Randy Lerner exclusive on the OS

[PaulWinch again]

After last night's game hearing Southgate and Townsend talk about us, it really crossed my mind what these two could do at Villa Park. I know Southgate's record at Boro but sometimes it's simply getting the right people in at the right club.

I know what you mean.  Sometimes it does need someone who 'gets' a club.  Ex-players usually are a receipe for disaster but I'd take those two at the moment.  I think Southgate could be very good, but by his own admission - he was pressured into doing too much too young in managerial terms.  A few years as a number 2 would have been ideal, but I think he's got the experience to do a good job somewhere.

Obviously it's easy to talk good football in a TV studio but I just liked the idea of them together and how they'd compliment each other. Townsend is a strong character, somebody that take no shit and protect the more mindful Southgate. Both 'get' Aston Villa, understand the current restrictions and wouldn't be afraid to tell Randy what's missing without being stupid about it. I always believe it's not just the manager that runs the club but the people he surrounds himself with. That was MON's greatest weakness, Brian Little's greatest strength.

It would be interesting and couldn't possibly be worse than last night. One of the most disappointing things is that when Mcleish came here he said about bringing through the youngsters and he seems massively reluctant to do so. Ok Bannan has played a bit, but what does Gardner need to do?

[Ad@m]

After last night's game hearing Southgate and Townsend talk about us, it really crossed my mind what these two could do at Villa Park. I know Southgate's record at Boro but sometimes it's simply getting the right people in at the right club.

I know what you mean.  Sometimes it does need someone who 'gets' a club.  Ex-players usually are a receipe for disaster but I'd take those two at the moment.  I think Southgate could be very good, but by his own admission - he was pressured into doing too much too young in managerial terms.  A few years as a number 2 would have been ideal, but I think he's got the experience to do a good job somewhere.

Obviously it's easy to talk good football in a TV studio but I just liked the idea of them together and how they'd compliment each other. Townsend is a strong character, somebody that take no shit and protect the more mindful Southgate. Both 'get' Aston Villa, understand the current restrictions and wouldn't be afraid to tell Randy what's missing without being stupid about it. I always believe it's not just the manager that runs the club but the people he surrounds himself with. That was MON's greatest weakness, Brian Little's greatest strength.

It would be interesting and couldn't possibly be worse than last night. One of the most disappointing things is that when Mcleish came here he said about bringing through the youngsters and he seems massively reluctant to do so. Ok Bannan has played a bit, but what does Gardner need to do?

To be fair, bringing youngsters in to a struggling side is generally a recipe for disaster and could do more harm to the youngster than good.

AM had disaster written all over him from the off.  I personally don't want to slate Randy too much - anyone who's invested the amount of money in to the club he has is alright in my book, but both his managerial appointments have been poor and that's surely the most important thing.

I'm not sure Southgate and Townsend is the right option for all the reasons other people have put on here.  That said, a former player who's a fan would be quite nice.  Laursen's a nice thought but he hasn't managed anywhere and look what happened when Newcastle gave Shearer his managerial debut.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Managing and growing the club properly is not just about throwing money at it - unless you have Man City style cash, and nobody has that kind of money.

It is also about clever management of the club - your long term plan, your risk taking, who you appoint to senior positions, your marketing, how you grow the commercial side, and how everything balances out in contributing to the eventual goal of growing things on the football side.

Randy's undoubtedly well-intentioned, and has put a decent amount of money in, but it is getting more and more clear that, with regard to all the other elements of growing the club, the contributing factors, he is absolutely clueless.

He appears to be a micro manager, focusing on the details rather than big plan, something you'd not expect from your Chairman (read CEO). The one line from the interview confirms it:

"I get it and I understand but my focus is on the nuts and bolts of operating the club and in reality this takes place in the week. Most of my visits in the last two, three years have been digging in with senior management and figuring out how to think through decisions".

Does an architect spend his time with the engineers discussing 'nuts and bolts' or is his focus on the project as a whole, allowing his team to get on with it?

It's a very strange comment from Randy but goes some way to his manager appointment in the summer. Instead of saying "I want a footballing manager that can carry on the ground work made by Houllier, I want attractive football unlike that of MON, he needs to be trustworthy and dedicated to the cause of Aston Villa. Find me the best three candidates to interview", we probably got "Paul, who have you phoned, what did he say, is he interested, well who else is there, call me the minute you've spoken to them".

The biggest mistake was to insist on Premier League experience. Maybe that requirement was to cover up his own lack of experience. Who knows but although I don't doubt for a minute his dedication to Aston Villa, I do have concerns of how he runs the club. I love and admire his vision for the club and that should be his main focus. If he doesn't have faith in his senoir management team, he should replace them, if that's not the case, let them get on with their jobs. In the end, Aston Villa is like any other company, it's a reflection of it's leadership.

Randy has done a great deal for the club, he's got a first class stadium, superb training facilities, the only thing missing now is the team. If we're not able to financially compete with the top 4, at least make Villa Park a place where fans want to go to be entertained. At least let us dream.

[Iago]

Managing and growing the club properly is not just about throwing money at it - unless you have Man City style cash, and nobody has that kind of money.

It is also about clever management of the club - your long term plan, your risk taking, who you appoint to senior positions, your marketing, how you grow the commercial side, and how everything balances out in contributing to the eventual goal of growing things on the football side.

Randy's undoubtedly well-intentioned, and has put a decent amount of money in, but it is getting more and more clear that, with regard to all the other elements of growing the club, the contributing factors, he is absolutely clueless.

He appears to be a micro manager, focusing on the details rather than big plan, something you'd not expect from your Chairman (read CEO). The one line from the interview confirms it:

"I get it and I understand but my focus is on the nuts and bolts of operating the club and in reality this takes place in the week. Most of my visits in the last two, three years have been digging in with senior management and figuring out how to think through decisions".

Does an architect spend his time with the engineers discussing 'nuts and bolts' or is his focus on the project as a whole, allowing his team to get on with it?

It's a very strange comment from Randy but goes some way to his manager appointment in the summer. Instead of saying "I want a footballing manager that can carry on the ground work made by Houllier, I want attractive football unlike that of MON, he needs to be trustworthy and dedicated to the cause of Aston Villa. Find me the best three candidates to interview", we probably got "Paul, who have you phoned, what did he say, is he interested, well who else is there, call me the minute you've spoken to them".

The biggest mistake was to insist on Premier League experience. Maybe that requirement was to cover up his own lack of experience. Who knows but although I don't doubt for a minute his dedication to Aston Villa, I do have concerns of how he runs the club. I love and admire his vision for the club and that should be his main focus. If he doesn't have faith in his senoir management team, he should replace them, if that's not the case, let them get on with their jobs. In the end, Aston Villa is like any other company, it's a reflection of it's leadership.

Randy has done a great deal for the club, he's got a first class stadium, superb training facilities, the only thing missing now is the team. If we're not able to financially compete with the top 4, at least make Villa Park a place where fans want to go to be entertained. At least let us dream.

Good post. We can all hope I suppose.

[JJ-AV]

That team selection on Monday was nothing short of pathetic. I don't blame the manager for all of it, but he takes alot of the blame.

8 cloggers, a half-fit Gabby, an out of form Bent and Given. While players with a little class like Ireland, N'Zogbia, Bannan and Delph are sat on the bench.

It's exactly like when he used to select Jerome over Zarate or Fahey over Hleb at SHA.

[pauliewalnuts]

That team selection on Monday was nothing short of pathetic. I don't blame the manager for all of it, but he takes alot of the blame.

8 cloggers, a half-fit Gabby, an out of form Bent and Given. While players with a little class like Ireland, N'Zogbia, Bannan and Delph are sat on the bench.

It's exactly like when he used to select Jerome over Zarate or Fahey over Hleb at SHA.

Bent's not out of form, but he might as well have been sat at home watching it on tv for all the involvement he had.

There's no point having a top notch striker up front if all you're going to do is rely on either humped balls from that witless moron Collins or crosses from our new winger Hutton to get him into position to score with any frequency.

if we are like that against Spurs, what are we going to be like against Arsenal and Man United in December? Stick 10 men behind the ball at home, and try to keep it below a three goal reverse?

[Compass]

If he tries that at home (which he will) then he's gonna get so much abuse he won't know what's hit him. I'm going to the Man Utd match and if I see 10 men behind the ball, I'm gonna give him stick.

But please fans don't chant "you're gonna get sacked in the morning" because Randy Lerner won't sack him. We gotta make our feelings clear on what we think of his tactics.

[Chris Smith]

When Capello played a negative formation against Spain relying on Hoofs from the back to Bent he was hailed for his tactics.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of trying to stifle a more creative opposition, we've seen it often enough from other teams at Villa Park in recent years.

As I've said before I haven't seen the game and don't intend to waste my time with it but when it was explained to me I could at least see why he tried it.

[Chris Smith]

If he tries that at home (which he will) then he's gonna get so much abuse he won't know what's hit him. I'm going to the Man Utd match and if I see 10 men behind the ball, I'm gonna give him stick.

But please fans don't chant "you're gonna get sacked in the morning" because Randy Lerner won't sack him. We gotta make our feelings clear on what we think of his tactics.

Great, that'll really help the team. Why don't you just join in with the Manu fans?

[Iago]

If he tries that at home (which he will) then he's gonna get so much abuse he won't know what's hit him. I'm going to the Man Utd match and if I see 10 men behind the ball, I'm gonna give him stick.

But please fans don't chant "you're gonna get sacked in the morning" because Randy Lerner won't sack him. We gotta make our feelings clear on what we think of his tactics.

Great, that'll really help the team. Why don't you just join in with the Manu fans?

If we play with the right attitude, it will be easily avoided.

[taylorsworkrate]

When Capello played a negative formation against Spain relying on Hoofs from the back to Bent he was hailed for his tactics.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of trying to stifle a more creative opposition, we've seen it often enough from other teams at Villa Park in recent years.

As I've said before I haven't seen the game and don't intend to waste my time with it but when it was explained to me I could at least see why he tried it.

Capello was wrongly hailed imo, very wrongly hailed.  If Spain had played to 25% of their potential in the final third, they'd have comfortably won the game. 

[Compass]

As I've said before I haven't seen the game and don't intend to waste my time with it but when it was explained to me I could at least see why he tried it.

You didn't even see the game. That's your problem right there.

He used 6 defenders, 3 strikers and 1 midfielder. In the midfield area we had 2 defenders, 1 midfielder and 1 striker.

We was down 2-0 and it was HT. He didn't change anything until the 63rd minute. We was dominated through the entire match. Pretty much every Spurs player (apart from the goalkeeper) was in our own half due to how we was set up. They had at least 4 clear chances in the second half but wasn't clinical enough.

But you can see what he was trying to do without seeing the game so that makes it ok.

It seems you have no problem that AMC is turning us into the new Blues. Interesting.

[eastie]

Any manager would find it difficult coming into a club which is selling its best and most creative players and being has lost half its 1st choice players of last season , add to that the fact that he was given very little to spend on new players and its no surprise things are looking so bleak.

[TheSandman]

When Capello played a negative formation against Spain relying on Hoofs from the back to Bent he was hailed for his tactics.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of trying to stifle a more creative opposition, we've seen it often enough from other teams at Villa Park in recent years.

As I've said before I haven't seen the game and don't intend to waste my time with it but when it was explained to me I could at least see why he tried it.

Capello was hailed for his tactics because they worked against the best team in the world. Ours failed against the fifth best team in the Premier League.

[Compass]

Any manager would find it difficult coming into a club which is selling its best and most creative players and being has lost half its 1st choice players of last season , add to that the fact that he was given very little to spend on new players and its no surprise things are looking so bleak.

Not any manager would find it difficult because Pardew had it worse and yet he seems to be doing marginally better. If the board carefully planned (they had so many months when GH had his health scare) on a manager who could bring us forward while cutting down on the spending fee then we may have seen something similar.

Even if AMC was backed heavily this summer would it make any difference? Look at the money he's wasted on Hutton and N'Zogbia already. Even if we had kept Downing and Young, he wouldn't know how to use them properly. He's absolutely hopeless in the midfield area. He still can't work out on how to use it effectively despite having a pre season behind him.

AMC is just a rubbish manager and there's no way on earth he'll keep us up in the Premier League if he's here for 3 years.