One of the more interesting pieces of Aston Villa news to emerge during the international break was the club’s intention to include a clause in future contracts that would oblige players to live within 30 miles of Bodymoor Heath. Or at least have a base to use during what constitutes a “working week” for a Premier League footballer.
The rule is unlikely to be enforced to the letter, I’m sure living 31 miles away won’t be an issue, but the spirit
It’s been a while since anything surfaced here at Aston Villa Central, I know. The last post confirmed Ashley Young’s somewhat low key move to Man Utd and since then very little of substance has actually happened. Well, the Stewart Downing “situation” has threatened to develop into a “saga”, but aside from a couple of actual bids from Liverpool being reported, nothing has changed yet; Downing is still an Aston Villa player. For now.
McLeish has stated categorically that he’s “not
One of the words on the street is that Houllier and Randy Lerner are meeting today to flesh out finances for player acquisitions. Then again, that was also one of the words a couple of weeks back, so who knows?
However, it seems self evident that there’s plenty to discuss and that they’ll be getting together at some point. It also seems self evident that there will be some significant activity in January one way or another.
Paul Faulkner seems
Villa will not be letting Ashley Young head for the exit door in January and, if he doesn’t re-consider signing a new contract, the club may be willing to let him run down his contract and leave on a free in 2012. The thinking being that another season with Ash in the team is worth more than any potential transfer fee, but that would depend entirely on how committed he is.
In the mean time, Houllier is hopeful that Ash
Maybe I’m just being over sensitive, but it really seems that Gérard Houllier is having his words twisted more than I’m used to seeing. It may well be because he’s reputedly more forthcoming with journalists than many managers, certainly than his predecessor, but it would be a shame if he ended up being punished via the media for his candour.
MON was the master of talking and talking, but saying very little. Houllier gets to the point and his
When I saw the teamsheet for today’s derby game I leapt to the assumption that Gérard Houllier was going to use a 5-4-1 system with Collins, Dune and Clark as a three man central defensive team. As it turned out, Ciaran Clark would play just in front of the back line in a holding midfield role that raised just as many eyebrows.
Perhaps not at Clark playing such a role, he’s surely an assured and skillful player with the ball
Marc Albrighton crashing into the first team with such style this season could be the real catalyst for raising this question, after all, Stephen Ireland was considered a like-for-like swap for James Milner and there’s no reason in the world why I’d be asking where Milner would fit in if he was still with us now.
Albrighton made a name for himself last summer with some fine performances with the first team during the Peace Cup in Spain, an opportunity afforded
He’s definitely making all the right noises and feels like he’s fitting in at Villa already
There’s a video of some of the interview here, I can’t get it to embed at the moment I’m afraid.
I liked what he had to say about Villa and the “bling-bling” culture at City, although with those cars I’m not sure he’s in the best position to criticise. In fairness, I think it’s the attitude he’s taking a swipe at.
Stephen Ireland
I’ve really landed on
There are several key narratives going into Sunday’s game against Newcastle at St James’ and it’s tricky to establish any sort of order of priority. Firstly, I suppose, Kevin MacDonald’s presumably temporary, but possibly not, reign continues to breath fresh air into everything Aston Villa. Long may it continue and having steered a young, makeshift side to a result in the hostile cauldron – albeit of the mini variety – in Vienna, he’s unlikely to be intimidated by