If you could go into the dressing room after todays game, what would you say

[Risso]

Obvious, or just that you hadn't thought of it?

The difference between Leeds then and us now makes the difference obvious.

Even Leeds didn't go down overnight.  Lerner's no better a businessman than Ridsdale, he was just lucky enough to inherit more money.  It takes a special kind of imbecile to lose that much money though, and actually make the club worth less than when he bought it.

[dave.woodhall]

Obvious, or just that you hadn't thought of it?

The difference between Leeds then and us now makes the difference obvious.

Even Leeds didn't go down overnight.  Lerner's no better a businessman than Ridsdale, he was just lucky enough to inherit more money.  It takes a special kind of imbecile to lose that much money though, and actually make the club worth less than when he bought it.

Yet the common agreement is Lerner bought Villa on the cheap, so must be worth more now than then. Either way, it's irrelevant. Football clubs are worth what someone is prepared to pay. It would be very interesting to see how much a new owner would invest.   

[hawkeye]

Risdale was involved in every transfer and fucked up with Other Peoples Money
Lerner abdicated responsibility for transfers and fucked up with his own money.

[Irish villain]

I think that, on balance, Lerner has been a good owner. I think the criticism of him can be a bit harsh sometimes. However, he has his failings and right now they are costing us. He hasn't surrounded himself with people who know the game. Hence we have messed up replacing MON (Have we really replaced him yet?) and we appear to have no strategy. We don't have any leadership at the club and it feels like we are drifting rather than building.

Ultimately, we are headed to a dangerous place. We need to arrest the slide and fast. There needs to be some fresh thinking, starting with the appointment of competent advisers/officers whatever you want to call them.

[Risso]

Well as I say, the club's net assets are less than in Ellis's last year, thanks to the huge losses of the last two years.  So while you may be happy that Lerner has spent a lot of money, the fact is he has wasted most of it, and that waste coupled with the fact that he doesn't want to spend any more means that we are heading back to where we were when he took over.  Selling our better players and seeing midtable mediocrity as something to aspire to. 

[hawkeye]

The only defence of Lerner it seems is that could have been someone worse.

[pauliewalnuts]

What worries me is that the return to mediocrity has occurred at a rate which outstrips the speed with which we regained our pride from 2006 onwards.

It's very hard not too look at the club now, at the amounts of money spent (and this isn't just a dig at Lerner), at what we've got now and where we are, plus where we are going to be given their new strategy, and feel very disappointed.

I keep saying this but were a malevolent force to have come down from space last summer with the mission of sucking the lifeblood, hope, and ambition out of Aston Villa, I don't think it could have taken a more productive course than Lerner has in that same time.

Well intentioned he may be, but he's proving in two different sports, several thousand miles apart, that he doesn't have the first clue how to run a sports business.

[Greg N'Ash]

bottom line is Lerner didn't have a clue what he was doing. All that bobbins about no transfer budget the General and his disciples used to parrot to us all when we questioned why we had so many high paid non-playing reserves has all come home to roost. Whether its his money he wasted, or just money he'll claw back off us over the next 10 years is beside the point. We now have a smaller squad,and more debts than Doug's last season. He really should look to sell

[Risso]

bottom line is Lerner didn't have a clue what he was doing. All that bobbins about no transfer budget the General and his disciples used to parrot to us all when we questioned why we had so many high paid non-playing reserves has all come home to roost. Whether its his money he wasted, or just money he'll claw back off us over the next 10 years is beside the point. We now have a smaller squad,and more debts than Doug's last season. He really should look to sell

Indeed Greg.  Plus we had General Krulak coming out with bollocks like "the losses were all part of the plan and what we expected."  Only for O'Neill to flounce off and Lerner to burn the cheque book faster than Harry Redknapp with HMRC knocking at the door.

[Greg N'Ash]

yep. god knows what they were thinking. I can only surmise MON guaranteed he'd have us in the CL by 2011, so the losses would be offset by the influx of bigger prize money sponsership etc.. Utter madness pinning the clubs future on that.

[Axl Rose]

I would tell a few of them that they are twats and then I would probably urinate on Mcleish. Today I have nothing but disdain for the rash behaviour of Dunne, the sheer headless chicken wank that we have to put up with from Warnock, the pointlessness of Hutton and the smugness of the entire Arsenal Football club. And the media wankfest over that overrated bunch of screbs wearing the Arsenal shirt. Wenger is a prick and it will be a pleasing sight to see the back of him. Van Persie should keep his elbows to himself also-what a depressing day. Fuck them all as harsh as it sounds. Half time was the happiest I have felt all season regarding Villa. Then I would roll on the floor and hide under a shoe........it was a long night after that game, and then up at 7am to teach 21 kids English.Safe to say that they did not have an enthusiastic teacher this morning.

[Dave Clark Five]

I would tell a few of them that they are twats and then I would probably urinate on Mcleish. Today I have nothing but disdain for the rash behaviour of Dunne, the sheer headless chicken wank that we have to put up with from Warnock, the pointlessness of Hutton and the smugness of the entire Arsenal Football club. And the media wankfest over that overrated bunch of screbs wearing the Arsenal shirt. Wenger is a prick and it will be a pleasing sight to see the back of him. Van Persie should keep his elbows to himself also-what a depressing day. Fuck them all as harsh as it sounds. Half time was the happiest I have felt all season regarding Villa. Then I would roll on the floor and hide under a shoe........it was a long night after that game, and then up at 7am to teach 21 kids English.Safe to say that they did not have an enthusiastic teacher this morning.

It might be a good English lesson for them if one of the kids comes in wearing an Arsenal scarf.

[Axl Rose]

I would tell a few of them that they are twats and then I would probably urinate on Mcleish. Today I have nothing but disdain for the rash behaviour of Dunne, the sheer headless chicken wank that we have to put up with from Warnock, the pointlessness of Hutton and the smugness of the entire Arsenal Football club. And the media wankfest over that overrated bunch of screbs wearing the Arsenal shirt. Wenger is a prick and it will be a pleasing sight to see the back of him. Van Persie should keep his elbows to himself also-what a depressing day. Fuck them all as harsh as it sounds. Half time was the happiest I have felt all season regarding Villa. Then I would roll on the floor and hide under a shoe........it was a long night after that game, and then up at 7am to teach 21 kids English.Safe to say that they did not have an enthusiastic teacher this morning.

It might be a good English lesson for them if one of the kids comes in wearing an Arsenal scarf.

Haha. There would be a possibility of him being sent to the corner, as would be the level of my pettiness!

[nigel]

ROBBO posted something similar a while ago:

We don't care if you have problems with the manager or you don't like the training methods or you wish to be somewhere else. You are living our dream, to be paid huge incomes to play football for the team we love. Villa is our passion and when we see you guys just going through the motions seemingly without any desire to represent the shirt it really pisses us off. There is no excuse for the dismal displays we've been watching over the last few months. Next time you run onto the Villa Park (or any other) pitch have a look around the ground. Every single Villa supporter wishes he/she was you. You are our players. The very least we expect is a total committment to the club.

Fantastic

[DerHammer]

Wouldn't say anything,you'd just hear machine gun fire!!!