Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: TopDeck113 on April 15, 2012, 09:24:01 PM
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I'm sitting at Old Trafford this afternoon watching the all too predictable defeat under the incompetence of McLeish, wondering whether we can scrape together the couple of victories that will prolong the agony of another season in the top flight under his "leadership" and knowing that next week will see many people getting hot under the collar about the return of one MON. The thought - not for the first time in the last eighteen months or so - came to me: where did it all go wrong?
And not for the first time the answer that keeps coming back to me is it was when we all allowed Randy Lerner to pull the wool over our collective eyes that he was the best foreign owner there was and we were in the safe hands of someone whose sole interest was the best interests of AVFC.
Now is probably not the time - we've got matches we have to win - but I've had it with an absentee landlord and his tweedle dumb and tweedle dee Chief Exec and managerial appointments. For the sake of the future of our club, not just this season or next season, but for the next decade we need not to campaign for a change of manager but for a change of owner.
I'll stick my head above the parapet: Lerner out!
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Lerner is the Gordon Brown of football.
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It is time to shit or get off the pot.
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I admire your bravery for calling it, but I can't see it happening. The very least we deserve, however, is a glimpse of the bloke at VP now and then as a sign that he gives a shit, because to all intents and purposes it doesn't look like he does. Additionally, he could do with stepping from behind his ginger mouthpiece and saying a word or two as well.
Oh, and a tattoo on your ankle doesn't cut it either to be fair.
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You're right, but expect a slew of "how many oil sheikhs are lining up to buy the club" type posts anyway. The fact that all 14 of the clubs ahead of us aren't owned by arabs seemingly escaping some people.
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The ery least we deserve, however, is a glimpse of the bloke at VP now and then as a sign that he gives a shit, because to all intents and purposes it doesn't look like he does
I agree
Doug managed to drag his octagenarian self to Manchester today. Randy needs to realise his responsibilities or he can fuck right off and take his ginger gimp with him.
I feel like him and the General have taken us all for mugs.
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I blame him too, he's worse than Doug, all the early promise has gone, only problem is who's goin to buy us?
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I cannot believe it's taken this long for a thread like this. Lerner was starting to look like the 'Teflon owner', nothing seemed to stick to him.
I still have sympathy with McLeish. I want him out but he should never have been appointed in the first place. What a statement of ambition? Going to your relegated neighbours for a manager who has not proved himself at this level, then selling off your best players.
That so many villa fans have started looking back admiringly on the Ellis period speaks volumes. I won't call for Lerner out just yet, but he had better pull his socks up and clean up the mess that he has made of Aston Villa over the past 18 months.
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You're right, but expect a slew of "how many oil sheikhs are lining up to buy the club" type posts anyway. The fact that all 14 of the clubs ahead of us aren't owned by arabs seemingly escaping some people.
It doesn't need to be a sheik. But it does still need to be a friendly chap happy to throw £100m in to buy us and presumably more to do a better job than the current lot are.
Sheiks or not, there still aren't many people who are going to want to do that.
I'd rather Lerner stay and just start being a bit more sensible. Not that I'm holding my breath.
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I don't think Lerner would get £100m. Our net worth is less than when Ellis sold.
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You're right, but expect a slew of "how many oil sheikhs are lining up to buy the club" type posts anyway. The fact that all 14 of the clubs ahead of us aren't owned by arabs seemingly escaping some people.
It doesn't need to be a sheik. But it does still need to be a friendly chap happy to throw £100m in to buy us and presumably more to do a better job than the current lot are.
Sheiks or not, there still aren't many people who are going to want to do that.
I'd rather Lerner stay and just start being a bit more sensible. Not that I'm holding my breath.
i agree,
this whole sorry mess can be sorted out with the appointment of a new manager, who if they get it right can change the whole atmosphere at VP in no time
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You're right, but expect a slew of "how many oil sheikhs are lining up to buy the club" type posts anyway. The fact that all 14 of the clubs ahead of us aren't owned by arabs seemingly escaping some people.
It doesn't need to be a sheik. But it does still need to be a friendly chap happy to throw £100m in to buy us and presumably more to do a better job than the current lot are.
Sheiks or not, there still aren't many people who are going to want to do that.
I'd rather Lerner stay and just start being a bit more sensible. Not that I'm holding my breath.
i agree,
this whole sorry mess can be sorted out with the appointment of a new manager, who if they get it right can change the whole atmosphere at VP in no time
This. I hold Lerner more culpable than McLeish but at the end of the day you have to hope that he can learn lessons from the McLeish debacle.
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You're right, but expect a slew of "how many oil sheikhs are lining up to buy the club" type posts anyway. The fact that all 14 of the clubs ahead of us aren't owned by arabs seemingly escaping some people.
It doesn't need to be a sheik. But it does still need to be a friendly chap happy to throw £100m in to buy us and presumably more to do a better job than the current lot are.
Sheiks or not, there still aren't many people who are going to want to do that.
I'd rather Lerner stay and just start being a bit more sensible. Not that I'm holding my breath.
DONT HOLD YOUR BREATH TO LONG.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
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Proud History...seems a while ago now. We need to find some direction again.
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It's 2 bad seasons and appointing a terrible terrible manager that we all knew would be terrible, well everyone except Randy
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It's 2 bad seasons and appointing a terrible terrible manager that we all knew would be terrible, well everyone except Randy
I wouldn't call ninth last season after everything that happened particularly bad.
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He's made mistakes but who doesn't, he's surrounded himself with people who don't look up to the job, it will take him realising that before we can move forward.
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I'm sure Randy is oblivious to the "abuse." I'm sure he hardly sits around looking at HandV every night, worrying that someone has called him an idiot. And he doesn't go to games any more, so he won't hear anything there.
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It's 2 bad seasons and appointing a terrible terrible manager that we all knew would be terrible, well everyone except Randy
I wouldn't call ninth last season after everything that happened particularly bad.
When we need leadership he's not there. There's a whole malaise about the place and he made a truly atrocious managerial appointment. I'm not saying he should go (if you read my post), but to say people are questioning him only because we've had a bad season is simplistic. There's a whole variety of reasons why supporters are annoyed. There's absolutely no indicator that we're even trying to compete or have a vision any more.
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It's 2 bad seasons and appointing a terrible terrible manager that we all knew would be terrible, well everyone except Randy
I wouldn't call ninth last season after everything that happened particularly bad.
I believe if we hadn't brought Bent we'd have been relegated, watch the season review, up until Jan it was appalling
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Lerner is not fit to own Aston Villa.
His people placed a banner on the Holte End stating rather patronisingly "Aston Villa the Obsession".
Yet he seems to think he can hide away in the States not explaining or communicating anything while we watch our "obsession" go down the tubes.
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It's 2 bad seasons and appointing a terrible terrible manager that we all knew would be terrible, well everyone except Randy
I wouldn't call ninth last season after everything that happened particularly bad.
I believe if we hadn't brought Bent we'd have been relegated, watch the season review, up until Jan it was appalling
And after Jan it was top six.
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I was reading an article yesterday about the Liverpool owners not attending their semi final at Wembley and I thought to myself....what a disgrace it was.
Then it suddenly dawned on me that that's exactly what our owner has been doing all season with the exception of a couple of cameo appearences.
We are a rudderless ship...lacking direction, purpose and any sense of togetherness.
Compare the frustration and anger at VP currently with the sense of belonging and almost family values that Kenwright has established at Everton by always being there, visible, approachable and taking a leadership role.......even though they are skint and their house is falling down......I know which situation I would prefer
Let's all be in it together Randy....... as together we are stronger....divided we fall
VTID
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It's 2 bad seasons and appointing a terrible terrible manager that we all knew would be terrible, well everyone except Randy
I wouldn't call ninth last season after everything that happened particularly bad.
I believe if we hadn't brought Bent we'd have been relegated, watch the season review, up until Jan it was appalling
And after Jan it was top six.
It was better but not that good
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It actually got better when mcallister took over
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Lerner is not fit to own Aston Villa.
His people placed a banner on the Holte End stating rather patronisingly "Aston Villa the Obsession".
Yet he seems to think he can hide away in the States not explaining or communicating anything while we watch our "obsession" go down the tubes.
The banners on the Holte and North Stand have all been made and paid for by fans.
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It actually got better when mcallister took over
Let's see if he fancies the job. Gotta be better than the clown we have now.
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It actually got better when mcallister took over
Let's see if he fancies the job. Gotta be better than the clown we have now.
And if he's not, we can all carry on with the hilarious McInsult motif.
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Lerner is not fit to own Aston Villa.
His people placed a banner on the Holte End stating rather patronisingly "Aston Villa the Obsession".
Yet he seems to think he can hide away in the States not explaining or communicating anything while we watch our "obsession" go down the tubes.
The banners on the Holte and North Stand have all been made and paid for by fans.
I'm surprised at that. The "1874 a good year for football" banner doesn't even make sense.
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It actually got better when mcallister took over
Perhaps he was our Pardew, and we just couldn't see it?
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I wouldn't say Randy has made two terrible managerial appointment. The first was a risky, but could have worked out in the long run if Houllier hadn't gotten ill. The second was inexpicably poor. Actually, allthough not ideal, keeping McAllister with Houllier in some kind of DoF role would have been better (and cheaper) than appointing McLeish.
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I dont want an absentee owner and I dont want Aston Villa owned by one individual - we have never had this before.
I feel more alienated and detached from my club than with the old duffers running the show up to 1968. At least they had some connection with the club and were to some extent visible, they even issued statements about the club on occasion. They may have been the misguided spoutings of old men stuck 30 years in the past but at least they said something !
I guess its unrealistic to hope we could ever go back to be a club with shareholders, but at least lets have someone who is here and says something !
LERNER OUT.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
Two.
It isn't about a bad season or two, though. It's about this one looking like our worst since Sky invented football, plus a whole slew of other statistics which point to just how poor we are.
I don't get it. He spent lots of money for four years, then when the must-control-everything manager walked out and shat on us, he conspired to manage things so poorly that the level of hopelessness right now equals that in the last summer of Doug (and no two ways about it, it does), and the manager who walked out looks vindicated.
There's also a lingering bad taste from four years of solid marketing exercises and dialogue with fans, telling us how important it was to hear what we had to say, which disappeared overnight when things started to go a bit pear shaped. It's really hard not to be cynical when you look at that course of events.
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It actually got better when mcallister took over
This.
It has been two poor seasons. And to appoint someone that many of the support simply would not take to unless he brought in silverwear, at the same time he was clearly cutting back and relying on youth, was lunacy.
We've won four at home all season, need an incredible turn in our home form just to match the number of home wins when we were relegated in 1987, and it is making for an absolutely horrible atmosphere at VP these days.
I simply do not expect us to win at home to Sunderland or Bolton over the next week or so. I cannot remember a time in 28 years of watching Villa when I've NOT believed us capable of beating the likes of Sunderland or Bolton at home.
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I dont want an absentee owner and I dont want Aston Villa owned by one individual - we have never had this before.
I feel more alienated and detached from my club than with the old duffers running the show up to 1968. At least they had some connection with the club and were to some extent visible, they even issued statements about the club on occasion. They may have been the misguided spoutings of old men stuck 30 years in the past but at least they said something !
I guess its unrealistic to hope we could ever go back to be a club with shareholders, but at least lets have someone who is here and says something !LERNER OUT.
Agree with that. He needs a "football" person on board who can also bridge the chasm that seems to have formed between the club's heirarchy and the fans. His wall of silence method is becoming tiresome and he needs to speak to the fans, even it through someone else. In my opinion Ian Taylor would be the ideal candidate for that type of role.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
One bad season? Yes, that's all it is, a mere blip, and next season everything will no doubt be hunkydory. We've sold our best players, we've got an embarrassment for a manager, and the finances are beyond appalling. But yes, people are just upset because "it's one bad season". Christ.
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Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.
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Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.
Other people amaze me that they can't seem to accept that some people might have a different opinion to themselves.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
One bad season? Yes, that's all it is, a mere blip, and next season everything will no doubt be hunkydory. We've sold our best players, we've got an embarrassment for a manager, and the finances are beyond appalling. But yes, people are just upset because "it's one bad season". Christ.
Yes, one bad season. Not two, or three. One.
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To lose £70million and turn us into relegation candidates takes some doing.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
One bad season? Yes, that's all it is, a mere blip, and next season everything will no doubt be hunkydory. We've sold our best players, we've got an embarrassment for a manager, and the finances are beyond appalling. But yes, people are just upset because "it's one bad season". Christ.
Yes, one bad season. Not two, or three. One.
You know that old joke about people asking if H&V is the match programme? Why don't you just go the whole hog and change the name?
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Last season was great, i forgot about the mutiny, Anfield, the surrender at Citeh and flirting with relegation for months.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
Two.
It isn't about a bad season or two, though. It's about this one looking like our worst since Sky invented football, plus a whole slew of other statistics which point to just how poor we are.
I don't get it. He spent lots of money for four years, then when the must-control-everything manager walked out and shat on us, he conspired to manage things so poorly that the level of hopelessness right now equals that in the last summer of Doug (and no two ways about it, it does), and the manager who walked out looks vindicated.
There's also a lingering bad taste from four years of solid marketing exercises and dialogue with fans, telling us how important it was to hear what we had to say, which disappeared overnight when things started to go a bit pear shaped. It's really hard not to be cynical when you look at that course of events.
That's partly what I mean. We had four good seasons when he was the perfect owner, one when everything that could go wrong did, usually more than once, and this season, which has been awful. I'd rather encourage Randy to get back to the visionary days of 2006-10 than rave hysterically about how he should fuckofflernerthevillaisours.
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Good one, Risso
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To answer the question - is it time for Randy to go - go where?
You can't demand an owner "go" like you can a manager. The owner can only pass on ownership if there is someone willing to buy the club off him at terms he'll accept.
There may not be anyone waiting to buy (and, seeing how much financial shit we are in, who can blame them?)
What i want as regards McLeish is for him to go.
What I want as regards Lerner is to appoint people who know how to run a football business. He doesn't have to throw vast amounts of money at the club.
The thing I want him to do above all else is to stop making piss poor decisions.
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Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.
Why don't we have one moaning and whingeing thread? It would be much easier to follow.
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
One bad season? Yes, that's all it is, a mere blip, and next season everything will no doubt be hunkydory. We've sold our best players, we've got an embarrassment for a manager, and the finances are beyond appalling. But yes, people are just upset because "it's one bad season". Christ.
Yes, one bad season. Not two, or three. One.
You know that old joke about people asking if H&V is the match programme? Why don't you just go the whole hog and change the name?
You really can't handle anyone disagreeing with you can you?
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Good one, Risso
And why might that be?
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Last year i worked out that Carson Yeung and Randy Lerner attended 26 games between them.
This year it's been 2, and in fairness Yeung has an excuse... he has no passport
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If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?
Two.
It isn't about a bad season or two, though. It's about this one looking like our worst since Sky invented football, plus a whole slew of other statistics which point to just how poor we are.
I don't get it. He spent lots of money for four years, then when the must-control-everything manager walked out and shat on us, he conspired to manage things so poorly that the level of hopelessness right now equals that in the last summer of Doug (and no two ways about it, it does), and the manager who walked out looks vindicated.
There's also a lingering bad taste from four years of solid marketing exercises and dialogue with fans, telling us how important it was to hear what we had to say, which disappeared overnight when things started to go a bit pear shaped. It's really hard not to be cynical when you look at that course of events.
That's partly what I mean. We had four good seasons when he was the prefect owner, one when everything that could go wrong did, usually more than once, and this season, which has been awful. I'd rather encourage Randy to get back to the visionary days of 2006-10 than rave hysterically about how he should fuckofflernerthevillaisours.
The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.
When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.
Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.
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The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.
When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.
Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.
I think a lot of it was to do with when you're on a roll, all pulling together, things generate themselves. He left, the momentum stopped rolling...
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
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The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.
When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.
Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.
I think a lot of it was to do with when you're on a roll, all pulling together, things generate themselves. He left, the momentum stopped rolling...
My worry is, how do we get it going again. There seems no prospect of anyone giving us a shove in the right direction again.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
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The only thing 'visionary' about Lerner's first four years was chucking so much money at O'Neill that even he couldn't fail to produce a half decent team. The main reason we're in this mess is that spending £10m in fees and wages on the likes of Marlon Harewood, and then wasting further exorbitant sums on the other chaff that O'Neill bought like Curtis Davies and Steve Sidwell is OK if you have a bottomless pit of money, but isn't if you haven't. Failure to set reasonable constraints for O'Neill wasn't 'visionary' it was stupidity and bad business practice of the highest order.
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I think Randy can salvage this situation if he sacks McLeish and brings in an experienced football man to deal with the football side of things like managerial appointments, contracts etc. Leave Faulkner to marketing or whatever. If we get the right manager in once June comes around I reckon we can bounce back really strongly next year.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
Steve Stride would do nicely.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
There has to be many people who could do the role, they don't have to be a Villa man. Just a decent knowledge of football would help them with a lot of things.
Would Randy even look for someone though, or would it be an admission that he, and the board, are struggling a bit? Not knowing him I have no idea if he would be too stubborn or proud to do it.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
I think it is also too easy to point at someone who clearly loves the club and assume they'd be the man. Ian Taylor is a Villa fan who played for the club, and does a bit of meet and greet. Like you said, how does that transfer to the skillset he'd need?
Also, there's always the question f whether people mentioned would even want to do the job. Martin Laursen is a good example of that. Perhaps he likes doing a bit of media work and seeing his family?
It is too easy to go for the sentimental option, although I understand the thinking, when what we need are cold hard business decisions.
I'd rather have a tough, cold bastard who had no prior attachment to the club, but who'd do a fucking good job.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
Steve Stride would do nicely.
If ever history has treated someone well... Seriously though, he's in his sixties now and I think he enjoys retirement and his part-time job with UEFA a bit too much.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
Cherie Lunghi or Margaret Thatcher would be my choice.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
Cherie Lunghi or Margaret Thatcher would be my choice.
Cherie would by choice. Nothing to do with football mind.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
I think it is also too easy to point at someone who clearly loves the club and assume they'd be the man. Ian Taylor is a Villa fan who played for the club, and does a bit of meet and greet. Like you said, how does that transfer to the skillset he'd need?
Also, there's always the question f whether people mentioned would even want to do the job. Martin Laursen is a good example of that. Perhaps he likes doing a bit of media work and seeing his family?
It is too easy to go for the sentimental option, although I understand the thinking, when what we need are cold hard business decisions.
I'd rather have a tough, cold bastard who had no prior attachment to the club, but who'd do a fucking good job.
That's always been our problem. We've had too may Villa people working for us. Now we have too many Randy people. Was it you who said Houllier gave the impression of being a consultant, here to fix a problem with no company loyalty or feeling for any other department?
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The club needs a shake up from top to bottom. Appointing a decent administrator like Stride wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to the overall running of the club.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
Steve Stride would do nicely.
If ever history has treated someone well... Seriously though, he's in his sixties now and I think he enjoys retirement and his part-time job with UEFA a bit too much.
I'm sure Stride would have talked Lerner out of employing McLeish as our manager. He may have had faults, but by Christ he wouldn't have let that numpty anywhere near our football club.
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This get a good football man in is hokum, you need a good CEO, someone who can appoint the right people Head Scout, 1st Team Manager and so on, most football people know nothing about running organisations.
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I'm sure Stride would have talked Lerner out of employing McLeish as our manager. He may have had faults, but by Christ he wouldn't have let that numpty anywhere near our football club.
I get the impression - and I may be wrong - that being overruled one or two decisions in particular might have led to his departure. But that's only guesswork.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
I think it is also too easy to point at someone who clearly loves the club and assume they'd be the man. Ian Taylor is a Villa fan who played for the club, and does a bit of meet and greet. Like you said, how does that transfer to the skillset he'd need?
Also, there's always the question f whether people mentioned would even want to do the job. Martin Laursen is a good example of that. Perhaps he likes doing a bit of media work and seeing his family?
It is too easy to go for the sentimental option, although I understand the thinking, when what we need are cold hard business decisions.
I'd rather have a tough, cold bastard who had no prior attachment to the club, but who'd do a fucking good job.
That's always been our problem. We've had too may Villa people working for us. Now we have too many Randy people. Was it you who said Houllier gave the impression of being a consultant, here to fix a problem with no company loyalty or feeling for any other department?
No that was me
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The club needs a shake up from top to bottom. Appointing a decent administrator like Stride wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to the overall running of the club.
As I've just said though, I'm absolutely positive Stride would have made it his mission in life to prevent Villa from employing McLeish.
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That's always been our problem. We've had too may Villa people working for us. Now we have too many Randy people. Was it you who said Houllier gave the impression of being a consultant, here to fix a problem with no company loyalty or feeling for any other department?
No that was me
There was probably a lot of truth in it. His biggest problem was trying to do things too quickly.
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This get a good football man in is hokum, you need a good CEO, someone who can appoint the right people Head Scout, 1st Team Manager and so on, most football people know nothing about running organisations.
THis all goes back to O'Neill. When you take over a business in a field you know nothing about, you need to employ people who know what they're doing. Lerner inherited O'Neill on Ellis's recommendation, and at first having an old fashioned manager who looked like he'd run most aspects of the football side must have been a weight off Lerner's shoulders. It became increasingly obvious though, that without anybody at all putting the brakes on O'Neill's ego, that Lerner was effectively just signing away the future of the club and the value of his investment with every blank cheque.
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The club needs a shake up from top to bottom. Appointing a decent administrator like Stride wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to the overall running of the club.
As I've just said though, I'm absolutely positive Stride would have made it his mission in life to prevent Villa from employing McLeish.
And he'd have been ignored.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
I think it is also too easy to point at someone who clearly loves the club and assume they'd be the man. Ian Taylor is a Villa fan who played for the club, and does a bit of meet and greet. Like you said, how does that transfer to the skillset he'd need?
Also, there's always the question f whether people mentioned would even want to do the job. Martin Laursen is a good example of that. Perhaps he likes doing a bit of media work and seeing his family?
It is too easy to go for the sentimental option, although I understand the thinking, when what we need are cold hard business decisions.
I'd rather have a tough, cold bastard who had no prior attachment to the club, but who'd do a fucking good job.
That's always been our problem. We've had too may Villa people working for us. Now we have too many Randy people. Was it you who said Houllier gave the impression of being a consultant, here to fix a problem with no company loyalty or feeling for any other department?
No that was me
And I agree with you here, the best organisations have a disconnect between the Executive and the Shareholders, The Chairman represents the Shareholders the CEO represents the business and is accountable to The Chairman. As soon as these lines get blurred you have problems.
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Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.
Why don't we have one moaning and whingeing thread? It would be much easier to follow.
There is an element of repetition, but clearly many people feel the need to vent their frustration, anger, despair etc. over the clueless manager and owner, the threat of relegation, the lack of direction or apparent plan, the dire football, and many other things that aren't right at the club. If you don't like these threads, why not ignore them? You could always start a "support the manager and owner" thread. Don't get too lonely over there though.
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The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.
When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.
Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.
I think a lot of it was to do with when you're on a roll, all pulling together, things generate themselves. He left, the momentum stopped rolling...
So who created the momentum. Doesn't that point to Paulie being correct.
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This get a good football man in is hokum, you need a good CEO, someone who can appoint the right people Head Scout, 1st Team Manager and so on, most football people know nothing about running organisations.
THis all goes back to O'Neill. When you take over a business in a field you know nothing about, you need to employ people who know what they're doing. Lerner inherited O'Neill on Ellis's recommendation, and at first having an old fashioned manager who looked like he'd run most aspects of the football side must have been a weight off Lerner's shoulders. It became increasingly obvious though, that without anybody at all putting the brakes on O'Neill's ego, that Lerner was effectively just signing away the future of the club and the value of his investment with every blank cheque.
MON is a stronger personality than Faulkner, as soon as Faulkner on Randys instuctions told MON to reign it in a bit they parted company.
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And I agree with you here, the best organisations have a disconnect between the Executive and the Shareholders, The Chairman represents the Shareholders the CEO represents the business and is accountable to The Chairman. As soon as these lines get blurred you have problems.
[/quote]
At the time Randy arrived there seemed too many new staff who were his men rather than Villa (or football) men. The conflict of loyalties was too easy to make. It's possible to see a link between Villa and the Birmingham mayoral debate - two organisations which have lost their way and need to find a focus. They both need one man in executive charge who can see where the problems lie and be able to do something about them.
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I find it odd that people think there won't be anyone to buy the club. We're a Premier League club (for now), with a big stadium and a big fanbase. There's huge potential here, as there was at Man City and we'd be a decent proposition to anyone with deep pockets.
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I find it odd that people think there won't be anyone to buy the club. We're a Premier League club (for now), with a big stadium and a big fanbase. There's huge potential here, as there was at Man City and we'd be a decent proposition to anyone with deep pockets.
You could say the same thing about Everton and they've been on the market for an eternity.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
I think it is also too easy to point at someone who clearly loves the club and assume they'd be the man. Ian Taylor is a Villa fan who played for the club, and does a bit of meet and greet. Like you said, how does that transfer to the skillset he'd need?
Also, there's always the question f whether people mentioned would even want to do the job. Martin Laursen is a good example of that. Perhaps he likes doing a bit of media work and seeing his family?
It is too easy to go for the sentimental option, although I understand the thinking, when what we need are cold hard business decisions.
I'd rather have a tough, cold bastard who had no prior attachment to the club, but who'd do a fucking good job.
Or to put it another way, Karren Brady would probably do a far better job than Faulkner.
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That's always been our problem. We've had too may Villa people working for us. Now we have too many Randy people. Was it you who said Houllier gave the impression of being a consultant, here to fix a problem with no company loyalty or feeling for any other department?
No that was me
There was probably a lot of truth in it. His biggest problem was trying to do things too quickly.
Yes I can see that now, but it goes back to the original problem, RL has a yes man as CEO. If Randy wants to run the club from a distance then he needs to have someone that is capable of making big decisions on his behalf and also disagree with him from time to time. Having seen Faulkner in action he does not exactly come over as a David Dein character, you only need look at his CV to work that out.
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THis all goes back to O'Neill. When you take over a business in a field you know nothing about, you need to employ people who know what they're doing. Lerner inherited O'Neill on Ellis's recommendation, and at first having an old fashioned manager who looked like he'd run most aspects of the football side must have been a weight off Lerner's shoulders. It became increasingly obvious though, that without anybody at all putting the brakes on O'Neill's ego, that Lerner was effectively just signing away the future of the club and the value of his investment with every blank cheque.
I remember an article from the takeover days, when Randy siad he wanted to have some fun (I've searched in vain for it alas). The above scenario fits perfectly into this situation where they seemed to beleive that applying some basic business practices (mostly marketing) to a football club would achive great things. Which it may have if O'Neill had been even a slightly better manager and sneaked us into the top 4 in the third season.
But he wasn't and the whole thing fell apart, partly because, as you say, Randy didn't apply all of the basic business practices, like keeping an eye on the budgets and maintaining proper controls over the one man who controlled everything but the money.
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The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.
When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.
Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.
I think a lot of it was to do with when you're on a roll, all pulling together, things generate themselves. He left, the momentum stopped rolling...
So who created the momentum. Doesn't that point to Paulie being correct.
The thing is though things weren't really going that well 06-10, they only appeared to be. As I said on the other thread, while all looked okay, O'Neill was quietly being allowed to lead the club into severe financial difficulties during that period. We are where we are now because of that profligacy and lack of control as much the owner and his cohorts floundering since MON walked out.
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There's probably half a good board at Villa. The marketing and customer care sides seem fine (and if anyone doesn't think so, try comparing our approach with any other Premier League club) but the footballing side has lacked a focus for two years. Maybe Judas should have been the DoF we talk about.
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Then again, why shouldn't Brady be a very good football CEO? She's got the experience.
It is interesting that Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which suggests the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Maybe that was Lerner's first, big, and long lasting mistake - to allow the manager to be so utterly in control. The wage bill suggests it was. It's admirable that he recognised this wasn't going to work when the manager refused to do anything about that wage bill. I dont blame him for that.
The problem is that, having established what looks like a more formal operating structure, and having lost the megalomaniacal manager, they then made such a gigantic pigs ear of the first big decisions they had to make on their own that they've effectively thrown away all the progress they'd made.
Randy can still pull it around, I think, if he bins this manager. I think that, contrary to a lot of what people say here, they'll give him another go to get it right if he admits it was a bad appointment, and does something about it. The worst thing he could do would be to bury his head in the sand and just plough on.
If you look at it from a purely business point of view, it's very hard to say he's done a good job of it. He's invested a stack of money, we're losing lots of money, we're roughly where we were when he arrived table-wise, we've got a ridiculously weak squad, and the club feels disunited.
If we feel that suicidal about it, then he, with it being his money, should - must - feel really compelled to do something to turn things around. Let's hope he does, and let's hope it works.
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It is interesting that with MON, Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which raises the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Just those two. Cunnah was a strange one - he arrived seemingly with some sort of remit to re-build the ground, him coming led to FitzG leaving, but he was never formally CEO and left soon after.
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And I agree with you here, the best organisations have a disconnect between the Executive and the Shareholders, The Chairman represents the Shareholders the CEO represents the business and is accountable to The Chairman. As soon as these lines get blurred you have problems.
At the time Randy arrived there seemed too many new staff who were his men rather than Villa (or football) men. The conflict of loyalties was too easy to make. It's possible to see a link between Villa and the Birmingham mayoral debate - two organisations which have lost their way and need to find a focus. They both need one man in executive charge who can see where the problems lie and be able to do something about them.
[/quote]Exactly, i have spent a lot of my working life dealing with the aftermath of failure in this area, the technical term is Corporate Governance. It seems pretty obvious that the right structure was never put in place.
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It is interesting that with MON, Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which raises the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Just those two. Cunnah was a strange one - he arrived seemingly with some sort of remit to re-build the ground, him coming led to FitzG leaving, but he was never formally CEO and left soon after.
FitzGerald left as he couldn't work with MON - that's something I've heard from as close to the horse's mouth as you can get.
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It is interesting that with MON, Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which raises the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Just those two. Cunnah was a strange one - he arrived seemingly with some sort of remit to re-build the ground, him coming led to FitzG leaving, but he was never formally CEO and left soon after.
FitzGerald left as he couldn't work with MON - that's something I've heard from as close to the horse's mouth as you can get.
FitzG and O'Neill obviously didn't get on, but it seems the ultimate catalyst was Cunnah. That's what Charles Sale says and he writes for the Daily Mail so he should know.
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Then again, why shouldn't Brady be a very good football CEO? She's got the experience.
It is interesting that Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which suggests the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Maybe that was Lerner's first, big, and long lasting mistake - to allow the manager to be so utterly in control. The wage bill suggests it was. It's admirable that he recognised this wasn't going to work when the manager refused to do anything about that wage bill. I dont blame him for that.
The problem is that, having established what looks like a more formal operating structure, and having lost the megalomaniacal manager, they then made such a gigantic pigs ear of the first big decisions they had to make on their own that they've effectively thrown away all the progress they'd made.
Randy can still pull it around, I think, if he bins this manager. I think that, contrary to a lot of what people say here, they'll give him another go to get it right if he admits it was a bad appointment, and does something about it. The worst thing he could do would be to bury his head in the sand and just plough on.
If you look at it from a purely business point of view, it's very hard to say he's done a good job of it. He's invested a stack of money, we're losing lots of money, we're roughly where we were when he arrived table-wise, we've got a ridiculously weak squad, and the club feels disunited.
If we feel that suicidal about it, then he, with it being his money, should - must - feel really compelled to do something to turn things around. Let's hope he does, and let's hope it works.
It seems to point to the fact that all the big decisions have been made by RL, you either have a CEO or you are the CEO, Randys mistake would appear to be that he has tried to get half pregnant.
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I am in Cleaveland at the moment - today after listening to the ginger twat comments after the game I went outside my hotel to have a fag & calm down. As I am puffing away I look across the road at the hospital opposite & see the CLEAVELAND LERNER CLINIC in big letters - I nearly choked! It appears RL is viewed as a good guy in these parts due mainly to the large amount of cash he donates to local causes. Speaking to the locals I did find out a few interesting comments:
The Cleaveland Browns are always sold out for every home game, even when they are doing badly - interesting that if that is RL's experience, he may take a little time to respond to the falling gates at VP.
The local view is that Aston Villa is a very successful club & they are mega pissed as he does not appear to invest in the Browns - I put them straight on that one!
The current manager of the Browns has been there a few seasons, doing a crap job but RL will not sack him.
The expectation of the Browns fans I spoke to was to win 6 & lose 10 games a season would be a good year.
I was advised not to wear my villa top around town as some fans resent the time & money RL spends on AVFC!!
Finally, Cleaveland is a real dump - makes small heath look upmarket. Low expectations & resignation that their team are crap but hold onto the hope of having a good cup run.
If RL stays in control of AVFC, unless there is a massive mind shift from RL - just image the road ahead for our beloved club!
Anybody wanting a Cleaveland Browns top, let me know & I will recommend a good shrink!
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The only way Lerner can turn this around is by scrapping the austerity measures he's placed and getting some people in upstairs with real football knowledge, not to mention a different team Manager, he also needs to rekindle his interest.
As I can't see any of this happening, it's time he looked to sell up.
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It is interesting that with MON, Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which raises the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Just those two. Cunnah was a strange one - he arrived seemingly with some sort of remit to re-build the ground, him coming led to FitzG leaving, but he was never formally CEO and left soon after.
FitzGerald left as he couldn't work with MON - that's something I've heard from as close to the horse's mouth as you can get.
I heard this also from a very close source - also what ever happened to the top guy from IMG - when he came on board i felt that were really going to go places and then out of the blue he left as well
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It is interesting that with MON, Richard FitzGerald and Michael Cunnah (and, in fact, wasn't there another one for a short spell) didn't last long as CEO with MON, which raises the inevitable conclusion that Randy allowed them to walk at the behest of the manager (interesting too to see how Quinn went so quickly after MON's arrival at Sunderland).
Just those two. Cunnah was a strange one - he arrived seemingly with some sort of remit to re-build the ground, him coming led to FitzG leaving, but he was never formally CEO and left soon after.
FitzGerald left as he couldn't work with MON - that's something I've heard from as close to the horse's mouth as you can get.
I heard this also from a very close source - also what ever happened to the top guy from IMG - when he came on board i felt that were really going to go places and then out of the blue he left as well
Family circumstances changed (his wife is a former Olympic skating medalist - I think they had a late child) and he retired to somewhere like Seattle.
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It seems to me that Lerner never learns from his mistakes, and instead of trying to appoint the best possible people to run the club, he surrounds himself with people he is comfortable with. Faulkner clearly isn't CEO material and has been promoted way above his ability. Similarly McLeish was always going to be pliable after being offered an escape route from Blues. We're therefore lumbered with two people who are unlikely to rock the boat, even if they think Lerner is in the wrong. He's gone from one extreme in O'Neill to the other, and it was clearly never going to work, and it hasn't worked.
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Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.
Other people amaze me that they can't seem to accept that some people might have a different opinion to themselves.
Other people amaze me that they are amazed that other people cant seem to accept differing opinions...
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Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.
Other people amaze me that they can't seem to accept that some people might have a different opinion to themselves.
Other people amaze me that they are amazed that other people cant seem to accept differing opinions...
Aw, now I'm confused.
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I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.
They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.
Steve Stride would do nicely.
If ever history has treated someone well... Seriously though, he's in his sixties now and I think he enjoys retirement and his part-time job with UEFA a bit too much.
I'm sure Stride would have talked Lerner out of employing McLeish as our manager. He may have had faults, but by Christ he wouldn't have let that numpty anywhere near our football club.
Can't agree. It was his idea to appoint Gregory and the losses incurred by the club on players he bought were huge, far greater than MON.
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You can't run a Rolls-royce on a budget as you just end up damaging the value of it, so if you can't afford to run one anymore you'd sell it and buy a Kia or something with low running costs. Likewise Lerner needs to decide whether he wants to own Aston Villa and the costs associated with it, or whether he would be better off owning a walsall or wigan where his "asleep behind the wheel" style of ownership would be less noticeable or damaging.
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The club is obviously available to any prospective buyer, unfortunately Lerner has done such a piss poor job his investment in the purchase and now untold debt makes Aston Villa on top of the customer base diminishing by the day does not a it a saleable asset.
The General was hilarious and how many fools feel for such basic commercialism is unreal.
Reality check, Lerner has gambled and lost, we foot the bill of future mediocrity.
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The only way for RL to avoid losing any more money is to run the club into the ground or appoint a fresh new manager. He could also sell up. I really have no idea were the club will be 2 years from now.
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I really have no idea where the club will be 2 years from now.
Nail on head. The worrying thing is that we don't even know if the club do either!
No, it's not time for Randy to go, it's time for him to man up and get a grip of things instead of carrying on like a kid that's fallen out of love with what was once a favourite toy!
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Just watching Bill Kenwright on Coronation Street. I wonder if Randy will be making a cameo appearance on "The Young and the Restless?"
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Usually I would be against fans putting pressure on owners to satisfy their demands, but every man and his dog could see appointing McLeish was going to be a disaster from the get go. We all knew what was coming. I still can't believe how fucking moronic Lerner is. Sorry, we are Aston Villa, we are a club of winners, we are not the Browns who have a losers mentality because they have sucked for so long. We will not become the Browns, we are Aston Villa.
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To be fair, it's one poor season. Last season ended with us climbing to ninth (not fantastic, but still a decent top-half finish) and winning against Arsenal and Liverpool. When Houllier left, a lot of us thought he was going to be replaced by someone like Ancelotti, Benitez or Moyes.
Two things went wrong last summer: the hapless manager hunt ending with the appointment of McLeish, and the sale of Downing. The former is inexplicable, the latter was sensible from a business point of view, but as with the sale of Milner, good business decisions may be poor football decisions, and poor football decisions may in time turn out to be poor business decisions. After the sale of Young and the appointment of McLeish, the last thing we needed was another setback: selling player of the season to a team that wasn't really much better than ourselves.
From that moment on, only one thing could have saved our season: that McLeish hit the ground running in our spell of easy opening matches. That didn't happen.
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In McLeish's credit, weren't Newcastle the only team that went longer without losing a match than us this season? I may have imagined that, mind.
The problem was that he never got the hang of the winning bit.
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No. I don't think it's his investment strategy that's the problem, it's the recruitment that's been wrong. I lay the blame much more fully with Faulkner, who seems completely out of his depth
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There's no reason we couldn't be as successful as Newcastle have been this year, in fact moreso. We just need a better manager and better scouting / recruitment. Cisse and Ba, and the two centre midfielders, cost the same amount as N'Zogbia, Hutton, Heskey and Warnock
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To be fair, it's one poor season.
No, it really isn't.
"One poor season" suggests that we're a decent, well run side with a capable manager who are just having a blip, or an off season. The truth is that the entire club is an absolute shambles. We've sold the family silver, are making huge losses, and have an owner who couldn't care less, and a manager who is utterly incapable.
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No. I don't think it's his investment strategy that's the problem, it's the recruitment that's been wrong. I lay the blame much more fully with Faulkner, who seems completely out of his depth
yes he has spunked a load of money at it. he needs to show an interest and recruit a new CEO, Director of football and a bloody good youn up and coming coach
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To be fair, it's one poor season.
No, it really isn't.
"One poor season" suggests that we're a decent, well run side with a capable manager who are just having a blip, or an off season. The truth is that the entire club is an absolute shambles. We've sold the family silver, are making huge losses, and have an owner who couldn't care less, and a manager who is utterly incapable.
you cant blame the fella for the Houllier thing, he had a health problem, we might be a totally different propersition now if Hollier had been OK.
i know you can say he shouldnt have been given the job with his health history, but there are plenty of people that have gone on to do great things in all walks of life who have suffered problems of that nature before,
just a bit of bad luck
as for Mcliesh he is what you say, i'l give you that
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To be fair, it's one poor season.
No, it really isn't.
"One poor season" suggests that we're a decent, well run side with a capable manager who are just having a blip, or an off season. The truth is that the entire club is an absolute shambles. We've sold the family silver, are making huge losses, and have an owner who couldn't care less, and a manager who is utterly incapable.
"One poor season" merely suggests that while Lerner has been owner we've experienced one truly poor season: this one. The others have ranged from mediocre to good.
As we've have shown, you can go from quite good to pretty awful in a short space of time. And Newcastle have shown that you can go from below average to pretty good quickly.
I'm not particularly hopeful that we will do a Newcastle. In fact, if Lerner carries on like he is doing now with McLeish in charge next season and little to no investment in the squad, I'm pretty certain that we will have a full-blown relegation battle on our hands next season.
One thing that can bring us back to being a decent side is Lerner to start working with people who are capable, rather than people he gets on with. Sadly, I don't see that happening soon.
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Will someone please tell me where our owner is? Will he be present against Sunderland?
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He still has enough credit in the bank in my eyes. He does need to take a long hard look at this last 18 months and make a big decision at the end of the season on AM and bring someone in who can have a plan and re-build for our future.
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I'd say last season was poor having slumped from 6th and 64 points in 09/10 to 48 points and only 2 points higher than 14th position.
This season on the other hand has been absolutely appalling. The fault lies squarely with our owner whose operational policy would appear to be one of wilful neglect.
We are extremely fortunate to have been able to rely on the failings of Wolves,Blackburn, Bolton, and QPR this season which means that the normal 42 points won't be necessary to keep us up.
If we carry on this way we won't be so fortunate in future.
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Will someone please tell me where our owner is? Will he be present against Sunderland?
I doubt it. I doubt he will be there if the very worst is happening by the time we have to play Norwich away.
Randy Lerner is more akin to the captain of the Costa Concordia than the captain of The Titanic.
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If you examine the real major decisions that the current owners / board have made in relation to the football side it does not look good.
1. Allowing Mon free reign to spend, spend, spend without any appearance of a structured approached [they rolled for a six and crapped out without any back up plan
2. The MoN leaving situation [what ever side of the fence you sit on this the whole thing was handled really badly by all involved]
2. The nightmare of there first managerial appointment
3. The selling of our [best] players
4. The even worse nightmare of the second managerial appointment
5. More selling of of our players
6. The sudden applying of the brakes in team investment
7. The General and his trick of dissapearing up his own arse
8. The invisible owner
9. The highly motivating letter to season ticket holders
10. The failure to act when averyone can clearly see that the manager appointment has been a failure
11. The disaster that is our accounts
The whole board should hang there heads in shame at what they have done
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I think his ego won't let him ' go away' easily.
He's done some great things at Villa, but money is too tight to mention now, and without a team OFF the pitch - Manager, CEO . Scouting - he should sell now IF we stay in the Prem., we would be a good catch for someone with the £££'s to invest and the vision that Randy had to take us forward.
Unfortunately, when he took over, he didn't know what he was taking on, nor did we.
No-one saw a Man City coming, no-one saw a Managerial problem as large as we've had on the horizon, but both are reality, so in reality, it is time to 'do a deal' and we should be very grateful fo what he has done.
Maybe he can have a minority stake in the club still, and relax at Villa a bit more and be a fan, like us.
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With the benefit of hindsight, what players should we have signed (using relevant prices and wages, so no signing Messi for 1million on £45/week), and what manager, getting to the same net spend that Randy has put into the club over the past number of years. What would our team be today, and where would we be in the league.
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If you examine the real major decisions that the current owners / board have made in relation to the football side it does not look good.
1. Allowing Mon free reign to spend, spend, spend without any appearance of a structured approached [they rolled for a six and crapped out without any back up plan
2. The MoN leaving situation [what ever side of the fence you sit on this the whole thing was handled really badly by all involved]
2. The nightmare of there first managerial appointment
3. The selling of our [best] players
4. The even worse nightmare of the second managerial appointment
5. More selling of of our players
6. The sudden applying of the brakes in team investment
7. The General and his trick of dissapearing up his own arse
8. The invisible owner
9. The highly motivating letter to season ticket holders
10. The failure to act when averyone can clearly see that the manager appointment has been a failure
11. The disaster that is our accounts
The whole board should hang there heads in shame at what they have done
Well put. All the important things have been handled badly. That equates to why we are in the present sad state of affairs.
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Our current squad + decent manger = going for Europa spot
Our current squad + half decent manager = mid-table
Our current squad + McBellend = oh shit
Next season's squad + McBellend = Relegation...?
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Our current squad + decent manger = going for Europa spot
Our current squad + half decent manager = mid-table
Our current squad + McBellend = oh shit
Next season's squad + McBellend = Relegation...?
For the first one I'd say it would need better than a 'decent' manager to get this lot into Europe.
And for the last I'd reserve judgement until we see what next season's squad is!
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In McLeish's credit, weren't Newcastle the only team that went longer without losing a match than us this season? I may have imagined that, mind.
The problem was that he never got the hang of the winning bit.
Too many draws, I don't think our away form is the problem. It's the home form.
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I think his ego won't let him ' go away' easily.
He's done some great things at Villa, but money is too tight to mention now, and without a team OFF the pitch - Manager, CEO . Scouting - he should sell now IF we stay in the Prem., we would be a good catch for someone with the £££'s to invest and the vision that Randy had to take us forward.
Unfortunately, when he took over, he didn't know what he was taking on, nor did we.
No-one saw a Man City coming, no-one saw a Managerial problem as large as we've had on the horizon, but both are reality, so in reality, it is time to 'do a deal' and we should be very grateful fo what he has done.
Maybe he can have a minority stake in the club still, and relax at Villa a bit more and be a fan, like us.
The problem with that is he will never be like us because he obviously has lost interest and no longer cares.
If he did still give a shit then we would not be in this mess because he would have axed McCabbage a long time ago.
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Our current squad + decent manger = going for Europa spot
Our current squad + half decent manager = mid-table
Our current squad + McBellend = oh shit
Next season's squad + McBellend = Relegation...?
For the first one I'd say it would need better than a 'decent' manager to get this lot into Europe.
And for the last I'd reserve judgement until we see what next season's squad is!
I honeslty think our squad is good enough, is is much different to Newcastle's?
-
Our current squad + decent manger = going for Europa spot
Our current squad + half decent manager = mid-table
Our current squad + McBellend = oh shit
Next season's squad + McBellend = Relegation...?
For the first one I'd say it would need better than a 'decent' manager to get this lot into Europe.
And for the last I'd reserve judgement until we see what next season's squad is!
I honeslty think our squad is good enough, is is much different to Newcastle's?
Which pretty much proves my point as pardew is doing much more than a 'decent' job up there.