Fantastic Mr Fox

[ktvillan]

Maybe - and this is just a wild guess - that after two of the previous three managers including Lambert's guru ended up taking us for serious amounts of compensation and the third didn't do too badly out of being sacked, Tom & Randy wanted to make sure that he had absolutely no unfair dismissal comebacks. 

That would imply a level of planning and nous on the part of Lerner and his cohorts hitherto completely lacking.  But I suppose Fox's new influence could have been the telling factor, or it could be that even the biggest fool can eventually learn from his mistakes.

In any case we still don't know if the decision will work out, or whose decision it really was, and why they waited so long, so some doubts as to whether Fox deserves any credit just yet. 

[Pat McMahon]

Was Fox here when we gave Lambert the ridiculous contract extension? 

he was, but then again he was new in his job. The big boss comes out and says he wants to give his mate a new deal, the new boy in the office isn't going to have a ton of pull so early on. I imagine over time though Fox was able to convince Lerner to "rethink" the decision and made easier as we slipped quietly and conveniently into the bottom 3.

TV, Not knocking you but I remember reading one of the Brain Clough books years ago, the Tony Francis one I think, in which Cloughie was quoted as saying that he always made his toughest decisions as soon as he was appointed, as he reckoned that was when he had the most power and support from the men above.

Didn't serve him too well at Leeds, mind.

[PaulWinch again]

Credit for the decision to hire Sherwood Mr Fox. It's proved to be brilliant.

[glinch]

Interview with Fox here:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/30/aston-villa-tom-fox-chief-executive-randy-lerner-fa-cup-final?

Some interesting stuff. I just find the following quote a bit defeatist to be honest.

...the club should aim to be the best of the rest outside the top six

Would still be a big step up from the last 4 years though.

[villadelph]

Interview with Fox here:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/30/aston-villa-tom-fox-chief-executive-randy-lerner-fa-cup-final?

Some interesting stuff. I just find the following quote a bit defeatist to be honest.

...the club should aim to be the best of the rest outside the top six

Would still be a big step up from the last 4 years though.

Well, to be fair he also said he hopes Randy is owner for a long, long time, and given we know that Randy's MO isn't to spunk £100m every summer we can't really expect to surpass Liverpool or Spurs (atm) let alone the top four. So in light of that by putting 'experts in every level of the club' we need to subsequently get a maximum return from all of our dealings whether it be sponsorships, players (and their performances), coaching, transfers etc. I think Fox has done well to bring back the expectation from within the club, obviously we the fans always expect to be competitive. I hope he continues to hold his "department managers", so to speak, to a high standard. I don't expect to crash the the Top 4 while Lerner is still at the helm but a few 6th-9th place finishes in the near future and I'd be a happy man. Maybe get to enjoy the second half of the season for once..

[glinch]

Yeah I agree with your points, I just don't appreciate the 'turnover' = 'acceptable league position' equation that appears to be in place. As realistic as it is.

[Steve R]

Liverpool and Spurs can't afford to spunk 100 mill every summer either. They did that once because they sold their most valuable asset. Look how that worked out.

That interview is the most depressing thing to come out of the club in a long while. There is not a thing in it that represents a clear, aggressive statement of intent.

I actually liked the way we told Liverpool to do one when they came sniffing around Benteke. Both Sherwood and Fox have countenanced the sale of Benteke in recent days, it doesn't look good to me.

He could really have made a lot more of a club at its lowest ebb in a generation still being the 7th most watched in the globe, although I can suspect that viewers may have been under the impression that they had tuned into an obscure Thai game show.

If that is the best he can come up with then he can fuck off back to Arsenal.

[olaftab]

Credit for the decision to hire Sherwood Mr Fox. It's proved to be brilliant.

It's ok but hardly brilliant.

[Brend'Watkins]

Credit for the decision to hire Sherwood Mr Fox. It's proved to be brilliant.

It's ok but hardly brilliant.

It's certainly more than ok. From looking like we'd finish bottom to playing half decent stuff, a final to look forward to, showing decent form in most games. I think brilliant isn't too far off from what and where we were.

[KRS]

There's nothing wrong with saying we should be aiming for 7th-9th each season with the current state of the club  and the teams fighting for top 6 positions in the league. In a few years time, once we're consistently reaching the target of 7th-9th then the targets can be reassessed and we aim for 5th-6th...a few years later, the target could be aiming to break top 4. Whilst football remains to be relative to financial investment in the playing squad and wages, then its going to take a while for both income to increase, and youth players to be developed and integrated. Success in the Premier League can only be attained now with a long term plan due to financial fairplay, and it will be interesting to see how things develop over the next 5 years.

[Villa in Denmark]

Liverpool and Spurs can't afford to spunk 100 mill every summer either. They did that once because they sold their most valuable asset. Look how that worked out.

That interview is the most depressing thing to come out of the club in a long while. There is not a thing in it that represents a clear, aggressive statement of intent.

I actually liked the way we told Liverpool to do one when they came sniffing around Benteke. Both Sherwood and Fox have countenanced the sale of Benteke in recent days, it doesn't look good to me.

He could really have made a lot more of a club at its lowest ebb in a generation still being the 7th most watched in the globe, although I can suspect that viewers may have been under the impression that they had tuned into an obscure Thai game show.

If that is the best he can come up with then he can fuck off back to Arsenal.

So the public statement that we'll be negotiating for a contract extension with Benteke in the summer isn't a positive or statement of intent?
A good few people on here have been debating the pros and cons of selling this summer for a larger fee or an extra season on the pitch and a lower fee in 12 months. A contract extension has been viewed as pie in the sky.

The fact that he's identified the potential to improve our commercial revenues by £8-10M, which will directly allow us to spend more on both fees and wages isn't a positive?

The fact that he recognises that we shouldn't be viewed as or settle for being perennial bottom feeders, but seeing ourselves as having a natural "base" position of 7th - 9th isn't positive?
If he'd come out with Champions League in 5 years he'd have, quite rightly, been pilloried.
It's a bell of a lot better than the "hoping for survival" benchmark a lot of us suspected was the sum of our ambitions.

[jwarry]

To be honest this is the quote that worries me

3, is only a year older than him, which means they have plenty in common. “At one point Randy and I are going back and forth on email and he’s quoting Dylan lyrics and I’m going back with Steely Dan lyrics.”


Dear oh dear

[not3bad]

Asked whether Villa plan to offer Benteke a new contract, Fox replies: “Absolutely. He’s young, he’s unplayable on his day, he’s incredibly important. I talk to his agent on a fairly regular basis. We’re not doing anything on it right now – we’re focused on the end of the season and the FA Cup – but Tim is 100% right: you don’t allow your players that are big assets at the club to be in a position where the club is disadvantaged, so you want to have them signed long term. I’m sure we’ll be having conversations with Christian and his people in the summer.”

Got to say I'm pretty happy with that.

[Duncan Shaw]

Liverpool and Spurs can't afford to spunk 100 mill every summer either. They did that once because they sold their most valuable asset. Look how that worked out.

That interview is the most depressing thing to come out of the club in a long while. There is not a thing in it that represents a clear, aggressive statement of intent.

I actually liked the way we told Liverpool to do one when they came sniffing around Benteke. Both Sherwood and Fox have countenanced the sale of Benteke in recent days, it doesn't look good to me.

He could really have made a lot more of a club at its lowest ebb in a generation still being the 7th most watched in the globe, although I can suspect that viewers may have been under the impression that they had tuned into an obscure Thai game show.

If that is the best he can come up with then he can fuck off back to Arsenal.

So the public statement that we'll be negotiating for a contract extension with Benteke in the summer isn't a positive or statement of intent?
A good few people on here have been debating the pros and cons of selling this summer for a larger fee or an extra season on the pitch and a lower fee in 12 months. A contract extension has been viewed as pie in the sky.

The fact that he's identified the potential to improve our commercial revenues by £8-10M, which will directly allow us to spend more on both fees and wages isn't a positive?

The fact that he recognises that we shouldn't be viewed as or settle for being perennial bottom feeders, but seeing ourselves as having a natural "base" position of 7th - 9th isn't positive?
If he'd come out with Champions League in 5 years he'd have, quite rightly, been pilloried.
It's a bell of a lot better than the "hoping for survival" benchmark a lot of us suspected was the sum of our ambitions.

Agree with you 100% ViD!!
Fox has come in to a club in terminal decline with the stench of relegation around.  If he can help establish regular 7-9 finishes in the next few years he will have built a fine platform.  Once we get there he'll realise how big we can be.

[Brend'Watkins]

Asked whether Villa plan to offer Benteke a new contract, Fox replies: “Absolutely. He’s young, he’s unplayable on his day, he’s incredibly important. I talk to his agent on a fairly regular basis. We’re not doing anything on it right now – we’re focused on the end of the season and the FA Cup – but Tim is 100% right: you don’t allow your players that are big assets at the club to be in a position where the club is disadvantaged, so you want to have them signed long term. I’m sure we’ll be having conversations with Christian and his people in the summer.”

Got to say I'm pretty happy with that.

I am too.  However, if you are trying to entice your best player to hang around for a few more seasons then you need to be a bit more ambitious than aiming for between 7th and 9th. 

A player of Benteke's quality deserves to be in the big cup.