Villa

[CJ]

they have no money? i suppose that bent cost a lot of money etc

do we think AM really knew there was no money when he became manager?

[cream]

I think it's wide accepted that most clubs have no money.

[MrMichael]

Aye, but Randy Lerner looked like he was prepared to invest a bit when he first came in. Not anymore though it seems

They got what, £40m for Young & Downing this summer, and have hardly brought anyone of note in apart from N'Zogbia. If Bent gets injured they could really struggle this year.

[Liverpool]

Given

[Hannibal]

Lerner sunk in 20 million net per season for the four years O'Neil was there. Nothing special but still a decent amount and was what we spend per year before our 2 cancers took over.

Unfortunately for Villa Martin O'Neil went and blew it all on a number of average players, didn't build a proper squad and didn't bother rotating so the team always ran out of steam late in the season. He also tried to out Redknapp by torpedo'ing the wage bill until it went up to 88% of Villas annual turnover.

[Shaggy]

Lerner sunk in 20 million net per season for the four years O'Neil was there. Nothing special but still a decent amount and was what we spend per year before our 2 cancers took over.

Unfortunately for Villa Martin O'Neil went and blew it all on a number of average players, didn't build a proper squad and didn't bother rotating so the team always ran out of steam late in the season. He also tried to out Redknapp by torpedo'ing the wage bill until it went up to 88% of Villas annual turnover.

[Roboklopp]

"Average players" such as Milner, Young & Downing you mean?

[Shaggy]

Stiliyan Petrov Celtic £6.5m
Didier Agathe Celtic Free
Chris Sutton Celtic Free
Phil Bardsley Manchester United Loan
Gabor Kiraly Crystal Palace Loan
John Carew Lyon Swap
Ashley Young Watford £9.65m
Shaun Maloney Celtic £1.1m
Wayne Routledge Tottenham £1.5m
Moustapha Salifou FC Wil Undisc.
Curtis Davies West Brom Loan
Zat Knight Fulham £3.5m
Scott Carson Liverpool Loan
Harry Forrester Watford £250 000 initial fee rising on appearances
Eric Lichaj Unattached Free
Marlon Harewood West Ham Undisc (region of £3.5m?)
Nigel Reo-Coker West Ham £8.5m
Curtis Davies (WBA undisclosed but around £7.5million?)
Steve Sidwell (Chelsea £5.5million)
Brad Friedel (Blackburn, undisclosed but in the region of £2 - £2.5million)
Brad Guzan (Chivas US, undisclosed, starts at around £800k up to £2m on appearances etc?)
Nicky Shorey (Reading, around £4m?)
Luke Young (Middlesbrough, around £5m?)
Carlos Cuellar (Rangers £7.8million)
James Milner (Newcastle, around £12million?)
Arsenio Halfhuid from Excelsior (undisclosed)
Emile Heskey from Wigan Athletic (£3.5m)
Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough around £10m + add ons)
Fabian Delph (Leeds United - undisclosed fee - around £6m including add ons?)
Habib Beye (Newcastle, undisclosed but around £3m?)
Andy Marshall (free agent)
Stephen Warnock (Blackburn Rovers - around £6m + add ons?)
James Collins (West Ham United - around £5m)
Richard Dunne (Manchester City - around £6m)

Ouch.

[dww]

Not spectacular but it's not that bad either other than Curtis Davies and Reo-Coker. The sin was the fact that he didn't make use of a lot of good young players coming through when he took over and kept paying money for players in their position. Cahill was always at least as good as the defenders bought in to replace him for example.

[Shaggy]

It's dire. Cuellar for £8m, Warnock for £6m, Luke Young £5m, Shorey £4m, Harewood for £4m, Beye for £4m, Heskey £3.5m.

That motley crew for a combined £40m

[Roboklopp]

Aye, largely uninspiring but I've seen worse. To be fair to MONg, he took Villa as far as they're capable.

[Roboklopp]

It's dire. Cuellar for £8m, Warnock for £6m, Luke Young £5m, Shorey £4m, Harewood for £4m, Beye for £4m, Heskey £3.5m.

That motley crew for a combined £40m

Looks bad but you could do that with Keane, Aquilani and Dossena for Rafa...

[Exiled_red]

It's dire. Cuellar for £8m, Warnock for £6m, Luke Young £5m, Shorey £4m, Harewood for £4m, Beye for £4m, Heskey £3.5m.

That motley crew for a combined £40m

Two of those played for us (Warnock and Heskey) and we tried to sign a third (Luke Young)

[dww]

It's dire. Cuellar for £8m, Warnock for £6m, Luke Young £5m, Shorey £4m, Harewood for £4m, Beye for £4m, Heskey £3.5m.

That motley crew for a combined £40m

I think Shorey, Warnock and Heskey represent good value for them. Beye started well and Young has actually been okay for them. Certainly the Cuellar fee was over the top though. Harewood was a bit of a joke.

[Exiled_red]

You say about Lerner giving them that 4 years or so with a £20m net spend a year, but what is their net spend since he came in over all? They must have recovered most of it from the Sales of Barry, Milner, Dowing and Young. And they haven't really had much to spend since. O'Neill had the benefit of the money from Lerner but the subsequent managers have been paying it back. I really don't like O'Neill but I suspect Villa might have been close to breaking even on transfer fees for the signings he made (albeit this is a stretch from the miracle worker he's portrayed as by the press )