David Beckham: From Hero to Zero

Wired seeing a Stoke play in the middle of all them great players from great teams. Keep it up mate loving it.

Aston Villa manager David Beckham has revealed that by the end of January, the club will have at least two new signings, both of which will be "key for the club".

He has also urged chairman Randy Lerner publicly to "invest".

Writing in a Daily Mail column, Beckham declared, "We want to finalize at least two signings at the end of January, signings that will be key for the club. I don't normally spend much in January because I prefer to kick things off in the summer, but we want to improve on last season, not go back to trying to get into the top half of the league. What we want is to challenge for European qualification.

"We are 10th in the league table at the moment and what we need is a new player or two to freshen up the team and strengthen the squad. Obviously, someone like that isn't going to come cheap.

"Randy has been brilliant with me transfer and budget-wise and I hope he'll be willing to invest again. I already have many names in mind."

2013-04-12 22:02#91943 wellsy1498 : Wired seeing a Stoke play in the middle of all them great players from great teams. Keep it up mate loving it.

Thanks Wellsy!

Really want to know who the signings are, can't wait to find out!

Will continue to follow!

2013-04-12 22:58#91957 LJO200 : Really want to know who the signings are, can't wait to find out!

Will continue to follow!

You will find out in due time

Aston Villa players Samir Handanovic and Gary Gardner have moved on from the club.

Slovenian international Handanovic came to Villa with a big reputation having kept goal superbly for Internazionale between 2012 to 2015. However, he failed to replicate that form at Villa, having conceded 16 goals already in 9 league appearances this season to allow summer signing Francesco Bardi to pip him to first-choice between the sticks.

Gardner, who came through the Villa youth academy, has been superb for the club in recent seasons, but has seen his form drop drastically this season. The constant presence of Fabian Delph and Will Hughes, as well as the emergence of young, rising talents like Jesus Blanco and Fotis Kalogiannidis meant that Gardner only made 2 appearances in the Premier League for the past six months with Villa.

Handanovic has moved to Southampton for a fee of 4 million, turning down the chance for a return to Italy in favor for a continued stay in England. Meanwhile, Gardner has dropped down a division, signing for Championship side Wigan Athletic for 5 million who are currently fighting to maintain their spot in the playoff places.

"Obviously, I wanted to stay at Aston Villa," said Gardner, interviewed in his first time pulling on the Wigan kit. "But it was not to be. Wigan are a great club though and I look forward to seeing what I can achieve with them. Hopefully we can get promotion and then stay on in the Premier League next season. I have worked with (Wigan manager) Alex McLeish before and he is a great man, a top class gaffer, and I look forward to working with him again. I'll always continue supporting Villa and I hope they can win a cup again this season. I've had many fond memories there that I'll never forget."

Aston Villa have also confirmed that Brazilian teenage goalie Nilson, signed from Sao Caetano in the summer, has been recalled from his loan spell at Swindon to fill in the boots as second-choice goalkeeper in the senior team.

Nilson, who has been given Handanovic's number 25 shirt, told the Birmingham Mail in Portuguese: "I am delighted to be given this opportunity. I might be on the bench every game but it's still a very good experience, to be able to watch how the senior team plays from the best view in the world."

Great stuff Glenn =)

2013-04-13 00:00#91979 Khejan : Great stuff Glenn =)

Thanks Khejan!

Aston Villa have amazingly made it to the Capital One Cup Final for the THIRD TIME IN A ROW, after beating Reading 3-0 in the second leg of the Capital One Cup Semi-Final, making it 5-1 on aggregate in total after the Villans beat Reading 1-2 in the first leg.


Led by David Beckham, Villa contested the Capital One Cup Final in 2015 against Manchester United and lost 1-0. Just a year later, they were back at Wembley Stadium for the exact same competition, this time winning the cup after edging out Norwich 4-2.

And they are once again, in the Final for 2017.

This time, their opponents are Cardiff City, who beat Welsh rivals Swansea City in the Semi-Finals to set up their date at Wembley.

"This is our third consecutive Capital One Cup Final and we are all very excited about it," said vice-captain Ron Vlaar. "We are the holders of this trophy and to be able to put up a good defense of it shows how strong we are as a squad, as a team. Hopefully we can win it again in February when we go up against Cardiff."

If Villa win the Final, then they will have had a record of having won 7 League Cups in total, just 1 shy of eclipsing Liverpool's 8. The Reds currently hold the record for the most number of League Cups, and coincidentally, their eighth cup win involved a penalty shootout against the exact same opponents - Cardiff, in 2012.

Author's Note

Thank you guys so much for 30,000 VIEWS! Please continue to read and support my story!

I hate that font!!

Congratulations it's a awesome story

Aston Villa manager David Beckham has stuck to what he'd said at the start of January, and has splashed a whooping 49 million on two new players.

Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been in and out of the Arsenal side of late, and, getting fed up with the bosses down at the Emirates for not playing him regularly, he requested a transfer, and later opted to sign for Aston Villa ahead of Manchester United.

At only the age of 23, the England international already has 45 caps for his country. He has signed on to Villa for a mind-boggling 23 million.

Southampton captain Jack Cork is the one who has broken the record fee, however, after signing from the Saints for a fee of 26 million, completely demolishing Darren Bent's previous transfer from Sunderland over to Villa Park for 18 million.

Considered one of the best midfielders in the world and a regular in the constantly-winning England squad, the 27-year-old will be a brilliant addition to Beckham's squad at Villa.

Both players are internationals and are teammates in the England squad.

Earlier in the month Beckham had stated that Villa needed to strengthen and encouraged chairman Randy Lerner to invest in the club's transfer budget, something that the American appears to have done.

"I am delighted to have Jack and Alex on board," Beckham said, smiling broadly in the unveiling of the duo. "They are both established England internationals and although they were a bit pricey, I am confident they are going to be huge successes here. Both of them are going to play a big part if we want to move higher up the table."

However, he also confirmed that he wouldn't be spending for awhile.

"The signings of Jack and Alex took a huge chunk off the budget, so I don't expect us to be doing anything more this month," the 41-year-old admitted.

Cork will slot straight into the squad immediately, while Chamberlain is side-lined with a two month injury having picked it up while still at Arsenal earlier in the month.

Fantastic signing in Chamberlain!

Keep it up.

Cork looks worth a lot, I don't think I would pay £26m but if you have the money you can spend a bit too much and it won't really matter. Well done getting Chamberlain to sign for you over United, I bet his decision was money related

2013-04-13 00:44#91992 MrJK : Fantastic signing in Chamberlain!

Keep it up.

Thanks for the nice comments as usual JK