Fixtures and rumours and Aston Villa close to signing a player

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but don't the fixtures for next season come out this week? I'm sure they'll take a back seat to the World Cup and we already know who we are playing, so apart from looking out for a couple of fixtures, it is just a formality.

For the record, I fancy we'll get Newcastle at Villa Park for the first game of the season and Curtis Davies will have a blinder, Marlon Harewood will miss a sitter and we'll win 3-0 and even I will think we can win the league.

So, that is pretty much all the news; the fixtures are coming out. We do have the usual rumours and when one starts with 'Aston Villa close to deal for ...' and I look at the date, I know it is made up, but apparently, that player we are close to singing is Braga defender Evaldo, but in this particular case, it is not the first time we have heard his name.

Another rumour, although even my six year old boy thinks this is true, is Nick Shorey is off to Nottingham Forest. We won't get the money back we paid for him, but I have a feeling that money was written off a long time ago - so anything we get, should be seen as a bonus and hopefully put into the kitty for the summer spend.

Rumour of the Day

This last one isn't really from today, it's just that it is getting mentioned today; we are after Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar and so are Spurs. Now, there could be nothing in this but there could be, as the player hasn't signed a new contract with Everton and is 28 years old, so knows this is his last big pay day, so is quite possibly holding out for what he can get.

And, you know what, I don't blame him, I really don't, but is he good enough for us? Is he the player that we need in our midfield to take us to the next level?

It doesn't matter, it probably isn't true, it's just agent talk to get his player more money and you know what, I don't blame him for doing that either.

So, was I right about fixtures this week?