Paul Faulkner: Is He Delivering?

[Risso]

The club have started to redeem themselves after a sequence of enormous cock ups. Let's not forget, this time last year, he was sitting next to McLeish, unveling him (well, actually, he wasn't, he didn't turn up for it).

In my mind they (the top management) still have a way to go towards redemption, but it's certainly a start.

This sums it up for me.

The club (ie Lerner and Faulkner) made a huge and costly series of errors in allowing O'Neill unfettered access to silly amounts of money, and they then compounded this by two managerial appointments, one which was questionable and the other downright moronic.  On top of this this were lots of other bad news stories and silly decisions like poorly worded letters to supporters ("Top 20 in the Deloitte league" indeed) .  Since then though, there seems to have been a general upturn in fortunes, so I'm looking forward to the new season, and it's basically a clean slate as far as I'm concerned.  They've made an excellent start with the acquisition of Lambert, now they need to back it up with repairing the squad numbers and quality.

[QBVILLA]

In terms of the business and marketing side of things I think he has done a superb job of selling the Aston Villa "brand". I feel where he struggles is on the footballing side. We dont seem to have anyone on the board who has that sort experience.

It looks like he is learning fast though and is only 33 so fair play to him as its a big job.

This.  I still feel we need someone with a football head on the board. 

  I've got this image of a well dressed man with a mitre ball for his bonce

[rutski]

wanker one week, hero the next. how fickle are we/you!

oh no, i used the f word!!

[nick harper]

I think the man has come up trumps in every way since the final whistle of last season, and certainly in additon to the Genting and Macron deals. It's been very easy to criticise him for many things in the past two years, but some of it has been completely unjust and beyond his control. I really think that he and Randy have taken stock of many things in the past few months and there is a very different feeling about the club. My thinking is Randy was affected by how people began to perceive him and he will show his support for the manager again this summer. Work had to be done to the wage bill and TSM in some ways was the bloke that got sacrificed in all that. Still now, with a fresh start, healthier finances and superb managerial appointment the club is on the up again. Fair play to Faulkner and also Randy for not allowing the mess to continue and for doing something about it.

I still think Lerner witnessing the Bolton debacle and the fans reaction was a massive turning point in the history of our club, albeit we were blessed with luck in staying up.

[QBVILLA]

I think the tipping point was most likely the lack of season ticket sales.

[ozzjim]

He has realised his mistake and managed to get the man most fans wanted as manager to come. His commercial aspects have been fairly good, so he deserves time to prove that he can learn from errors on the football side. Time will tell.

[nigel]

I agree with nearly all the posts in one way or another.
It was clear that he wasn't a 'Football' person as he failed to realise the fans feeling regarding the appointment of AMcL. I think he's learnt from that mistake.
He's a young guy and will only get better if he learns from his mistakes of the past.
Given this appointment he's certainly ticking the right boxes with the supporters.
Keep up the good work Paul.

[pauliewalnuts]

The club have started to redeem themselves after a sequence of enormous cock ups. Let's not forget, this time last year, he was sitting next to McLeish, unveling him (well, actually, he wasn't, he didn't turn up for it).

In my mind they (the top management) still have a way to go towards redemption, but it's certainly a start.

This sums it up for me.

The club (ie Lerner and Faulkner) made a huge and costly series of errors in allowing O'Neill unfettered access to silly amounts of money, and they then compounded this by two managerial appointments, one which was questionable and the other downright moronic.  On top of this this were lots of other bad news stories and silly decisions like poorly worded letters to supporters ("Top 20 in the Deloitte league" indeed) .  Since then though, there seems to have been a general upturn in fortunes, so I'm looking forward to the new season, and it's basically a clean slate as far as I'm concerned.  They've made an excellent start with the acquisition of Lambert, now they need to back it up with repairing the squad numbers and quality.

Also worth nothing that appointing Lambert will not benefit the club at all if he's not backed with money in the transfer market.

[mattjpa]

I have criticised pf and rl heavily over the past few months and looking back I stand by that criticism. But I also have to give credit where it's due. Pl is an excellent acquisition and I think that the majority of support will back the manager now come what may. They have also now gone some way to rectifying the mess left after the mon era so well done for that too. I also love Nike as a brand so was disappointed when we quit with them to go with macron. But watching the videos on the effort and care being put into our new kit by the Italians has proved that to be an excellent move as well. Everyone is human and makes mistakes, it is unfortunate that their mistakes are in a business that is held close to the heart by many so there is not much leeway. But they are going about things in the right way at the moment so they are getting cut some slack in my book. All we asked is for them to listen and it is hard to argue they aren't doing that now....

[fredm]

I think both PF and RL came into the situation re owning/managing Villa with no previous experience whatsoever.  MON had been appointed (presumably with their agreement) and he was the person with the football "know-how".  Unfortunately as we know RL backed him but it didn't quite work out.  Presumably PF was still wet behind the ears and didn't know how to stop what was happening until they both realised what the dire financial position was that we were in.  After this realisation we all know what happened and events have unfolded over the last 2 years which hopefully will not be repeated.  But as many on here have already stated, it looks as if PF has grown up fast and is getting a good grip on the agenda regarding running a major club.  His appointment to the FA Council can only assist his development as he will be mixing with others in the corridors of power and further developing as time unfolds.  I truly believe that with PL in charge on the field and PF now established in the back office we can go on to develop into a major force once again.

[TopDeck113]

I am rather more circumspect. I'm delighted with the managerial appointment but there will have to be much more of an ongoing feel-good factor to redress the last couple of years.

[pestria]

In terms of the business and marketing side of things I think he has done a superb job of selling the Aston Villa "brand". I feel where he struggles is on the footballing side. We dont seem to have anyone on the board who has that sort experience.

It looks like he is learning fast though and is only 33 so fair play to him as its a big job.

Sorry, but I can't agree with this.  I don't see any raised awareness of the Villa 'brand' at all.

I recognise it's a difficult job and I'd agree he's done OK - but hardly superbly.

[paul_e]

In terms of the business and marketing side of things I think he has done a superb job of selling the Aston Villa "brand". I feel where he struggles is on the footballing side. We dont seem to have anyone on the board who has that sort experience.

It looks like he is learning fast though and is only 33 so fair play to him as its a big job.

Sorry, but I can't agree with this.  I don't see any raised awareness of the Villa 'brand' at all.

I recognise it's a difficult job and I'd agree he's done OK - but hardly superbly.

He's overseen the signing of the 3 biggest sponsorship deals we've ever had, he's got our revenue at the highest level it's ever been.

He (and Lerner) have made mistakes, letting mon push the club towards ruin and appointing the worst manager in our history being the major ones but, since MoN was told to take it easy on the money, the work to get us back on track and put us in a stronger position to reinvest has been good, that's what he's employed to do and he's done a fair job of it so far.  At the end of the summer we'll see whether that progresses from fair to excellent based on spending, if we go out and spend 25m+ then it's a clear indication that the finances are back in a very strong position, I only expect 3-4 sides in the league to spend around that level (after sales), with only man city likely to spend silly money this season.

[pestria]

In terms of the business and marketing side of things I think he has done a superb job of selling the Aston Villa "brand". I feel where he struggles is on the footballing side. We dont seem to have anyone on the board who has that sort experience.

It looks like he is learning fast though and is only 33 so fair play to him as its a big job.

Sorry, but I can't agree with this.  I don't see any raised awareness of the Villa 'brand' at all.

I recognise it's a difficult job and I'd agree he's done OK - but hardly superbly.

He's overseen the signing of the 3 biggest sponsorship deals we've ever had, he's got our revenue at the highest level it's ever been.

He (and Lerner) have made mistakes, letting mon push the club towards ruin and appointing the worst manager in our history being the major ones but, since MoN was told to take it easy on the money, the work to get us back on track and put us in a stronger position to reinvest has been good, that's what he's employed to do and he's done a fair job of it so far.  At the end of the summer we'll see whether that progresses from fair to excellent based on spending, if we go out and spend 25m+ then it's a clear indication that the finances are back in a very strong position, I only expect 3-4 sides in the league to spend around that level (after sales), with only man city likely to spend silly money this season.

I've tried to understand the points you're trying to make here.

The first para says he's signed the three biggest deals in the clubs history - fair enough and well done - I happen to think they reflected the higher profile of Villa under MON/Lerner's first phase, and are perhaps in line with general football inflation.  Our commercial income remains just about inline with our upper midtable standing - nothing outstanding.

I'm not sure what on earth you're saying in the second para - the only thing I might comment on is that if we spend £25m it will not be because the commercials support it, but will reflect Lerner's attitude to investing further in the club.

[Banganappa]

I think both RL and PF have been given a seriously unjust amount of stick in the recent past. On the one hand people say they should have spotted the MON largesse before it became a problem; but I don't recall too many saying at the time that it was madness spending £10m or whatever on Curtis Davies et al, just good news that we seemed to be stepping up to the plate. Then there is a chorus from some that they are clueless about football, yet you can imagine the reaction if they were thought to be dabbling in matters that are considered to be on the football side.

Sure the McL appointment was a mistake at every level, but they've pretty much held their hands up to that. GH could well have worked out. The fact is they backed MoN fully who left them with a steaming pile, which they've had to clear up.

On balance I think they have credit in the bank and are decent folks to be running this club.