Do you Think Randy Underestimated the Premier League?

[Mister E]

I don't think he underestimated the PL, but the Man City takeover has moved the goalposts a fair bit.  I do think he overestimated O'Neill's ability to spend his money wisely.

What the hell do I know? - but these two points seem very likely.

The seismic shift created by the Citeh situation would have torpedoed a few business business plans around the premiership ... having said that, it's only one club, and at the moment we are watching the likes of Spppurrrs, Bolton and Sunderland speed past us in the fast lane (okay, maybe the middle lane; but faster than us). So, there's more to it than simply Citeh's bottomless pit.
The one challenge that Randy may have perhaps expected to address was the issue of attendance and revenue growth; and he really hasn't.

[eastie]

I think man citys money has changed things and made the top 4 harder to reach than ever and noone could have predicted the financial Market collapsing as it has in the last two years- he had a real go at it for 4 yrs but maybe has realised the top 4 are beyond our reach financially and that could have led to o neill walking out.

Randy doesn't have a bottomless pit and maybe we now have to lower our expectations and settle for being a top 8 team rather than top 4.

[Shrek]

I'd snap your hand off to be a top 8 team at the moment.

[Risso]

Five years is a long time in the Premier League.  Randy had a decent go at it, spent a lot of money and backed his manager which is all we can really ask of an owner.  So I don't think he underestimated anything as such (other than maybe O'Neill's spite) but he made a huge, catastrophic error in appointing Houllier, and I really think his head is spinning at the moment.  He was happy enough when things were nicely ticking over, but now there's a crisis we need some leadership from him, which is something I don't think he does very well.

[mistymopcap]

I would like to ask about the role of the chief executive, Paul Faulkener. What are his credentials? Given the RL is largely an absent but not disinterested owner, day-to-day matters most be his task. Similarly he must have a big say in advising on strategy and plans.
I would think too that somekind of statement explaining the short-term aspirations would help.
Having had a few hours to get over the Man C result I still feel that Houlier is the wrong person for us and that Martin Jol would be a good replacement.
I would like to ask about the role of the chief executive, Paul Faulkener. What are his credentials? Given the RL is largely an absent but not disinterested owner, day-to-day matters most be his task. Similarly he must have a big say in advising on strategy and plans.
I would think too that somekind of statement explaining the short-term aspirations would help.
Having had a few hours to get over the Man C result I still feel that Houlier is the wrong person for us and that Martin Jol would be a good replacement.
I think we are in for another battering at Chelsea and the dissolutionment will be so much worse.

[brian green]

The appointment of Houllier was a catastrophic error.


We knew when we walked back from St James Park to the station through the piss taking geordie throng that poor KM had blown his chance and that a safe pair of hands choice was inevitable - a ship steadier, a wise old head, a steady as she goes yesterday's man and that is exactly what we got.

What wants to make me weep is that Houllier has not acted like a wise elder statesman of the game.   He has blundered from one gaffe to another all the time looking more foolish and apologetic.   Making us wait for his signature, not letting the squad ease from high energy points effective play to is own preferred style of play, treating Pires as a landmark acquisition and letting him have a love in at the Arsenal, his own string of own goals at Anfield - those are just the examples which spring to mind.

If KM had behaved in such a naive and blundering way you would have said what do you expect from somebody with no experience.   Houllier was appointed on the strength of his experience.   His performance since the start of this season could form the text of    the How Not To Do It football managers handbook.

[JUAN PABLO]

We get hammered by Man City 4-0 , they look like now adding Dzeko to their squad. If I was Randy , I would be giving in , which is sad  but this is what footballs has now  become.   how can teams compete?

[Tony]

I don't think Randy understimated it at all, we've been knocking on the door of the top four, the champions league is where the money is at. Randy has put his hand in his pocket and backed the manager, however he's right to call a halt to the silly wages, especially when players weren't getting a sniff of the game.

The game will change in the next few years if the Premier League hold their nerve and advance thse squad caps, ignore those who are happy to have players on their books just so other clubs can't have them and reintroduce some real competition throughout the game.

[pauliewalnuts]

We get hammered by Man City 4-0 , they look like now adding Dzeko to their squad. If I was Randy , I would be giving in , which is sad  but this is what footballs has now  become.   how can teams compete?

Last week I read an article, in the Guardian I think, which reported that Man City had said they would only be "fine tuning" their squad in January, and then said they were going to spend 30m on Dzeko.

Now, I have no fucking idea what he's like, but I do know that when a club defines spending 30 million pounds on a single player as "fine tuning", something is very, very wrong with football finances.

[Chris Smith]

I don't think he underestimated the PL, but the Man City takeover has moved the goalposts a fair bit.  I do think he overestimated O'Neill's ability to spend his money wisely.

You contradict yourself. The amount of money in the game now means that 6th place and a cup final is a reasonable return on Lerner's investment.

[darren woolley]

I also dont think he underestimated it and the size of the job he took on when he brought us he had a five year plan and now things have changed i think he is starting to see how difficult the premier league can be.

[dave.woodhall]

I also dont think he underestimated it and the size of the job he took on when he brought us he had a five year plan and now things have changed i think he is starting to see how difficult the premier league can be.

THERE WAS NO FIVE YEAR PLAN!!!

[Rico]

I've been giving the situation at Villa Park some thought for quite some considerable time now, and I think we have to look to our recent history for the route of the problem and the solution.

Part of the problem is how Aston Villa are perceived outside of Villa Park . To the media we are no more than a mid table team at best, they continually rate Everton, Spurs and Newcastle as bigger than us. Now i'm pretty sure that our trophy list is bigger than Everton, Spurs, definately Newcastle and maybe even Chelsea. So part of the problem is perception. How are we ever going to attract top players or managers if we are perceived as being a slightly bigger version of Blackburn or Bolton?

Our next problem is chairman/owners. They are the route of all the problems at most clubs. Take a look at Newcastle for a good example of an owner playing god with the club. But it's our history that concerns me. Ron Saunders was easily the most successful manager of modern times but was undone by an owner who wanted to tinker with his contract. Now after just winning the first league championship in 71 years I can understand Mr Saunders annoyance. No wonder he told them to get stuffed. That brings us on nicely to Deadly Doug. Only Doug could have sacked the man who brought us the european cup,and replaced him with the manager of Shrewsbury Town (Graham Turner). No matter what your opinion of Tony Barton was, you don't replace him with Graham Turner. It's like Man Utd winning the champions league, then sacking Fergie and replacing him with Keith Hill from Rochdale. Obviously only a mad man would do that. Not content with the Graham Turner experiment he then inflicted Bingo Billy on us. Sure enough relagation followed and only then did he really see that to run a massive club like Villa you need a massive character, and not a yes man. So well done Doug for the appointment of Sir Graham Taylor. But then look at some of Doug's other appointments. Dr Josef Venglos - once again the Chairman's vanity nearly got us relagated, and once again we went looking for another manager. In stepped Big Fat Ron. It was a case of so near, yet so far. We played exhilarating football at times, but fell at the final hurdle. But Doug being Doug couldn't stand to be in the shadow of Big Fat Ron, so he had to go too. We then had a succession of managers, some more succesful than others, but all with the exception of O'Dreary couldn't or wouldn't work with Doug. Granted Doug then installed MON at the helm, but what promisses or assurances he made is anyone's guess.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is this: History shows us that to be a success at managing a massive club like Villa, you need a massive character, and in my opinion Houllier is not that man, and like many of his predecessors and the media he has been taken by suprise by the passion that the fans have for this club.

No one really knows why MON and Randy fell out, but one thing is for sure, Randy has most definately not learnt from history. If you have a succesful manager, you back him. If you can't work with him you must absolutely appoint a top manager. Someone hungry, someone with a proven track record. Not an old man! The Graham Taylor experiment(2nd time around proves this).

So what do we do now? I think it's too late this season to change. Big Sam imho is not the answer. I think we need to get our prayer mats out and come May time say thanks to Ged and appoint a new man no matter what division we are in. But, and I hope Randy learns from this experience, and that of our history, we are a massive club. We need a massive character. Not a yes man! Randy, please don't become another Doug. With the right backing and the right man at the helm we can mix it with the best. History proves it!

[jonzy85]

I dont think he underestimated it but i think as soon as Man City arrived with their moneyhe knew the short term game was up. That's why he wouldnt give MON anymore money in the summer. I mean he couldnt have seriously expected MON to bring us further when selling our best player and not getting in th reinforcements he needed.

I believe Randy is still with Villa for the long run but recognises that we dont have the spending power at the moment to break the top 4. But the Premier League is in a complete bubble with all the debt...this could burst and when it does, maybe a gap will open up again in the top 4 and we may be poised to go for it.

It's only a theory but its either that or settle for eternal mid table mediocrity.

[Linus]

settle for eternal mid table mediocrity.

I'd settle for it now!