Crouch is a gonner

[Hayden 0]

Villa have slapped a £2m price tag on him and indicate that signing him permanently is the only option. They are offloading Balaban for nothing so want to recoup money on Crouch to sign a new striker. Heard this from a mate who lives up Villa way. Thats him out the equation as well, as there is no way we are going to meet that price. At the end of the day we are skint and Doncaster is not going to break the bank. We as fans have been lucky enough to watch circa £4m worth of talent for half a season (Crouch £2m, Hucks £1.5m and Harper £500,000) but it is pie in the sky to think that we will sign any of them permanently. I just hope there is a contingency plan in place or we will be coming down quicker than the Xmas decs.

[Carrow89 0]

Would have thought Villa''s financial state would meant they would want to avoid taking on Crouches wages again.

There are no fixed values in football transfers. just because Villa would like/expect £2m doesn''t mean they are going to get £2m. I don''t think he would command that figure at all. Transfer money is the Premiership is still tight. Playersbought are either the''wonderkid'' type or experienced pros from Europe.

Villa can take him back and see what happens in the Jan Transfer window which would be a £100,000 plus gamble that will escalate without a sale as almost no one else in Div 1 could afford his full wages.

City may well be playing the hardest poker game going ie telling Villa that they either agree to what is a good deal now or stuff it at the end of January. I believe that applies to Huckerby as well.

This would have all been discussed within the board long before any of the three loaneees were signed in september. I cannot believe that they would have entered into these loans without any further plans or abilities to carry them beyond December.

Silly ideas about going outside of the club''s present funding arrangements are that. Silly ideas.
Assume some fairy godmother turned up with £2m it would simply strenghthen the hands of Villa, Man City and Pompey by providing THEM with a pot to dip into.

At the moment we have to trust the board. They''ve got us into 2nd place AND the new stand is going up.

If any fan feels they want to help further then I suggest they a purchase season ticket in the South Stand for someone deserving so the ground is full up for the rest of the season.

[First Wizard 0]

So what was the damn point in getting them in the first place!. It the same a giving a kid a nice new toy on Cristmas day, and snatching it back on Boxing day.

[Mook 0]

Because we gained numerous points on the road to possible premiership football, which is what we all want.

[a1canary 0]

If this is the case there is a bit of a flaw in Villa''s thinking. Namely, NO-ONE is going to pay them 2 mil for him. If they''re waiting for 2 mil from the sale of Crouch to fund the purchase of a new striker they''ll be waiting forever. If anyone buys him it''s going to be a div 1 club and there are probably only 3 that could afford that. West Ham (just got Harewood), West Brom and Wigan. And even then i think they would be reluctant to stump up 2 million for Crouch. Well though he''s done he hasn''t been in the spotlight as much as Huckerby has and so clubs aren''t clamouring for him in the way they are for Huckerby. And Huckerby is going for half the amount. No-one player costs 2 million any more. The transfer market is messed up, players either cost many many millions and move between major european and top premier league clubs, or they cost a million or less or nothing and move to div one or lower premier league clubs. There''s nothing in between.
Loan players are the future - for div one especially. If you chose wisely, they can give the club a massive boost as we have all witnessed. We need to be prepared to lose hucks and crouch. There seems to be a lot of people on here saying "i''ve got a feeling we''re gonna keep them" etc. If i had to bet i would definitely say HUCKERBY AND CROUCH ARE GOING, regardless of whether Villa are asking 1 or 2 million. Harper maybe a different story.
BUT, the behind the scenes activity is i think being focussed on bringing another group of loan players in. That''s what Doncaster means by "watch this space". Because if Worthy and the board can just pull off the same trick they did in September for another half a million, which we can afford, then that''s it - promotion! I think this was the plan all along. Easier said than done though. Until these three, our history in the loan market has not been great!

[Bomber 48]

Yes I see what you say Mook but if at the end of the day we gain those valuable points to put us where we are and then come end of Jan we find ourselves in 10th place cos the people who helped get us those points are no longer here then surely it has only been a three month exercise instead of a seaon long quest to get into the premiership. I can see the point of people saying what was the point if it all comes down to nothing cos all we would have done would have got the points to starve off relegation which we could have done anyway. Anyway as I said at the beginning of the loans there must be some contingency plans that Worthy has been working on for the last three months cos if not then I am afraid it WOULD have all been for nothing and cost the club half a million in the bargain so surely it was all part of a larger plan to get us up.

[Carrow89 0]

1st Wizard you don''t seem to have really grasped what is going on.

Do you think the club would have brought in the players without thinking beyond december ?

If the players were all returning why would the club not simply say so.

There is obviously going to be the ineviatble haggling going on. It is to be expected on both sides.

How difficult is all that to understand ?

[Mook 0]

I think the logic is that we average a 7th position finish under NW with the current squad so, with the boosts of good loan players, we can almost assure ourselves with a play-off place. I too am sure there''s a contingency plan.

I have to say, I think Huckerby is a good player especially in Div 1, but Crouch is something else. He''s young, he''s developing, and his ball control and skill under pressure is incredible. I would really love to see him here til the end of the season, and then joining us when we make the prem... I''m getting carried away again. What I''m saying is McVeigh can do Hucks job, Brennan (we hope) can do McVeigh''s job but NO-ONE can do Crouch''s job, especially not the gap-toothed wonder. If we do lose Crouch then we need another player of his ilk, and we need one fast because I don''t want to watch Iwan fall over forwards for the rest of the season.

[Vlad 0]

BBC sports gossip pages carry a reference to The Sun

"Aston Villa are ready to pay strike flop Peter Crouch to leave the club. (The Sun) "

So wages are a problem and they appear to believe that Crouch is the least best of their 5/6 strikers. Would that mean we could get him on a Bosman?


Loan players going in December - who cares. Not one of them is wanted by their Premiership clubs, placing them in the same situation as ...who knows how many other players that could all do a job for Norwich. We have 4 or 5 or 6 or ? [depends upon what you read and who you believe] loan "slots" left. Another boost akin to that we have had, but in two seperate bursts (some in Dec, some in March) could mean an auto place is within sights all season.

Huckerby, Crouch, Harper = Holy Trinity = don''t think so. Yes they add to what we have, but the same can be said of many others. All of them had something to prove when they came here, as did one David Nielsen. This is Div1 we are talking about and the Premiership reserve ranks are burgeoning with talent that, at worst, compliments what we have.

Loan players =
Temporary wage liability.
No risks if players are injured (send them back).
No signing on fees.
And, ooo, no transfer fee.
which pretty much avoids all the financial pitfalls that NCFC can ill afford.

Leeds are a good example of how not to do it (7 at once???).

NW suddenly begins to look astute, even if it is by virtue of having his wallet surgically removed.

Flexible use of loan players may, just may, allow us, in May, to look down on everyone and say ta-ta-for-now-suckers.

[silver fox 0]

I am sure that one option that has been considered by the board is that we request to keep Crouch until the end of the season and if we are promoted we pay an agreed sum for the player. This means Villa have him off their wages bill, they have a known sum available should we get promoted, but more importantly the bank knows we are gauranteed premiership money and will loan the club the money to buy him.

Whatever happens we still have the rest of the season to look forward to and who knows our youngsters may come through and save the day.