[Link] Aleksandar Tonev

Wind your neck in pal. Everything that's wrong with the game in England? Since last summer we've been buying young English players from the lower leagues and giving them a chance. We simply don't spend big money anymore.

 

How so? We were operating at 87% of turnover after he left. We had Beye, Collins and Dunne on £50k+ contracts for 4 years. We haven't coped at all over the last few years trying to recover. We've just managed to get the last big earners off the books and Lambo is doing a good job of rebuilding

Also, to add to my previous post. We also went down last year doing the exact opposite to what Moustache claims we do. That's why i was so baffled at what he said. We flat out refused to spent money and put our faith in untested youngsters and almost went down because of it. It paid off in the end and I hope we can continue to grow.

 

TBH I quite like villa especially since PL became manager and ofcourse the Petrov link but people on their forums saying the champions league group stages isn't a big draw? And that celtic ALWAYS get pumped in the groups? Well I'm sorry but I don't know if you watched the champions league this year... And saying that we basically automatically get into it? Well I don't remember the last time Man U or Chelsea struggled to qualify for the champions league, I know for a fact I wasn't even born when Villa were last in the European Cup!

And also people saying why would he want to come to glasgow? PEOPLE FROM BIRMINGHAM ASKING WHY HE WOULD WANT TO COME HERE!!!! Glasgow is actually a very nice place, sure theres alkis and junkies but every place has these, most of glasgow is pretty nice.

Celtic are a bigger club than Villa, thats is just a fact. We have probably a greater history and are better known all over the world. If I'm ever on holiday with a celtic top, people always point it out and go, "Oh Celtic Glasgow!" or whatever, I just couldn't see this happening with Villa!

Yeah they are in a far superior league, but Greuther Furth were in a suprerior league to Aston Villa last year, it doesnt make them a better club to sign for.

 

Aye exactly MON had you in the top 6 I'm pretty sure.

 

Just an addition, most of the Villa players don't actually live in 'Birmingham'. And the ones that do live in the uber-trendy parts of Brum (Mailbox, Brindley Place, Jewellery quarter). Saying that, I couldn't possibly comment who has the bigger draw. You can make arguments for both sides to be fair.

 

Read above. The amount of money he spent, top 6 was the bare minimum. MON got found out as a bit of a dinosaur at Sunderland doing exactly the same job as he did at Villa.

Obviously I'm not saying it's all bad and MON gave me some * good memories, but the state he left us in tarnished those memories.

 

The first few years were great, however by the end he left them in a bit of a state. He did the exact same to them as he did to us - left an aging squad on massive contracts.

 

If that's the case then fair enough, there's probably better teams that I could have used so apologies for any offence caused.

However, you mentioned Benteke in your previous post which was obviously a good bit of business for your club; but at the same time no team who are close to relegation should be able to spend £7 million on any player regardless of which leauge they play in.

That dosent apply solely to your club and like you said your signing policy is obviously changing,but the fact that clubs who are in the bottom half of the table (and probably some Championship sides) can easily outbid us is wrong in my opinion.

 

Spot on mate. I understand people love MON, but I have to agree - he is overrated and outdated.

 

No worries mate, it just baffled me thats all.

Our average age throughout the season was around 22/23 with only Guzan (free), Gabby (academy) and Vlaar (3m) dragging that up. The rest of the team

We spent 7m on Benteke because our finance were finally becoming unclogged. Regardless of where we are in the league, we still have a billionaire owner. 7m is nothing to him. When we were in danger of going down in 09/10, we bought Bent. This year, we were in more danger and we didn't spend any money. Instead placing trust in our talented, hungry young players. It paid off and now we're set up nicely for next season with some outstanding players getting better and better (westwood and lowton in particular)

And no, maybe that's not fair because you pull in bigger attendances but it's not as if we're a tiny club who's worked their way up then spunked money. We're a mainstay in the PL, 5th most successful club in English history. Obviously that doesn't mean but now, but it certainly shows that we still have stature.

 

We were left in the same state as villa when MON left us too, ageing players on long term mega money contracts.

 

But why does MON NEVER look for cheaper options, bosmon or a free? Fact is, he has been found out. Many of the Celtic support will always love him (I will always love the times he gave us) however, he is not the best manager and has been found out. He has rode his luck too many times.

There has been article after article about this, with many sports journalists detailing why MON is so overrated. Not to mention the majority of English football fans believe this. :smiley-laughing002:

 

Don't even entertain him. He's trying to wind everyone up then he's reporting back on his Villa website.

'Oops, I touched a nerve by daring to say that MON is anything but an amazing manager.'

'So blooming bitter. And completely incorrect as well which makes it funnier.'

http://www.villatalk.com/index.php/topic/9093-aleksander-tonev-lech-poznan/page-7

 

I agree with the Villa fan. They aren't a run of the mill club in England.

They aren't a Chelsea, Man City or a Portsmouth. They have a rich history and I give Paul Lambert more credit than to be sitting watching our transfers and trying to sign them. That will just be bollocks, he will have his own scouting system in place and Poland is a popular hunting ground at the moment.

Even more so because of the success of the Polish boys at Dortmund. There's also the fact that Stan Petrov is at Villa; he'll know all about any talented Bulgarians that are coming through the ranks/established players.

 

Lerner isn't a football man. He left the spending to MON and picked up the cheque.

He didn't.

His transfer record was poor overall. Notable inclusions are Curtis Davies for almost 10 million, Reo-Coker for 8 million, Harewood for 5 million, Selling Gary Cahill (CL and EL winner) and replacing him with Zat Knight, Shorey for 4 million, Cuellar (who was ok, but not 8 million good) and he let Whittingham go who's gone on to be a top player and will shine in the PL next

Not forgetting the ridiculous wages and ridiculously long contracts he put some of them on.

What do I know though

 

When was the last time Villa bettered Martin O'Neill's league record with Villa?

 

If I was trolling, I wouldn't be being so reasonable would I? I'm being fair and honest.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have posted the 'bitter' comment but one of your fans insulted Villa by saying we were the 'ipitome of what's wrong with football'. I apologise for that.
I stand by my MON comment.

 

This is true actually, Bobo was on 28000 until 2009 and I don't think he played more than 10 games in his last 3 years He also got a 1 million 'loyalty' bonus for refusing to leave and continuing on a ridiculous wage while he sat in his massive hoose and didn't go to training.