Well he's suggesting they went out, talked to bent, arranged terms and had it all sorted for him to ask for the transfer and push it through. Of course he apparently asked to leave in summer so its hardly unknown to them, and first chance came along he asked for the transfer to go through.
Mostly Niall Quinn I think trying to make out Villa did something naughty, considering the player wanted out its a bit ridiculous to accuse them of unsettling him.
Whats funnier is, the only reason they were as high up the table as they were and not right in the relegation fight was his goals, but as soon as he leaves Sunderland fans, and manager everyone else think Welbeck is a better player, got to be bad news that as of yesterday he had knee operations and won't be around for 2 months.
You got to love Bruce, or Niall can't remember which, talking about the obvious wage increase he'd get to go to Villa and he can't see why he'd leave for a club much further down the table. Says Bruce who left Wigan just outside the European places to take over Sunderland who just missed relegation.
People want to move, he wasn't happy, fans, club, location, does it matter, he was unhappy, did his job well, and left when the opportunity came up, they paid him, he played very well for them.
Anyway its ridiculous to look at current league positions and say Villa are a worse club, what have been Villa vs Sunderland average league positions over say, 5 years? Villa are easily, by a massive margin, the more established top half of the table club. Last 3 Villa seasons, have all finished 6th, Sunderland, 13th, 16th, 15th so averaging what just under 9 places below Villa.