There are so many things to mention about yesterday and about what is coming up that I don't know where to begin. I think I'll start with the rumour as it's always a nice thing to start the week with.
The rumour is we are showing an interest in Cardiff City full back Adam Matthews. Matthews is 18 years old and considered a real talent and has already represented Wales at U17, U19 and U21 level. It is fair to assume O'Neill would be looking but that doesn't mean it will happen or that he even is. Still, we will find out in the summer.
Chelsea in the FA Cup
In October we beat Chelsea because we did what we do best and come April when we play them again, this time in the semi-final of the FA Cup at Wembley, and we know exactly what we have to do, to do it again.
This isn't news as everyone knows we have Chelsea and in a funny way, I'm actually glad we got them as if we were going to win the tournament, chances are we were going to have to beat Chelsea - now we can get it over with early and really start to feel confident (which could hurt us, but is fun).
Reading between the lines
At the end of the day, we were always going to beat Reading. They are 18th in the Championship and you don't get to 18th in the Championship if you don't deserve it. The worrying thing from yesterday was how we nearly threw it all away in the opening 45 minutes.
You see, had we been playing a team maybe a little higher up the Championship or a team from the Premier League, we could very well have not gotten the chances yesterday and we could have found ourselves sitting out the semi-final. As it is, we were playing Reading, but how many times are we only going to play for 45 minutes this season?
Man of the Match
I don't think anyone is really surprised by this, but it went to John Carew. If you score three you deserve it, no doubt, but I was quite impressed with Webcam and Milner, although I have to say, what happened to Stan yesterday? I think the man needs a little break.
Click here for the latest John Carew desktop wallpaper celebrating three against ReadingAston Villa finances
Lots of websites and people are going to try and pass themselves off as experts in the field of finance over the next few days because the club have filed accounts at Companies House, but we're not. We are not accountants and we don't run a multi-million pound turnover company and basically, we are not going to pretend to be something we are not. One thing I can tell you though, is that what we think we have paid or sold players for, isn't likely true.
How do I know this? Well, if you follow this link here you will find a website that seem to know what they are talking about and they've revealed that either the fees we have paid for a player or the brokering cost of bringing the player to the club (or both) were actually higher than what generally thought, or that the income from the players sold was less, because the accounts actually tell us something quite specific.
Sporting Intelligence
Since 31 May 2009, a subsidiary company has contracted for the purchase and sale of various players. The net cost of these transfers, taking into account the applicable levies but excluding value added tax, is approximately £29.4m.
What this basically means is that what we think we have paid or sold a player for is probably wrong is all but it is a little too complicated for me to try and explain and while I could just copy and past the whole thing, you could just click the link above. It makes for interesting reading.
So, seeing as I'm not an accountant, I'm not going to mention the over £7mn taken out by Lerner as "management fees" because, well, he is managing the club and surely everyone is entitled to a salary. I'm also not going to worry or even think about the £5mn paid to his family trust for interest on the loans either. I mean, surely he should be able to get everything he can out of the club - I mean, it is his money.
No, all directors and owners are entitled to make money out of their clubs. Absolutely nothing wrong with taking 15% of all the money the club generates. Absolutely nothing. In fact, I think Lerner should have more. Take what you want Mr Lerner - nobody seems to mind.