Twist in Villa's Charlie Adam chase

Villa remain in the race to sign Blackpool captain Charlie Adam - but manager Gerard Houllier's may be weakened after he took a pop at his opposite number Ian Holloway.

Adam slapped in a transfer request yesterday to force a move away from Bloomfield Road, which was turned down by the club, but the Tangerines and boss Ian Holloway are resigned to losing the player.

Villa and Birmingham have made bids with the claret and blues making a £3.5million offer, which was blasted in public by Holloway, before Liverpool came in last weekend.

The Reds' offer of £4million is still way short of Blackpool's valuation but it's believed the latest suitor has been what has turned the player's head.

And Houllier couldn't risk a pop at Holloway for not reacting in the same way as when he expressed his interest when Liverpool counterpart Kenny Dalglish made his move.

The Villa boss said: "I noticed at the weekend that I was not treated the same way as my friend Kenny Dalglish.

"Ian said 'it must not come from Kenny' when Kenny makes a bid, 'it comes from the club.'

"But he called me all sorts of things. I'm not happy with him, I'm not happy with what he said.

"I think it's very, very unfair."