Well it looks like we only have a swap of one player for this Season.
yet we have a smaller squad then last season now that Harewood,Shorey,Bouma and now Milner are gone.
are we a team going forward or just happy to stay afloat.

Yes I know befor you say anything Harewood and Bouma were out all season
but at the end of the day it is still two less players to call onto if and when required.

I believe RL has limited his ambition for Villa. What else explains it?

I have been listening to what you and Timvilla have been saying about wages, but I'm not convinced.

We don't have a huge squad and we don't pay fabulous wages. I admit I don't know what we do pay - but Barry was reputedly the highest paid player on £44,000 per week (I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven with £44,000 PER YEAR!). And was offered £60,000 a week to stay.

That has to be exceptional. I don't believe most of the squad, especially the newcomers like Albrighton etc, are earning anything remotely like that.

So are excessive wages likely to be a pressing problem? Unless we are in a huge financial hole - and I didn't think we were.
Wages may well be part of the reason RL isn't spending anything this season, but it can't be the whole of it. RL said money would be available at the right price for the right player, so does that mean there have been no right players at the right price? And what is the right price? Does RL really mean dead cheap?

Sadly I read today that Milner joined Man C because he thinks he has a better opportunity of winning the PL and trophies with 'them' than with us. And that just adds more credit to my belief that RL has limited his ambition for Villa. Milner must believe it.

If I am wrong, where are the new players? Where is the proven goal scorer that we need to give us those few extra points that we've needed for the past 3 seasons?

But believe me. I want to be wrong. I want to believe that RL still believes in Villa, and still wants Villa to take that step to the next level. And is willing to fund it. But if so, where is the money?

And I'd love to be proved wrong.

KARENC wrote:
These are just figures I've read in the press so they could be nonsense:

Luke Young is reportedley on 55k a week and that's why he turned down a move to Liverpool (as they only offered 40k according to the newspapers). Ashley Young is on 65k and that could be increased with his contract extension.

I don't think the problem is that everyone is on super high wages it's just the fringe players like Beye, Shorey, Luke Young, Reo Coker and Sidwell who are all probably on between 25-50 grand a week and don't even play that often. We're better off ditching 2 or 3 of them and playing some youngsters if we need to.

In my humble opinion I'd rather see Bannan play then Reo Coker or Lichaj instead of Beye.

I had no idea they might be earning that much. Obviously not everyone can get into the firstteam, and you need a first team squad these days, but you'd expect them if chosen , to perform to the same standards. And some of them don't.

And I've not been too impressed with Reo-Coker and Beye either.

Also, I saw that Kevin Mac is going to ask RL for some of Milner's money....now that will be very, very interesting.

Karen - You dont want to believe all you read in the red tops or the other papers come to that.

I really dont think Kevin McDonald would ask for transfer money while he hasnt been given the job as manager yet.

Randy Lerner gave the previous incumbent a lot of money, and O'Neill put some on extroadinarily high salaries and then fell out with them and didnt play them. Witness L.Young, Reo-Coker, Sidwell etc. It is now proving dfficult to sell them to clubs not willing to pay such high wages. Something of a catch 22.

Its not unreasonable of Lerner to want to balance the books and get the turnover/ wages ratio down to a managable level.

Liverpool are on the verge of being repossessed by the Bank of Scotland and Man U have incurred penalty clauses on their loans (3 are with hedge funds) and are now paying 16.5%.

Anyone who questions Randy Lerners ambition for Aston Villa or the way he runs the club need to ask themselves - do I want AVFC run like victimpool or manure?

Do you still believe that he has "limited ambition", Karen?

Obviosuly I don't want Villa to go into massive debt - that would be an insane risk.
I would like to see some investment.

I think Vilal must be in a healthy financial posiiton - £20 million net spent over 4 years is cheap and the money from the PL etc must mean we made a profit.

Players wages aside, we need to keep investing. Is another £20 million a year unreasonable? I think the right player would give us the polish we need to take that 1 step up.

Are the unwanted players evenup for sale? And are they all unwanted? Perhaps we do need them if we hope to do well in 4 competions?

KARENC wrote:

I'm not sure where you're getting these figures but its £80m net spend.

To say you would like to see some investment is naieve in the extreme and I can only presume you havnt been to Villa Park in the last two years, where investment is evident.