Collins and Hutton and some huge PR about Lerner caring about Aston Villa

First, to the speculation, that is probably nailed on; Hutton and Collins are off. Collins is likely going back to West Ham and Hutton, does anyone really care? That is a bit harsh and you'll not find a bad word said about him on this site until now, but he really was a liability.

Just goes to show the gulf in class from Scotland to England. He looked decent before joining Spurs but in fairness, if he couldn't get into a Spurs side, why did we think he would be any good for us. Still - talk is he is off and in Lichaj we have better.

As for Collins, that is a different story. He didn't do too badly and always looked up for it. Sure, he maybe wasn't the best central defender and made some almighty mistakes at times, but he did look like he wanted it and that has to count for something. Let's just hope that Vlaar is better.

Lerner loving it at Villa

But now to the PR storm from yesterday and I write PR storm, because this is all brilliant PR from the club. How do I know this? Well, even The New Ross Standard are running the quotes from Faulkner. I just don't know who released it.

Paul Faulkner
The Browns situation means absolutely nothing with regard to Aston Villa - neither good nor bad. The big point that people sometimes forget is that he inherited Cleveland Browns. He bought Aston Villa. Any rumours that Randy could be thinking about getting out or losing interest is nonsense.

I don't miss the big point about Lerner buying us, but there is always another side to the story. Lerner buying us was business and General PR confirmed that. I just think it interesting that this is released, but I'll leave it now and move on to this.

Captain Bent

Could I be taking two plus two and coming up with nine? Things are starting to feel like Darren Bent might be named the captain for next season and if that is true, it's quite interesting, but probably a good move too. I'm also not sure how much it means in the modern game, but would be interesting to find out one way or the other.

And on that, time for breakfast and some Olympic TV and seeing as today is August 1st - only 17 more days to go.