Chelsea phá bĩnh Man City vụ James Milner

Thương vụ James Milner của Man City đang diễn ra êm xuôi, khi đội bóng của các tỷ phú Ả-rập ra giá 20 triệu bảng (có thể tăng thêm 5 triệu tùy phong độ và số trận ra sân của Milner). Chính tiền vệ chạy cánh đang nổi này cũng có những phát biểu cho thấy đang dao động trước lời mời. Tuy nhiên, ở thời điểm quyết định, bỗng chốc xuất hiện một kẻ phá bĩnh.

Kẻ “thọc gậy bánh xe” trong vụ câu kéo tiền vệ ĐT Anh và CLB Aston Villa chính là Chelsea - ĐKVĐ giải ngoại hạng. The Blues đã bất ngờ gia nhập cuộc đua giành chữ ký của cựu thần đồng bóng đá Anh, kể cả khi Man City đã chấp nhận nâng giá mua cầu thủ 24 tuổi lên thành 30 triệu bảng, cao hơn 10 triệu so với con số đề nghị ban đầu.

Milner tập luyện cùng ĐT Anh ở Áo.

Nếu so đọ về sức mạnh tiền bạc, Chelsea không thể sánh bằng Man City. Tuy nhiên, HLV Carlo Ancelotti vẫn nuôi hi vọng giành chiến thắng nhờ danh tiếng của CLB, cộng với tấm vé dự Champions League mùa giải sang năm, thứ mà Man City cũng như Aston Villa đều không giành được sau khi bị Tottenham đánh bật khỏi Top 4.

Ngoài ra, đội bóng Tây London còn hi vọng những John Terry, Frank Lampard và Ashley Cole, đồng đội của Milner ở tuyển Anh, sẽ cùng thương thuyết để cầu thủ chạy cánh này chuyển tới sân Stamford Bridge.

Milner đã trưởng thành vượt bậc trong mùa giải qua, anh có thể chơi tốt ở cả vị trí tiền vệ cánh phải lẫn hậu vệ phải. Bản hợp đồng hiện tại với mức lương 40.000 bảng/tuần của tài năng trẻ trưởng thành từ Leeds United còn 2 năm nữa mới kết thúc và HLV Martin O”Neill sẵn sàng mở một cuộc đàm phán gia hạn thêm ngay khi World Cup kết thúc. Chủ tịch Randy Lerner cũng kiên quyết giữ viên ngọc quý của Villa bằng tuyên bố: "Chúng tôi sẽ làm mọi thứ có thể để giữ cậu ấy”.

Tuy nhiên, Chelsea vẫn tỏ rõ quyết tâm trong thương vụ này. Sau khi để sổng Robinho 2 năm trước vào tay Man City, The Blues quyết tâm tậu một cầu thủ chạy cánh phải đẳng cấp, nhất là khi Joe Cole sẽ rời CLB sau một vài ngày nữa. Trên The Sun, một quan chức giấu tên của Chelsea cũng thổ lộ quyết tâm giành bằng được chữ ký của Milner.

James Milner muốn rời Aston Villa?
Phát biểu khi đang tập trung cùng ĐT Anh, chuẩn bị cho World Cup 2010, James Milner tỏ ra dao động trước những lời mời gọi của Manchester City. “Tôi không biết liệu tôi có chơi cho Aston Villa trong mùa giải sau hay không”, tiền vệ của Villa phát biểu tại Graz, nơi tuyển Anh đóng quân, chuẩn bị cho trận giao hữu với Nhật Bản vào ngày 30/5 tới.

James Milner đang dao động trước những lời mời gọi.

“Tôi vẫn tập trung cho Villa và giờ thì tôi hướng sự tập trung vào ĐT Anh. Tôi muốn chuẩn bị tốt nhất cho World Cup. Khi tôi kết thúc mùa giải với Villa, tôi đã nói sẽ cùng thảo luận khi World Cup kết thúc. Tôi thích quãng thời gian ở Villa. Đó là một đội bóng lớn, chúng tôi đã đi đúng hướng, có một mùa giải tuyệt vời và kết thúc với điểm số cao hơn so với mùa giải trước”, James Milner kết luận.

Theo VTC





 

Martin ONeill will tell Aston Villa owner to show him the money

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill will ask Randy Lerner to outline his spending plans before committing his future to the club.
The American billionaire has already met the Irishman but the pair plan to hold further talks after Sunday's final match at home to Blackburn Rovers.
O'Neill retains lofty ambitions for the Midlands club but is hoping to see whether he will be given adequate finances to improve his squad further this summer.
Show me the money: O'Neill wants cash to improve Villa's fortunes next season
He said: 'I've spoken to Randy very briefly but something has cropped up and he has had to return to America today,' said O'Neill.

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Aston Villa Football Club - Stadium

Aston Villa's current home venue is Villa Park, which is a UEFA 4-star rated stadium, having previously played at Aston Park (1874–1876) and Perry Barr (1876–1897). Villa Park is the largest football stadium in the English Midlands, and the eighth largest stadium in England. It has hosted 16 England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899, and the most recent in 2005. Thus it was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries.^[34]

Villa Park is the most used stadium in FA Cup semi-final history, having hosted 55 semi-finals. The Club have planning permission to extend the North Stand; This will involve the 'filling in' of the corners to either side of the North Stand. If completed, the capacity of Villa Park will be increased to approximately 51,000. The current training ground is located at Bodymoor Heath in north Warwickshire, the site for which was purchased by former Villa Chairman Doug Ellis in the early 1970s from a local farmer. Although Bodymoor Heath was state-of-the-art in the 1970s, by the late 1990s the facilities had started to look dated. In November 2005, Ellis and Aston Villa plc announced a state of the art GB£13 million redevelopment of Bodymoor in 2 phases. However, work on Bodymoor was suspended by Ellis due to financial problems, and was left in an unfinished state until new owner Randy Lerner made it one of his priorities to make the site one of the best in world football. The new training ground was officially unveiled on 6 May 2007, by current manager Martin O'Neill, then team captain Gareth Barry and 1982 European Cup winning team captain Dennis Mortimer, with the Aston Villa squad moving in for the 2007–08 season.^[35]

Panorama of Villa Park from the Trinity Road Stand, showing from left to right the North Stand, the Doug Ellis Stand and the Holte End.

[edit] Club ownership

The first shares in the club were issued towards the end of the 19th century as a result of legislation that was intended to codify the growing numbers of professional teams and players in the Association Football leagues. FA teams were required to distribute shares to investors as a way of facilitating trading amongst the teams without implicating the FA itself. This trading continued for much of the 20th century until Ellis started buying up many of the shares in the 1960s. He was chairman and substantial shareholder of "Aston Villa F.C." from 1968–1975 and the majority shareholder from 1982–2006. The club was floated on the London Stock Exchange^[36] In 2006 it was announced that several consortia and individuals were considering bids for Aston Villa.^[37] (LSE) in 1996, and the share price fluctuated in the ten years after the flotation.

On 14 August 2006, it was confirmed that Randy Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns and native Ohioan had reached an agreement of GB£62.6 million with Aston Villa for a takeover of the club. A statement released on 25 August to the LSE announced that Lerner had secured 59.69% of Villa shares, making him the majority shareholder. He also appointed himself Chairman of the club.^[38] In Ellis's last year in charge Villa lost GB£8.2m before tax, compared with a GB£3m profit the previous year, and income had fallen from GB£51.6m to GB£49m.^[37][37] Randy Lerner took full control on 18 September as he had 89.69% of the shares. On 19 September 2006, Ellis and his board resigned to be replaced with a new board headed by Lerner.

[edit] Board officials

Name	Nationality	Role
Randy Lerner	United States	Chairman
Charles Krulak	United States	Non-Executive Director
Bob Kain	United States	Non-Executive Director
Michael E. Martin	United States	Non-Executive Director
Doug Ellis	England	Lifetime President

Aston Villa Football Club - History

Aston Villa Football Club were formed in March, 1874, by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth which is now part of Birmingham. The four founders of Aston Villa were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood.^[11] Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team. As a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules.^[12] Villa soon established themselves as one of the best teams in the Midlands, winning their first honour, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880, under the captaincy of Scotsman George Ramsay.^[13]

The Aston Villa team of the 1890s

The club won its first FA Cup in 1887 with captain Archie Hunter becoming one of the game's first household names. Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 with one of the club's directors, William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era, winning no fewer than five League titles and three FA Cups by the end of Queen Victoria's reign.^[14] In 1897, the year Villa won The Double, they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds.^[15] Supporters coined the name "Villa Park"; no official declaration listed the ground as Villa Park.^[16]

Aston Villa won their sixth FA Cup in 1920, soon after though the club began a slow decline that led to Villa, at the time one of the most famous and successful clubs in world football, being relegated in 1936 for the first time to the Second Division. This was largely the result of a dismal defensive record: they conceded 110 goals in 42 games, 7 of them coming from Arsenal's Ted Drake in an infamous 1–7 defeat at Villa Park.^[17] Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, and that conflict brought several careers to a premature end.^[18] The team was rebuilt under the guidance of former player Alex Massie for the remainder of the 1940s. Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956–57 season when another former Villa player, Eric Houghton led the club to a then record seventh FA Cup Final win, defeating the 'Busby Babes' of Manchester United in the final.^[19] The team struggled in the league though and were relegated two seasons later, due in large part to complacency. However, under the stewardship of manager Joe Mercer Villa returned to the top-flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions. The following season Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup.^[20]

Mercer's forced retirement from the club in 1964 signaled a period of deep turmoil. The most successful club in England was struggling to keep pace with changes in the modern game, with Villa being relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967. The following season the fans called for the board to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With mounting debts and Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, the board sacked Cummings (the manager brought in to replace Taylor), and within weeks the entire board resigned under overwhelming pressure from fans.^[21] After much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews, who also brought in Doug Ellis as chairman.^[21] However, new ownership could not prevent Villa being relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the 1969–70 season. However, Villa gradually began to recover under the management of former club captain Vic Crowe. In the 1971–72 season they returned to the Second Division as Champions with a record 70 points.^[22] In 1974 Ron Saunders was appointed manager. His brand of no-nonsense man-management proved effective, with the club winning the League Cup the following season. By 1977 he had taken them back into the First Division and Europe.^[23]

The 1982 European Cup winning squad celebrate the 25th anniversary of their win.

Villa were back amongst the elite as Saunders continued to mould a winning team. This culminated in a seventh top-flight league title in 1980–81. To the surprise of commentators and fans, Saunders quit halfway through the 1981–82 season, after falling out with the chairman, with Villa in the quarter final of the European Cup. He was replaced by his softly-spoken assistant manager Tony Barton who guided the club to a 1–0 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam courtesy of a Peter Withe goal. The following season Villa were crowned European Super Cup winners, beating Barcelona in the final. This marked a pinnacle though and Villa's fortunes declined sharply for most of the 1980s, culminating in relegation in 1987.^[24] This was followed by promotion the following year under Graham Taylor and a runners-up position in the First Division in the 1989–90 season.^[25]

Villa were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. For the rest of the Nineties however Villa went through three different managers and their league positions were inconsistent, although they did win two League Cups and regularly achieved Uefa Cup qualification. Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 but lost 1–0 to Chelsea in the last game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium.^[6] Again Villa's league position continued to fluctuate under several different managers and things came to a head in the summer of 2006 when David O'Leary left in acrimony.^[26] After 23 years as chairman and single biggest shareholder (approximately 38%), Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa due to ill-health. After much speculation it was announced the club was to be bought by American Businessman Randy Lerner, owner of NFL franchise the Cleveland Browns.^[27] The arrival of a new owner and manager Martin O'Neill marked the start of a new period of optimism at Villa Park and sweeping changes occurred throughout the club including a new crest, a new kit sponsor and team changes in the summer of 2007.^[10][28] The first Cup final of the Lerner era came in 2010 when Villa were beaten 2–1 in the 2010 Football League Cup Final.^[29] Villa made a second trip to Wembley in that season losing 3–0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final.

Aston Villa Football Club

Aston Villa Football Club (pronounced /ˈæstən ˈvɪlə/) (also known as Villa, The Villa and The Villans)^[4] is an English professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, who play in the Premier League. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder members of the Premier League in 1992.^[5] The club was floated by the previous owner and chairman Doug Ellis, but in 2006 full control of the club was acquired by Randy Lerner.

They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the FA Cup seven times.^[6] Villa also won the 1981–82 European Cup, one of only four English clubs to win what is now the UEFA Champions League.^[7] Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club.^[8]

They have a fierce rivalry with local rivals Birmingham City. The Second City derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City has been played since 1879.^[9] The club's traditional kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional crest is of a rampant gold lion on a light blue background with the club's motto "Prepared" underneath; a modified version of this was adopted in 2007.^[10]

Downing happy with underdog tag

Winger Stewart Downing is happy that Aston Villa are underdogs in the race for fourth place in the Premier League.

Villa have played themselves back into contention for the final Champions League qualifying spot following last month's 7-1 humbling at the hands of Chelsea.

Three wins and a draw in their last Premier League fixtures have kept them in touch with Tottenham and Manchester City, with Saturday's trip to Eastlands to take on City likely to prove decisive.

"Saturday is a big game," said Downing. "With the way everyone has been going on, they're expecting Tottenham or Man City to get that fourth place and nobody has said anything about us.

"I think it suits us being regarded as underdogs because we'll just carry on winning games and picking up points and trying to creep in through that back door.

"Manchester City have obviously spent a lot of money on big players and it's been the same with Tottenham. They've had a good go as well for fourth place.

"But we've a good team and we've played consistently well. We've had a good season, got to a cup final and cup semi-final, but we'd like to finish if off by getting that fourth spot.

"Now we've got two big games left and we have to try and finish the job off."

Richard Dunne puts pressure on City

Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne is looking forward to facing former team Manchester City this weekend as the battle for fourth spot reaches its climax.

The Republic of Ireland international left Eastlands for Martin O'Neill's team last summer and has enjoyed a fine first season at Villa Park.

A recent excellent winning run has left Villa with a good chance of securing a Champions League spot with Dunne insisting the pressure is on Roberto Mancini's team.

He said: "We've got a really big game against City. If we can pick up a win it will be an interesting last day of the season. I'm looking forward to it.

"It's good that it's worked out that it's such an important game for both clubs. It's something to look forward to and hopefully we can get the right result on the day.

"It's big for City. They're in front of their home crowd. They have to be in the Champions League - so the pressure's probably on them.

"They're expected to go out and win whereas we've come from nowhere over the last couple of weeks and we've given ourselves a chance.

"We're going in on a high, we've kept a couple of clean sheets, and we've won our last three games."

James Milner không thể từ chối lời mời của MU

Mới đây, James Milner đã được vinh danh Cầu thủ trẻ xuất sắc nhất mùa giải 2009/10 do Hiệp hội cầu thủ nhà nghề Anh (PFA) bầu chọn. Tiền vệ 24 tuổi này đã ghi 7 bàn sau 34 trận ra sân ở NH Anh mùa này. Anh chính là nhân tố chủ lực trong mục tiêu lọt vào top 4 của Aston Villa.

James Milner trong lễ nhận giải PFA

Ở tuổi 24, thật khó có thể tượng tượng một cầu thủ trẻ như Milner đã được ra sân 327 trận trên tất cả các mặt trận, bao gồm cả CLB (322) và ĐTQG (7). Anh được kỳ vọng sẽ là ngòi nổ mới của ĐT Anh tại World Cup sắp tới. Chính điều ấy đã khiến Milner trở thành mục tiêu chuyển nhượng của không ít CLB lớn, trong đó có MU.

Petrov cho biết: “Với một đội bóng không quá nổi bật như Aston Villa thì bất cứ cầu thủ nào chơi nổi bật cũng sẽ có cơ hội khoác áo đội bóng mới chất lượng hơn, Milner cũng không phải ngoại lệ. Cậu ấy là cầu thủ trẻ, có tương lai và tài năng. Thế nên, nếu Aston Villa cần đạt thành quả cao hơn, họ phải giữ được cậu ấy”.

“James là một trong những trụ cột quan trọng của đội bóng. Chúng tôi cần giữ chân họ để hướng tới những mục tiêu mới. James khó lòng từ chối Manchester United cũng như lời đề nghị của các CLB lớn khác. Nhưng tôi hy vọng cậu ấy sẽ trở lại.”

Theo BongDaSo.com

Milner tops young player voting

Aston Villa midfielder James Milner has capped an impressive season after being named the PFA Young Player of the Year.

The 24-year-old former Leeds United and Newcastle starlet has scored 12 goals in 47 appearances for the Midlands club this term and credited a change in position for his career-best season.

The midfielder netted a late penalty in Sunday's 1-0 derby success over Birmingham City before making the dash to London for the glittering award ceremony.

"I've been moved into the middle and that suits me as it helps me influence the game a bit more," said Milner.

"Maybe sometimes wide right you want to influence the game but you just can't get yourself into it."

Milner was also named in the PFA Player of the Year alongside team-mate Richard Dunne.

Premier League team of the year: Joe Hart (Man City, Birmingham loan), Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Patrice Evra (Man Utd), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), James Milner (Aston Villa), Darren Fletcher (Man Utd), Antonio Valencia (Man Utd), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Didier Drogba (Chelsea).

www.football.co.uk