Doubting Randy?

[mattjpa]

Ive NEVER ever doubted randy. the only thing that has let him down has been his naive faith in MON and his f-ing ridiculous signings and general 1970s way of doing things. He has since seen the error of his ways and got in an intellegent manager that WILL lead us onto better things. As long as the short sighted instant success craving idiots dont have their way and start with the houllier out crap if we lose a couple more, the good times will be restored to this club. mark my words

Randy
Gerrard
Sid
KMac
Bent
Gabby
Clark
Albrighton
Delfounso
Gardner

The right people in the right places

[Pete3206]

He's backed his man. Fair play to him.

[willywombat]

Never doubted him and never will, even if the Bent deal doesn't happen

[Irish villain]

Today has been such a bolt out of the blue. Never thought I'd see us put up that sort of money. What a way to show we mean business!

I really hope we see Bent in a villa shirt at BH tomorrow!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Maybe because the General took the time in the summer to explain why funds would always be available but we should get rid of players that had zero future in the manager's plans, I've never doubted the clubs objectives. The media and other clubs fans never quite understood and even today, reading Sunderland, WHU and the Rags forums all thought we are skint, sighting it as the reason MON left before the start of the season.

A lot could be done to improve the communication between the press and the club but for now I'd prefer we do our talking on the pitch. In the end, that's all that matters.

[KevinGage]

In the light of little direct communication from the club (save for the General's thread on this and other sites) the spin, waffle and outright bullshit from a number of media outlets became accepted fact. Sell to buy/ Villa are broke and so on.

Which might - and this is only supposition - have just saved us a few million quid.

There is that.

But my concern was that this myth was said so often, repeated in so many quarters that it created a negative image of the club. Which could -in turn- impact on the calibre of player we might hope to attract.  Who wants to join a club on the slide?

You could make the argument that if any player has such concerns, a good way to convince them if to pay the fee and wages required. End of story. By the sounds of it, an England international currently playing for a club making good progress in the league wanted out as soon as he knew we were interested. So our reputation can't have taken too much of a hit over the past few months. We're still an attractive option for decent players.

[dave.woodhall]

In some quarters we could have signed Rooney, Messi and Tevez, and still they'd have said we were skint. Some quarters will never forgive us for not begging their mate Martin to stay.

[The Left Side]

I've never doubted Randy, he loves the club and if you get a chance to go on the tour of Villa Park then speak to the staff and you will hear more stories about his love for the Villa than you will ever read in the press.

[JUAN PABLO]

Never doubted...       The guy is class...

[luke25]

Its been extremely frustrating at times reading some of the absolute bollocks coming from the media, I know I should rise above it and not let it bother me but when so many of them are turning it into a pantomime with MON as the good guy and Randy as the Villain with such things as 'Mon may have left Villa physically, but not before Randy left them spiritually' it makes my blood boil, not once was it said that funds would'nt be available, they just put their own twist on it, I knew signings would be made in this window but the amount we've spent and the manner we've done it is amazing and a big fuck you to the pro-MON media

[brontebilly]

I doubted Randy Lerner's commitment to the club. It appears I was wrong. While Bent is chronically overpriced etc etc, relegation would mean meltdown for this club. I cant see Gabby or Carew getting 5 goals between now and the end of the season (even between them they will be doing well on current form) but if injury free Bent will guarantee Id say 5-8 goals. That will keep us up imo and the additional money will be worth it.

It is a major statement of intent and will add a few thousand to the gate at Villa Park I would imagine and give every player who has a future at Villa Park a boost. Bent does have a fine goalscoring record at EPL level. At 27, you would hope that will continue for another 3 or 4 seasons. He needs to play off someone so 433/451 is out I would say. The mixture of Heskey/Gabby/Carew should suffice until the end of the season where I suspect we will be in the market again. For the remaining months of the season, Makoun, Walker and Bent will hugely improve our side. I still have huge doubts about Houllier but you cant deny the quality of those three signings anyway. It will be enough to keep us up.

On Downing, I'm not gone on him as a player. He is having a decent season and dont get me wrong is a tidy player. But unless he settles supplying bullets for Bent I wouldnt be averse to us getting our money back on him in the summer particularly if Young stays. I just think the balance is wrong slightly with our wide players at the moment - Young, Albrighton and Downing. They all like to stand on the touchline which leaves our two in midfield a little stretched. I wouldnt mind having a narrower option there too

[cdbearsfan]

I believed before we have the best owner in the UK* and today has just re-affirmed this viewpoint.

*possibly the World but I don't know enough about foreign football to judge.

[TopDeck113]

There is an alternate view: after the largesse of the MON years, Randy did indeed plan on paring back the spending on playing staff.  He perhaps thought that a combination of  the young players coming through, and a manager supposedly with a finger on the pulse of the European scene yielding some relatively cheap buys, would suffice.

He then surveys the scene in January.  Piss-poor performances on the pitch and a club free-falling towards relegation.  He looks at the spreadsheets and sees what life in the Championship would do the value of his investment and the projected fall in income.

He then does the mother of all U-turns and tells Houllier to get spending. 

This is a pragmatic decision about protecting his investment, rather than a declaration of an undying love for the Villa.

[sfx412]

In some quarters we could have signed Rooney, Messi and Tevez, and still they'd have said we were skint. Some quarters will never forgive us for not begging their mate Martin to stay.

How right you are

 

[Chris Smith]

Anyone that says that they didn't have a single doubt is either very naive or very stupid. We were inactive in two transfer windows last year, we sold our best player and lost a successful manager. Most of the criticism of the owners was over the top and misplaced but there was every reason to start to wonder if the global financial situation and the new money in the PL had caused Randy to reconsider how he wanted to go forward.

The Bent deal is a great signal of intent but I bet even those claiming that they didn't give a second thought to his position were surprised that we were in the market at that sort of level.