in the managers job at Villa. What i wanna know is how many personnas has Graeme Souness applied under, coz seriosuly, i want a name and not what sounds like absolutely bull shit rumours.

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=40...+in+Villa+frame

Anyone else smell the BS?

As for Randy Lerner, well, i dont know much about him other than he is worth £650 million, is majority shareholder of a credit card company, and owns the Cleveland Browns, but he is just definitley gonna be better than Doug. Its not like he can asset strip us as there arent amny players there that would generate that kinda money for a prospective investor.

Now with him and Micheal Neville making one last bid to take Doug out of office, SURELY, SURELY he is gonna leave now. He must, the odds are 2 to one against...

Good to have a whole thread.

I do think Ellis is a gonner, no-one wants him here, and if he is in it for the money, then he will up and leave.

Just saw him on Skyports coming back from his holidays. He obviously dodged all takeover questions, but was unbelieveably smug about the management thing.

Answereing the journalists question he said "You know the answer to that question!"

Sky Journalist "No we dont"

The Prick "The old ones gone" and walked away smiling.

I would love to have smacked him one. The smug disrespectful bastard. Could he not just have said no comment like any decent chairman would, or have i jsut answered my own rant!

Great to see a Villa thread. Should be a great one, although after our little fan census I think we should have our own subform probably sharing with Portsmouth.

Anyway about Doug, it finally looks like the end is near but as Michael Neville said on BBC, he does not have to sell if doesn't want to. This would be typical Doug if did not accept any take-over offers.

As for Randy Lerner, like most people in this part of the world we know nothing about him, but I have heard that he does not use his own money to fund a club and instead uses bank loans. Does anyone know if this is true?

To buy Aston Villa you would would have to acquire the shares of Ellis, who together with his family owns 38%, and Ellis ally Jack Petchey, who has a 20.1% stake.

Hopefully we shall get more positive developments soon.

I just heard that apparently Lerner values us at £57 million on sky sports.

Now i recall the last Neville consortium being bandied about with a £64 million bid. Ellis has us up for sale for 10 months now and has rejected at least 2 bids from the Nevilles. He is just a fucking asshoel who wants the impossible and unrealistic

Yeah, we just beat Hull City 2-0

Goals were scored by Davis on 29 minutes and Gardner in injury time although according to SSN, Hull City dominated most of the game and were unlucky.

Seems to me like the young lads are playing really well.

ALSO: DOUG ELLIS TO MEET LERNER IN THE MORNING

Yeah good to have a villa thread.

Just seen the goals of your friendly tonight, what was the name of the kid who scored the second goal? I can remember him from last season, good player.

Oh yeah Gardner, thats it I like him. He should feature more for villa next season.

Yeah, i heard Davis finished his goal really well, and that Lerner bit is EXCELLENT news. Far from a done deal, but at least progress is under way. Cmon Randy, please save us from this shit we're stuck in!

Well, sky are reporting that Randy Lerner is gonna come flat out and bid somewhere between £60-65 million for the club. No kissing just straight to the main event.

I like his style!!!!

Imagine that, what a way to start the day, back from holiday, continues to piss me off, and then gets an offer of £60 million. Jesus is it any wonder i hate the fucker!

if doug doesnt accept this then well im afraid no one will buy villa

did u see the evening mail tonight, with this american guy and his history and all the clubs he bought in usa were struggling at the bottom ??

Michael Neville has submitted a £64 million bid for Aston Villa.

Looks like he has taken the first step in the race. Wonder if Randy Lerner will now make a bid.

Please Doug, step aside!

I think Neville is favourite at the minute. He seems very enthusiastic and passionate

Sky have revealed that Lerner has pulled out, but in a bizarre twist, Athole Still, Sven Goran Erikssons agent is now heading a consortium of his own to take over...which unfortunately means that Sven would prbably become the manager....i seriously wonder if Doug is the better choice here. I really do! I hate Sven Goran and unless we have about 50 million thrown at him EVERY summer, we will die!

I want the Rand.

Any man who has the balls to attempt to buy Villa without truley knowing the extent of their past troubles gets my vote, United fans and American tycoons eh?


Back The Rand!

Lerner Pulls Out Of Villa Running



www.skysports.com

American billionaire Randy Lerner has shelved his plans to make a bid to buy Aston Villa.

Lerner had held a strong interest in purchasing the Premiership club from Doug Ellis and had met the current Villa chairman.

He had also visited the club's training ground and was believed to be putting the finishing touches to a bid for the Midlands side.

But Lerner, who owns NFL team Cleveland Browns, has now decided against pursuing his interest in Villa.

Lerner's decision means there are still two consortiums in the running to take control at Villa Park.

Michael Neville is heading up one bid to buy out Ellis, while Sven Goran Eriksson's agent Athole Still is leading another group and met Villa officials on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Villa have released a statement to the Stock Exchange to confirm the wealth of interest in buying the club.

The statement on the club's official website read: "The board of Aston Villa PLC can confirm that it has received a number of indicative offers which may or may not lead to a formal offer for the issued share capital of the company.

"The board will be appraising these offers in due course and will update shareholders and supporters when appropriate."

Lerner may still launch Villa bid

I'm thinking of applying for the Villa job.

I feel I stand a good chance. Anyone got the address?

To be honest I feel sorry for the treatment Dave O'Leary got. He took them to sixth I believe in his first season after they were hanging aboe the bottom three and with little or no money he's kept them in the EPL. Plus with a bit more support I reckon he would've possibly maintained a top ten position.

The only bad part of Villa was Uncle Doug. Shame O'Leary had to get caught up in it all.

Right man, wrong timing, I guess, as far as O'leary is concerned.

Hopefully O'leary finds another job in the League. The premiership needs managers like him. Class manager and man

O'Leary never had his heart in Villa. He always referred to us as 'them' rather than 'we' and he also called the Villa fans fickle. Not a good thing to say when a team is struggling anyway. He also dropped Luke Moore when he was in great form and play young inexperienced players like Gardner away at teams like Arsenal instead of players like Hendrie.

Wolves 0-3 Aston Villa
Villa continue their impressive pre-season with goals from Ridgewell, Barry and Agbonlahor.

I think that the big problem was that season after we finished sixth, he was never backed, this casued certain players, ie Juan Pablo our gaurdian Angel and Olof Mellberg in particluar, who are 2 key players, or at least certainly were 2 key players for us, to lose form and guidance seeing as our head honcho had no ambition, they thus lost theirs. Seeing as no money was coming in, they were unlikely to be replaced, and thus lost motivation as they would be in the first 11 nearly every week, and Dave just couldnt motivate them anymore...plus Martin Laursen...i dont even need to say any more on him really, makes me understand all the more how Madridistas feel about Woody.

O'Leary was a good manager, but he can't do it without 'class' players around him. I don't mean to say Villa dont have it, however there has been litle investment, and whenever improvements were needed, O'Leary never got it.

dreamlander, which area's do you think Villa need to improve in to make a stance in the Premiership?

Jesus, i dont know where to start! I guess we are probably best covered in goal. Taylor and Sorenson are decent keepers, though Tommy has a habit of letting me down every now and again, but if we have to strengthen ares, goals is WAYYYYYYYYY down the list.

Left back, we have Bouma and Samuel, i quite like Samuel, or at least i did 2 or 3 seasons ago when he broke into the team and was like a slightly worse Ashley Cole, racing up and down the left flank and then had a shit follow up season followed by an erratic but occassionally better last season. Bouma is good but i want to see him tried at centre half as he occassioanlly looks a little clumsy when going forward at left back, but is pretty solid when he stays back. Right back, i want shot of Hughes and De La cruz, and seeing as that leaves injury prone Delaney, we fucking need a right abck, though not the most important part of our team again, Mellberg and Laursen are an excellent centre back partnership, but Laursne is SOOOO DAMNED INJURED ALL THE TIME, but i quite like Gary Cahill coming up and, well as a 4th choice CB, i can just about stomach Liam Ridgewell, who is constantly out of position and error prone. But we just dont have enough quality really to be honest. If we could sell Hughes, De La and Ridgwell, we would get very little money, thats our problem, we need to improve everywhere but the players we have will fetch next to nothing thus making it almost impossible to replace them.

Midfield, Left wing is Gareth Barry, no contest and one player in our team i would never replace with who we could realistically get. Our most consistent player, he can score, cross and defend, decent passer, love the guy. Gives his all for us. Right wing, i really miss James Milner, but Lee Hendrie isnt that bad either. Had so much promise back in the mid 90s but his brutal attitude fucked him uo royally. Anyone remember him coming on for England against the Czechs in a friendly, dribbling past 2 players before hitting the post, thast what he was capable of. But threw it all away really. Davis is our most promising player, but i dont think he can hold a midfield all on his own. I would love to give him more freedom to get more forward as i feel he really has the creative genius to poke through those sneaky little passes between defenders to on running midfielders and forwards. Which leads me to McCann, a good honest lad, who frankly just isnt good enough to help us progress. he served us well adn all that, let us down only once, getting sent off against Bolton in a cup semi final, but other than that has been a good servant to us. And our back ups here are pretty poor, Djemba FUCKING Djemba...get out of my club, and stop soaking up our bloody wages.

Up front, we have decent options, if we can just keep the 2 big names, Baros and Angel motivated i really believe they can form a good partnership. Then in Agbonlahor we have an exceptional talent with blistering pace and composed finishing, a rare combo. And Luke Moore the hardest working striker who gets the least goalscoring reward in my opinion. He needs to get more goals but other than that i like his hustle. Kevin Phillips, you have been a failure, you may have helped beat Birmingham but i would rather have finished in the UEFA cup spots to be honest.

So where does this leave us? How does this answer yyour question? In short i want am energetic defensive central midfielder, another centre and right back, James Milner, and just better back up to all of our players to help put pressure on the guys like Juan Pabloa dn Baros to keep them motivated. If their motivated, along with mellebrg, we are a very different team, who can givre anyone a match. And thats our problem. Squad depth. Then we can progress to getting better players, the calibre of Zokora, or Robbie Keane, or D'Allesandro, or Tim cahill, or even experienced guys like Davids and Hamann. Are these guys really players who we shouldnt be able to get, i dont believe so seeing as the clubs they are with were finishing below us consistently only up til about 4 or 5 seasons ago.

Top class post, thanks for taking the time out and typing this up.

I will most definitely be watching the Villa a bit more this season. However, I think due to the limited budget, if Villa were to get a defencive midfielder and an attacking midfielder, this would sort out your problems until maybe January

Well dreamlander I think you got your wish about de la Cruz because as far as I know his contract ran out at the end of last season and although I haven't seen him been listed on the transfers' out, I'm pretty sure he is gone.

As for looking to strengthen the team, it has already been announced that no players will be leaving or joining until a new manager is appointed and because that does not look like happening soon, I doubt any players will be brought in before the transfer deadline.

I think Villa this season should give Agbonlahor more of a run because of what I have seen he has super pace and can score goals. Angel seemed unmotivated to me and I can't see him ever going back to the form he was in DOL's first season.

O'Neill primed for Aston Villa job


Speculation is increasing that Martin O'Neill will be appointed Aston Villa's new manager at some stage this week.

The Northern Irishman has been a leading candidate to join the Midlanders since David O'Leary's departure last month and the challenge of restoring the club to past glories plus the convenient location in regards to his Buckinghamshire home should persuade O'Neill to return to management.

Current chairman Doug Ellis may be prepared to sell his stake in the club but he wants the former Celtic boss to take the reins at Villa, to help ensure a bright future.

An American consortium led by Randy Lerner is in pole position to complete a takeover at Villa Park and developments are expected on a number of fronts in the coming days.

Villa have yet to make any incoming transfer moves in the summer window but Lerner's financial clout could change all that if his bid to gain control is successful.

O'Neill has been linked with a number of jobs since leaving Celtic to care for his sick wife as England, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and Sunderland all considering trying to appoint the former European Cup winner.


http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=40...Aston+Villa+job

O'Neill IMO wouldn't come to Villa, unless of course there was a chairman change over.

No problem man, no point doing somethign if i dont do it right. Hope ya got the answer tyou were looking for



I agree with Agbonlahor, he looks a real prospect to me. If he can learn to use his pace, which Vassel never really got the hang of, i think he will be excellent for us. My views on Angel however, i still love him. not because i look bakc at those 2 seasons where he got 16 and 20+ goals, but because he still is our best technical footballer. Look through a couple of his appearances and see how if the ball is cleared up to him at the half ways line, he would frequently control it and lay it off, ususally to Milner bombing up the right wing, and run on to receive a cross, pass and move, exactly what you want any player to do.

The only problem with Angels season, is he wasnt the main amn last season, he didnt get the service, the team wasnt set up to give him the service and bar the odd occassion, (That goal against Everton where he and Baros played a legendary 1-2-3-4) he looked a little lost. If he knuckles down, he and Baros HAVE to start, especially seeing as Phillips really didnt live up to my expectations and now Quinn wants him at Sunderland, with Gabby Agbonlahor and Moore coming on for the 2 lads every now and again



Well, Sky are reporting that this is getting to be a very realistic possibility. Frankly the only thing that makes me doubt whether or not he'll come is if Man U suddenly sack Fergie and offer him the job, as we all knwo thats the job he wants, but i reckon he is sick of waiting! Thast my opinion

Woman



I'm not of this opinion, but that's another topic

According to some fella on TalkSport a minute ago O'Neil will become Villa manager regardless of the takeover outcome, 100%.

I was only half listening so didn't catch who the fella is, but he sounded like he wouldn't make such a substantial statement if it wasn't true.

And I agree on the O'Neil/Utd front. It's pretty much English football's biggest secret that he's desperate to manage us. Infact I reckon if Fergie had retired as planned a few years ago he would be the United manager now, Fergie had actually publically named him as someone he'd like to succeed him (along with numerous others including Queiroz and Keane granted). However circumstances have changed as the Glazers have moved in, when Fergie eventually leaves/is sacked I doubt they'll see him as a big enough name.

He's no longer my first choice as he was a few years ago, but he's still one of the few managers about who I could see fitting at United. There's 'United' players, well if there's such a thing as a 'United' manager he certainly fits the bill.

Edit: Apparently it was one Bill Howell of the Birmingham Evening Mail. I'm assuming Dreamlander and the like are familiar.

Sorry, will remember next time.

Randy Lerner's re-emergence as a major contender to buy Aston Villa could pave the way for Martin O'Neill to be appointed manager sooner rather than later,

American billionaire Lerner had been expected to tie up a £64million deal last week with Villa chairman Doug Ellis only for talks to break down.

Sources claimed O'Neill was understood to have been "shocked" by the apparent collapse of the bid by Lerner, owner of NFL side Cleveland Browns.

Lerner has made it clear he sees O'Neill as the ideal candidate to replace David O'Leary, who left Villa a fortnight ago.

His representatives have re-opened talks with Ellis this week and a formal offer for the club is expected to be tabled in the next 24 hours.

O'Neill is the overwhelming choice of Villa fans to take over from O'Leary and in an ideal world Ellis would like him in place for the nine-day pre-season tour of Germany and Holland which gets under way on Friday.

Ellis has been having talks with former Leicester and Celtic boss O'Neill for the past two weeks since it became apparent O'Leary's days at Villa were numbered.

Lerner's bid may appear to be in the driving seat with Villa but another consortium - AV06 - fronted by deputy judge Nicolas Padfield QC, is still in the hunt.

It is understood they are ready to make £30million available immediately to O'Neill for new players with more to follow in January if they take control.

They have spoken with O'Neill and assured him of their support after it was initially thought they would prefer Michael Laudrup and John Jensen as their ideal managerial team.

The consortium fronted by Sven-Goran Eriksson's agent Athole Still remain in the frame, although they have kept a low profile for the past week.

But life-long Villa fan Michael Neville's consortium appear to be slipping down the order even though they made the first formal bid a week ago.

Leading shareholder Ellis has stipulated all interested parties must have the funds to provide £20million for new players on top of the £64million asking price to buy the club.

Villa have failed to bring in any new players during the summer and lost the services of on-loan James Milner who has returned to Newcastle.

O'Leary had been told to adopt a sell-to-buy policy before his three-year reign ended.

SOURCE: Football365.com

I have a small question, if a new manager came in with a new chairman would this change at all with Villa? Or would Villa be able to buy first and sell later?

All depends on the chairmans financial plan. If the chairman has a bucket of money to throw away, we can keep everyone and sign whoever we want. And that is what will almost certainly happen over the next week or so. The only thing is i dont see much transfer activity until the Christmas period. The chairman will barely have thrown out Ellis full, unused and unopened check book before the window will probably close.

Martin O'Neill is on the verge of becoming Aston Villa's new manager.

Sources claim the charismatic O'Neill is "99% certain" to replace David O'Leary and return to Premiership football after a six-year absence.

It is believed a few personal and professional details have to be ironed out but the signs are O'Neill is ready to commit himself to the midlands club.

That would enable the Irishman to take charge of Villa's pre-season tour of Germany and Holland which begins with Saturday's clash in Hanover.

O'Neill has been chairman Doug Ellis' number-one target ever since O'Leary parted company with Villa just over a fortnight ago.

He has been weighing up whether to end a 15-month exile from the game after quitting as Celtic manager in May 2005 to look after his sick wife Geraldine.

O'Neill has been mulling over whether to move to Villa Park despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of the club with four consortiums vying to take control but it now looks like he is ready to take the plunge.

The groups led by American billionaire Randy Lerner, life-long Villa fan Michael Neville, deputy judge Nicholas Padfield QC and Sven-Goran Eriksson's agent Athole Still have all indicated they would be happy with O'Neill at the helm.

His tried and trusted backroom team of John Robertson - a former team-mate at Nottingham Forest - and Steve Walford will link up with O'Neill.

It is understood O'Neill is ready to commit himself now because of the time needed to assess the quality of the current squad and what new blood is to be brought in before the transfer window closes on August 31.

The alternative would have been to wait until a new consortium had been put in place but it could take months before the details are ironed out.

O'Neill cut his managerial teeth at Shepshed Charterhouse, Grantham and Wycombe before performing wonders with an average group of players at Leicester.

O'Neill guided the Foxes to four successive top-10 finishes in the Premiership and two League Cup final triumphs.

Then he went to Celtic in 2000 and transformed their fortunes.

I actually cant bear reading anymore on this. All talk of it being 99% certain and wahtnot...just makes it all the more likely that the 1% chance will come through knowing Doug Ellis and Aston Villa. Please...as a parting gift....dont fuck this up you senile old tight ass

Press Conference at Villa Park at 6.30pm where Aston Villa should announce the appointment of Martin O'Neill.

Excellent for the Villa. Now lets hope at the press conference Doug decides to step down also.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a new era for Aston Villa.

Pity Ellis couldnt step down before sacking O'Leary.. though O'Neil should do a great job, provided Ellis does step down

I hope O'Leary finds himself a nice big club, perhaps in England.. and doesnt lay low because i will want to see him around!

D-day for sure. Once we get in the best out of work manager around at the moment all we have to do is get rid of the worst employed chairman and we will already be halfways to achiveing something in my opinion



I agree, i never turned my back on him, even tough he did say the odd stupid thing, i do believe he always wanted the best for the fans even when he had a wee go at us, but i think from day one, we all knew this was gonna end in tears at the hands of Doug Ellis

Even traffic doesnt want to appease Villa fans, running late for his own press conference.

Dammit, im gonna miss this as i gotta go out shortly.....AAAaaarghhhh!

I best eat my own words.

Martin O'Neil would do wonders for you, he is tactically much more aware than previous managers.

Official News

thank duck oniel is finaly in

cant belive he went there amazing lol must be geography playin a huge part

gd luck but look at the fans reception amazing