Randy Lerner "State of Aston Villa" Statement

[Villa'Zawg]

1. Non TV commercial revenue has been flat for a while.

2. Fine, if that's what he wants, but he doesn't get to keep the "most supportive chairman" crown.

3. No. He was getting lots of criticism before he appointed the manager, and over the course of last year.

4. They seem to have a strategy, but it's all about Deloitte rankings rather than PL ones.

5. Fair enough, but then again, they were the ones who let him accrue so much power in the first place.

1) Try selling Villa outside the West Midlands. It's not easy.

2) He doesn't have to, but neither does he deserve the demonisation he's been getting lately.

3) As I said.

4) I don't know of any club who admits what their strategy is, and if they have one - which would be difficult in football.

5) Without it he might not have taken the job, but it is Randy's single biggest fault. 

1) The only way to significantly improve commercial revenue is through improved performances on the pitch. They knew that and knew it would require investment to achieve. This was the reason that Villa was valued so low at takeover.

2) There is a big difference between spending and investing. We've seen with the sales of Milner, Young and Downing that money spent on players was not spending, it was invesment.

3) It isn't correct to insist that supporter's main issue is McLeish's link to Blues. I don't know anyone who really gives a f**k

4) Every club has a strategy. Many of them declare it with clarity. Ours was to qualify for CL and win trophies, it is now to be one of the top 20 revenue earning clubs in Europe.

5) It is illogical and trite to repeatedly insist that we overspent on transfer fees/wages in relation to a club with a strategy to qualify for CL and win trophies.

[Chris Smith]

Ours was to qualify for CL and win trophies, it is now to be one of the top 20 revenue earning clubs in Euro

Those are targets, not strategies.

However, as you said the only way to improve revenue is by success on the pitch so the two go hand in hand.

[Risso]

Lerner's one strategy was let O'Neill do whatever he wanted, including seemingly, agreeing transfer fees and salaries.  What sort of owner acts surprised when he sees the wage bill at the end of the year?  Dreadful, dreadful mismanagement, and a piss poor way to run any sort of business.

[Chris Smith]

Lerner's one strategy was let O'Neill do whatever he wanted, including seemingly, agreeing transfer fees and salaries.  What sort of owner acts surprised when he sees the wage bill at the end of the year?  Dreadful, dreadful mismanagement, and a piss poor way to run any sort of business.

If his investment had given him a couple more wins then qualifying for the CL would have justified it and he wouldn't be getting any of this stick. We tried one approach, it almost paid dividend and now we're trying something else

[Risso]

Lerner's one strategy was let O'Neill do whatever he wanted, including seemingly, agreeing transfer fees and salaries.  What sort of owner acts surprised when he sees the wage bill at the end of the year?  Dreadful, dreadful mismanagement, and a piss poor way to run any sort of business.

If his investment had given him a couple more wins then qualifying for the CL would have justified it and he wouldn't be getting any of this stick. We tried one approach, it almost paid dividend and now we're trying something else

How would it have justified it?  In all liklihood we'd have crashed out of the Champions League at the first hurdle and still had a massive wage bill.  We're not "trying something else" in the sense that appointing a crap manager, selling our best players and not replacing them is a great new strategy, in the same way that Leeds nearly going bust and spending the last few years in the lower leagues is them "trying something else". 

Lerner lost control of his business because he doesn't know what he's doing, and the only way to try and restore a bit of order is now to stop spending and liquidate some assets.

[Merv]

The crucial question for me is: where are Villa going? For the first time in five years, I couldn't tell you.

[Villa'Zawg]

Ours was to qualify for CL and win trophies, it is now to be one of the top 20 revenue earning clubs in Euro

Those are targets, not strategies.

However, as you said the only way to improve revenue is by success on the pitch so the two go hand in hand.

OK you're right of course. That was the aim not the strategy. The strategy in support of achieving that aim would presumably have included investing money on buying players and the corresponding increase in wages towards the levels of a top 6 team?

So on that basis, why do so many people insist that spending an average of £20m per season on transfer fees for four years and wages at the bottom range for a top 6 team were examples of profligacy?

[JJ-AV]

It frustrates me but we should be rid of the overpaid crap this time next year. By which time we'll have had a couple of years of not spending big, which should enable us to have another crack at the top 4 again.

That's the way I see it anyway. We just can't afford to bring in players to replace the likes of Heskey, Dunne, Beye, Warnock and Ireland as they'll just be sitting in the stands picking up their astronimical wages.

And as there's no takers it's a stand off where we'll just have to wait until they're on frees/someone wants them.

I don't see that, sadly. I did (I had already written off this window) up until this statement came out but with the focus upon sustainability within the statement I feel that the time of Lerner splashing the cash has well and truly gone. If you think about the wage situation we have already waved goodbye to a large number of players who were earning a decent whack and have had a lot coming in in terms of fees.

Christ I hope you're wrong. I'm just crossing my fingers it's a destroy and rebuild job and once the manager has a clean canvass funds will be available.

If it's not and we have to rely on working within our own limits ala Arsenal then I'd hope Randy would be looking to sell, because I really can't see anyway our commercial revenue will increase without further investment.

[Chris Smith]

Lerner's one strategy was let O'Neill do whatever he wanted, including seemingly, agreeing transfer fees and salaries.  What sort of owner acts surprised when he sees the wage bill at the end of the year?  Dreadful, dreadful mismanagement, and a piss poor way to run any sort of business.

If his investment had given him a couple more wins then qualifying for the CL would have justified it and he wouldn't be getting any of this stick. We tried one approach, it almost paid dividend and now we're trying something else

How would it have justified it?  In all liklihood we'd have crashed out of the Champions League at the first hurdle and still had a massive wage bill.  We're not "trying something else" in the sense that appointing a crap manager, selling our best players and not replacing them is a great new strategy, in the same way that Leeds nearly going bust and spending the last few years in the lower leagues is them "trying something else". 

Lerner lost control of his business because he doesn't know what he's doing, and the only way to try and restore a bit of order is now to stop spending and liquidate some assets.

That's one extreme interpretation but there are other ways of looking at it.

He hasn't stopped spending, he's reduced it.

The approach now, according to the letter, is to increase revenue in order to support the playing side. Of course that might all be a bluff and you're right but for now I'll trust that is what they intend.

[bertlambshank]

Your right Chris revenues have to
increase.Are we being softened up for something.
Stadium branding perhaps?

[robbyfvillain]

That's one extreme interpretation but there are other ways of looking at it.

He hasn't stopped spending, he's reduced it.

The approach now, according to the letter, is to increase revenue in order to support the playing side. Of course that might all be a bluff and you're right but for now I'll trust that is what they intend.

He's been trying to do that for 5 years and has failed. Now with a weaker squad do you really feel confident he can achieve a better result. He still has no football knowledge on the board so he is equally not learning from past mistakes.

I admire your trust but with the club now loaded with a huge debt it now has to finance and a management team lacking the skill base required to run a football club I am finding it very hard to trust them.

[Chris Smith]

That's one extreme interpretation but there are other ways of looking at it.

He hasn't stopped spending, he's reduced it.

The approach now, according to the letter, is to increase revenue in order to support the playing side. Of course that might all be a bluff and you're right but for now I'll trust that is what they intend.

He's been trying to do that for 5 years and has failed. Now with a weaker squad do you really feel confident he can achieve a better result. He still has no football knowledge on the board so he is equally not learning from past mistakes.

I admire your trust but with the club now loaded with a huge debt it now has to finance and a management team lacking the skill base required to run a football club I am finding it very hard to trust them.

Why do you think they need a football man on the board to raise commercial revenue? It's untrue to suggest that they haven't increased it in 5 years and they've also just signed our best ever sponsorship deal which is yet to be recognised in any published accounts.

[Toronto Villa]

Your right Chris revenues have to
increase.Are we being softened up for something.
Stadium branding perhaps?

why would we need to be softened up for that? If Villa Park became Nike Park with a big swoosh across the Doug, it likely would not appeal to the purists. But it would still be called Villa park to all of us, and if it brought in X million a year that helped us grow, it wouldn't be a bad thing. I'd like Villa Park to be called Villa Park until I die, but if it got called something else to help us keep up with the Jones's, I'd likely gnash my teeth for a little bit, then shrug my shoulders but move on pretty quickly. I think most people would.

[pauliewalnuts]

Your right Chris revenues have to
increase.Are we being softened up for something.
Stadium branding perhaps?

why would we need to be softened up for that? If Villa Park became Nike Park with a big swoosh across the Doug, it likely would not appeal to the purists. But it would still be called Villa park to all of us, and if it brought in X million a year that helped us grow, it wouldn't be a bad thing. I'd like Villa Park to be called Villa Park until I die, but if it got called something else to help us keep up with the Jones's, I'd likely gnash my teeth for a little bit, then shrug my shoulders but move on pretty quickly. I think most people would.

That's why it either won't happen, or if it does, won't raise much revenue anyway.

Stadium naming doesn't work so well with stadia that have names burned into the conscious over a century.

[Toronto Villa]

Your right Chris revenues have to
increase.Are we being softened up for something.
Stadium branding perhaps?

why would we need to be softened up for that? If Villa Park became Nike Park with a big swoosh across the Doug, it likely would not appeal to the purists. But it would still be called Villa park to all of us, and if it brought in X million a year that helped us grow, it wouldn't be a bad thing. I'd like Villa Park to be called Villa Park until I die, but if it got called something else to help us keep up with the Jones's, I'd likely gnash my teeth for a little bit, then shrug my shoulders but move on pretty quickly. I think most people would.

That's why it either won't happen, or if it does, won't raise much revenue anyway.

Stadium naming doesn't work so well with stadia that have names burned into the conscious over a century.

yeh, maybe. But if the Nike Stadium is put on everything the club produces and is merchandised as such, TV refers to it with the correct name, a newer generation of fan begins to adopt the name. Us old farts will call it what we want. My wife works for a company over here called Sun Life Financial. They recently took over the naming of Miami Dolphins stadium and have done a lot advertising to support the team to help grow their brand in the US. I have no idea if the fans call it that, and I appreciate that US sports is more used to it than us football fans, but like many commercial ventures, football fans are only a piece of it, seemingly a smaller and smaller piece.