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Author Topic: Randy, where are you?..  (Read 4543 times)

Offline Ron Manager

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #15 on: May 26, 2015, 09:11:14 AM »
If Randy is in the process of selling the club there will be no information made available until the sale is completed. That is the way business
works. It is quite possible that he may not attend the Cup Final but watch it at home. Perhaps he doesn't want to be pestered about his intentions for the club by all and sundry. Doug will of course be there and Tom Fox and Peter McParland so the club will be represented when the cup is handed to Fabian Delph. Most of the posters on here will be in attendance so does it matter if he doesn't turn up? The answer is no.

All that matters is that we win the Fa Cup.......and we will.

Offline not3bad

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #16 on: May 26, 2015, 10:15:39 AM »
I think Randy is saying nothing because he wants the club to focus on the FA Cup final, which is as it should be.

Offline Damo70

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #17 on: May 26, 2015, 11:05:33 AM »
will he be at the final?


He didn't meet any of the priority ticket criteria so would have had to wait till they went on general sale. Did anyone see him in the queue?

Offline Jimbo

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #18 on: May 26, 2015, 11:12:27 AM »
will he be at the final?


He didn't meet any of the priority ticket criteria so would have had to wait till they went on general sale. Did anyone see him in the queue?

He sent the Shunammite woman in his place but nobody in the ticket office could speak Aramaic.

Online pauliewalnuts

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #19 on: May 26, 2015, 11:16:08 AM »
I think he is saying nothing mostly because there is nothing to say.

He told us roughly this time last year that he'd had enough and was trying to sell. I honestly don't think there is a lot to say beyond that. We wanted him to tell us his plans, and he did.

Albeit in a semi-legible few paragraphs which included guff about the Shummanite.

Offline Gerrin

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #20 on: May 26, 2015, 11:16:27 AM »
I think Randy is saying nothing because he wants the club to focus on the FA Cup final, which is as it should be.

I think you're right. Making any kind of announcement now would wreck preparations for Saturday. Wouldn't be suprised if we heard something next week though if there is a buyer waiting in the wings, as has been rumoured.

Offline Damo70

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #21 on: May 26, 2015, 11:25:51 AM »
will he be at the final?


He didn't meet any of the priority ticket criteria so would have had to wait till they went on general sale. Did anyone see him in the queue?

He sent the Shunammite woman in his place but nobody in the ticket office could speak Aramaic.



That's what I heard but I didn't know if it was true or a false narrative.

Online kippaxvilla2

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #22 on: May 26, 2015, 01:44:45 PM »
It would be like spinning a coin guessing if he is going to be there or not.

Offline mr underhill

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #23 on: May 26, 2015, 04:49:42 PM »
didn't Lambert say a while ago that he used to rock up to games in disguise? So if I see a disembodied hat, sunglasses, pipe and Harold Wilson- type raincoat in the crowd, I'll know it's him.

Offline Duncan Shaw

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #24 on: May 27, 2015, 08:52:32 AM »
Looks like he's done an interview with The Times if anyone has a subsciption..................

Online Chico Hamilton III

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #25 on: May 27, 2015, 09:04:50 AM »

'We weren't relegated but I didn't get it right'

Matt Dickinson



27 May 2015

The Times

T

2; National

62,63

English

© Times Newspapers Limited 2015


Exclusive Randy Lerner, in a candid interview, tells Matt Dickinson he takes responsibility for Villa's league failings

Randy Lerner was on holiday in Barbados a few months ago when he felt a tap on the shoulder, turned around and found himself facing Martin O'Neill. The last time they had spent any hours together was with teams of expensive lawyers in a bitter, scarring employment tribunal, but, over a couple of days in the Caribbean, they sat by the pool and in the bar reminiscing, remembering the good times. They talked fondly about when Villa finished sixth in the table three years running, knocking on the door of that elite Champions League club, happy days with Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing flying down the wings, before disagreements over spending and direction and control in 2010.

Lerner may yet have an unexpectedly joyous conclusion to his regime if Villa win their first trophy in almost 20 years on Saturday, but that chance encounter only emphasised how much it had gone sour, for Lerner, for Villa, since that acrimonious parting.

Things did not work out as intended in so many ways. Lerner had planned to move to England, owning properties in London and the Midlands, but family life and business kept him in the United States. As he became more distant, Villa lurched from Gérard Houllier (one season before heart trouble) to Alex McLeish (one season of fan antipathy) to Paul Lambert (two and a half moribund campaigns including an illjudged double act with the brooding Roy Keane).

Instead of knocking on the door of the elite, Villa have spent the past couple of seasons perilously close to the trapdoor of relegation. An American billionaire with the Villa tattoo and good intentions has ended up battered by fans who once saw him as a welcome replacement to "Deadly" Doug Ellis.

"However much I know that being a football chairman carries with it brutal criticism, my love for Villa makes the negativity pretty biting at times," Lerner said this week in a rare interview.

"On the other hand, the club's performance over the last five or so years has left quite a lot to be desired and that falls squarely on my shoulders. Happily we've not been relegated, but I haven't gotten it nearly right enough. So what reaction would I expect?" Lerner, 53, holds his hands up about his mistakes, and especially the difficulty of trying to be an executive chairman while juggling all aspects of a busy life. Villa needed direction. "The responsibilities that I have at home, in the US, both personal and professional come first," he says, candidly. "If I lived and worked in England, it would be an entirely different matter."

He still runs numerous businesses passed down by his father, who died 13 years ago, and was effectively a single parent for nine years. A few years ago he decided to cut down his commitments including sports ownership, selling the Cleveland Browns and pulling out of Villa for several reasons.

"Why? I'm a believer in flux. In change," he says. "Some of my career goals have shifted. My appetite for the media exposure has certainly waned and just simply my feeling that I'm not the right guy any more for the job."

Absenteeism is one criticism levelled at him by Villa fans, but he decided not to show up at games purely for the sake of it. "I knew that the answer was not to pander to the criticism, but rather to fix or address the issue," he says from his home in Long Island.

He recruited Tom Fox from Arsenal to be chief executive and began to hand over responsibilities, including the managerial search that led to the galvanising appointment of Tim Sherwood in February.

"That was driven by Tom," he says. "When Tom came to Villa last summer, we had an explicit understanding that he was going to run the club day to day. With respect to making a change as manager, he had detailed criteria that addressed the short and long term. Given those, he felt that Tim was uniquely suited and available."

It has been a long time — the days of O'Neill — since Villa have punched close to their wage bill and Lerner admits envy for the work at Southampton and Swansea City, in particular. He hopes that Sherwood can bring significant improvements to scouting and recruitment. "Tim and I have had three or four good visits since he's come," he says. "He's become Villa very quickly."

Lerner is hopeful that the new combination of Sherwood and Fox, a positive end to the season and the guarantee of TV riches to come make it more likely that a buyer will be found this summer than last.

But what of the restraints of Financial Fair Play that could mean Villa, even if they did get everything right as a business, could once again hit that glass ceiling that they reached under O'Neill? Is there not a futility for a club outside the top four? "That's a tough one," Lerner says. "I recently met a cardiologist in America who was from Dublin originally, who had been a Chelsea fan until, he said, they started buying players in the current fashion and at their current levels. My point is that it can cut both ways.

"Sure, facing clubs with vastly larger payrolls can be dispiriting, but, there are always other angles. The big clubs also provide important liquidity for smaller clubs. For clubs like Southampton and Swansea, their ability to sell players at premium prices wisely has been, to my mind, a key part of their ascent and their increasingly established position in the top half.

"My view is that a compelling sort of football ecosystem has evolved in the English league that not only benefits those clubs that are extremely well run with effective academies, but has also become the place of stunning competitive rivalries and unforeseen achievements."

Villa's run to the FA Cup final could certainly be included as unexpected. It gives Lerner a chance to say an upbeat farewell after nine years if Villa can win the competition for the first time since 1957, their first trophy since the League Cup in 1996. He will be in the stands with family at Wembley. He has promised to step down as chairman even if he cannot sell Villa this summer, and English football will say goodbye to one of the more eclectic characters.

Talking of Villa attracting global interest, Lerner says it is "kind of like a Boetti Mappa", citing the work of the Italian conceptual artist.

Among his future intentions is to write a book, saying that his inspirations include Geoffrey Barraclough and Llewellyn Woodward, the late British historians. "So something straightforward and simple," he laughs.

He wants more time for other projects and says it is not that he has stopped wanting the best for Villa, but simply about priorities. The big mistake was not bringing in someone earlier to fill his role when he realised that he could not devote the attention.

The fans will have their own deep frustrations, but Lerner has no regrets about becoming involved nine years ago even if, when he sells, he will have lost some of his considerable fortune.

He would do it again, but bumping into O'Neill heightened his own sense of "what ifs" and hopes that were never fulfilled. Soon it will be someone else's turn.

Hiring and firing Since buying Aston Villa for £62.6 million in September 2006, Randy Lerner has hired five full-time managers Martin O'Neill August 2006-August 2010 2006-07 finished 11th; 2007-08 6th; 2008-09 6th; 2009-10 6th The Northern Irishman and Lerner lift the team after David O'Leary's dismal spell. They reach the 2010 League Cup final, losing to Manchester United, and fall short of Champions League qualification. O'Neill quits five days before the start of the 2010-11 season Gérard Houllier September 2010-April 2011 2010-11 9th The Frenchman, who bought Darren Bent from Sunderland for £18 million, never looks a long-term appointment and cedes charge to Gary McAllister, his assistant, from April 2011, over ill health Alex McLeish June 2011-May 2012 2011-12 16th Villa finish two points clear of the relegation zone in his one season before the deeply unpopular former Birmingham City manager is sacked Paul Lambert June 2012-February 2015 2012-13 15th; 2013-14 15th The Scot is unable to arrest the slide despite the form of Christian Benteke. Many managers would not have survived a two-leg League Cup semi-final defeat by Bradford City, of Sky Bet League Two, in his second season. Sacked after a terrible run of results Tim Sherwood February 2015-present 2014-15 17th The former Tottenham Hotspur head coach, below, achieves Premier League safety with a game to spare and reaches the FA Cup final after semi-final success against Liverpool Words by Nathan Jones

Offline placeforparks

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #26 on: May 27, 2015, 09:14:19 AM »
cheers chico.

Offline supertom

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #27 on: May 27, 2015, 09:24:06 AM »
Doesn't sound like he'll be dipping his hand in his pocket this summer if we're not sold. If everything is being left to Fox I would gather we'll be selling before we can buy.

Offline MarkM

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #28 on: May 27, 2015, 09:25:53 AM »
didn't Lambert say a while ago that he used to rock up to games in disguise? So if I see a disembodied hat, sunglasses, pipe and Harold Wilson- type raincoat in the crowd, I'll know it's him.

either him or a streaker

Offline manic-road

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Re: Randy, where are you?..
« Reply #29 on: May 27, 2015, 09:26:09 AM »
So if a sale doesn't go through he will find a chairman to run the club.  Pity he didn't do that five years ago when he couldn't devote the required time to run the club.

 


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