The General's thread has been locked

[Mazrim]

I for one hope he comes back and keeps the thread alive. You can question the relevancy of it all you like but its not something to be taken for granted and its not something that any other PL club enjoys as far as I know.

It's naive to expect sensitive inside info or anything other than pro-Randy and positive language. That's the nature of the man and it's genuine.
But it's still a line of communication to the powers that be and seeing as every other line is lacking, a welcome one in my opinion.

Aside from all that, I admire him greatly and I appreciate him taking his time to speak to us. He doesn't have to.
I'm with everybody else who disagrees with the McLeish appointment but this board and the General in particular are very much in credit with me and some of the stick they've had over the last week or so has made me cringe.

[E I Adio]

What happened with regards to The General's thread is exactly what I predicted, everyone was happy to ask questions and have banter with him when things were going well but as soon as the board did a few things the genral support didn't agree with, rather than carry on the respectful dialogue it descended into abuse. And then when he didn't immediately appear to answer your abuse he got even more with some people even branding him, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran Marine Corp Officer, a coward!

We had something almost unique in football, certainly unique in The Premier League, an insight into the workings of the board and a conduit to senior figures in the club, and you abused it and have now lost it - as predicted.

That's just as I see it.

[Villa'Zawg]

What happened with regards to The General's thread is exactly what I predicted, everyone was happy to ask questions and have banter with him when things were going well but as soon as the board did a few things the genral support didn't agree with, rather than carry on the respectful dialogue it descended into abuse. And then when he didn't immediately appear to answer your abuse he got even more with some people even branding him, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran Marine Corp Officer, a coward!

We had something almost unique in football, certainly unique in The Premier League, an insight into the workings of the board and a conduit to senior figures in the club, and you abused it and have now lost it - as predicted.

It is as ridiculous to call the General a coward as it is to call McLeish brave for moving from the 2nd division Blues to Premier League Aston Villa, with the cushion of a 150% pay rise.

I disagree that the General's thread provides any particular insight into the workings of the club beyond seeing at first hand what the board would like the supporters to think. He was responsive to sycophantic posts but ignores questions that required a higher level of openness and transparency than you can get from any PL football club.  I might change my mind on that if anyone can point to examples where he divulged genuine information.

It's interesting that you describe the problem as posters being abusive. This forum is generally very firm in dealing with that type of behaviour. Other people had predicted that the experiment would fail when the going got tough and the questions more pointed. I think that is a better description of what has happened.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

What happened with regards to The General's thread is exactly what I predicted, everyone was happy to ask questions and have banter with him when things were going well but as soon as the board did a few things the genral support didn't agree with, rather than carry on the respectful dialogue it descended into abuse. And then when he didn't immediately appear to answer your abuse he got even more with some people even branding him, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran Marine Corp Officer, a coward!

We had something almost unique in football, certainly unique in The Premier League, an insight into the workings of the board and a conduit to senior figures in the club, and you abused it and have now lost it - as predicted.

It is as ridiculous to call the General a coward as it is to call McLeish brave for moving from the 2nd division Blues to Premier League Aston Villa, with the cushion of a 150% pay rise.

I disagree that the General's thread provides any particular insight into the workings of the club beyond seeing at first hand what the board would like the supporters to think. He was responsive to sycophantic posts but ignores questions that required a higher level of openness and transparency than you can get from any PL football club.  I might change my mind on that if anyone can point to examples where he divulged genuine information.

It's interesting that you describe the problem as posters being abusive. This forum is generally very firm in dealing with that type of behaviour. Other people had predicted that the experiment would fail when the going got tough and the questions more pointed. I think that is a better description of what has happened.

Have to agree with every word of this.

[Greg N'Ash]

Nice idea, rotten in practice. With the best will in the world, the poor guy can't answer any real questions because it will be in the press a day later. So you're left with the non-football related questions which could be answered by anyone at the club. i made the decision to avoid the thread  a long time back because while its tempting to go on and shout the odds at him when things aren't right in your opinion it just kicks off a big arguement normally

[pauliewalnuts]

What happened with regards to The General's thread is exactly what I predicted, everyone was happy to ask questions and have banter with him when things were going well but as soon as the board did a few things the genral support didn't agree with, rather than carry on the respectful dialogue it descended into abuse. And then when he didn't immediately appear to answer your abuse he got even more with some people even branding him, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran Marine Corp Officer, a coward!

We had something almost unique in football, certainly unique in The Premier League, an insight into the workings of the board and a conduit to senior figures in the club, and you abused it and have now lost it - as predicted.

It is as ridiculous to call the General a coward as it is to call McLeish brave for moving from the 2nd division Blues to Premier League Aston Villa, with the cushion of a 150% pay rise.

I disagree that the General's thread provides any particular insight into the workings of the club beyond seeing at first hand what the board would like the supporters to think. He was responsive to sycophantic posts but ignores questions that required a higher level of openness and transparency than you can get from any PL football club.  I might change my mind on that if anyone can point to examples where he divulged genuine information.

It's interesting that you describe the problem as posters being abusive. This forum is generally very firm in dealing with that type of behaviour. Other people had predicted that the experiment would fail when the going got tough and the questions more pointed. I think that is a better description of what has happened.

Have to agree with every word of this.

Me too.

I'm off for a lie down.

[Dave Cooper please]

It's interesting that you describe the problem as posters being abusive. This forum is generally very firm in dealing with that type of behaviour. Other people had predicted that the experiment would fail when the going got tough and the questions more pointed. I think that is a better description of what has happened.

This forum was certainly better than certain others in snuffing out the abuse, but it was there, and it was unwarranted and disgraceful.

Look, I don't know what you or anyone else expected from General K, we were never going to get anything truly insightful and he was only ever a club PR machine, but I think it did give a little glimpse into the very private way in which Randy runs the club, people did get queries answered (ask Nicky Keye) and some people were genuinely helped.
Okay so it was nothing they couldn't have got done simply by ringing the club but there you go!

[Risso]

Okay so it was nothing they couldn't have got done simply by ringing the club but there you go!

That sums it up for me.  I think the board got far more out of it than we as supporters did, and we lost a lot, ie that independent spirit.  In the beginning it was genuinely interesting to see a board member posting on a fan site, but the last year or two has just seen lots of "yee haw, we're all in it together" type comments, lots of cap doffing and lots of ill advised comments that have ended up dragging down the name of the club in the press.  In short it's had the exact opposite effect to that which was originally intended, and is now more trouble than its worth to be honest.

[pauliewalnuts]

This forum was certainly better than certain others in snuffing out the abuse, but it was there, and it was unwarranted and disgraceful.

Where was this disgraceful abuse, Dave?

I understand people were angry when we appointed this manager, but "disgraceful abuse"? Really?

[Villa'Zawg]

What happened with regards to The General's thread is exactly what I predicted, everyone was happy to ask questions and have banter with him when things were going well but as soon as the board did a few things the genral support didn't agree with, rather than carry on the respectful dialogue it descended into abuse. And then when he didn't immediately appear to answer your abuse he got even more with some people even branding him, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran Marine Corp Officer, a coward!

We had something almost unique in football, certainly unique in The Premier League, an insight into the workings of the board and a conduit to senior figures in the club, and you abused it and have now lost it - as predicted.

It is as ridiculous to call the General a coward as it is to call McLeish brave for moving from the 2nd division Blues to Premier League Aston Villa, with the cushion of a 150% pay rise.

I disagree that the General's thread provides any particular insight into the workings of the club beyond seeing at first hand what the board would like the supporters to think. He was responsive to sycophantic posts but ignores questions that required a higher level of openness and transparency than you can get from any PL football club.  I might change my mind on that if anyone can point to examples where he divulged genuine information.

It's interesting that you describe the problem as posters being abusive. This forum is generally very firm in dealing with that type of behaviour. Other people had predicted that the experiment would fail when the going got tough and the questions more pointed. I think that is a better description of what has happened.

Have to agree with every word of this.

Me too.

I'm off for a lie down.

You've changed ;-)

[Dave Cooper please]

This forum was certainly better than certain others in snuffing out the abuse, but it was there, and it was unwarranted and disgraceful.

Where was this disgraceful abuse, Dave?

I understand people were angry when we appointed this manager, but "disgraceful abuse"? Really?

Well, maybe I dreamed it or was getting confused with another site or some of the bile and vitriol on other threads. It all seemed so totally over the top to me.

[dave.woodhall]

This forum was certainly better than certain others in snuffing out the abuse, but it was there, and it was unwarranted and disgraceful.

Where was this disgraceful abuse, Dave?

I understand people were angry when we appointed this manager, but "disgraceful abuse"? Really?

Calling him a coward and a liar is well over the top.

[Brend'Watkins]

This forum was certainly better than certain others in snuffing out the abuse, but it was there, and it was unwarranted and disgraceful.

Where was this disgraceful abuse, Dave?

I understand people were angry when we appointed this manager, but "disgraceful abuse"? Really?

Calling him a coward and a liar is well over the top.

Did someone on here do that? 

[dave.woodhall]

This forum was certainly better than certain others in snuffing out the abuse, but it was there, and it was unwarranted and disgraceful.

Where was this disgraceful abuse, Dave?

I understand people were angry when we appointed this manager, but "disgraceful abuse"? Really?

Calling him a coward and a liar is well over the top.

Did someone on here do that? 

More than once.

[Lee]

Calling him a coward is indeed out of order as that is certainly not the case.