Did you turn on Randy like a den of vipers?

[pauliewalnuts]

See also the way "sell to buy" became an accepted truth in the transfers thread.

And an accepted truth by Kmac?

But denied by the chairman and Gen Krulak.

I think they've got enough credit in the bank to be believed, to be honest.

[Somniloquism]

See also the way "sell to buy" became an accepted truth in the transfers thread.

And an accepted truth by Kmac?

But denied by the chairman and Gen Krulak.

I think they've got enough credit in the bank to be believed, to be honest.

I thought the General also talked about reducing the wage bill before getting others in. Isn't that a sell to buy policy by any other name. ( I doubt blame them for going that way with the stupid wages for once in a bluemoon players.)

[pauliewalnuts]

See also the way "sell to buy" became an accepted truth in the transfers thread.

And an accepted truth by Kmac?

But denied by the chairman and Gen Krulak.

I think they've got enough credit in the bank to be believed, to be honest.

I thought the General also talked about reducing the wage bill before getting others in. Isn't that a sell to buy policy by any other name. ( I doubt blame them for going that way with the stupid wages for once in a bluemoon players.)

I think he talked about the need to do something about the wage bill, and - if i recall correctly - "making sure the right players get the right money"

It's pretty clear that there are a host of players who don't get used much, but who get paid a lot of money. i don't see why wanting to do something about those players should exclude buying other players.

[Anyone But Heskey]

Can't quite believe people are saying Houllier is a cheap option! He's not exactly gonna be on a small wedge in his job for the French FA is he?

I'm surprised no-one's buying into this DOF idea with coaches working underneath him. The structure of this club needs pulling into the modern era, and not trying to re-create 'the magic of Cloughie!'

Our scouting is p*ss poor, we've been saying that for years. What's better value £2.5m for Habib Beye or £250k for a 17 year old Spanish Kid called Fabregas?

If in 5 years time we're bringing through quality local and foreign kids (and giving them a chance), sprinkled with a few quality foreign buys, it'll be Martin O Who?

I know we're not an NFL team, but this is just what they do things over there. A General Manager who gets the players in and negotiates contracts and sets up the team for the season with a number of coaches underneath who organise tactics. Why are we surprised the Villa hierachy is thinking in this way?

That said if Alan Curbishley rolls up at Villa Park, i'll be gutted!!

[Bosco81]

If our new manager can poach 17 year olds from Barcelona then fair play to him.

There's not much wrong at Villa, we've built up a very good youth set up over the years not matter who is manager.

The scouting set up may need tinkering but there is no guarantee we'll find the Bosnian James Milner as opposed to the Latvian Emile Heskey, we only need a couple more players regardless of the manager.

[sfx412]

I am amazed that nobody has commented on the hilarious irony of Mrs Overall starting a topic on vipers in the nest.

why thank you for again attacking the poster and not commenting on the thread, much appreciated.

[dave.woodhall]

I am amazed that nobody has commented on the hilarious irony of Mrs Overall starting a topic on vipers in the nest.

why thank you for again attacking the poster and not commenting on the thread, much appreciated.

As if you never have.

[Quiet Lion]

I suspect that most of us don't know more than the General about running a football club or what actually goes on when it comes to the mechanics of appointing a manager. You have an opinion as to who the next manager should be, that's all.

Well said

I find the stupidity / arrogance and naivete or some people stunning. People just think it is as easy as rocking up to Everton or Ajax and simply 'take' their manager....why we are aston villa after all and our owner is a billionaire.

It's too easy to assume that's what people are saying though. It isn't.

There's a lot of intermediate space between suggesting we go and poach Martin Jol, and us appointing Curbishley, who - let's face it - would have been an uninspiring appointment four years ago, and in the time since then, has flopped at West Ham, then wound up on the dole.

I'm aware we're not going to get Moyes - why would he make a sideways move like this, at this point in the season (crucially). I also don't blame Jol for not wanting to leave Ajax with that tasty CL group they're involved in.

I do, however, think that some of the names mentioned in relation to us are not good enough for Aston Villa  , not by a country mile. The non-availability of messrs Jol and Moyes doesn't change that.

I don't disagree with any of that. But MON had left at the start of June it would have been a little different. The criticism of the board has been well over the top in my opinion. It seems no amount of the good work that the current board have done, counts for anything because we haven't been able to appoint a manager in the last couple of weeks. The accusations that this was done on purpose to restrict spending, is an insult to the good work the board have done over the past few years.

[Dave Cooper please]

Do some of you not see that you are driving the best owners we could ever wish for out of the door?

No amount of "rolling eyes" emoticons could do justice to just how silly this sentence is!

[VillaVA]

Simply put, there are some Fans who have just turned on Randy like pit vipers...turned on the man who has done more for your Club in 4 years than most have done in 40.

I have always been generally pro-Randy, and I don't doubt his good intent: however I am beginning to ask myself if his efforts are always well directed.   It's all very well rebuilding a pub, installing a mosaic and paying for free scarves and coach rides -  but none of these things improve our performance on the pitch or make the club more financially viable.  (Yes he did finish "state of the art" Bodymoor Heath, which I give him credit for because it's more than Doug did, although to be brutally honest it's arguable whether that's improved our performances or our injury rate

From what the buyer in the club shop was telling us the other day, Randy seems to spend an awful lot of time personally designing the checks on the side of the home shirt, patterns on various other bits of merchandise, and other strange things.   I would MUCH rather he spent time working on how he manages his manager - something he doesn't seem hugely good at, if his record with the Cleveland Browns and with MON is anything to go by.

[TheSandman]

Do some of you not see that you are driving the best owners we could ever wish for out of the door?

No amount of "rolling eyes" emoticons could do justice to just how silly this sentence is!

What about a face/palm?

[not3bad]

Simply put, there are some Fans who have just turned on Randy like pit vipers...turned on the man who has done more for your Club in 4 years than most have done in 40.

I have always been generally pro-Randy, and I don't doubt his good intent: however I am beginning to ask myself if his efforts are always well directed.   It's all very well rebuilding a pub, installing a mosaic and paying for free scarves and coach rides -  but none of these things improve our performance on the pitch or make the club more financially viable.  (Yes he did finish "state of the art" Bodymoor Heath, which I give him credit for because it's more than Doug did, although to be brutally honest it's arguable whether that's improved our performances or our injury rate

From what the buyer in the club shop was telling us the other day, Randy seems to spend an awful lot of time personally designing the checks on the side of the home shirt, patterns on various other bits of merchandise, and other strange things.   I would MUCH rather he spent time working on how he manages his manager - something he doesn't seem hugely good at, if his record with the Cleveland Browns and with MON is anything to go by.

Posts like this annoy me as well.  Randy tries to get the details right so of course he's open to the accusation that all he cares about is the trivialities.  How about you wait and see who the new manager is before you criticize him on such a petty level?

EDIT: And as for "managing the managers", I didn't hear MON complaining much when Randy gave him complete control over playing matters and transfers for 4 years.

[Stu]

Simply put, there are some Fans who have just turned on Randy like pit vipers...turned on the man who has done more for your Club in 4 years than most have done in 40.

I have always been generally pro-Randy, and I don't doubt his good intent: however I am beginning to ask myself if his efforts are always well directed.   It's all very well rebuilding a pub, installing a mosaic and paying for free scarves and coach rides -  but none of these things improve our performance on the pitch or make the club more financially viable.  (Yes he did finish "state of the art" Bodymoor Heath, which I give him credit for because it's more than Doug did, although to be brutally honest it's arguable whether that's improved our performances or our injury rate

From what the buyer in the club shop was telling us the other day, Randy seems to spend an awful lot of time personally designing the checks on the side of the home shirt, patterns on various other bits of merchandise, and other strange things.   I would MUCH rather he spent time working on how he manages his manager - something he doesn't seem hugely good at, if his record with the Cleveland Browns and with MON is anything to go by.

Posts like this annoy me as well.  Randy tries to get the details right so of course he's open to the accusation that all he cares about is the trivialities.  How about you wait and see who the new manager is before you criticize him on such a petty level?

Is having a say in the design of the kit really within his remit though?

[Chris Harte]

Randy has been great for the club, and it is true that MON left us in the shit by leaving us when he did, and that the board (probably) cannot be blamed for this. However

1. It should be understandable that fans are worried by the time it has taken to find a replacement.

2. When you switch from being one of the biggest spenders in Premier League to adopt a "sell to buy"-policy, it should be obvious that we need time to adjust our expectations. (Adding to this our relative inactivity in this transfer window.)

Well said, Eig.

[Villa'Zawg]

See also the way "sell to buy" became an accepted truth in the transfers thread.

And an accepted truth by Kmac?

But denied by the chairman and Gen Krulak.

I think they've got enough credit in the bank to be believed, to be honest.

I thought the General also talked about reducing the wage bill before getting others in. Isn't that a sell to buy policy by any other name. ( I doubt blame them for going that way with the stupid wages for once in a bluemoon players.)

I think he talked about the need to do something about the wage bill, and - if i recall correctly - "making sure the right players get the right money"

It's pretty clear that there are a host of players who don't get used much, but who get paid a lot of money. i don't see why wanting to do something about those players should exclude buying other players.

He said we have to get to grips with the wage bill and sell players. He said it on the first day of pre-season training immediately following his son posting an attack on the manager. It may be pure coincidence that we lost our manager, sold our best player and made £20m profit this summer. If it is a coincidence, we'll see them return to investment in January or next summer. If they don't, we'll know it wasn't a coincidence. As things stand, I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

As for a host of players who don't get used much. We have only 17 experienced players in our squad, no other squad competing for CL places is as weak. We were very fortunate with injuries last season, let's hope this season is as fortunate.

17 experienced players.