Milner [Merged]

[Cobwebcat]

This window is crazy. For once I'll be glad when it closes in 15 days time and when the dust settles we can see what we are left with.

In the meantime any points we can get are a bonus. It will be October before we see the best from City. We could be quite a few points adrift by that time.

Exciting stuff clawing the defecit back but nervy too.

I think Ireland is a home boy and he will only go to a team in the north west but we will still get Milner.

 

[alera]

All I am bothered about is getting our transfer business done one way or the other as once again it seems to be spoiling our start to a season. If Milners comming and Ireland is going there great lets get it done.

If Ireland wont go and we dont want to pay him the money to make it happen fine. Call it off. Milner and Villa can get on and Ireland can be welcomed back into the squad (As there is not indication he wants to leave or has caused and problems) and we can all move forward.

We also need to clear out all the players that have no future at the club but thats another seperate matter. I would like to see everything get done and dusted, both out and ins before the Liverpool game but theres no chance of that happening.

The entire transfer market seems to be waiting to the final day to get bargains and deals done unfortuantely.

 

[bonespost]

* Stuart James
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 August 2010 22.30 BST

Manchester City have been warned they will have to complete the signing of James Milner by Wednesday or face the prospect of the England international remaining at Aston Villa for the rest of the season.

Talks between City and Villa remain ongoing, as they have been for most of the summer, but Milner has now become so exasperated with the speed at which negotiations are being conducted that he is no longer willing to continue playing with his future shrouded in doubt. City have been told that unless they can reach an agreement with Villa within the next 24 hours, Milner will remain in the Midlands and close the door on the summer's longest transfer saga.

Milner's frustration lies with City rather than Villa and he has started to question just how badly the club want to sign him because of the delay in pushing the deal through. The transfer has been held up at City's end because of Stephen Ireland's settlement demands – the midfielder has a little under four years remaining on his contract and has asked for a £2m payoff – but Milner feels that he is being placed in an unfair position by being asked to keep waiting until that situation, which has nothing to do with him, is resolved.

The 24-year-old, who was outstanding for Villa against West Ham United on Saturday when he scored the third goal in a 3-0 victory and left the field to a standing ovation, believes he needs to set a deadline to bring matters to a head. He remains hopeful there will be a breakthrough tomorrow, but if that is not the case, he will board the plane to Austria with the rest of the Villa squad on Wednesday morning for their Europa League play-off first leg against Rapid Vienna on Thursday.

Villa's hierarchy have already given Kevin MacDonald, the club's caretaker manager in the wake of Martin O'Neill's resignation, the go-ahead to pick Milner for the Rapid Vienna game. "If we were going to stop him playing, then we should have stopped him playing in the Premier League because there's probably more chance of him getting an injury in a Premier League game because of the physical contact," MacDonald said.

"If James hasn't gone to Manchester City by the middle of the week, I'm sure he'll want to play, because he just loves playing football, as you saw out there [against West Ham]."

Milner is comfortable with that situation and has already brought his passport into the club in preparation to travel and play. If he features against Rapid Vienna, he would be cup-tied and could potentially be unavailable for 17 matches for City in the Europa League should they reach the final of the competition. That prospect, combined with Milner's threat to pull the plug on the transfer, is expected to lead to a fraught day of negotiations between all parties tomorrow.

Both club's preference is for Ireland to form part of any deal as a makeweight but, should that not be possible, City had previously indicated they were willing to do a straight cash deal, valuing Milner at about £26m. However, City have never been in a rush to complete the transfer, perhaps suspecting Villa would cave in.

Instead, Villa have dug their heels in and rebuilt bridges with Milner. Randy Lerner, the Villa chairman, and Paul Faulkner, the club's chief executive, have spoken to Milner in the past week, strengthening the lines of communication that had broken down after O'Neill provoked a furious row during pre-season when he claimed that the player had told him he wanted to leave the club.

Villa know that Milner's head has been turned and are resigned to losing him if City meet their valuation, but time is fast running out for the world's richest club to show the colour of their money if Ireland refuses to budge on his financial demands.

 

[Taylor]

* Stuart James
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 August 2010 22.30 BST

Manchester City have been warned they will have to complete the signing of James Milner by Wednesday or face the prospect of the England international remaining at Aston Villa for the rest of the season.

Talks between City and Villa remain ongoing, as they have been for most of the summer, but Milner has now become so exasperated with the speed at which negotiations are being conducted that he is no longer willing to continue playing with his future shrouded in doubt. City have been told that unless they can reach an agreement with Villa within the next 24 hours, Milner will remain in the Midlands and close the door on the summer's longest transfer saga.

Milner's frustration lies with City rather than Villa and he has started to question just how badly the club want to sign him because of the delay in pushing the deal through. The transfer has been held up at City's end because of Stephen Ireland's settlement demands – the midfielder has a little under four years remaining on his contract and has asked for a £2m payoff – but Milner feels that he is being placed in an unfair position by being asked to keep waiting until that situation, which has nothing to do with him, is resolved.

The 24-year-old, who was outstanding for Villa against West Ham United on Saturday when he scored the third goal in a 3-0 victory and left the field to a standing ovation, believes he needs to set a deadline to bring matters to a head. He remains hopeful there will be a breakthrough tomorrow, but if that is not the case, he will board the plane to Austria with the rest of the Villa squad on Wednesday morning for their Europa League play-off first leg against Rapid Vienna on Thursday.

Villa's hierarchy have already given Kevin MacDonald, the club's caretaker manager in the wake of Martin O'Neill's resignation, the go-ahead to pick Milner for the Rapid Vienna game. "If we were going to stop him playing, then we should have stopped him playing in the Premier League because there's probably more chance of him getting an injury in a Premier League game because of the physical contact," MacDonald said.

"If James hasn't gone to Manchester City by the middle of the week, I'm sure he'll want to play, because he just loves playing football, as you saw out there [against West Ham]."

Milner is comfortable with that situation and has already brought his passport into the club in preparation to travel and play. If he features against Rapid Vienna, he would be cup-tied and could potentially be unavailable for 17 matches for City in the Europa League should they reach the final of the competition. That prospect, combined with Milner's threat to pull the plug on the transfer, is expected to lead to a fraught day of negotiations between all parties tomorrow.

Both club's preference is for Ireland to form part of any deal as a makeweight but, should that not be possible, City had previously indicated they were willing to do a straight cash deal, valuing Milner at about £26m. However, City have never been in a rush to complete the transfer, perhaps suspecting Villa would cave in.

Instead, Villa have dug their heels in and rebuilt bridges with Milner. Randy Lerner, the Villa chairman, and Paul Faulkner, the club's chief executive, have spoken to Milner in the past week, strengthening the lines of communication that had broken down after O'Neill provoked a furious row during pre-season when he claimed that the player had told him he wanted to leave the club.

Villa know that Milner's head has been turned and are resigned to losing him if City meet their valuation, but time is fast running out for the world's richest club to show the colour of their money if Ireland refuses to budge on his financial demands.

I hope it's true as we need to pull our finger out and stop messing around. If we want him so bad then get it sorted and end the saga/speculation

 

[Marvin]

All I am bothered about is getting our transfer business done one way or the other as once again it seems to be spoiling our start to a season. If Milners comming and Ireland is going there great lets get it done.

If Ireland wont go and we dont want to pay him the money to make it happen fine. Call it off. Milner and Villa can get on and Ireland can be welcomed back into the squad (As there is not indication he wants to leave or has caused and problems) and we can all move forward.

We also need to clear out all the players that have no future at the club but thats another seperate matter. I would like to see everything get done and dusted, both out and ins before the Liverpool game but theres no chance of that happening.

The entire transfer market seems to be waiting to the final day to get bargains and deals done unfortuantely.

Trasnfer wise we have had a very successful window. Milner could be the last piece in the jigsaw although it might take time to fit all the pieces together.

If it happens then great, if it doesn't then we move on With Ireland on board I hope and maybe we have other irons in the fire. It's important that after the window closes we have a reasonable squad size with settled players. The 25 man squad rule has the potential to hurt players like Bellamy and Ireland a lot more than it is going to hurt wealthy clubs like ours who can afford to pay players who are not in their premiership squad.

 

[Miami Weiss]

That's that saga put to bed then.

 

[Villan]

I hope Ireland agrees to join Villa and City get Milner.

But if Ireland stays I like I am sure the vast majority of City fans will be get fully behind him. I was bemused and confused by his performances last season, particularly the home League Derby, but if he applies himself like he has done before we know what a good player he can be.

It's too simplistic to say that if Ireland doesn't do what Mancini/Marwood would like he is acting against City. Who's to say Mancini is acting in the best interests of the club? He might think he is, but he might well be wrong. I am usually blinkered by loyalty to always back the manager, but in hindsight when the blinkers are off I think how stupid I have been. Before now I've defended Alan Ball and Joe Royle to the hilt.

We don't really know what goes on behind the scenes with players and the manager so we shouldn't be so quick to condemn and write players off.

I'd love to see Milner at City, but I am very confident that if Ireland decides to stay he will still have the goodwill of 99% of City fans, and he like every other player will always have that while they put the effort in.

At the end of the day, Stevie Ireland will do what is in his own self interest, and I hope that coincides with City. I have no idea if City would be able to buy Milner for a straight cash deal.

In short lets not condemn players just because it seems to be getting in the way of what City's management want to do. The players are human beings with families and affinity to City as well and not pieces of meat. I am sure City's management recognise this as well.

I also hope that there we can maintain a good relationship with Villa and their fans through this saga. The fact that we're been after their players is a back-handed compliment to them.

Pretty sure our chairman is none too impressed by the way your side have dealt with things. He's not one to usually speak to the media but has said that.

I think i can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority of Villa fans will welcome Milner staying if this proves to be the case. You seem to think that O'neill left because of lack of ambition/funds available. That seems not to be the case as he has been given plenty of funds to spend on players. The problem is his lack of rotation and actually using the players within the squad that he has amassed. We have players that total some 300K a week that just barely make the bench. This is what the chairman had beef with. The same 11 players playing irrelevant to if they are tired or out of form. He asked O'neill to clear the players that were not playing. O'neill refused. He then spat his dummy out at the chairman because he wanted 10M to waste on Mcgeady of Celtic.

The good thing about O'neill leaving is that we may actually use our squad of players and all the players that he fell out with will actually start with a fresh slate. Our squad is actually a fairly strong one with perhaps missing a Striker and a creative central midfielder. Clearing out of the shite still needs to happen the likes of Beye, Sidwell and Heskey plus with the players that have already gone we have some movement within our wage structure to buy those missing players.

Time will tell if Milner is a Villan by September the 1st but i think with the reception he got from us on Saturday it shows he is still wanted at the club. The same can't be said with players that you seem to cast off with little regard, players with years of service to the club too, such as Dunne last year. I'm kind of hopeful that the lack of speed to which this deal has had plus with players such as Dunne in the ear of Milner so to speak may persuade him to stay.

 

[Citizen Green]

Offer them £24m in cash, that should get the deal done.

 

[Danamy]

I hope Ireland agrees to join Villa and City get Milner.

But if Ireland stays I like I am sure the vast majority of City fans will be get fully behind him. I was bemused and confused by his performances last season, particularly the home League Derby, but if he applies himself like he has done before we know what a good player he can be.

It's too simplistic to say that if Ireland doesn't do what Mancini/Marwood would like he is acting against City. Who's to say Mancini is acting in the best interests of the club? He might think he is, but he might well be wrong. I am usually blinkered by loyalty to always back the manager, but in hindsight when the blinkers are off I think how stupid I have been. Before now I've defended Alan Ball and Joe Royle to the hilt.

We don't really know what goes on behind the scenes with players and the manager so we shouldn't be so quick to condemn and write players off.

I'd love to see Milner at City, but I am very confident that if Ireland decides to stay he will still have the goodwill of 99% of City fans, and he like every other player will always have that while they put the effort in.

At the end of the day, Stevie Ireland will do what is in his own self interest, and I hope that coincides with City. I have no idea if City would be able to buy Milner for a straight cash deal.

In short lets not condemn players just because it seems to be getting in the way of what City's management want to do. The players are human beings with families and affinity to City as well and not pieces of meat. I am sure City's management recognise this as well.

I also hope that there we can maintain a good relationship with Villa and their fans through this saga. The fact that we're been after their players is a back-handed compliment to them.

Pretty sure our chairman is none too impressed by the way your side have dealt with things. He's not one to usually speak to the media but has said that.

I think i can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority of Villa fans will welcome Milner staying if this proves to be the case. You seem to think that O'neill left because of lack of ambition/funds available. That seems not to be the case as he has been given plenty of funds to spend on players. The problem is his lack of rotation and actually using the players within the squad that he has amassed. We have players that total some 300K a week that just barely make the bench. This is what the chairman had beef with. The same 11 players playing irrelevant to if they are tired or out of form. He asked O'neill to clear the players that were not playing. O'neill refused. He then spat his dummy out at the chairman because he wanted 10M to waste on Mcgeady of Celtic.

The good thing about O'neill leaving is that we may actually use our squad of players and all the players that he fell out with will actually start with a fresh slate. Our squad is actually a fairly strong one with perhaps missing a Striker and a creative central midfielder. Clearing out of the shite still needs to happen the likes of Beye, Sidwell and Heskey plus with the players that have already gone we have some movement within our wage structure to buy those missing players.

Time will tell if Milner is a Villan by September the 1st but i think with the reception he got from us on Saturday it shows he is still wanted at the club. The same can't be said with players that you seem to cast off with little regard, players with years of service to the club too, such as Dunne last year.

lol..............i love that last bit, remember a player by the name of Gareth Barry by any chance?

 

[AnthonyRoy]

Offer them £24m in cash, that should get the deal done.

No it wouldn't.