I believe that as part of tougher financial rules imposed on Premiership football clubs in the interests of transparency that payments to agents now have to be disclosed. I first spotted this story earlier on Newcastle’s website where they explained that the figures may include “payments made by the Club on behalf of players”, whatever that might mean. As the news seems to be breaking across the board, I’m assuming that we’ve reached some deadline to report the
It’s been kicking around for a while now, but I’ve been unable to shoe in the news that Ciaran Clark has signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract at Aston Villa.
Ciaran’s a quality prospect, but having just turned 20 he’s very much the baby of our centre back line-up. However, he’s the captain of the reserve side and has also won his first England Under-21 call up recently. He’s looked extremely comfortable when called upon, but is benefiting from training
Through some weird twist of fate Aston Villa were not drawn against Man Utd in the Third Round of the FA Cup with Blackburn instead coming to Villa Park. Theoretically this presents a greater possibility to progress, but it’s Cup football, all bets are off as far as I’m concerned.
Draw in full:-
Tottenham v Peterborough United
Brentford v Doncaster Rovers
Middlesbrough v Manchester City
Stoke City v York City
Notts County v Forest Green Rovers
Huddersfield Town v West Bromwich Albion
Sheffield United v QPR
MK Dons
It must be a sign of the strength of squad depth that Aston Villa can now boast so many decent players out on loan. It shouldn’t be any great surprise that Nicky Shorey has become the latest to get a short term move away by joining Nottingham Forest until Christmas. I hope it works out for him, he deserves to get some competitive football under his belt.
I’m sure he’s equally frustrated, and it’s something that isn’t difficult to
Playing at Villa Park would have been better, but never look a gift horse in the mouth. Carling Cup Quarter Final draw…
Blackburn v Chelsea
Manchester City v Arsenal
Manchester United v Tottenham
Portsmouth v Aston Villa
If we can get past Pompey, the Semi-Finals will be in January over two legs. It will be tough, whoever is left in the competition, but over two legs anything can happen.
It’s not often that I get to link to Horticulture Week, but I’m delighted to direct your attention to the news that Aston Villa’s Jonathon Calderwood recently picked up the Groundman’s Groundsman of the Year award. I guess that’s the equivalent of the Players’ Player of the Year. I’m awaiting confirmation of who won the Groundman’s Young Groundsman of the Year.
I’m sure you’ll all agree that Jonathan does a brilliant job, I know Jack Woodward is particularly fond of comparing
Definitely news we already knew, Stewart Downing may be fit before Christmas. Or New Year. Basically, nothing different from when he came to the club in the summer. Still, it’s nice to be reminded of his existence.
The reserves were recently held to a scoreless draw in Stoke, but the Academy smashed Reading for six at home. New picks Halfhuid and Carruthers were involved. Nice.
You can listen to MON interviewed by Stan Collymore on Talk Sport here. Worth
…Emile Heskey is considering his future at Aston Villa…
…I lied about the bad news.
Sorry Emile, I couldn’t resist. I’m sure you’re a really nice guy, your fellow professionals often sing your praises from the rooftops and they are surely in a better position to appreciate your talents than we fans, but it just isn’t working for you at the Villa. With all due respect, I don’t think you’ll find too many Villa fans who will go out of
Football agents don’t have the greatest of reputations, although it may well be a case of a few rotten apples, etc, etc. I particularly don’t like agents running to the papers with stories before or during contract negotiations in order to leverage their client’s position.
Today it’s Curtis Davies’ agent complaining about the club sticking to an agreement, a clause if you like, in the player’s current contract. From the way Martin O’Neill has been speaking recently, I suspect