I'm a loyal Villa fan who has been resigned to mid table mediocrity for more seasons than I care to think about. Then all this gave way to genuine optimism at the arrival of first Martin O'Neill then Mr Learner then the arrival of John Carew and Ashley Young this was starting to look very exciting. The end of the season 9 games unbeaten some real pleasant on the eye football, Villa has some great talent already but I can't deny I was hoping to see some really exciting additions during the summer. well I haven’t jumped out of my seat with excitement over the two signings during the summer but I do have faith in the Manager just because the money is there doesn’t mean you have to pay inflated prices with no guarantee this is not a sprint but a marathon and I feel Villa have to have a plan to build a solid future and the combination of youth and experience is a good start.I really would hate to see villa follow the likes of Leeds give Martin the time needed to work his magic!!

Garry, London,

I hope the reason for us signing Harewood is purely to provide backup to a fit Carew. O'Neill likes the big man little man combination and Harewood will ensure tactical consistancy through the season. Allowing Davis to leave was extremly dissappointing but Reo-Coker was signed as a replacement for McCann and this has made us stronger, quicker and more compeditive i n the midfie. Davis does need to be replaced but he is a different style player to Reo-Coker. A lack of urgency in signing a right back has been worring. Also If Barry remains cover for Bouma at left back who will cover him on the left of midfield. It seems we are incapable of chasing more than one player at a time and this has meant a lack of activitity. I do trust O"Neill in the players buys but I"m worried we will end up with a small squad again. If preseason is the most important part of the season then we must act quickly. come on lads get the finger out. Also Young and Carew are both going to prove you wrong Cascarino

Will Bourke, Limerick, Ireland

Harewood, has been bought as a squad player, and reading all the interviews etc he was all set for wigan, but came to Villa KNOWING he wasn't guaranteed a starting place. Agbonlahor, Carew and Young are 1st choice and you have to ask could villa have realistically bought a better player who would be happy just to sit on the bench? Plus, if they did buy the likes of defoe, its likely to unsettle the likes of Gabby and Luke Moore whose development would surely be hindered by buying such a player. MON is trying to bring in players who have a desire to succeed and are hungry to fight for a place in the team, exactly the sort of spirit you need to instill in order to push for a top half finish. Take a look at Bolton with Allardyce and Blackburn with Hughes. They built solidly without spending ludicrous amounts of money and have either qualified or come close to qualifying for Europe. As opposed to Newcastle who spend 50 million+ on big overrated players and not win anything...ever

John, Leeds,

It is entirely possible that Cascarino may turn out to be right about Harewood and NRC. However his comments say more about his football knowledge than anything else. Comparing NRC with Lampard is ridiculous, for no other reason than the fact that they are entirely different players. Its like comparing scholes and carrick. NRC was bought because we already have a player to play the more forward minded role, and we required a player to counter balance that. the question Cas should have asked is, is NRC an improvement on the player he replaced, McCann. Undoubtedly yes. Davis was sold because he couldnt display a complete enough game to play in the middle of midfield, and was lost out wide.
If I was an oppsosing defender, I'd be very nervous about facing Carew, harewood and Yound. They're all quick, two of them are beasts and young can turn any defender inside out. Direct football? That wasnt what we were playing at the end of the season, when the players started to gel.

Tim, Leics,

Totally agree, I cannot see why we are selling players when our squad was so small last year, yet we've only mananged a few first team signings. I also don't understand why we are not scouting Europe, as many of our targets have been domestic based and heavilly overpriced. Harewood is a negative signing, we need to be following Spurs lead in transfers and team building, also look at Man City and the quality of the players mentioned to them. I am a Martin O'Neill fan, but I'm villa through and through, and right now Martin has a big job as we have a squad of 19 players (excluding any youth team promotions) so last season with 25 he said we needed 5 or 6, do the maths, it is not looking good. Where are the top class signings we were promised? NRC & MH are average at best.

Tariq Ricketts, Nottingham, England

O'Neil took Celtic to the UEFA cup final with a mixed bag of players that really only included one world class player, Henrik Larsen. He took players like Lennon, Hartson and Sutton and molded an effective team which almost did something impossible.
He has had an whole season to evaluate the team and a man as cerebral as O'Neil will have analysed it to death. If he feels that Reo-Coker (who BTW is still only 23) and Harewood can make a difference then maybe he knows for sure they will.
Just a thought, if 20 rich Billionaires buy every club in the premiership and aim to spend £200m on players are there enough World Class players to make 20 title challenging teams? I think not.

Will, Huntingdon, Cambs

Spot on Tony, these are average players at best. I read the comment that u dont turn an escort into a Ferrari overnight, but at least u try and buy Ferrari parts, not Lada! MON will be under pressure next season unless he gets some quality in FAST. I worry as a Villa fan that we are going down the Ellis path again of just doing enough - it certainly appears that way at the moment. Very worrying.

Neil, Birmingham, UK

Living in Telford, a few of my friends are Villa fans, and they too have expressed reservations with regards the summer signings - But Villa fans always do. I am not sure what calibre of players Vill fans think that their club should be attracting, but the simple fact is that they are an average side, and are not in London, so bringing in big names will always be difficult.

One fan I know turned his nose up at the prospect of Defoe moving to Villa park, saying "He is not a Villa type of player". Well, in that case, who is? Henry? Owen? Adriano? Having seen the likes of Sutton, Baros, Angel, Balaban & Milosovic at the park, If I were a Villa fan, I would walk to White Heart Lane and give Defoe a Piggy-Back up the M1 if that is what it took.

John, Telford,

Why spend for the sake of spending? The money is there if O'Neill needs it. It's about getting the right players, that will fit in with the squad.

As for "Are top-flight defenders going to quake in their boots at the prospect of facing Harewood, John Carew and Ashley Young? I don’t think so. "

Sheer idiocy. Carew has pace and power and Ashley Young is an exceptional young talent and is getting better by the game.

Jon, London,

Sounds like utter nonsense from Tony to me.

Harewood and Reo-Coker not good enough? Were they not good enough when they were in the West Ham team that got to the FA Cup Final and pushed the Champions League winning Liverpool side all the way?

Alan Thomson had been cast aside down south, Sutton had endured a £10m single goal nightmare at Chelsea, and Hartson was deemed overweight and past his best too.
Admittedly Celtic were blessed with a genius in Henrik Larsson, but they were far from a one man team when they made it to the UEFA Cup Final.

I'm a Rangers man, but I still think Martin's got a much better idea about football than Tony. The Villa fans won't put up with direct football? If they're up at the top of the league and challenging for cups they will. O'Neill swiftly cast aside the beautiful game at Celtic, and he's hailed as one of their all time heroes...

Al, Edinburgh, UK

The new regime must be aware of the burning need of the loyal fans to see signs of real ambition at the club? Surely none of us expected to be seeing a net outflow of players with such a short time left until the season starts? Many - most - of last year's acquisitions have yet to prove themselves and there are worrying shortfalls in cover in many positions. Like most, I like to think that MON can walk on water but even he can't convince me that the addition of Reo-Coker and Harewood can turn us into a top six club when, lest we forget, last year's squad flirted with relegation for much of the season. I have to believe that there will be an influx of players within the next few weeks. If not, then another season of mediocrity beckons and there will be a supporter backlash especially if our loveable friends across the city start well - as promoted clubs tend to do. Let's keep the faith, by all means, but we can't suspend our grip on reality.

Lionel, Huntingdon, Cambs

Hey, lets not forget that you dont turn a Ford Escort into a Ferrari overnight, this was always going to be a project and both MON and Randy have said, it'll take five years to do so. To use Tonys comments as a positive not a negative, we must be confident that by raising performance levels of average or good players, compared to other teams, it should be sufficient to qualify for Europe this season, via either our final league position or a cup win...but lets not kid ourselves, the champions league is out of reach today. The top four are the top four, historically and financially... We all criticised Chelsea for spending big, technically buying the title...but that was three/four years ago and therefore we are not going to catchup over the space of one summer, plus which top european name is going to want to join the revolution to soon when we dont offer european football, we are not likely to pay 6 figure salaries yet and our reputation is still, a sleeping giant.

Dean, Birmingham,

We're talking about Martin O'Neil right? I'm hoping he's just biding his time before Sir Alex vacates the hot seat at Man Utd. I wouldn't question anything O'Neil is doing, he's a quality manager with an exceptional sense of who is or isn't a good player and he is also capable of putting a superb side together on a relatively modest budget. C'mon the Villa.

John, Salford, UK

I agree with some of what you said. I wish villa had kept Steve Davis and played him next to Reo Coker. I think these two would have made a good engine room.

John, Herron, Australia

No offense meant here really, but Tony hasn't a clue. MON is bringing in specific players that he thinks Villa need. The more higher-end players that were on his list are unavailable, so he's not going to alter his plans just for the sake of spending cash. He's going to take his time - because that's how he likes to do things - in finding the right players.

TBH I am confident we will qualify for the UEFA cup with the squad we already had. The squad we finished last season with was immense. We've already added to that, and if we can add a couple more that's great - but in my opinion we're already strong enough to challenge for the top 6.

As an aside, I remember an ambitious manager once paying a lot of money (relatively at the time) to bring Cascarino himself to Villa Park - and look how that turned out.

Big money signings aren't always the answer. A great manager with a team of hungry players, however, is.

Rob, Dublin, Ireland

I couldn't agree more but I suspect this has been written to HELP O'Neill in his boardroom battles with yanks who have seen the dollar drop although not quite at the speed transfer fees have escalated.
O'Neill is just a media creature like Mr Cascarino

D. O'Leary, Leeds,

While Cas clearly has made some points that have crossed all Villa fans minds I think the views made are far too short sighted. The next step for Villa is to qualify for Europe in the shape of the UEFA cup and Champions League football is still just a dream. Signing players in our position is difficult because we cannot offer European football and thats why Bent signed for Spurs and not Villa. Harewood could prove to be a bargain by todays prices, and he offers much needed strength in depth which the likes of Angel and Phillips could not provide. As for Carew he is world class, and Ashley Young has already proved he has the potential to be world class, and he signed for us when he could have gone to Spurs. I also think that Cas has missed the point in what MON is trying to achieve. All the players he has signed have tremendous pace - Yound, NRC, MH and add that to Gabby and Moore and we quite clearly have players who possess the one thing EVERY defender hates to face.

Jamie, Nottingham, UK

Brilliant son, said from the heart and dead right too. With 9 days in Canada and then 9 days before Liverpool in the first match how many teams would you expect to go into it without a recognised right back.

When you consider the money spent on the fabric of the club, perhaps Lerner is just ensuring what he has to sell will bring in more than he spent and with today's prices being asked and paid maybe he doesn't need to improve the team

malc, wales,

Spending big money for quality players is fine but at the moment big money is being spent on average players in the transfer market.Villa are not in a position to attract top quality players yet,Defoe has made it clear he does not want to sign for Villa,so what should O Neill do?Spend 6 mil on Mido,9 mil on Bellamy,5.5 mil for Koumas,5 mil for Chopra? He has refused to make panic buys and should be commended for it.Give the man a break.

Ronald Bride, Dublin, Ireland

A lot of honest pasion Tony but not much penetration.

Thinking big is no use if you cant build a team around two or three big names. To keep on building by spending big you have got to deliver.O'Neill has clearly stated he wants 5 or 6 squad players to riase the quality of the team
Was Darren Bent ever going to be worth half his summer budget?
As for Scott Parker, Joey Barton and Mark Viduka none of them are any bigger than the players we have. And the team building priorities are at right back and in goals,

At the end of the summer MON will be judged on his team building rather than his "big" ideas!

M. Giovanni, Cambridge,