Graham Taylor: Randy Lerner should slash asking price to save club

[dave.woodhall]

I've no doubt that Steve Stride was an extremely good football administrator, but not having him isn't what's caused the mess of the last few years, and I doubt he'd have survived very long with Martin O'Neill in charge in any case.

I'm not sure because one of Steve's many talents was knowing when to keep quiet. 

Which is another sign of a good admin person, but not one who makes any strategic difference.

He knows. or rather knew, everyone in football. I think he was frustrated that the new board wouldn't listen to his caution; whether they might have paid more attention as time went on is a moot point but he would have certainly been able to work with O'Neill.

[bertlambshank]

Didn't Randy have to drop the price of the Brown's for a sell?

[villadelph]

Why don't randy from a business point of view sell a controlling stake.
Someone buys that stake we stay up and his remaining say 25% is worth considerbly more.
Then sell his remaining stake

...

Didn't Randy have to drop the price of the Brown's for a sell?

He got a billion dollars.

[Sheldon_Villa]

I love the man but I wish he could have held his fire a while. There is a bit of a feel good factor around the club this week and Lerner reducing price would do nothing between now and the end of the season anyway. Lerner has acted on management, I think its better for everyone to rally around the flag the next few months.

I agree. A rare lapse in judgement and timing from the great man.

Agreed, he should have held fire to see how Sherwood does in the next few games. Perhaps someone at B6 has upset GT

They have.

What upset him?

[stuart445]

Mirror

Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner should slash asking price to save club, insists former boss Graham Taylor

The ex-England manager says the club is a 'rudderless ship' and it may be too late to save them from relegation after a dismal season

Former Aston Villa boss Graham Taylor says billionaire owner Randy Lerner has to put up or sell up if the club is to be saved from relegation.

Lerner has appointed Tim Sherwood, his fifth manager in nine years, but Taylor thinks it might be too late.

The former England boss rebuilt Villa the last time they were relegated 28 years ago, getting the club promoted in his first season and then turning them into title contenders.

But after five years of constant struggle they are again in the Premier League’s bottom three and without a league win for 10 games.

Sherwood watched Villa’s FA Cup win over Leicester and takes his first game as boss at home to Stoke tomorrow.

But although Lerner flew in for his first face-to-face meeting with his new manager on Tuesday he hasn’t stayed around to support him in his first game.

“Aston Villa is a rudderless ship,” said Taylor, who also had a second spell as manager and served on the board. “It is all over the shop.

“When Randy Lerner took over I was impressed. I thought he was going to show me that these billionaires could come in and successfully run the show.

“I thought Villa had done well and there was a plan. He has put a lot of his own money into Villa, but I began to be disturbed when people like Steve Stride, the best football club secretary I have ever worked with, left.

“At that point I thought something had gone wrong. Changes have been made that have not been for the good of the club.”

Lerner, 52, bought Villa for £64million and has added over £100m to the bill since but runs things via internet and phone from his home in New York and rarely goes to games.

The Villa owner put the club up for sale in May saying: ”I owe it to Villa to move on, and look for fresh, invigorated leadership, if in my heart I feel I can no longer do the job.”

He was looking to break even, but would now take £150m – with Taylor encouraging him to slash even that price for the good of the club.

“They are nice people at Villa, but they are not football people,” said Taylor whose family home is only a few miles from Villa Park.

“You have non-football people making the appointments. Do they understand what they are doing?’

Lerner’s right hand man is chief executive Tom Fox whose background is in business after five years as Arsenal’s chief commercial officer.

Doug Ellis, who is 91, sold the club to Lerner and Taylor said: “I worked for Doug Ellis and whatever one says about him, he cannot be described as a non-football person. You cannot run a football club by phone from the other side of the Atlantic and that is what Lerner is trying to do.

“I don’t know who is on Aston Villa’s board, how it’s run, no one does.

“All I can ask is that things are sorted out quickly. You’ve brought somebody in, but it might be too late Mr Lerner.”

I do respect Graham Taylor a lot, But we live in an age where technology means you don't have to be somewhere 24/7 to know what is going on every second of everyday.  It's not like the old days where if you were in the USA all you had to connect you to the UK was a phone.  These days anyone of us can rig up cameras in our home here in the UK and view the footage on our phones whilst holidaying in Australia, so I'd imagine Randy Lerner has a lot more sophisticated systems.

[PaulWinch again]

The problem is that this is largely irrelevant to our immediate situation. Clearly Lerner needs to sell or have a complete change of opinion and understanding of the game. But if we were sold to great owners tomorrow it probably wouldn't help much. We need the staff in place now to save us.

[dave.woodhall]

I love the man but I wish he could have held his fire a while. There is a bit of a feel good factor around the club this week and Lerner reducing price would do nothing between now and the end of the season anyway. Lerner has acted on management, I think its better for everyone to rally around the flag the next few months.

I agree. A rare lapse in judgement and timing from the great man.

Agreed, he should have held fire to see how Sherwood does in the next few games. Perhaps someone at B6 has upset GT

They have.

What upset him?

It was said a couple of years ago that when we were looking for a new manager (post-O'Neill I believe) a meeting was arranged between Sir Graham and the directors only to be cancelled after he'd been kept hanging around for ages.

[villan from luton]

Whatever has happened, no excuse for the players under performing yet again.

[adrenachrome]

I imagine the now incontrovertible story that we bid for Ricky Lambert on the last day of the transfer window may have caused Sir Graham to raise an eyebrow. Probably gave it the full Roger Moore.

[villan from luton]

Yes, it is all Randy Lerners fault, no it isnt IMO. I think Houllier would have really sorted the club out, a really good manager and then he became ill. Mcleish, awful appointment, was never going to work and felt sorry for a real nice bloke. Paul Lambert was a bloke we all wanted, I really dont know what wnt wrong. He had been at clubs like Celtic and Dortmund, why would  he feel Aston Villa  was a smaller club? The players have to show some balls and they have not done that at all.

[villadelph]

Yes, it is all Randy Lerners fault, no it isnt IMO. I think Houllier would have really sorted the club out, a really good manager and then he became ill. Mcleish, awful appointment, was never going to work and felt sorry for a real nice bloke. Paul Lambert was a bloke we all wanted, I really dont know what wnt wrong. He had been at clubs like Celtic and Dortmund, why would  he feel Aston Villa  was a smaller club? The players have to show some balls and they have not done that at all.

[Rudy65]

Mirror

Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner should slash asking price to save club, insists former boss Graham Taylor

The ex-England manager says the club is a 'rudderless ship' and it may be too late to save them from relegation after a dismal season

Former Aston Villa boss Graham Taylor says billionaire owner Randy Lerner has to put up or sell up if the club is to be saved from relegation.

Lerner has appointed Tim Sherwood, his fifth manager in nine years, but Taylor thinks it might be too late.

The former England boss rebuilt Villa the last time they were relegated 28 years ago, getting the club promoted in his first season and then turning them into title contenders.

But after five years of constant struggle they are again in the Premier League’s bottom three and without a league win for 10 games.

Sherwood watched Villa’s FA Cup win over Leicester and takes his first game as boss at home to Stoke tomorrow.

But although Lerner flew in for his first face-to-face meeting with his new manager on Tuesday he hasn’t stayed around to support him in his first game.

“Aston Villa is a rudderless ship,” said Taylor, who also had a second spell as manager and served on the board. “It is all over the shop.

“When Randy Lerner took over I was impressed. I thought he was going to show me that these billionaires could come in and successfully run the show.

“I thought Villa had done well and there was a plan. He has put a lot of his own money into Villa, but I began to be disturbed when people like Steve Stride, the best football club secretary I have ever worked with, left.

“At that point I thought something had gone wrong. Changes have been made that have not been for the good of the club.”

Lerner, 52, bought Villa for £64million and has added over £100m to the bill since but runs things via internet and phone from his home in New York and rarely goes to games.

The Villa owner put the club up for sale in May saying: ”I owe it to Villa to move on, and look for fresh, invigorated leadership, if in my heart I feel I can no longer do the job.”

He was looking to break even, but would now take £150m – with Taylor encouraging him to slash even that price for the good of the club.

“They are nice people at Villa, but they are not football people,” said Taylor whose family home is only a few miles from Villa Park.

“You have non-football people making the appointments. Do they understand what they are doing?’

Lerner’s right hand man is chief executive Tom Fox whose background is in business after five years as Arsenal’s chief commercial officer.

Doug Ellis, who is 91, sold the club to Lerner and Taylor said: “I worked for Doug Ellis and whatever one says about him, he cannot be described as a non-football person. You cannot run a football club by phone from the other side of the Atlantic and that is what Lerner is trying to do.

“I don’t know who is on Aston Villa’s board, how it’s run, no one does.

“All I can ask is that things are sorted out quickly. You’ve brought somebody in, but it might be too late Mr Lerner.”

I do respect Graham Taylor a lot, But we live in an age where technology means you don't have to be somewhere 24/7 to know what is going on every second of everyday.  It's not like the old days where if you were in the USA all you had to connect you to the UK was a phone.  These days anyone of us can rig up cameras in our home here in the UK and view the footage on our phones whilst holidaying in Australia, so I'd imagine Randy Lerner has a lot more sophisticated systems.

An absent owner will only work when he has an excellent and experienced team running the business on a day to day basis. The problem is we didn't / haven't with Faulkner or Fox

[garyfouroaks]

It is not as simple as dropping the price, making it more attractive for individuals to subsequently make a quick profit is no answer.

[john e]

It is not as simple as dropping the price, making it more attractive for individuals to subsequently make a quick profit is no answer.

Agreed a bargain price just opens it out to a whole new world of shysters

[Ron Manager]

I am afraid Randy is stuck with us and even worse we are stuck with him!