Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Doorbell on March 07, 2012, 06:09:12 PM
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Just read this
http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2012/03/aston-villa-prophets-and-losses.html?
Very interesting and well written. I think gives an excellent insight into our current situation...thoughts?
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I predict the arrival of Villadawg within 24 hours.
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"[H]is lack of popularity with some Villa fans is surely as much to do with his poor track record (leading the Blues to two relegations in four years) and his dour brand of football as his stint at St. Andrews."
Wrong, for most of us it's ENTIRELY to do with that poor track record.
I also disagree with the dismissal of the Houllier reign as "an unmitigated disaster." As the seeds of something long-term were clearly being sewn, for all its and his faults that reign was at least mitigated, and best almost promising.
However, it's very hard to argue with the facts and figures on display. Which are really just explaining things that most on here understand pretty well already (one would hope, given the sheer amount of space devoted to arguing about it for a few years!).
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I agree monty that some of the semantics may be a little out, and im definitely in the camp that thought houllier was starting to achieve towards the end of the season, but I think generally its an eye opener and a reminder as to why some of the things that are happening at the villa are...
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I agree monty that some of the semantics may be a little out, and im definitely in the camp that thought houllier was starting to achieve towards the end of the season, but I think generally its an eye opener and a reminder as to why some of the things that are happening at the villa are...
It's true, the context-adding is very important. Sometimes people seem to forget the world doesn't stop outside the B6 bubble.
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I can't deny that I had become very frustrated with Randy and his choice of manager in McLeish and my opinion that AMc was the wrong choice won't change, but it has renewed my faith in Randy, may be not in his decision making process, but certainly in his commitment to the club, reading the Swiss report, it's hard to deny...purely in financial terms, that the commitment is there. One thing the Swiss says which I agree with and have always thought, is our lack of ability in the overseas transfer market and picking up decent but cheaper foreign players, for me, we need a manager that is competent in this as much as anything else.
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I predict the arrival of Villadawg within 24 hours.
Why's that?!
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That's something we've struggled with for a very long time, in fairness. It helps to build up scout networks over time which are independent of whoever happens to be in charge, so that you have knowledge of what's going on in places no matter what type of player a particular manager is looking for. It is the responsibility of the club as much as a manager to build these up, and it's another area where Lerner's lack of football nous is sadly exposed. However, as far as the business side is, it's as good as it could possibly be while running up record losses, which is better than I make it sound!
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Mad to think RL has spent nearly a quarter of a BILLION on the Villa, and we are one place higher in the league than when he bought us.
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The things I notice after reading are firstly, considering the amount of money we spent, how different could things have been if we'd actually made a couple of marquee signings in 2008 instead of signing up the dross that we did. But more importantly, the game is absolutely rotten because of money and it's not going to get any better. I know we should have all learnt to accept that a long time ago but it's still desperately sad that we can't compete, even with a multi millionaire owner.
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Mad to think RL has spent nearly a quarter of a BILLION on the Villa, and we are one place higher in the league than when he bought us.
It's a crazy stat/fact...and a depressing one at that. I'm sure it's painful reading for RL too.
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The article reinforces the mainstream opinion that Randy let himself and the club down by not having football people at the club that may have kept MON in check. I must admit that when you see the figures in black and white no-one can say Randy wasn't or isn't committed to Villa it's purely his selection process for key positions that astound most of us. Houllier was in the process of doing what most of us had been crying out for and that is cheaper better overseas players, i think most of us was looking forward to see who he could bring to the club.
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The things I notice after reading are firstly, considering the amount of money we spent, how different could things have been if we'd actually made a couple of marquee signings in 2008 instead of signing up the dross that we did. But more importantly, the game is absolutely rotten because of money and it's not going to get any better. I know we should have all learnt to accept that a long time ago but it's still desperately sad that we can't compete, even with a multi millionaire owner.
Agreed on all accounts. I'm pretty sure that when Real Madrid signed beckham they made their transfer fee back within something stupid like 24hrs just in shirt sales. I know we're no RM but a marquee signing brings more than just their playing ability...we should sign a half decent Chinese player just for shirt sales.
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The Swiss Ramble dude certainly does his homework. Fair play to him.
The article basically translates as "We gambled and lost" unfortunately.
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The article reinforces the mainstream opinion that Randy let himself and the club down by not having football people at the club that may have kept MON in check. I must admit that when you see the figures in black and white no-one can say Randy wasn't or isn't committed to Villa it's purely his selection process for key positions that astound most of us. Houllier was in the process of doing what most of us had been crying out for and that is cheaper better overseas players, i think most of us was looking forward to see who he could bring to the club.
We should have kept him on in a DoF type role...
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The Swiss Ramble dude certainly does his homework. Fair play to him.
The article basically translates as "We gambled and lost" unfortunately.
A nice short and sweet analogy!
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There is little reason to question Randy's commitment.
Sadly, though, there is reason to question his competence as a football club owner.
Not saying that a football club owner needs to know a lot about how run a football club, but he should surround himself with people who does. Randy has favoured surrounding him with people he gets on with. That is slightly at odds with the rhetoric of him being a 'custodian' and not an owner.
Randy invested a lot in his first years. We cannot question that. But results were meagre in terms of sustained growth, trophies and reputation.
There is little doubt that we now need to tighten our belts. But I'm not sure the club is carrying out the austerity better than the initial extravaganza.
The important question is not why we don't have any money, but why the club isn't better run.
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There is little reason to question Randy's commitment.
Sadly, though, there is reason to question his competence as a football club owner.
Not saying that a football club owner needs to know a lot about how run a football club, but he should surround himself with people who does. Randy has favoured surrounding him with people he gets on with. That is slightly at odds with the rhetoric of him being a 'custodian' and not an owner.
Randy invested a lot in his first years. We cannot question that. But results were meagre in terms of sustained growth, trophies and reputation.
There is little doubt that we now need to tighten our belts. But I'm not sure the club is carrying out the austerity better than the initial extravaganza.
The important question is not why we don't have any money, but why the club isn't better run.
I agree. And sadly, I feel the Villa will not move forward until the issue is faced up to and addressed. :(
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Thanks. Now tell us something we don't know. Stats aside, this article is something any of us could have written.
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There is little reason to question Randy's commitment.
Sadly, though, there is reason to question his competence as a football club owner.
Not saying that a football club owner needs to know a lot about how run a football club, but he should surround himself with people who does. Randy has favoured surrounding him with people he gets on with. That is slightly at odds with the rhetoric of him being a 'custodian' and not an owner.
Randy invested a lot in his first years. We cannot question that. But results were meagre in terms of sustained growth, trophies and reputation.
There is little doubt that we now need to tighten our belts. But I'm not sure the club is carrying out the austerity better than the initial extravaganza.
The important question is not why we don't have any money, but why the club isn't better run.
I agree. And sadly, I feel the Villa will not move forward until the issue is faced up to and addressed. :(
If only he'd pick up the phone and call Steve Stride and Sir Graham.
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^ pretty much the exact comment I was going to make.
Bring back Steve Stride.
Infact. Put Stride, Graham and Ian Taylor on the board.
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^ pretty much the exact comment I was going to make.
Bring back Steve Stride.
Infact. Put Stride, Graham and Ian Taylor on the board.
One's retired, one I believe is chairman of another club and the third has never worked at a club.
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^ pretty much the exact comment I was going to make.
Bring back Steve Stride.
Infact. Put Stride, Graham and Ian Taylor on the board.
One's retired, one I believe is chairman of another club and the third has never worked at a club.
Exactly, and, to half-borrow Eigentor's phrase, that's just replacing people he likes with people we like. It reflects not a jot on their ability to run a club footballing-wise.
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Mad to think RL has spent nearly a quarter of a BILLION on the Villa, and we are one place higher in the league than when he bought us.
It's a crazy stat/fact...and a depressing one at that. I'm sure it's painful reading for RL too.
What makes it even more distressing is that Randy is no longer a $ billionaire either. He has probably spent 30-40% of his net wealth on Villa!
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This is just the type of thing that has made me lose my interest in the game. Football, and Villa, is not a spread sheet of figures.
Or maybe it is!
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This is just the type of thing that has made me lose my interest in the game. Football, and Villa, is not a spread sheet of figures.
Or maybe it is!
I've just read a comment saying Randy should "finally put his hand in his pocket" and calling for more investment because "We can't go on like this." Somewhere along the line a belief has developed which in its most simplistic form holds that we should always be at the top of the league and as soon as we aren't the owner, whoever he might be, should give the club away to someone who will again spend enough to make sure we return there.
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or... We demand a level playing field. As long as we are way above everybody else.
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It is mental to see the sums involved.
Even in a supposed austerity/ cutbacks mode, he's pumped in £25 million recently.
Little over 2/3 years ago, that would have had contributors on websites such as these speculating about which top class players we should sign. Now it's just servicing existing costs/ debts. Depressing.
I don't take the figures on that blog as gospel, mind. As I'm pretty sure it's the same guy who had NRC listed as a £9.5 million purchase by us and Bent as a £25 million signing by Tottingham.
But it wouldn't surprise me at all if the wage bill has actually increased since 2010, despite the amount of high earners we've shifted.
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Just read this
Don't tell me what to do. ;D
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Brilliant. Randy has a very difficult balancing act. The MON effect is there for all to see especially wages/turnover.
It also highlights the mistake in employing AMC. Lower crowds, lower league place, reduced TV revenue, reduced commercial income (shirts etc) reduced income from having no cup runs. But, look at the costs to rid ourselves of him.
But also how much difference a Champs League makes which puts those other incomes look small. However, by all accounts we should be seventh or thereabouts in the league.
"Gambled but lost". Well put. Bloody Tottenham.
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"reported £2 million compensation paid to Birmingham for McLeish"
shudder
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And how much compensation to fire him?
another shudder
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The article reinforces the mainstream opinion that Randy let himself and the club down by not having football people at the club that may have kept MON in check. I must admit that when you see the figures in black and white no-one can say Randy wasn't or isn't committed to Villa it's purely his selection process for key positions that astound most of us. Houllier was in the process of doing what most of us had been crying out for and that is cheaper better overseas players, i think most of us was looking forward to see who he could bring to the club.
We should have kept him on in a DoF type role...
I'd have been reasonably happy with houllier as DoF and macallister as the manager. This is mainly due to the improvement that was made in the latter stages of last season. I think they did enough to warrant a chance if that is how the club were looking to go. Never really liked houllier or warmed to him as villa boss. But you could see what they were trying to do and that combination might have worked given time.
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I don't take the figures on that blog as gospel, mind. As I'm pretty sure it's the same guy who had NRC listed as a £9.5 million purchase by us and Bent as a £25 million signing by Tottingham.
But it wouldn't surprise me at all if the wage bill has actually increased since 2010, despite the amount of high earners we've shifted.
To be fair, the guy gives the references to where he got his figures from. Transfer fee figures are taken from a transfer website so who knows on their accuracy.
The other figures though, including the wage bill, come straight from the audited accounts so you'd hope they were pretty accurate.
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The things I notice after reading are firstly, considering the amount of money we spent, how different could things have been if we'd actually made a couple of marquee signings in 2008 instead of signing up the dross that we did. But more importantly, the game is absolutely rotten because of money and it's not going to get any better. I know we should have all learnt to accept that a long time ago but it's still desperately sad that we can't compete, even with a multi millionaire owner.
I see Arsenal are being linked with a £10.9 million move for Podalski. That's the type of signing we could have gone for during the first few years of the MON era and I just wonder why we did not give such things a go? There's some fantastic talent in Europe going for relative peanuts.
McLeish says there's room for one or two decent signings to complement our team of young lads, if we used some genuine nous and scoured the world for top, young talent I would be delighted and have a whole lot more hope about the future.
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There is little reason to question Randy's commitment.
Sadly, though, there is reason to question his competence as a football club owner.
Not saying that a football club owner needs to know a lot about how run a football club, but he should surround himself with people who does. Randy has favoured surrounding him with people he gets on with. That is slightly at odds with the rhetoric of him being a 'custodian' and not an owner.
Randy invested a lot in his first years. We cannot question that. But results were meagre in terms of sustained growth, trophies and reputation.
There is little doubt that we now need to tighten our belts. But I'm not sure the club is carrying out the austerity better than the initial extravaganza.
The important question is not why we don't have any money, but why the club isn't better run.
I agree. And sadly, I feel the Villa will not move forward until the issue is faced up to and addressed. :(
I think they got their whole initial strategy wrong in trying to concentrate on the local market as opposed to building up an overseas support base. If Villa had really worked Asia and the US by touring and using the team-up with Nike to its full potential I think the club would be generating more revenue today. From 2007-2010 we could have made some real progress overseas.
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The things I notice after reading are firstly, considering the amount of money we spent, how different could things have been if we'd actually made a couple of marquee signings in 2008 instead of signing up the dross that we did. But more importantly, the game is absolutely rotten because of money and it's not going to get any better. I know we should have all learnt to accept that a long time ago but it's still desperately sad that we can't compete, even with a multi millionaire owner.
I see Arsenal are being linked with a £10.9 million move for Podalski. That's the type of signing we could have gone for during the first few years of the MON era and I just wonder why we did not give such things a go? There's some fantastic talent in Europe going for relative peanuts.
McLeish says there's room for one or two decent signings to complement our team of young lads, if we used some genuine nous and scoured the world for top, young talent I would be delighted and have a whole lot more hope about the future.
This has never been our strength though. We usually, regardless of who's in charge, over pay for a has been or gamble on a young player that doesn't come off. We very rarely bring in a young European player, which leads me to believe we don't have the scouting network. Why that is the case is whole different question
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It's importatnt to note that player signing fees and transfer fees are spread across the length of the contract so a lot of the recent expenses are still down to signings made by MoN. Once those players leave we'll start to see a vastly changed picture. As I understand it the £25 investment from Randy was purely to cover the transfer fees of the players we got in the january window and our actual cash flow was pretty much break even outside those signings. It still means that the Milner money effectively covered a shortfall (mostly the 12m of compensation paid out to various parties) but I genuinely believe those figures have been manipulated to put as bad a spin on things as possible for 2 reasons.
1: it gives Mcleish some ammo to say his hands are tied until the finances are sorted and potentially buys him time with fans.
2: with the financial fair play rules we're better off showing a big loss now so that things like transfer fees for some of the previous signings don't have such a big effect on accounts going forward (by having a dimished level of amortisation), this makes it a lot easier to meet the requirements of those rules, similar to the dodgy sponsorship deals at a few clubs, etc.
I might be totally wrong but I don't think we'll know for sure until this seasons result are published, that said I'd guess the wages are now considered to be in order so as people like heskey and dunne leave hopefully we'll have more to play with. Use those wages sensibly to pay 3-4 players on 30k and we're looking at a potentially stronger squad without any additional outlay (other than fees, which means this is backed up by the idea of bosmans and 1-2 purchases).
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I'm not convinced by the logic of signing Bosman when we've struggled for so long because we paid too high wages.
Bosman's are always paid top whack as they have all the leverage (no fee etc). If they come off then obviously it is fine but my hunch is that a Bosman is more likely to be mercenary types. Besides if the signing does not work out, all the other players will be wanting comparable wages.
Personally, I'd prefer a squad of hungry (young) players on low wages looking to improve together. The cream will rise to the top based on their consistent performances. Whereas Bosman get the BIG wages before they've proved anything which I think is a dangerous and potential divisive in a team environment.
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Yep, if you're a Bosman it's likely to be because your current club doesn't want you anymore, or you/your agent has deliberately let your contract run down so you can get a free transfer.
I'm not sure either option is the greatest.
Come to think of it, I can't recall that many fantastic Bosman signings.
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Although I haven't read it all the facts and figures make very interesting reading. If I'm reading it right, basically O'Neill was allowed to quadruple the wage bill in 4 years. Which would have been fine had they been bums on seats signings that sold tickets and shirts, leading to a corresponding jump in turnover. But since they were largely overpaid journeymen it was asking for trouble.
Where the guy lets himslef down is describing Houllier's reign as an umitigated disaster. First off, finishing 9th is not a disaster, and secondly there is plenty of "mitigation" such as the shite he was left to clear up by O'Neill, a distinctly less talented squad than their cost would suggest, selfish players undermining him, the worst injury crisis in many a year, and heart trouble. It was GHs sigings in January that went a long way to us avoiding the drop last season.
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Newcastle released their figures today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/newcastle-united-losses-fall
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Although I haven't read it all the facts and figures make very interesting reading. If I'm reading it right, basically O'Neill was allowed to quadruple the wage bill in 4 years. Which would have been fine had they been bums on seats signings that sold tickets and shirts, leading to a corresponding jump in turnover. But since they were largely overpaid journeymen it was asking for trouble.
Where the guy lets himslef down is describing Houllier's reign as an umitigated disaster. First off, finishing 9th is not a disaster, and secondly there is plenty of "mitigation" such as the shite he was left to clear up by O'Neill, a distinctly less talented squad than their cost would suggest, selfish players undermining him, the worst injury crisis in many a year, and heart trouble. It was GHs sigings in January that went a long way to us avoiding the drop last season.
A good summation I'd say...
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Newcastle released their figures today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/newcastle-united-losses-fall
...considering how well they're doing in the league this season you'd expect them to be well in the black by the post next years figures...
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Newcastle released their figures today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/newcastle-united-losses-fall
Sadly that suggests Newcastle are another team we wont be able to compete with for the next few years.
I don't get it though - it seems that us sending them down the other year and expecting them to impload because of all the silly contracts they couldn't get out of actually had the opposite effect and has done them the world of good.
I wish I knew how they did it.
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Newcastle released their figures today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/newcastle-united-losses-fall
Sadly that suggests Newcastle are another team we wont be able to compete with for the next few years.
I don't get it though - it seems that us sending them down the other year and expecting them to impload because of all the silly contracts they couldn't get out of actually had the opposite effect and has done them the world of good.
I wish I knew how they did it.
Not just that, two years ago Ashley looked like the biggest joke of an owner a club could have, even taking into account the porno 3 and the Venkeys. And Randy looked like one of the best. Amazing how quickly things can change.
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This is just the type of thing that has made me lose my interest in the game. Football, and Villa, is not a spread sheet of figures.
Or maybe it is!
I've just read a comment saying Randy should "finally put his hand in his pocket" and calling for more investment because "We can't go on like this." Somewhere along the line a belief has developed which in its most simplistic form holds that we should always be at the top of the league and as soon as we aren't the owner, whoever he might be, should give the club away to someone who will again spend enough to make sure we return the re.
I wouldn't say many fans believe that Dave. I reckon most would recognise that Randy has pumped more than enough money in, but that he's badly mismanaged the way it's been spent. And now we're all having to pay the price for that mismanagement. I reckon a more widely held view, supported by comments here, is irritation and frustration that there is little sign of him bringing in people with football knowledge and connections that most would accept the club desperately needs. And meanwhile we're having to endure McLeish's nightmare vision of what football should be about, and there's no indication of whether the spending shackles will ever be lifted or if mediocrity is to be the limit of our ambition. Surrounding yourself with your bestest mates regardless of their ability (or lack thereof) doesn't sound like the best of business models to many observers.
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Newcastle released their figures today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/newcastle-united-losses-fall
Sadly that suggests Newcastle are another team we wont be able to compete with for the next few years.
I don't get it though - it seems that us sending them down the other year and expecting them to impload because of all the silly contracts they couldn't get out of actually had the opposite effect and has done them the world of good.
I wish I knew how they did it.
From that article:
"Mike Ashley continues to provide loans totalling £140m interest-free, for which we are extraordinarily fortunate."
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This is just the type of thing that has made me lose my interest in the game. Football, and Villa, is not a spread sheet of figures.
Or maybe it is!
I've just read a comment saying Randy should "finally put his hand in his pocket" and calling for more investment because "We can't go on like this." Somewhere along the line a belief has developed which in its most simplistic form holds that we should always be at the top of the league and as soon as we aren't the owner, whoever he might be, should give the club away to someone who will again spend enough to make sure we return the re.
I wouldn't say many fans believe that Dave. I reckon most would recognise that Randy has pumped more than enough money in, but that he's badly mismanaged the way it's been spent. And now we're all having to pay the price for that mismanagement. I reckon a more widely held view, supported by comments here, is irritation and frustration that there is little sign of him bringing in people with football knowledge and connections that most would accept the club desperately needs. And meanwhile we're having to endure McLeish's nightmare vision of what football should be about, and there's no indication of whether the spending shackles will ever be lifted or if mediocrity is to be the limit of our ambition. Surrounding yourself with your bestest mates regardless of their ability (or lack thereof) doesn't sound like the best of business models to many observers.
Anyone with any sense would say that, but the internet isn't exactly the best place to find sense.
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Newcastle released their figures today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/newcastle-united-losses-fall
Sadly that suggests Newcastle are another team we wont be able to compete with for the next few years.
I don't get it though - it seems that us sending them down the other year and expecting them to impload because of all the silly contracts they couldn't get out of actually had the opposite effect and has done them the world of good.
I wish I knew how they did it.
Not just that, two years ago Ashley looked like the biggest joke of an owner a club could have, even taking into account the porno 3 and the Venkeys. And Randy looked like one of the best. Amazing how quickly things can change.
I bet they didn't think much of Mike Ashley when they got relegated recently, though. Or when they sold Caroll, either.
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This is just the type of thing that has made me lose my interest in the game. Football, and Villa, is not a spread sheet of figures.
Or maybe it is!
I've just read a comment saying Randy should "finally put his hand in his pocket" and calling for more investment because "We can't go on like this." Somewhere along the line a belief has developed which in its most simplistic form holds that we should always be at the top of the league and as soon as we aren't the owner, whoever he might be, should give the club away to someone who will again spend enough to make sure we return the re.
I wouldn't say many fans believe that Dave. I reckon most would recognise that Randy has pumped more than enough money in, but that he's badly mismanaged the way it's been spent. And now we're all having to pay the price for that mismanagement. I reckon a more widely held view, supported by comments here, is irritation and frustration that there is little sign of him bringing in people with football knowledge and connections that most would accept the club desperately needs. And meanwhile we're having to endure McLeish's nightmare vision of what football should be about, and there's no indication of whether the spending shackles will ever be lifted or if mediocrity is to be the limit of our ambition. Surrounding yourself with your bestest mates regardless of their ability (or lack thereof) doesn't sound like the best of business models to many observers.
Anyone with any sense would say that, but the internet isn't exactly the best place to find sense.
I think most sensible fans respect the amount of money RL has put into the club. However, if he had had a greater grasp of the EPL with a more hands on role in the day-to-day running of the club, this could have led to the transfer funds being spread out over a few more seasons rather than all under MONs tenure, or at least queries being made about some of the transfer targets and salaries paid.
That said, we fans weren't complaining that much at the time I suppose.
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Bloody hell, that took a while to digest, good article though. Must have taken him days to do that...
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The problem isn't the money he has or has not thrown at the club, it is the fact that he's run the club so badly, that a great deal of it was allowed to go to waste.
It looks like he trusted MON far too much, which has resulted in the big money paid for, and big contracts handed to, what were largely (not entirely, largely) mediocre players.
It was nice when we were spending big money, but had we known it was truly "shit or bust" as it turns out, I suspect most of us would have been a bit more circumspect about it.
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I think most sensible fans respect the amount of money RL has put into the club. However, if he had had a greater grasp of the EPL with a more hands on role in the day-to-day running of the club, this could have led to the transfer funds being spread out over a few more seasons rather than all under MONs tenure, or at least queries being made about some of the transfer targets and salaries paid.
That said, we fans weren't complaining that much at the time I suppose.
And there, I believe, lies the crux of the matter. We didn't know the full cost of the transfers, and while it's easy with hindsight to say they shouldn't have been sanctioned, look what happened the first time O'Neill was told to rein in his spending. You can't blame Randy for sanctioning the kid in a sweetshop approach then say it's his fault the manager left.
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I agree with the above, Randy's main fault was letting MON have too much of a say on what went on, spending, wages etc etc, it's now came back to haunt him. Heindsight is a wonderful thing though, but most of us could see that some of the toss MON was buying at the time wouldn't work out. We knew Knight wouldn't get any better, we knew Harewood wouldn't turn into a Premier League striker, and we certainly knew that Heskey was past it and wasn't worth a 3 year deal on about £3mil a year, shame Lerner didn't know any better at the time...
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I'm probably bitter and twisted but I firmly blame the kid in the sweetshop for a lot of this, did he (MON) really think that the average players on huge wages was going to get us to the promise land? I never beleived it, no matter how close we/he thoguht we was.
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You can't blame Randy for sanctioning the kid in a sweetshop approach then say it's his fault the manager left.
I detest O'Neill, but imagine you're given free rein on comings and goings with money seemingly no object, for 4 years you've been left completely alone to run the playing side as you see fit.
Then suddenly you're told to cut back with no warning what so ever.
I'm not saying O'Neill is blameless, but it was abject stupidity for Lerner to administer a hands off approach for so long.
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You can't blame Randy for sanctioning the kid in a sweetshop approach then say it's his fault the manager left.
I detest O'Neill, but imagine you're given free rein on comings and goings with money seemingly no object, for 4 years you've been left completely alone to run the playing side as you see fit.
Then suddenly you're told to cut back with no warning what so ever.
I'm not saying O'Neill is blameless, but it was abject stupidity for Lerner to administer a hands off approach for so long.
We don't know what warning was given, and after years of an interfering chairman always failing to make the final backing available I don't suppose we'd have been too happy to see what appeared to be history repeating itself.
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It's all a bit ironic considering Randy's trade is in the financial sector...
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That article reveals an absoloute disaster in terms of financial management.
To invest that amount of money and to end up in worse position than when you made the investment is damning.
It has been stated that there was no 5 year plan and this shows it. Failling to Plan is Planning to Fail. So we are left with a manger that no one wants and still a squad of over paid under performing players and this will continue to drive revenues down. Its called the law of diminishing returns and happens when a business has compounded bad decision with more bad decisions. This is a real mess.
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It is an excellent article and to summarise:
'Aston Villa are going nowhere for the foreseeable future. Mr. Lerner has invested unwisely in the club he owns and if he left we are f**ked. Complete lack of leadership both on and off the field compounds the current plight. Nothing good to report for a long while.'
Great.
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we are left with a manger that no one wants ...
Easily said, but RL wants him.