Aston Villa are reportedly getting all moody on us because of our stance over Fabian Delph.

Having recently flown from Birmingham Airport, I can vouch the old joke about Brummies whining when the Jet stops is very, very true.

Now Fabian Delph is the focus for the club who were deluded enough to think the UEFA Cup was too small for them and ultimately failed in their quest to get into the Champions League. Maybe Dolly O'Dreary is right? they have not moved on that much since he was there!

However I digress. Villa clearly think they are a big Premiership club and like big Premiership clubs can do, they can go down to the lower leagues and cream off the best talent for peanuts.

Apparently they are frustrated that we will not accept their pathetic £4m offer for Fab which could rise to a paltry £6m depending on conditions etc etc etc. After all, Fab has only played at League One level and its too much to pay for a player

The good news is Leeds are in the pound seats, Delph signed a four-year contract last season. The player has expressed no desire to quit Leeds and who can blame him? when so far he has been linked with an array of "average" clubs such as Spurs and Villa or FA Cup final losers Everton.

The kid has got the rest of his footballing life at his feet literally. If he did move now, he would probably be stuck in their reserves for the next couple of seasons or farmed out on loan to a Championship club to gain experience.

The days of so-called "bigger" clubs (wonder how big the gates would be at Villa Park, White Hart Lane and Goodison if they slumped into the third tier of English football and had to fork out admission prices HIGHER than many Premiership clubs?) coming to Leeds to pick off a bargain are long gone. Thats about the only good thing about having Bates as chairman, he is not senile enough (yet) to be giving away our best players!

On a recent visit to Birmingham, I noticed there are loads of cheap and cheerful shops down Stratford Road in Sparkhill....I suggest Martin O'Neill takes a hike down there if he is looking for a bargain!

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls