Villa News

The Villa Times – 02/05/2007

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Unoial Villa News…



Right, so what has been going on this week?!

The new Villa badge: Click Here

Martin O’Neill says that he hasn’t given up on Gavin McCann. The Villa boss said: ‘I have not ‘warned’ Gavin McCann at all about his future. That is nothing to do with it. It is all about the idea of playing for places next season and so I have really been sending out a positive message to the players and not a negative one. I want all the boys currently out of the side to fight their way into the side, and if things work out alright, then they will stay in there.’ Full article: Click Here

The Mirror linked Steven Davis to a move away from Villa Park because Martin O’Neill won’t play him where he wants to be, in the centre of the midfield. According to the report, the Villa boss see’s Davis as a flanker. I think it was flanker anyway! Obviously the bastion of all things football will have it wrong and according to the last poll we ran, 71% would be gutted to see him leave. Full article plus poll results to which ‘fringe’ player would you most like to stay: Click Here

Villa director General Charles Krulak’s latest interview with Vital Villa: Click Here

Stats v Man City: Click Here
O’Neill audio on Man City win: Click Here
O’Neill quotes on Man City win: Click Here

Man of the match for Man City in our poll was Ashley Young on 53%. Young showed what he could do out on the wing setting up the goal for Big John Carew and putting in a sparkling performance that showed great promise for next season. Stiliyan Petrov once again impressed a fair few with 12%, all the other votes were fairly evenly spread.

According to Vital WBA Villa manager Martin O’Neill has set his sights on signing McShane after losing out on Phil Bardsley who looks set to return to Manchester United once his loan spell ends. Full article: Villa Chase McShane.

According to the Burnley FC official website, boss Steve Cotterill is looking to retain the services of Aston Villa midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba.

Great, this makes sense as the club have announced they will offer Wales international defender Mark Delaney the chance to prove he can retain his fitness by giving him a short term deal. O’Neill explained: ‘He has had the go-ahead to do some training now. He has been given optimistic signs and that has been encouraging. Mark is remaining very optimistic. His contract ends in June and I don’t think we would really want to be leaving him in a situation where he has to go and rehabilitate on his own. I don’t think that that is going to materialise.’ Full article: Villa Offer Mark Delaney Life Line

Less than a week after scoring his first goal for Aston Villa, Shaun Maloney may have had his season ended early. Maloney picked up a knock towards the end of the game against Manchester City and will probably not feature in the remaining fixtures. Martin O’Neill, whilst disappointed at losing a player remains optimistic that the former Celtic man will be a major star for us next season.

Aston Villa midfielder Patrik Berger will be offered a new contract at the end of the season it has emerged. Full article: Berger Earns New Contract

Aston Villa CEO Richard FitzGerald has spoken to the official website about his plans to redevelop the club and the Aston Villa brand. At the launch of the new crest he touched on a number of subjects; highlighting just how big a club we really are and how big we can become. The New Dawn

Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill has admitted that the clubs on-loan right back Phil Bardsley will be returning to Manchester United at the end of the season. Bardsley who has had mixed games and gathered some mixed opinions from Villa fans has made 13 appearances so far in place of Aaron Hughes as Mark Delaney still has his problems. Martin O’Neill said: ‘I think that decision has actually been made, because Sir Alex himself has said he is recalling all players from loan. I think that was always going to be the case. When I spoke to Sir Alex about it in the first place and to Phil, I don’t think it was a case of seeing how things developed. I think he’s enjoyed it and I’ve enjoyed having him here, there’s no doubt about it.’

Football Fans Census survey: Click Here

The Sunday Mirror claimed that Aston Villa will spend £12.5m during the summer transfer window to bring in Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy (the rumour that just won’t go away) and Celtic’s Polish goalkeeper Artur Borac. However according to the News of the World, Villa will face competition from Italian giants Inter Milan and German club Bayern Munich for the signature of Borac.

In other news Patrik Berger appears to be keeping his options open. ‘I do have something (an offer – possibly a move to Major League Soccer in America), but I don’t want to make a decision right now. I just want to finish the season here and help the club to finish as high as we can. Then we will see what happens after that.’

With thanks to Murph for keeping the site active the last two days whilst I was away.

Thought for the day: ‘Don’t sweat the petty things, don’t pet the sweaty things!’

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