Villa man seen stumbling out of spanish bar prior to game.

[The Moose]

Ah, hysteria. There will be plenty of that if we lose to the Geordies.....

[TimTheVillain]

Doesn't detract from the fact that the man is a nasty piece of work.

No-one has a god word to say of him.

He 'found' Villa when it was opportune, otherwise he would have been Chairman at Blues or Wolves.

Sorry, let bygones be bygones and all that, but the fact is that £llis held us back by being stubborn and antiquated.

I thought we'd already had your final word on this subject ?

Almost ;-)

[Legion]

A nasty piece of work? Have you met him?

[Dave Cooper please]

Doesn't detract from the fact that the man is a nasty piece of work.

What exactly has he done to be a "nasty piece of work"?

At the very worst he's not quite been a good enough chairman of a football club, is that a big enough crime for you to actually think of him alongside, I don't know, muggers, rapists, child molesters and Coldplay, you know, real "nasty pieces of work"?

Hyperbole. We're good at it on here sometimes.

[TimTheVillain]

A nasty piece of work? Have you met him?

Only socially.

I know people who've dealt with him, all have the same opinion - all of them, to a man or woman.

[Legion]

I've met him. I've spoken to him. I've dealt with him. I don't share that opinion.

[Villa'Zawg]

A nasty piece of work? Have you met him?

Only socially.

I know people who've dealt with him, all have the same opinion - all of them, to a man or woman.

Perhaps that says more about the people you know.

[Percy McCarthy]

There are a lot of things that I could say right now that I'm not going to say.

[Villa'Zawg]

There are a lot of things that I could say right now that I'm not going to say.

Aahhh go on, go on, go on, go on....

[PeterWithesShin]

There are a lot of things that I could say right now that I'm not going to say.

Aahhh go on, go on, go on, go on....

[Greg N'Ash]

i'll tell you one thing about cuddly doug i've never been able to understand. Why was it when he made his name being very careful about money, the one time he went on a spending spree with a manager he didn't choose GT, BFR or someone with at least some record as a manager, but John Gregory?!

[dave.woodhall]

i'll tell you one thing about cuddly doug i've never been able to understand. Why was it when he made his name being very careful about money, the one time he went on a spending spree with a manager he didn't choose GT, BFR or someone with at least some record as a manager, but John Gregory?!

That was the time we had plenty of it.

[Greg N'Ash]

nah, there was more to it than that. rumour was, that part of the reason Doug got rid of BFR was the wage bill and the older players he signed with no re-sale value but he seemed quite happy to do the same under gregory.

[dave.woodhall]

nah, there was more to it than that. rumour was, that part of the reason Doug got rid of BFR was the wage bill and the older players he signed with no re-sale value but he seemed quite happy to do the same under gregory.

We had the flotation and the NTL money. It was there and the manager spent it.

[KevinGage]

As DW points out, it was timing more than anything else. The flotation in 1997, the Yorke sale in 1998 and the NTL deal in 2000 swelled the coffers more than any other period.

It wasn't 'his' money, as he would often like to make out, but in fairness he did free it up.

The Bosman ruling and Leeds coming a cropper made him retreat to the bunker. He genuinely thought transfer fees would soon be done away with altogether -so there wasn't any point going overboard.

He also had this curious idea about clubs being self sustainable, that they shouldn't have so much of their income going straight out in wages again. Not an unreasonable view, but without consensus and without other owners and chairmen all abiding by the same rules it reduced our ability to be competitive.  The kids from the youth team were going to save us, but the kids were never quite good enough.