Randy Lerner - How will his reign be remembered?

[Richard E]

A lovely man and the single worst hirer of managers in the known history of the universe. Caligula was better at appointments.

When he hired McLeish, at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed. And heaven knows we're miserable now.

[SamTheMouse]

A good man, who's always conducted his affairs with decency and respect. Despite the cock-ups, I'll be sad to see him go. He's made mistakes, but has been poorly served by the people he put his faith in.

Though as he said in his statement, fate is fickle. Had we signed Bent instead of Heskey in 2009, who knows what might have been.

[Clark W Griswold]

Now he's decided to do the decent thing rather than dragging it on even longer, he will be remembered a lot better i think. Lets be honest, if you take it over the 8 years, half of it was good and half was crap, but as i say, at least he knows when to quit so fair play to him.

[not3bad]

A lovely man and the single worst hirer of managers in the known history of the universe. Caligula was better at appointments.

When he hired McLeish, at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed. And heaven knows we're miserable now.

You've been at this club too long the General said, and Randy naturally fled.

[bertlambshank]

Good stuff off the pitch,on it lucky he followed Doug.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Naive, reclusive, silent, poor judge, poor decision maker, bluffer.

Thought a bit of American-style schmooz could compensate for a lack football knowledge and failed. The early days were ok but they were more than overshadowed by the last 3 seasons of absolute rubbish.

[TheMalandro]

Randy came here expecting to throw a lot of money at the club and obtain quick success. When it was obvious that he couldn't compete he decided to cut his losses and sell up (The end of the O'neill era)

I have no idea if his intentions were to make money or he genuinely felt the history and wanted to try and rejuvenate a prestigious old club - only he can honestly tell you that.

I have the sense that he felt let down by the fans, his last number of communications seem to almost belittle the fans. (If you think back to when he made it clear he would make the decisions and not the fans)
Maybe I'm being paranoid but the fickle and shunammite references could be interpreted as - we should have been more content or happy with what we had.

I've probably explained what I mean badly, but I do think he is a little bitter about the experience.

[supertom]

Randy came here expecting to throw a lot of money at the club and obtain quick success. When it was obvious that he couldn't compete he decided to cut his losses and sell up (The end of the O'neill era)

I have no idea if his intentions were to make money or he genuinely felt the history and wanted to try and rejuvenate a prestigious old club - only he can honestly tell you that.

I have the sense that he felt let down by the fans, his last number of communications seem to almost belittle the fans. (If you think back to when he made it clear he would make the decisions and not the fans)
Maybe I'm being paranoid but the fickle and shunammite references could be interpreted as - we should have been more content or happy with what we had.

I've probably explained what I mean badly, but I do think he is a little bitter about the experience.

There's probably an element of truth to that. I mean his approval rating for the first 4 years was pretty much through the roof. From the moment he bought Houllier in and changed his transfer policy he's been losing fans. I think the McLeish appointment did the most damage. He's been unable to recover from that, and two more years of drek under Lambert, under Randy's very tight constraints haven't done him many favours with us.

I would imagine to some degree Randy hasn't like the way many fans opinions have suddenly changed on him. Some may call it fickle, but most of us would say that we've been well within our rights. Many of us even in the good times sensed that something would eventually snap with the way he was just dishing out money willy nilly to O Neill.

The difference between Randy and Doug, is that whilst Doug wanted to ensure we were left in good hands, I'm not sure that would be paramount in Randy's thinking. If he has to wait till November to sell, he'll sell. If it means we're left picking up the pieces, with little time to fix the mess of squad he's left behind, so be it. If we get relegated next summer, I don't think Randy would bat an eye-lid if he's already sold us. It's purely business for him now I reckon. I think he's lost any passion he had for the club because of how things have turned, and because of how far his popularity has fallen.

[hilts_coolerking]

A gigantic missed opportunity.

[Billy Walker]

Ultimately I will judge/remember him for who he hands us over to.   

There's no doubt he's a good guy and he certainly understands the club and it's traditions: the Holte End, Holte Hotel and BMH are brilliant  monuments to his eye for detail and he embraced the McGregor statue initiative, too.  He'll be remembered for doing some very good things, the crowning glory, the tie up with Acorns, in my opinion.

His on field decision-making was shocking, though.  He can put all that right by handing us over to people who have the ambition and know-how to get us back on top! (Easier said than done I know.)

Thanks for everything, Randy.  You tried your best and it's appreciated.

[BILL DE VALL]

as the man who changed our glorious badge to the watered down crap thing we have now

[Fuse]

An honourable, generous man. I will be sad to see him go and that he didnt get the success he deserved.

His single biggest error was the power he gave Martin O'Neill at the start and the faith he bestowed in him. We cna talk all about the subsequent bad decisions made on management choices, but by then the horse had bolted and the finances werent there to crack the top 4 especially given the Man City emergence.

I think had he not backed MON when Fitzgerald was fired then we would have got to the top  4, probbaly without O'Neill.

[martin o`who??]

Respected the traditions of the club, seemed genuine about his affection for the club as well, made a significant amount of money available to the managers (it must be remembered that we get gates averaging mid-thirties and dont have the global appeal of a Man U) where it all started to go wrong was with MONs unchecked spending, the eventual reigning-in of which, caused him to walk out and claim constructive on the grounds of being unable to spend Randys cash like water. Randys biggest problem was in being ill-advised by those closest to him about player purchases and managers (remember Fergies accursed letter). writing personally, i wish him well, he certainly seemed to act with a good heart, he was just catastrophically naive about "Soccer".

[silhillvilla]

Bit like ghostbusters 2 . Hugely anticipated, good start, poor middle ,crap ending

[Fred]

Best of intentions for the club. I think he found English football to be a hard unforgiving sport/business and is moving on. If he sells to a decent owner then i am sure he will be judged well.

For me time wil tell how he is judged. People who slagged HDE (who sit by me at VP) were speaking of him very well this season (This would never happen under Doug) so i suspect if Lerner sells to a decent owner we will look back and say he was a good owner.