This week's Pressing matter

[pauliewalnuts]

There are limits to how much money Randy can spend, we all understand that, but this state of affairs right now is not primarily about money. It is about incompetence.

It increasingly feels that way, doesn't it?

I'm reluctant to kick a man when he's down-  particularly a man who for four years delivered way more than most of us could realistically expect.

But it his success ratio (or lack of) at the Browns was always in the back of my mind. More like a nagging whisper, rather than a booming Brian Blessed shouting that it was all doomed, doomed!

I reasoned that the Browns was an obligation whereas the Villa was a choice and what constitutes success here  (CL qualification/ trophies) might be somewhat easier to attain than a Superbowl win against sides with infinitely more resources.

But no getting away from it, the 'big' decisions affecting the club recently have been about  as convincing as Terry Wigon's hair-don't.

For all that I disliked MON's way of doing things, there is no doubt that Lerner got very lucky when he bought the club.

There was already a manager-in-waiting who wanted to take control of all footballing matters, who was coveted by our support, loved by the media thus insuring good PR, and was hands-on enough to deal with the stuff that Randy didn't know about.

What happened when MON walked out would have been stressful enough for any club, but I honestly think it revealed, very abruptly, just how short of football nous the leadership of the club really was.

Why on earth didn't they make hay while the sun shined under O'Neill and make sure they built on what they had? These days, we don't even seem able to write a PR letter to season ticket holders, or to give a rare press interview, without dropping at least one gigantic sign that we don't know what we're doing.

[Somniloquism]

It increasingly feels that way, doesn't it?

I'm reluctant to kick a man when he's down-  particularly a man who for four years delivered way more than most of us could realistically expect.

But it his success ratio (or lack of) at the Browns was always in the back of my mind. More like a nagging whisper, rather than a booming Brian Blessed shouting that it was all doomed, doomed!

I reasoned that the Browns was an obligation whereas the Villa was a choice and what constitutes success here  (CL qualification/ trophies) might be somewhat easier to attain than a Superbowl win against sides with infinitely more resources.

But no getting away from it, the 'big' decisions affecting the club recently have been about  as convincing as Terry Wigon's hair-don't.

The thing with the Browns and the NFL in general is it is geared to ensure crapper clubs get stronger and stronger clubs get weaker. Teams with poor records get first dabs on the up and coming stars and there are salary caps. Yes, some teams might be richer, but no team dominates for more then a few years at a time unless they have a tremendous coach. IIRC the Browns have had one season in the last 10 where they have won more then they have lost.

[taylorsworkrate]

The Browns record over the last 10 years has been truly appalling.  They are a very poor team.  The Browns fans have pretty much always disliked Randy, and as you can see by looking at their boards, they are somewhat perplexed as to the high regard he is held by us Villa fans.