??% Villa - how bad are Citeh for football?

[Concrete John]

If I was a multi billionaire and I wanted to take Villa to the next level (not that I would ever give a penny of my money to mercenaries and their parasitic agents) I would do it gradually.

I’d start from the bottom and build the club up with decent foundations.

1 – start with a ten year plan to win the league, not get 4th place. I’m a billionaire I dont need the Champs League money I want trophies. Money comes with success anyway.

2 – Invest in the world’s finest training facilities and open it up to the public so they can see their team training. Footballers only train for about 8 hours per week so I’d also share the facilities with local schools and other sports clubs from the area. My club would be part of the community.

3 – Recruit the best youth team coaches I could get and start to build an academy of local kids. Not go around hoovering up the best talent from academy’s across Europe. I’d start them young and get my coaches to teach them how to pass and move and use their brains. Any youth team players who got too big for their boots or got into trouble would be out. No matter how good they were. There would be a Villa philosophy of good morals and players would have an appreciation of their fortunate position. All players would be expected to take and pass GCSEs and A-levels (or equivalent) and any players not making it as pros would be supported in their search for other careers (possibly in other sports).

4 – Employ a manager with character and morals (a Roy Hodgson type) rather than a superstar name figure poached from a rival club in an unseemly tug of war. Then give him a 5 year contract and tell him he has 5 years to get it right. Not 6 months and then sack him when we lose a couple of games. I’d also give him complete freedom in footballing matters and keep my nose out of his business (except for point 5)

5 – I’d sanction the signing of no more than 3 big name players per season. You can’t build a brand new team each year and expect them to win anything. I’d want continuity. I have a ten year plan anyway so am in no hurry. I’d also make it clear to my manager that I value the inclusion of home grown talent who are brought up with the Villa philosophy. Any player caught doing a John Terry or getting into trouble with police would be sacked. No matter who they are. I’d conduct my transfers within the letter and spirit of the rules. No poaching or tapping up. And if a club thought they could take me for a ride because I was loaded then they could forget it.

6 – Every member of staff from the tea lady up to the star striker would be expected to give something back to the local community. We’d provide support to charities, give discounts to local schoolchildren and members of the armed forces. We’d have a different local charity as our shirt sponsor every two years (not an original idea, I admit) and the players would be expected to know and understand about the lives of local fans.

7 – I’d build the stadium up to cater for 55-60k fans and then I’d sell tickets at pre-Sky prices. I’d keep the same kit for two seasons rather than replace it every year like most clubs do. I’d sell real ale and quality food in my stadium at normal prices. And I’d let every paying adult bring a child under 10 in for free. As a billionaire I wouldnt be interested in squeezing my fans for every last penny. I’d just want a full stadium each week and happy fans.

Excellent post.  I wonder how many of these points we can say Randy has done:-

1.  Unlcear, but he does seem to be taking a longterm view of things.
2.  Well, the new Bodymoor Heath facilities were one of the first things on his agenda and are almost universally lauded as being amongst the bext around.  Don't know of him letting schools use them, but I like the idea.
3.  We already have a pretty good youth system, so I think he's taken the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' approach here.  I'm a big advocate of them also having a non-football education, but again don't know what we do in this regard?  I think the PFA get involved in helping players that don't make it find other careers.
4.  Managers is a topical subject right now, but one thing we can say is that he did give his first one time.
5.  It's arguable we've signed any 'big names' put our top spends (Ash, Milner and Downing) have all come in different windows, so maybe we're doing this after a fashion.
6.  One word - Acorns!
7.  Probably where he falls down.  Although still cheap by PL standards, our prices are creeping up and food and drink inside is expensive and not all that good.  There may be stadium expansion plans, but nothing has been done yet.  I guess in this regard Randy is viewing us as a business and does not have the totally philanthropic stance you are suggesting.

All in all he's doing things right!     

[cdbearsfan]

Has anyone else noticed how, like their rivals, they seems to have quietly dropped the word "Manchester" from their name? For years we have had to put up with sycophantic commentators calling ManUre "United" and assuming you know which one they mean. Even when, like Monday, they are playing a United... the match was commonly referred to as "United vs Newcastle". Grrr...

This now seems to have started to happen with Man City. Apparently Bradford, Hull, Leicester, Lincoln, Norwich, Stoke, etc  no longer count. They are just "City" and everyone is suposed to know which City you mean.

They are becoming what they hate.

Only good news is it might annoy Small Heath fans.

[BannedUserIAT]

Sold your soul, m'lord,
Sold your soul.

[BannedUserIAT]

Anything they win, and when you're spending that kind of wedge, you can bet they'll win something - eventually - must have some kind of empty feeling about it.

Sure, it'd be grand to win the FA Cup again but I'd much rather have a couple of local lads/Villa fans in the team than a bunch of hyper-paid mercenaries that had no idea your club even existed this time last year.

And even when they do win stuff, how do they define their club?
Put yourself in a Citeh fans shoes and try and answer that. The only thing they'll come up with is "Richest club in the world". It's all built on sand. It's all reliant on one thing.

At the end of the day, Man City are nothing more than Aladdin. Some poor, irrelevant urchin that has stumbled upon a lucky lamp. It's all fake........and it'll all end in a thousand and one nights.

[jembob]

I've been on a business appointment this morning to an arab owned venture (won't mention the name, but it's associated with Dolphins and God!!) and I'm still trying to come to terms with what I've seen. This is a money-no-object operation and it's an unbelievable set up which dwarfs any similar business which I've seen. If that's what vast Arab money can do then it's  hardly surprising that football players want a piece of it.
Today I've seen some of the best race horses in the World - not just one or two but dozens, and fields with their offspring worth millions all kept in opulent surroundings. This business is completely dominant in it's market, and if Citeh get a fraction of the success these lot have it will be scary.

[pauliewalnuts]

1 – start with a ten year plan to win the league, not get 4th place. I’m a billionaire I dont need the Champs League money I want trophies. Money comes with success anyway.

Hasn't the emergence of Manchester City shown that it is impossible to plan for anything like that period of time in football?

For example, if Randy had, in 2006, a five year plan for us, it was rendered pretty much obsolete after two years with the Man City situation, not only because they're better placed to buy success than we are, but also because we spend two summers fending them off our best players.

You can't really plan for that sort of thing happening. Goals you can have, just not plans, I don't think

[damon loves JT]

I've been on a business appointment this morning to an arab owned venture (won't mention the name, but it's associated with Dolphins and God!!) and I'm still trying to come to terms with what I've seen. This is a money-no-object operation and it's an unbelievable set up which dwarfs any similar business which I've seen. If that's what vast Arab money can do then it's  hardly surprising that football players want a piece of it.
Today I've seen some of the best race horses in the World - not just one or two but dozens, and fields with their offspring worth millions all kept in opulent surroundings. This business is completely dominant in it's market, and if Citeh get a fraction of the success these lot have it will be scary.

Yes, if Citeh buy up Stephen Ireland's dad and force him to breed with James Milner's mum, then cross their offspring with, say, Franny Lee, we are in deep shit

[pauliewalnuts]

Yes, if Citeh buy up Stephen Ireland's dad and force him to breed with James Milner's mum, then cross their offspring with, say, Franny Lee, we are in deep shit

At least we could wipe the shit off with the product of Franny Lee's bog roll empire.

[damon loves JT]

I wouldn't fancy trying to harvest Howard Kendall's semen

[Beijing Villan]

Man City are simply the Chelsea of 2010, the new bullies on the block. And before Chelsea it was Man Utd. It galls me to say this but at least ManU earned their bullying pile of cash primarily through success on the field.

But we have to be honest and admit that in a way, we are a mini-Man City. Randy has been generous to the club but it is has been Sugar Daddy money, not money earned from drawing extra crowds and sponsorship deals, that paid for Milner, Young, Dunne and all the rest of our bought in stars. Yes, we have also attempted to balance this with a great youth policy, a strong charitable link and some of the most reasonable ticket prices in the top division but though I loathe Man City I have to say that we are not whiter than snow when it comes to trying to buy success. Blackburn, Newcastle and other clubs (Wolves even) have been in similar situations with wealthy backers but the Man City phenomenon is in a different league.

Wealth backed teams have always tried to create success in the short term through acquisition, however the virtually bottomless pit of cash that Man City appear to be able to tap into is at a whole new level. Never before has a team been able to stockpile talent in this way. They can buy up the top 50 players and keep many on ice or loaned out to selected teams they deem non-competitive. This is an unfair practice and rules need to be considered to prevent this.

How about this as a measure? Any senior player not in the 25 man squad becomes effectively a free agent, available on a Bosman to a team of his choice. In addition, the original club has to pay the player his existing wages for the remainder of his contract - not in a lump sum, simply weekly as per usual. For example take Bellamy, say he has two years to go on his contract. Assuming he was not named to the 25 man squad, he can simply sign with Cardiff, or Bolton, or Liverpool or whoever and Man City have to pay his wages for the remaining two years. After that period, he can then agree a new contract with Cardiff or whoever or move on to a third club.

This rule would not prevent Man City from building a very strong 25 man squad but it would prevent them from overly stockpiling talent and then loaning these players out to Championship teams or also rans that they don't consider a threat.

[not3bad]

I don't think Mankini will be there come the end of the season.

It wouldn't surprise me if he was gone by the end of the month.

[dave.woodhall]

I think they're great for football. The more idiotic they are, the quicker the game as it is now explodes and we get it back.

[mshurst]

A quote from my colleague, who after pointing me to the BBC website informed me that "Manchester City's second team is better than Aston Villa's first."

For those of you who haven't seen it, the link and image in particular are below.

"Can Roberto Mancini keep sizable squad happy?" - BBC Sport



What gets me the most is that he rejected my statement of "...but Man City have spent over £300M in 3 years ... Villa haven't."

What else can I say? Yes, their second squad is of better 'quality' than ours, but they still don't play like a team, and (I hope) won't win jack shit.

IMHO, it's all over-inflated-money-jockies who never really wanted to play for Man City apart from the 100% pay rise (ie. Barry).


Discuss so I can fire more back at him.

He's a Man Utd fan who lives in Smethwick, FYI.

[not3bad]

"Manchester City's second team is better than Aston Villa's first."

Second team?!  Don't you mean ELITE squad?!

[pablopicasso_10]

we might not have the same riches as they have, but we built the table that they are now splashing the cash to try and be a part of...

they are like that scummer doley who won the lottery and then spunked all his money cans of carling and junk cars to race with his scummer mates... he is now back on the dole...

they are manchester united wannabe's and have turned into everything they used to slate manchester united for...

wankers..