Hafnia

Spoke to mark wright about dunc, in his mind he was more difficult to mark than shearer. A nightmare as he described him. Came off the pitch knowing you had been in a war, this a tough England international saying this. Was it duncans fault that he got injured and we lumped the ball up to him time after time? He was a victim of his own ability, the fact he couldn't recreate destructive displays he did single handedly against the best defenders in the country gave the impression he wasn't bothered.

Ah yes, forgot that the trend here is to go against the status quo and make dunc into some injury prone money grabbing leech, idolised by only those who recall stories of burglar beatings, prison, derby goals and an everton tattoo. Much more fashionable to criticise and not be seen to be as some wide eyed 18 year old who just remembers the legend. I for one recall him as being someone who for a while was potentially the best striker Britain had produced since Dixie. That unrealised potential does not take away the fact that he stood up to be counted and gave us an identity in bleak times.

With moyes I'm starting to see a case of "a painted clock is right twice a day" You see signs of stability and improvement, which ironically comes in times of squad issues- injuries and what not. When we have options he doesn't get results, it's insane. With Rooney in team he finishes 17th, next season 4th. Arguably with a plucky team with Marcus bent up front. What I don't get is that he doesn't appear to be work in progress, in the sense that tough times are ok as long as the lessons are learned. Most established managers wenger, ferguson etc have an established style of play, moyes seems to still be throwing darts at a board. His decision making requires an emergency to justify it. I'm awaiting the relegation of heitinga to the reserves with rodwell being played in defensive mid (not right mid), the recall of James Vaughan ( ruffle some feathers and show spirit) arteta not being played so deep. Saha doing a stint with the reserves, In a word stagnant

A football manager is a football manager, it's a results business. I'm not a moyes basher, I'm not a kenwright basher. I hold them responsible for what their job is. Moyes to get the players doing their job on the pitch, and kenwright to provide the resources for the manager to do his, club generated or funded. My opinion is that kenwright has failed on many fronts for a while, moyes being a survivor has made kenwright look better than he deserves to. Regarding moyes, a few fans are unfortunately for him expecting him to show marked improvements in areas that we were ok to overlook whilst survival and punching above weight was appreciated. Fact is, we ain't got kilbane, Marcus bent, Beattie playing anymore, they are at the right level now, which ain't prem league. We have international players galore, procured by moyes or not, we expect them to provide the results and performances we should expect of players of that calibre. To me it seems that moyes struggles with taking that next step and being a top dog, rather than plucky underachiever. It is not unreasonable to discuss his replacement in the same way it is not unreasonable to discuss dropping arteta, heitinga, selling Billy. It's all about the club. If coyle shows more than moyes in terms of results and performances then is it not in his interests to aim to manage a club who are currently paying it's manager the 5th or 6th highest wage? Moyes was once seen as a bright young manager, now he is starting to look stubborn, stale and negative. Maybe it's another of his blips......

I for one take the people who nearly faint at the sound of "moyes needs to go" as patronising idiots who get their football knowledge by listening to lee Dixon and lawro. Everton fans aside. The reason is they think that we are lucky to have such a "bright young manager" (another patronising comment) and that we will be blessed with him until fergie picks him up in his car, seats him at his desk and says "there you go fellow angry jock, been keepin that warm for you. Don't worry about everton, they can have Gary Neville as a manager, they love a make weight off us, you did bring jack rodwell didn't you?" The fact is moyes does not seem to learn the lessons we would have hoped in his time here, a thorough diligent and driven person should not make repeated mistakes, his lack of in game tactical ability is still as slow as ever, his dithering in both the Market and subs bench is a concern. Overall he is a decent manager, someone who can make the pounds stretch competitive to his peers, maybe that's the way he likes it. It's time the stakes are upped though, if he can it's time show it. What he has done is great, but we need to progress not stagnate

Well said. Moyes has done a great job in making us stable I.e not being relegated whilst working on limited funds and to a point suffering bill and co. We need a manager who is going to attack in every sense possible, on the pitch, the players, the board. Would love a manager of everton creed, a Joe royle esque character with the attitude and winners mentality of a southall. However, Owen coyle looks superb.

Coyle. Club needs a shake up in order to win something, survival and safety is not success.

They may as well have him, Phillip green must be suitably impressed somehow, after all that's where his money lies, apart from being "loaned" to bill.

Best starting eleven involves moyes not being involved in the decision making. Yep angry head still on.

Sorry, there's my apology before I start. Why bother?! We will get beaten by some team who's manager knows how to win a game, at least those lot across the way have the honour of losing to the potential winners. First season as a fan was spent watching the blues win league and cup winners cup, what is happening and has happened is a process of trying to accept less than what we should.

Villa secured their fx pro deal on the back of top 6 finishes, a wembley appearance in the words of paul faulkner. The deal was on the back of a generous free space for the charity acorns. it appears villa secured a better deal on the back of less success exposure if you consider our European appearances. Plus the fact we are more visable in the u.s with Donovan etc I think the deal is less than what we should have got.

I really hope this happens, maybe if it comes off then we can negotiate a good deal with a shirt sponsor, imagine the impact in Asia......

Couple this with our record breaking in line with inflation Chang deal it just gets you down.

What really does my nut in is that clowns running our club expect us to be overjoyed with this.

Arr, me hearties! "Fear nothing this is captain Kenwright speaking, don't you worry about nothing, i'm steadying the ship just as I have since we left kings dock. Pay no attention to those cruisers sailing on past, I am currently throwing the fixtures and fittings into the fire to get us moving. I'm currently in the engine room with Seaman Green asking him if he will let me use some of the steam off his piss. Remember, we ain't sunk yet, we've got a fair bit to throw into the fire before that will happen, plus i'm on to the lifeguard 24/7 to see if he will let me use his boat and still be captain"

Percentage increase = (increased figure - original figure) / original figure percentage increase to get from 2.6m old deal to 3.2m = 23.1% (club quote 25%) percentage increase to get from 2.6m old deal to 5m (villa) = 92.31% maybe I wasn't clear in explaining my thinking. Regardless, still not pleased with the new deal, factor in inflation (from first day of previous deal to the end of new deal) then really is it a great deal? We ain't making strides guys. To further validate that this deal ain't great, inflation from 2003 is showing as 20%. So in effect as a rough calculation if you were to take inflation out of it, we have pretty much ended up on the same deal. In line with increased sales shirts with kitbag I would say this deal is a coup for Chang and another mess up by our lot.

If they want to use percentage increase to impress us with 25% or whatever it is, here's another one, to get to villas deal we would require a near 100% increase. Depressing.

Awful. Seriously, I don't think moyes has a strategy, totally clueless in his tactics, keeps heitinga on for 80 minutes with a yellow card? Rodwell playing on the right, should have moved arteta there. That miss at the end??? A goalscorer scores them.

Midfield is nowhere, that was coming

Rodwell on for John. This ref will walk someone tonight

Looks like arteta's brother is playing tonight

Didn't he do a duet with Paul Young - Senza Una Donna?

I think moyes seen my advert in the Wirral globe, "for sale one fist pumping tommy gravesen wannabe, if interested in a disinterested Russian also, please call"

Where did I compare him to van der vart? Oh yes with you, compare him by position, certainly not quality. However will we ever know?

Comparing him to van der vaart actually got me thinking that the last throw of the dice should be behind the striker. To romey's point, the Cahill second striker role is one dimensional and workmanlike. Although effective. If the lad is going to make it anywhere it will be there, he ain't a winger, and he ain't gonna work well in the engine room. So........ Let's try him behind the yak in a carling, ah yeah forgot about that. It's a pity that one of moyes strengths is also his weakness. His belief in what he thinks are his first choice players no matter what, take an age to be rotated shall we say. Could turn out to be a masterstroke or final throw of the dice. His opportunity is to scare defenders enough with some long range shooting to close him down and allow the through ball to be received in more space.