The General C. Krulak Thread XV

[Dave Clark Five]

General

The honeymoon is well and truly over. I always said that people would turn, to a man, when things got grim. That has obviously happened. Without the majority of supporters on the side of the Board, the prospect of the business remaining viable has gone. You have been unique in being available like you are on forums such as this but we don't have the AGMs now where we can let our feelings be made known directly to the Chairman and seek answers to questions about our club. When we were Shareholders we felt like part of the club. That has now gone. The message needs to go back that there is unrest in the camp and it is growing by the minute.

[Dazvillain]

GK, i know you always say that there is lots of hard work going on behind the scenes but 3 weeks must be a record for a premiership team to be without a manager
The longer its left the less attractive we are looking as a propostition ....and this is before we give oursleves time to sign anyone

[atomicjam]

General, you have said it is hard to get the right Manager but when Kev M is saying in the media that we are not interviewing anyone until after the Everton game and with things going so bad on the pitch this delay worries me. When teams lose Managers they tend to go into overdrive to target people they feel can do the job. Right now the silence and associated feeling of apathy and directionless are depressing and things need to happen quick to give us that direction we need.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

General.

Firstly can I place on record the way in which Kevin Mac has done at such a good job in the last three weeks at Villa in very trying times. Kevin has been an excellent servant to Aston Villa and should remain so, in what his job WAS.

I've been a massive supporter of Randy Lerner and thank him for all that he has done for Villa, but his lack of urgency in not gaining a manager since Martin O'Neill's departure has been extremely disapointing. It is obvious that money needs to 'come in' due to the excessive wage bill, but this whole situation regarding Kevin Mac's deadline to 'want the job' looks like it is a case of him seeing out the window to prevent any expenditure on players. This i'm sure you will deny but you can see where we are coming from.

Fans coming out of the ground tonight were extremely angry, frustrated, disapointed, but to a man and women were all talking about the lack of leadership both on and off the pitch and complete and utter lack of professionalism of a number of players. Tonight we played a reasonable team in Europe, a team that our kids got a credible draw against last week. However players like Curtis 'pub player Davis', Habib Beye and Emule Heskey are not fit to wear an Aston Villa shirt - especially if they can't beat Rapid Vienna at home.

Randy's lack of communication to the fans is also not helping matters, no I know it isn't his 'style' but Randy has a responsibility as an owner as do the inadequate players who have a responsibility to perform to the best of their ability. The fans are getting pissed off, we've been through worse times yes, but I know a number of fans who feel like they're being 'conned' - Was it not for the fact that Randy HAS done so many positives for the club I'm sure you would have seen and heard the fans in a not such a pleasant way.

If we can't get a manager - tell us
If we can't afford players - tell us
If we have financial problems - tell us
If we have to sell out best player to bring in cash every year - tell us.

We support Villa, whether it be good or bad, we just want to know where we stand and what cards we're trying to play with.

 
 

[Dave Clark Five]

General

The level we need to get to is where our performance is not that poor that another team's supporters, with a crowd of 6000 and struggling to beat lowly Rochdale, can still feel that they have something to take the piss out of.

[villajk]

JamesMilnersNo8Shirt, excellent post.

[The Situation]

I mostly agree with ''JamesMilnersNo8Shirt''... the board and Randy need to get their act together. Hiding away and refusing to give any interviews let alone make Villa fans aware of the managerial issue leaving us and the club in limbo is professionally poor.

I really appreciate General Krulak coming on here posting, it's great to have him; however, I do think there should be a bit more honesty and just tell Villa fans straight up with what's happening instead of leaving us in limbo not knowing anything just relying on the media picking our next manager. There are plenty of managers out there Randy can get, it just seems odd it's taking so long despite Randy saying we'd have a new manager in place for the Newcastle game...

[eastie]

It just looks to me like randy has given kmac till sept 1st to see how he does - knowing that if it didn't work, he would have got £20m in from transfers and spent nothing , and a new man couldn't buy anyone.

Kmac has been an abysmal failure in the last 2 games and we have crashed out of Europe to boot- we have no hope of making the top 4 without huge investment -stand still and teams go past you.

This season Europe was important to us and it's gone - don't tell me general there are no managers who want the villa job- sven for all his faults wants the job and as a club manager fits the bill- go get him .

Hearing randy's been on a holiday break with his kids in Milan and at NFL board meetings hardly inspires- he should be sorting this mess !

If randy has no longer the money to take us to where we wish to get then he should be honest - he's been great for 4 yrs but finances change.Maybe he realises the dream is over , if so please find us an owner who can finance us further and move us on .

[andrew08]

General, Hard times ahead.

The Man Citeh factor has destroyed our plans hasn't it. They've taken our best player the last two seasons and are buying any other player we would like to buy. What should have been a fight between us and Spurs for 4th by now with Liverpool and Everton out financed has blown up. Spurs will now only get this year in the CL with the new big 4, Citeh, Arse, Manure and Chelski ready to to take shape this season. Liverpool may come back with a new owner but not quickly.

So what do we do now then ? Settle for that 6th to 10th spot with the odd good cup run ? I don't mind I'm Villa till I die. Just be honest (in fairness you always are) and tell us the plan. Good footy at home and and a reasonable price promise will do. We're not daft, the CL is miles away for us unless you have several hundred million to spare.

[eastie]

The general is a wise man , he will only tell us what randy wants him to tell us as demonstrated by his repeated statements that things were fine between randy and mon!

General, is there a clause to stop mon speaking about why he left in detail , as I'm sure we would like to know exactly what cutbacks and spending cuts he was told were required, I'm no fan of mon but would would like to hear his side of things.


 

[Morten]

General, I really fee depressed after last night. I am ten times more disappointed with this result than the Newcastle result. Now we are again hearing "the players are hurt", "now we must bounce back" etc. Playing in Europe means so much to me and other fans, and for second year running we loose to Rapid Wien. Not Barcelona, not Bayern Munich, but Rapid Wien!! We spend an entire season to qualify for Europe, and then when we have the chance, we blow it. It might be a while before we get the chance again.

Why do we see such important games as "an opportunity to give the fringe players a chance" ? We played a lot of first team players, I know, but also players put up for sale, who played really terrible. And it was such a tactical bad performance as well. We have been cunned by the same team two years in a row now, do these players not learn anything from these games. I am really fed up with reading "we were in control" etc. We were not! We should have put far more pressure on them when 1-0 up, they know they might only get one or two chances to score, so they are not in a hurry.

I know you are as disappointed as the rest of us, but since this is a questions thread, I will ask you: Will this humiliation have any consequences for those players not up for it? I am not saying they do not care, but some of the players have certainly not been focused the last two games.

[eastie]

General can you seriously tell me whether you or randy think that kevin macdonald has in any way got the credentials to manage aston villa- if so, then I find it amazing- get a manager in now please - kmac says you will begin interviews next week, exactly why has this not been done 2 weeks ago?

Oh yes of course , to save randy money! I am just so angry at the lack of leadership at our club - say what youblike about doug but he wasn't a ditherer and he was a self made millionaire.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

General, I really fee depressed after last night. I am ten times more disappointed with this result than the Newcastle result. Now we are again hearing "the players are hurt", "now we must bounce back" etc. Playing in Europe means so much to me and other fans, and for second year running we loose to Rapid Wien. Not Barcelona, not Bayern Munich, but Rapid Wien!! We spend an entire season to qualify for Europe, and then when we have the chance, we blow it. It might be a while before we get the chance again.

Why do we see such important games as "an opportunity to give the fringe players a chance" ? We played a lot of first team players, I know, but also players put up for sale, who played really terrible. And it was such a tactical bad performance as well. We have been cunned by the same team two years in a row now, do these players not learn anything from these games. I am really fed up with reading "we were in control" etc. We were not! We should have put far more pressure on them when 1-0 up, they know they might only get one or two chances to score, so they are not in a hurry.

I know you are as disappointed as the rest of us, but since this is a questions thread, I will ask you: Will this humiliation have any consequences for those players not up for it? I am not saying they do not care, but some of the players have certainly not been focused the last two games.

Personally I don't think some of the playes do care, to see Stewart 'tiny bollocks' Downing laughing with opposition players as they walk off the pitch having just been dicked 6-0 is evidence enough for me.

[eastie]

True, they pick up their 30 or 40 grand and enjoy themselves, they don't love the club as we do and don't feel our pain- the game is all about money now and  I much preferred the 70s and 80s brand.

[Lambert and Payne]

GC, if you think kev mac's the answer then please reconsider, he doesnt seem to want it, uninspiring with interviews. Great servent to the club at his actual job but not for this. At least he's let us know something about new managers which you seem to be hiding from. No interviews yet? What?? Had long enough to get it sorted. Randy in Milan on Holiday and NFL board meetings at a time like this. Are you sure he's not losing his passion for the club?