Current media comments towards us

[Villa'Zawg]

Problem is, as is usual with the press, he has it wrong on the KMac situation; KMac was not pushed into anything. Swain does not know what went on behind the scenes anymore than any other journalist in  the country nor does he understand the intricacies and difficulties of identifying and finding a manager when your previous one leaves five days before the opening of the season. As per usual on these sites, sadly, if it is written in black and white, it must be true.

And ROBBO, based on what evidence would you replace Faulkner. What has he done to deserve the sack? Give specific examples, please.

As CEO isn't he responsible for anything that goes wrong?

[pelty]

Problem is, as is usual with the press, he has it wrong on the KMac situation; KMac was not pushed into anything. Swain does not know what went on behind the scenes anymore than any other journalist in  the country nor does he understand the intricacies and difficulties of identifying and finding a manager when your previous one leaves five days before the opening of the season. As per usual on these sites, sadly, if it is written in black and white, it must be true.

And ROBBO, based on what evidence would you replace Faulkner. What has he done to deserve the sack? Give specific examples, please.

As CEO isn't he responsible for anything that goes wrong?

Sure. What has gone so wrong here? The manager quit; it took some time to identify and contact parties w/ whom the club were interested and who were interested in the club. The interview process took further time. Once Houllier was identified, it took even more time to work out the contract and the details of his remaining issues with the FFF. It is not simply a matter of "We want you for X pounds tomorrow" and GH saying, "OK, see you then!" So where exactly is the problem? A statement was released in late August about the process, so the fans were kept informed in that way as well. Just because peoples' hands were not held the whole way, they feel as though it has all gone horribly wrong. This is not the case. The board knew of GH's commitments and decided that it was worth the wait. I suppose you can criticize them for that, but beyond that, I do not get it.

[jembob]

I avoid most publications and TalkShite as they are less than informative than this site and will stir up shit at every opportunity. Reading some of these linked articles reinforce my belief that most journalists have given up actually doing research themselves and totally rely of surfing the net for content. For a bit of excitement they'll then put a negative spin on whatever they publish.

Look into any mainstream publication and after a bit of thought you'll realise that behind the majority of news stories they've missed the real point. They all have some sort of agenda whether it's personal or the proprietor's view.

Football reporting is the same, however most journos will have their pet managers who will feed them plenty of stuff for publication and make their life easy - MON was one of these. The PR void left by MON has been filled with the worst sort of speculation and accusations which the club does not deserve and the claims that the club is in a shambles are unfounded. The fact is we just don't know what has gone on behind closed doors. Anybody who has ever tried to recruit a top executive at no notice will know how long it takes, and that your chosen man will probably have a few commitments to see through before he can join you. Where the club has performed poorly over recent weeks is in the PR and communication with the fans. Randy's style is to be discreet but his silence has only fueled the accusations of mismanagement which are unwarranted in my view. I also don't buy into the critisicm that the delay in appointing a manger is due to us not having a 'fotball man' on the Board - the club will have been inundated with applications for the Manager's job, they confirmed that they sought advice and after the decision was made it became a HR process to sort out the detail and nothing to do with football.

Of course none of this matters for a journalist looking for a cheap line although what concerns me is that many Villa fans seem to have followed suit and turned on the Board. There are some people around here with conveniently short memories.

Bad news sells and the old newspaper adage for deciding on front page content is 'If it bleeds it leads'. Take these people seriously at your peril.

[Brend'Watkins]

Problem is, as is usual with the press, he has it wrong on the KMac situation; KMac was not pushed into anything. Swain does not know what went on behind the scenes anymore than any other journalist in  the country nor does he understand the intricacies and difficulties of identifying and finding a manager when your previous one leaves five days before the opening of the season. As per usual on these sites, sadly, if it is written in black and white, it must be true.

And ROBBO, based on what evidence would you replace Faulkner. What has he done to deserve the sack? Give specific examples, please.

As CEO isn't he responsible for anything that goes wrong?

He can't really be responsible for a manager chucking the towel in 5 days before the season can he? 

[Chris Smith]

Good article by Swain.

While fresh-faced chief executive Paul Faulkner, recruited from Lerner’s MBNA group where he was previously ‘relationship manager,’ floundered in the hunt for O’Neill’s successor, UEFA have persuaded Stride to interrupt his retirement and take on the role of senior delegate at major European games this winter.

This bit hurts.

Wolves are accused of being the new Stoke. Blues are endeavouring to be the new Villa, while Villa are looking more and more like the new Blues. All gaffes and own goals.

[TimTheVillain]

Problem is, as is usual with the press, he has it wrong on the KMac situation; KMac was not pushed into anything. Swain does not know what went on behind the scenes anymore than any other journalist in  the country nor does he understand the intricacies and difficulties of identifying and finding a manager when your previous one leaves five days before the opening of the season. As per usual on these sites, sadly, if it is written in black and white, it must be true.

And ROBBO, based on what evidence would you replace Faulkner. What has he done to deserve the sack? Give specific examples, please.

As CEO isn't he responsible for anything that goes wrong?

Off the pitch mainly I'd say, and I can't see a lot that's gone right OFF the pitch lately.

I am concerned that Randy is giving 'jobs for the boys' at VP I must say.

Faulkner has a degree from Cambridge, maybe he is a clever bastard, but we have to see it in action ( his intelligence that is).

[peter w]

You're right Pelty but we needed a more open two way flow of information. The club decided not to purchase players throughout the summer so were immediately on the backfoot with most fans. They, your dad, thn decided to communicate with the press through here and other sites. So, again, it seemed a strange way of going about business.

I have no idea about his relative strengths and weaknesses but since he's been on board what has he done to improve us as a football club? It appears that everything since the summer onwards has seen a general spiralling downwards. if he, the board, MON, are not wholly to blame for the situation then who is?

Bad communication, slow process, no players, unhappy fans...no, not down to the CEO alone, but he is as culpable as everyone involved in the mess that has been our summer.

[Chris Harte]

For his many faults, the club's previous Chairman never allowed the club to be without a manager during the season for five weeks.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Good article by Swain.

While fresh-faced chief executive Paul Faulkner, recruited from Lerner’s MBNA group where he was previously ‘relationship manager,’ floundered in the hunt for O’Neill’s successor, UEFA have persuaded Stride to interrupt his retirement and take on the role of senior delegate at major European games this winter.

This bit hurts.

Wolves are accused of being the new Stoke. Blues are endeavouring to be the new Villa, while Villa are looking more and more like the new Blues. All gaffes and own goals.

I thought the second bit was a bit of a piss take to be honest. The season is 4 games old

[Chris Smith]

Good article by Swain.

While fresh-faced chief executive Paul Faulkner, recruited from Lerner’s MBNA group where he was previously ‘relationship manager,’ floundered in the hunt for O’Neill’s successor, UEFA have persuaded Stride to interrupt his retirement and take on the role of senior delegate at major European games this winter.

This bit hurts.

Wolves are accused of being the new Stoke. Blues are endeavouring to be the new Villa, while Villa are looking more and more like the new Blues. All gaffes and own goals.

I thought the second bit was a bit of a piss take to be honest. The season is 4 games old

I don't think he was talking about on the pitch.

[Ads]

Good article by Swain.

While fresh-faced chief executive Paul Faulkner, recruited from Lerner’s MBNA group where he was previously ‘relationship manager,’ floundered in the hunt for O’Neill’s successor, UEFA have persuaded Stride to interrupt his retirement and take on the role of senior delegate at major European games this winter.

This bit hurts.

Wolves are accused of being the new Stoke. Blues are endeavouring to be the new Villa, while Villa are looking more and more like the new Blues. All gaffes and own goals.

 I thought that cheapened his piece to be honest.

[dave.woodhall]

Speaking of the media and Villa, have the Grauniad changed their Villa/West Midlands football writer?  Most Villa articles used to be written by Stuart James, and were quite good, and the last few days they've been by Louise Taylor and been guff in all honesty, like today's: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/sep/16/gerard-houllier-aston-villa

Heh, maybe it's more proof we're seen as a joke club, eh? ;-)

Nothing wrong with that one - it's a light-hearted 'how things have changed' about football in general and hardly mentions us. The only people calling us a joke or a laughing stock are our own supporters.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Good article by Swain.

While fresh-faced chief executive Paul Faulkner, recruited from Lerner’s MBNA group where he was previously ‘relationship manager,’ floundered in the hunt for O’Neill’s successor, UEFA have persuaded Stride to interrupt his retirement and take on the role of senior delegate at major European games this winter.

This bit hurts.

Wolves are accused of being the new Stoke. Blues are endeavouring to be the new Villa, while Villa are looking more and more like the new Blues. All gaffes and own goals.

I thought the second bit was a bit of a piss take to be honest. The season is 4 games old

I don't think he was talking about on the pitch.

I don't think things are that bad !!

[pauliewalnuts]

Speaking of the media and Villa, have the Grauniad changed their Villa/West Midlands football writer?  Most Villa articles used to be written by Stuart James, and were quite good, and the last few days they've been by Louise Taylor and been guff in all honesty, like today's: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/sep/16/gerard-houllier-aston-villa

Heh, maybe it's more proof we're seen as a joke club, eh? ;-)

Nothing wrong with that one - it's a light-hearted 'how things have changed' about football in general and hardly mentions us. The only people calling us a joke or a laughing stock are our own supporters.

Can't see much wrong with that article, either, it's about football, not us.

FWIW, though, a friend of mine from the north east, where Louise Taylor was the Graun's correspondent for a while, absolutely insists that she's the worst sports journo on the planet, so I hope she's not moving down here.

[TheSandman]

I don't see much wrong with the Swain piece to be honest. For me he is on the money.

The reason for this is of course the absence of a manager or any kind of defacto leader in the media. There has been very little coming out of the club in the time and so the media have been jumping on every quote and every idle piece of speculation to make a story. Negativity loves a vacuum it is said and with so little coming out of the club in particular that of a positive variety means that obviously every rumour gains in credibility.