All the latest news surrounding Aston Villa.
Newcastle United is the latest club to be linked with Villa’s Darren Bent. Alan Pardew knows the striker from his day’s at Charlton Athletic and is apparently making contingency plans for Demba Ba’s £7m release clause being activated in January.
Shay Given has said that losing his number one spot to Brad ‘The Polar Bear’ Guzan made him feel “gutted,” but the Irish Keeper has vowed to fight for his place back.
Meanwhile Villa players are continuing to jump on the ‘Lambert Bandwagon.’ Yesterday Villa goalkeeper Guzan praised the managers “long term plan.” Today the American has focused on the “excitement” and “respect” that the Gaffa has managed to create at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground. “He has been really supportive of his players in terms of getting behind us. When you have that, it creates excitement and we are in for exciting times I believe.”
“He treats us as men. It’s all about respect. The manager has respect for his players and we have the upmost respect for the manager.”
Joining in the love affair surrounding Villa Parkat the moment is Belgian striker Christian Benteke, who describes Lambert as the “perfect manager.”
“On a personal level, Paul Lambert is the perfect manager for me. He has taken me from Genk and given me a lot of confidence so I enjoy working for him,”
Yesterday Gabby Agbonlahor had singled out Villa’s lower league signing, Ashley Westwood, for praise. Today Fabian Delph paints an equally lustful picture of the ex Crewe captain, “Ashley is a terrific player technically and he is up there with the best in our team. Playing in the lower leagues, I wouldnt knock it and wouldnt change it for anything. The step up here is massive. Myself and Westy are the same age so we can relate to each other. I can see him getting a run in the team very soon and doing well.”
When Villa boss Paul Lambert requires guidance he ignores the temptation to look skyward and call for God, he also resists any urge to contact Jeremy Kyle, who thinks that he’s God… instead he reaches for the phone and contacts his old Celtic boss Martin O’Neill, “There are certain times when I’ll need a bit of help and I’ll phone the gaffer and ask, ‘Can you help?”Despite his somewhat bitter departure at Villa Park, Lambert suggests that O’Neill still has fond memories of the club,“I spoke to him before I came to Villa. He said it is a brilliant club with a massive fan-base and never dissuaded me one bit. Not one iota.”
Finally it would seem that Villa’s fans are raring to get at Paolo Di Canio’s Swindon Town, in the ‘Capital One’ Cup on Tuesday 30th October. Villa have sold out their allotted allocation of tickets already, meaning that there will be over 3000 ‘Holte Ender’s in the sky’ at theCountyGround.
image: © ell brown
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