Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: exigo on March 07, 2016, 04:38:15 PM
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In a damning indictment of how the positives seem to be dwindling with every week, what would you say are the good things from the Lerner era?
I like the mosaic on the back of the Holte.
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None
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Ummm....
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Saving the Holte Hotel from extinction.
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I like the fact that he hasn't commissioned Gary Barlow to compose a rock opera about us.
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Just the one page, then.
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Leaving
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He has only been our owner since 2006,
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For wanting to be part of it, for putting a shit load of money in and the acorns deal. The Holte Pub is very nice as well. It's a shame it's gone horribly wrong but I don't hate the bloke for it in the slightest.
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Other than restoring the Holte nothing much really. Main job was progression in football and 6 out of last ten years have bean miserable.
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he spent some cash improving bodymoor heath...
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Yeah finishing Bodymoor to the standard it is now, Doug got the plans in place, but would have built it on a more meagre budget.
The hope of years 2 and 3. Say what you will about subsequent events, but we were vibrant, back on the radar and worth wacthing most of the time. The run where we seemed to hammer everyone (can't remember the exact run, but Bolton sat home was part of it) with Barry, Young, Milner, Carew and gabby on fire was great, and a positive for me. It was just bulit on sand........
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The Acorns deal; Carew; League Cup finalists, FA Cup Semi-Finalists, FA Cup Finalists - (painful in another sense!); that Ajax game, that Sheffield Utd game; in the early days, that sense of Villa finally being back and actually aiming to compete (!); European Football - it's not really Lerner's fault pubehead threw it away.
We have had good times but Villa's hierarchy have utterly conceded any hope of attempting to shore the club up and have accepted freefall, so none of that counts for anything.
EDIT: A few more - seeing off Mourinho (Doug's handshake) and seperately his Chelsea team a few times, Ashley Young's goal at Everton, the derbies in the early days, finally winning at Old Trafford, winning the first game at the Emirates, that 6-4 Blackburn game.
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The three game where we scored four past Bolton, six past Derby and five past Small Heath with only one I reply. Happier times.
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We get the chance to go to Rotherham, possibly on a Tuesday night in January. Cheers Randy
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Nike kit deal. A couple of nice shirts.
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He hasn't erected a statue of Michael Jackson outside Villa Park.
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The Acorns shirts.
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Two cracking nights out in Prague.
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The initial buzz and lifting , and change ,of atmosphere and investment in training facilities and Hole pub etc. The team in his early days and The General was pretty unique. It's a shame it wasn't long term.
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I don't know how anyone can look on the 2006-2010 years and not smile. Everything since has been pretty dire.
Like I said in the Lerner thread, he sort of went all in those first few years, hoping O'Neil could pull off a Champs League appearance and Americans would buy into the Premiere League. Unfortunately, neither really panned out, and it's been a disaster since.
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He reconnected with our past but unfortunately we're not a theme park or a heritage project. The "proud history" is still be rammed down our throats at every opportunity but is hard to digest when you look at how far we've fallen. So his legacy will be turning Villa into a museum. But one decreasing numbers will want to visit.
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The Acorns shirts.
Yes, I'd forgotten about this. A really nice touch.
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For stopping to have a chat with me in London for about 20 minutes just a few yards from where his pad is after mon left, his phone rang 6-7 times but he said they can wait we are talking about the villa.
I was on cloud 9 for ages
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acorns
Holte Pub refurbishment
Bodymoor Heath upgrade
The hope at the outset
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acorns
Holte Pub refurbishment
Bodymoor Heath upgrade
The hope at the outset
Totally this. Until we realised that MON wasn't good enough to press the flesh of those at the top table, we had some real hope and people took the name of Aston Villa seriously.
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Inviting my son to join him at his restaurant table and talk about Villa for half an hour.
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The Holte Hotel.
The European Cup mural in the Lower Holte.
Finishing the Trinity Road.
Upgrading the training ground.
Four trips to Wembley.
Giving us hope for a time that we could be back, competing in the big time.
Looks like we may be about to suffer for it bigstyle, mind.
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The scarf
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Which one?
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He's done good things but bloody hell the cut is still bleeding profusely to be engaging in Lerner positives isn't it? This is something to discuss the day in the future when he sells up more than now. There's too much rage to have reasoned discussion as it will be (rightfully) drowned out by the bedlam that is the present.
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He has only been our owner since 2006,
Not even 10 years yet and he's done so much damage.
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acorns
Holte Pub refurbishment
Bodymoor Heath upgrade
The hope at the outset
This
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The only positive right now is his time at the club is finite. I'm counting down the days until the dolt gets the fuck out of dodge. Incompetent asshole.
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The Macron years... 2011-16, oh what fun they were.
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Getting rid of McLeish.
Getting rid of Lambert
Getting rid of Sherwood.
Eventually... Getting rid of Lerner.
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That it is a day closer to being over today than it was yesterday.
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The first 4 years. Everything else, dog shit.
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Doug Stepped down.
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Mcgregor statue
free coaches to chelsea
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The free scarf. The Blackburn game, the 5-1 Blues, the Reading quarter-final, beating Chelsea, beating Arsenal.
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I'd be keen to learn some more about what was said here (if it doesn't breach any confidences, and at the risk of being told to mind my own effing business):
For stopping to have a chat with me in London for about 20 minutes just a few yards from where his pad is after mon left, his phone rang 6-7 times but he said they can wait we are talking about the villa.
I was on cloud 9 for ages
and here:
Inviting my son to join him at his restaurant table and talk about Villa for half an hour.
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Mcgregor statue
Surely "positives of the Supporters Trust"?
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I don't think my son, not Damon by the way, would mind me telling you that he was very friendly and open. He wanted to see what a season ticket looked like. My son has spent a lot of time making TV shows in America so they talked about the US game and English players moving there. They talked at some length about Brad Friedel and what a good influence he was. Randy's companion grew bored and my son went back to his own table. From what I gather Randy would have talked about Villa indefinitely. He made a good impression on my son who is a pretty good judge.
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I don't think my son, not Damon by the way, would mind me telling you that he was very friendly and open. He wanted to see what a season ticket looked like. My son has spent a lot of time making TV shows in America so they talked about the US game and English players moving there. They talked at some length about Brad Friedel and what a good influence he was. Randy's companion grew bored and my son went back to his own table. From what I gather Randy would have talked about Villa indefinitely. He made a good impression on my son who is a pretty good judge.
Whatever happened to that guy?
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I don't think my son, not Damon by the way, would mind me telling you that he was very friendly and open. He wanted to see what a season ticket looked like. My son has spent a lot of time making TV shows in America so they talked about the US game and English players moving there. They talked at some length about Brad Friedel and what a good influence he was. Randy's companion grew bored and my son went back to his own table. From what I gather Randy would have talked about Villa indefinitely. He made a good impression on my son who is a pretty good judge.
Thanks for that Brian.
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Mcgregor statue
Surely "positives of the Supporters Trust"?
He said he would pay half if we raised half.
In the end, I understand he paid quite a bit more than half.
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Yes, there have been positives, but unfortunately at the present moment I find it difficult to look beyond the complete mess we find ourselves in and the fact that the road to disaster is paved with good intentions. So, for example, I've now even got a rather jaundiced view of the Acorns deal as an early example of the Lerner regime's inability to maximise revenue through commercial ineptitude and then spinning this failure as a gesture of philanthropy. With this in mind, reserving judgement until (1) he's finally gone; and (2) we know how long it has taken to get back to respectability in the top flight is perhaps the best course of action. I'll be able to judge all his actions in the round.
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The VMF restaurant, using local produce and local labour. Shame it closed in the end - it brought tourists to a deprived area week-round.
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The three game where we scored four past Bolton, six past Derby and five past Small Heath with only one I reply. Happier times.
Atrocious Derby side and six different scorers. Didn't that happen in reverse recently?
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Margaret Thatcher died.
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Putting on free buses for a cup game (Chelsea?).
I feel sorry for him. He seems to be a decent and humble man with a lot of affection for the club which I never thought he had to attend games to prove. Nothing wrong with family coming first.
I just wish he hadn't been so naive, incompetent and unlucky.
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Margaret Thatcher died.
Winner.
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I got a scarf
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I don't feel sorry for Randy Lerner. That sentiment belongs with the 'uncle Doug' revisionist crap. Unfortunately it's quite a bit more than him just being unlucky and not very good at running sports clubs.
Just as you wouldn't employ an electrician to plaster a room, you don't employ a glorified call centre manager or a marketing executive to run a football club. But Randy thinks otherwise.
He hasn't learned anything from his Browns disaster. He's proved himself to be whimsical, arrogant, aloof, detached, irresponsible, feckless and cowardly. Remi Garde's recent press conference suggests he has been lied to and betrayed. But the worst thing Randy ever did was allow Aston Villa to give up the relegation fight by January. That - for the so-called custodian of the club - is absolutely unforgivable.
He can't help being an idiot, a billionaire heir with no grounding in reality, but his abandonment of responsibility has been wilful and disgraceful. The bloke's a charlatan, and a tarted-up pub, some mosaics and an improved training ground won't begin to make up for the unholy mess he's created everywhere else.
Randy's sidekick, General Krulak, should know a thing or two about duty. Randy had a duty to this football club. Not only has he not fulfilled his duty, he's been found in his bunk, cowering under the covers, with his fingers in his ears. He deserves a very dishonourable discharge.
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Let's get ourselves a nice Hong Kong hairdresser.
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I don't feel sorry for Randy Lerner. That sentiment belongs with the 'uncle Doug' revisionist crap. Unfortunately it's quite a bit more than him just being unlucky and not very good at running sports clubs.
Just as you wouldn't employ an electrician to plaster a room, you don't employ a glorified call centre manager or a marketing executive to run a football club. But Randy thinks otherwise.
He hasn't learned anything from his Browns disaster. He's proved himself to be whimsical, arrogant, aloof, detached, irresponsible, feckless and cowardly. Remi Garde's recent press conference suggests he has been lied to and betrayed. But the worst thing Randy ever did was allow Aston Villa to give up the relegation fight by January. That - for the so-called custodian of the club - is absolutely unforgivable.
He can't help being an idiot, a billionaire heir with no grounding in reality, but his abandonment of responsibility has been wilful and disgraceful. The bloke's a charlatan, and a tarted-up pub, some mosaics and an improved training ground won't begin to make up for the unholy mess he's created everywhere else.
Randy's sidekick, General Krulak, should know a thing or two about duty. Randy had a duty to this football club. Not only has he not fulfilled his duty, he's been found in his bunk, cowering under the covers, with his fingers in his ears. He deserves a very dishonourable discharge.
A thousand times this.
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He's only been here 10 years is probably the main positive. Imagine what he could have done with double the time
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He's only been here 10 years is probably the main positive. Imagine what he could have done with double the time
He hasn't left yet.
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He's only been here 10 years is probably the main positive. Imagine what he could have done with double the time
He hasn't left yet.
And we may get to find out.
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He's only been here 10 years is probably the main positive. Imagine what he could have done with double the time
He hasn't left yet.
yeah i know. Being kind to him, the biggest positive is probably the spending to prop up his complete incompetence. Could you imagine if he'd tried to run the club Doug's way but with the same awful decisions?. We'd have been down during Houllier's reign after he'd refused to spend that much on Bent
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The first four years were good.
Of course, we now know that we were sailing close to the edge of financial oblivion, but we won quite a few matches (although even then we weren't much cop at home)
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The first four years were good.
Of course, we now know that we were sailing close to the edge of financial oblivion, but we won quite a few matches (although even then we weren't much cop at home)
Looking at it now, we paid one hell of a price to be not quite as good as Everton.
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We all know who Nicola Keyes is.
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Nothing, 3 6th places is massively overwhelmed by the records broken and appalling football on show for the last half a decade. He will leave with a big fuck off from me and good riddance.
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Trying to build a relationship with the fans, something Doug didn't really give a shit about.
Creating ASBO corner, seeing that end giving abuse to the blues this season filled me with a warm glow.
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6-4 in a semi final.
arguably the best moment under his watch, with a live TV pitch invasion as well. 8)
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Trying to build a relationship with the fans, something Doug didn't really give a shit about.
Creating ASBO corner, seeing that end giving abuse to the blues this season filled me with a warm glow.
ASBO Corner <snigger>
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Crikey we've got to five pages......
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Off the pitch quite a lot to be fair, Bodymoor Heath, Holte Hotel, finishing off the interior of the Trinity, DVDs, scarves, flags in fact the things you would expect Americans to be good at. Unfortunately his errors have been around what happens on the pitch which strictly speaking is where it counts.
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Going into any game believing we could win. I felt like this for the vast majority of games under MON. Didn't matter who we were playing, I always thought we had a chance of winning.
I don't think I've experienced that with any other manager (Brian Little was the manager when I first started going down Villa Park).
Obviously the Acorns deal as well.
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We got a new badge that we didn't need it. If you didn't like the old badge that is a positive.
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We got a new badge that we didn't need it. If you didn't like the old badge that is a positive.
Badly Drawn Badge
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That initial high and to be fair a few years after that where I felt we could compete.
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After years of Doug lying or bumbling with transfers, Randy came in and deals seemed to be conducted swiftly, in private and with praise from the selling club.
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Would have been good if we could have won a trophy in his initial few years to at least offset some of the heartache of the last few years and the impending relegation under his 'stewardship'.
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I just can't understand how, from making such a good start and seeming to be the ideal custodian, he does a one-eighty-degree turn to become the textbook rotten owner. There seems to have been no middle ground, no pause for thought, no reflection in the midst of the process, just a calamitous, screeching handbrake turn. Looking at Randy's association with the Club as a whole, it's been ten years of lunacy. He made a whimsical gamble, we all pay the price and the beautiful name of Aston Villa gets trampled in the mud.
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After years of Doug lying or bumbling with transfers, Randy came in and deals seemed to be conducted swiftly, in private and with praise from the selling club.
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After years of Doug lying or bumbling with transfers, Randy came in and deals seemed to be conducted swiftly, in private and with praise from the selling club.
Makes me want to watch the whole thing!
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I just can't understand how, from making such a good start and seeming to be the ideal custodian, he does a three-sixty-degree turn to become the textbook rotten owner.
A 180 degree turn surely? Otherwise he'd be in exactly the same place as he started and back to being a good owner again.
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I just can't understand how, from making such a good start and seeming to be the ideal custodian, he does a three-sixty-degree turn to become the textbook rotten owner.
A 180 degree turn surely? Otherwise he'd be in exactly the same place as he started and back to being a good owner again.
You are quite right! I'll change that.
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So we have found out he is not the messiah
Just a very naughty boy
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Trust fund man boy, who to me will be judged by what is going on now, because he came in with no defined plan, regardless of what we were told by the General and the like and he forgot very quickly that to stand still in the premier league needs constant investment, not just an initial new girlfriend spend to impress.
Nearly everything that will have any lasting legacy, i.e. Acorns, Holte pub, BMH,the mosaic, will be stained by what he has allowed to go on the pitch in season 2016/17 and represent Aston Villa.
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Positives?
I'm positive that he owes us all an apology, and an explanation.
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I am massively proud of what we did with Acorns. We seemed to be getting it right all the time off the pitch while building something decent on it.
And for the first few years we acted consistently like a big club for probably the only time in my 40+ years. Anything seemed possible. Other times we've had success it always felt like it was more of a blip than we joining the top table permanently. Also the only time where it seemed everyone as the Villa was working together. Shame it turned out to be yet another blip and all went so staggeringly shit.
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Giving Simone Farina a job.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/19975298
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That's what Gary Shaw used to look like.
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Bringing Brian Little back home. Perhaps he can claim an assist with Steve Hollis.
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Bringing Brian Little back home. Perhaps he can claim an assist with Steve Hollis.
sir brian could still do a job in our midfield
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About three and an half years I'd say, the rest have been a shite ;) Still he might stick around long enough to see us lift the Championship next May in which case I guess that would be his crowing glory ;D
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He tidied up the Holte pub, although it is never really open.
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Looking forward to people chanting 'where you when you were shit?' when we've won our first prem title. All possible because of that man.
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Positives? We're one day nearer his tenure being over.
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Positives? We're one day nearer his tenure being over.
How can you be sure?
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Positives? We're one day nearer his tenure being over.
How can you be sure?
Because it will end one day, if only because he is not immortal, so that day must be a day closer.
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Positives? We're one day nearer his tenure being over.
How can you be sure?
Because it will end one day, if only because he is not immortal, so that day must be a day closer.
How can you be sure