Levelling The Playing Field

There are many problems in the modern game, both perceptual and blatantly obvious to all and sundry. There’s a myriad of opinions about the negative aspects of football and as many suggested solutions. Most would argue that football is too focused on money so we talk about salary caps and limits on buying players, generally all based on percentages of turnover.

Another commonly voiced complaint is the amount of foreign players in domestic leagues, so again we talk about

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Villa Players in Actim Top 100 – Sept 1st 2009

I haven’t done this for a while, but I hope to make it a semi-regular feature. The Actim stats are not without their flaws, few stats are, but they are very interesting indeed.

Just to recap Villa’s interest in the final standings for last season, there were 7 Villans in the Top 100:- 5th Gabby, 8th Barry, 23rd Ash, 24th Friedel, 25th Milner, 58th Luke Young & 87th Davies. The most glaring omission, and one that might cause some

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The Magnificent Seven

Despite some early blockbusters, it’s been quite a subdued transfer market overall this summer. Nevertheless, Martin O’Neill managed to match last summer’s influx by bringing in seven new faces, although his hand may have been forced somewhat by the exists of Gareth Barry & Martin Laursen.

Here’s the seven in the order they joined:-

Stewart Downing, 16/07/09, £12m, Middlesbrough
Fabian Delph, 04/08/09, £8m, Leeds
Habib Beye, 07/08/09, £2.5m, Newcastle
Andy Marshall, 12/08/09, Free, N/A
Stephen Warnock, 27/08/09, £8m, Blackburn
James Collins, 01/09/09, £5m, West Ham
Richard Dunne,

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Aston Villa Sign James Collins

It’s been confirmed that Aston Villa have completed the £5m signing of central defender James Collins from West Ham.

Aston Villa Sign Richard Dunne

It has been confirmed that Aston Villa have signed centre back Richard Dunne from Man City for £6million.

More details to follow.

Transfer Window Live Updates

This is it, the last few hours of the summer transfer window.  Have you been obsessed with who is coming in all summer?  If so, you shall soon be out of your misery.

As the moment, there are two deals we know are under negotiation and look likely to be completed – Richard Dunne from Citeh and James Collins from West Ham.  It’s looks like there’s about £11m worth of business there and both are central defenders…  which is nice. 

1754

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StatShack – Aston Villa 2 Fulham 0

I haven’t had chance to do a full review of the game just yet, but I’ve got the basics in place for a stats review I’d like to run regularly. There’s still some work to go, and I’ve yet to nail down the sources for the data, but this will give you a basic idea of what I’d like to produce as soon as possible after games (time permitting):-

2
Aston Villa
Aug 30th 2009
Fulham
0

43
Possession %
57

10
Shots
8

2
On Target
0

9
Corners
4

5
Offsides
1

2′ Pantsil (OG),

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The Real European Winners And Losers

I find an inherent beauty in simplicity and truly believe that the best solutions to most of the world’s problems are naturally simplistic. However, I must confess a sinfully lustful attraction to the occasional bit of complication on the side. And if it’s complication that you’re after, you need look no further than a European football tournament administered by UEFA.

Have you ever stopped to ponder why England, Spain and Italy all get to send 4 teams each to

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Aston Villa Sign Stephen Warnock

It has been confirmed that Aston Villa have signed left back Stephen Warnock from Blackburn on a 4 year deal and he’ll wear number 25.

He’s expected to be introduced to the Villa Park crowd during the Rapid Vienna game tonight, just as Brad Friedel was at the Odense game last year.

I’ve updated the transfer page with a fee of 7,000,000 for now – if anything more concrete turns up I’ll amend it 8,000,000.

Positive quotes from the player:-

The manager

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