Randy Lerner "State of Aston Villa" Statement

[Chipsticks]

New Middle-Eastern owners. Sidwell on the board of directors. Renaming the Holte End the "Genting Casinos End".


Standard stuff.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I see no problem with GK using the "Proud history..." slogan, in fact one could view it as a little nod to Villa that he decided to throw into his speech.  Surely it's no different to him signing off his posts with "semper fidelis" - just a simple nod to an institution he is part of/worked for?

Absolutely. Good luck to him in his new post.

[DBTW]

"It is a balancing act of expenses vs. revenue....of new players and youth, vs experienced players already on the team...of trying to find the right players to "fit" into the Squad (the way we want to play the game) vs. players who are available...etc. etc. I recognize the fact that the "right" solution for most Fans would be to go out and "splash" money around, forget about the business aspects and just shoot the moon. It just doesn't work that way...unless you happen to own half the oil reserves in the world or something like that. Randy has splashed a good deal of money...and has done so since his arrival. Again, I recognize that most Fans want more...I am not naive"

This is totally correct, and proves why football has been ruined by money.

[nigel]

Can I be as bold to ask the question:
What is it most of you guys want?
Randy has spent well over £200mill on the infrastructure of the club and players. He gave MON a free reign and got his fingers burnt, is it any wonder he pulled back a bit?
But, when we were desparate for a striker he came up with Darren Bent.
We have sold Ash and Downing, so what, we have a ready made replacement for Downing in Albrighton, who, in my opinion, will be better, and we have bought in CN'Z to replace Ash, again, he could work out better.
Would you rather have a Man City, Man Utd or Chelsea type instead?
I think he's building a stable platform from which we can jump to the next step.
I can't believe some would go back to the Ellis days (not on this posting yet)
I liked Doug, but, I'm convinced had he remained we would be languishing midtable in the championship. Doug invested diddly squat in his last 2 years at Villa.
Be careful what you wish for, you might end up with someone like the chap at Small Heath!!

[N'ZMAV]

Be careful what you wish for, you might end up with someone like the chap at Small Heath!!

good point

[Concrete John]

The way I see it, Randy wants what's best for the club and was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop when he first arrived - throwing money at things.  I'm sure there was a business plan behind it, but that relied on a greater increase in turnover than we've seen since 2006.  So now he's acting more business like and trying to get the house in order.  What remains unknown is his strategy going forward, other than wanting to get more from our excellent accademy.  We'll have a large minus net spend by the time this window ends, which doesn't tally with his splashing out on Bent.  Are we just waiting for a full clearing of the decks so we can start spending/building again?  Or is it a matter of cutting our cloth to our revenue and settling for being an upper mid-table PL side?       

[Small Rodent]

Do you think they're going to raise our debt ceiling?

[Chris Smith]

The statement, whatever he says, will be picked apart by the usual keyboard warriors. The same people who have been banging on about the need for him to say something will respond with things like "talk is cheap" and will find hidden meanings in innocuous phrases.

[Merv]

The way I see it, Randy wants what's best for the club and was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop when he first arrived - throwing money at things.  I'm sure there was a business plan behind it, but that relied on a greater increase in turnover than we've seen since 2006.  So now he's acting more business like and trying to get the house in order.  What remains unknown is his strategy going forward, other than wanting to get more from our excellent accademy.  We'll have a large minus net spend by the time this window ends, which doesn't tally with his splashing out on Bent.  Are we just waiting for a full clearing of the decks so we can start spending/building again?  Or is it a matter of cutting our cloth to our revenue and settling for being an upper mid-table PL side?       

I'd say that's a very accurate summary of the Lerner Era so far, John.

[Concrete John]

The statement, whatever he says, will be picked apart by the usual keyboard warriors. The same people who have been banging on about the need for him to say something will respond with things like "talk is cheap" and will find hidden meanings in innocuous phrases.

Not only will it be picked apart, it'll also be twisted to suit whatever opinion people already hold.

[UK Redsox]

Maybe the statement will simply be that a W. Gates of Seattle and a W. Buffett of Omaha have bought the club ?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The way I see it, Randy wants what's best for the club and was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop when he first arrived - throwing money at things.  I'm sure there was a business plan behind it, but that relied on a greater increase in turnover than we've seen since 2006.  So now he's acting more business like and trying to get the house in order.  What remains unknown is his strategy going forward, other than wanting to get more from our excellent accademy.  We'll have a large minus net spend by the time this window ends, which doesn't tally with his splashing out on Bent.  Are we just waiting for a full clearing of the decks so we can start spending/building again?  Or is it a matter of cutting our cloth to our revenue and settling for being an upper mid-table PL side?       

The way I see it is he'll continue to spend on top players that will straight into the first team but wants the kids to make up the squad (where possible). What he won't do is buy and pay top salaries to squad fillers on long term contracts.

[sideshow]

Can I be as bold to ask the question:
What is it most of you guys want?
Randy has spent well over £200mill on the infrastructure of the club and players. He gave MON a free reign and got his fingers burnt, is it any wonder he pulled back a bit?
But, when we were desparate for a striker he came up with Darren Bent.
We have sold Ash and Downing, so what, we have a ready made replacement for Downing in Albrighton, who, in my opinion, will be better, and we have bought in CN'Z to replace Ash, again, he could work out better.
Would you rather have a Man City, Man Utd or Chelsea type instead?
I think he's building a stable platform from which we can jump to the next step.
I can't believe some would go back to the Ellis days (not on this posting yet)
I liked Doug, but, I'm convinced had he remained we would be languishing midtable in the championship. Doug invested diddly squat in his last 2 years at Villa.
Be careful what you wish for, you might end up with someone like the chap at Small Heath!!

/\
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Took the words out of my mouth. 

MON had a reserve team who he wouldnt play but cost us circa £250,000 per week.  Its no wonder Randys trying to level things out.

And to feel 'used' because the generals used our 4 year old slogan is ridiculous.  Id see it more as a respectful nod to one of his passions.  Fair play to him.

[Concrete John]

The way I see it is he'll continue to spend on top players that will straight into the first team but wants the kids to make up the squad (where possible). What he won't do is buy and pay top salaries to squad fillers on long term contracts.

And who could really argue with that?

Where the balance comes is how many 1st teamers we can carry and the wagebill sustain, as more than the bare 11 is needed.

[N'ZMAV]

I think the way he is running the club now is the way forward, maybe we didn't have the caliber of youth team players when MON came in to have the current approach. I'm not sure, just making the point.