AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[NeilH]

Sorry to piss on your parade, but I simply do not believe that even despite the huge amount of empty seats on display that Lerner will take note. Had we got three points yesterday, it would have been job done. The fact that we didn’t does not change things one iota. Barring a disaster we will crawl over the line and the ambition of the club to cost costs as quick as possible, whilst avoiding relegation will have been achieved.

I am of the opinion that rows of empty seats mean absolutely nothing to the club. McLeish is clearly acting like a man who knows he’s in charge next season. In fact the Dutch TV show that I was watching the match on, even commented that talks are now in place between Villa and Heerenveen over Dost and only relegation will derail them. He will be here next season and the huge swathes of empty seats that we witnessed yesterday will become even more commonplace, because our board in their pursuit of cost cutting have forgotten that paying customers drive growth.

I believe that unless things alter in the summer (which they won’t) an irreparable wedge will be driven between the fans and the owners, whereby the perception will be that the owner does not give a shi* about his paying customers.

 It’s so frustrating that only a few shorts years after Lerner’s takeover we are now in a situation where all the goodwill has ran dry and yet it could have so easily been avoided had he not made the **insert word of choice here** decision to employ McLeish.

Oh yeah and for the record, good job with that pep talk Randy.... As you could see yesterday, it clearly worked!

[Mazrim]

Your thoughts on Dost Neil?

[eastie]

Dost would be a good signing i feel but we need a huge squad overhaul with 7 or 8 in and out , newcsatle have done it but whether we can find the gems they have found is open to question.

[NeilH]

Your thoughts on Dost Neil?

He’s come from nowhere and scored a load of goals in the Eredivise this season. He’s big and strong and looks a little like Peter Crouch, so the comparisons are easy to make. There’s been some interest from Bundesliga clubs, but we seem to be the first one to the table with anything concrete. My only BUT to this, is that he’s had a lot of good service from wide positions at Heerenveen to score the goals and he’s going to need that if he joins us too.

[ventnor villain]

If i could talk to him, i would say ok Alex, no injuries, no suspensions, what would your best 11 be and how would you set them up to play? On the evidence of this season, the answers would be: don't know and don't know. That's the problem with him, there is no clear sightedness in his approach, which is why he should be shown the door at the end of the season. I was as critical of our style of play under MON as anyone, but at least you could see what he was trying to do. With McClueless it is difficult to see what the point of any of our play is, unless he really is a secret agent for the dark side and is trying to take us down.

[cdward]

Surely the wage bill cutting versus the drop in attendance revenue and reduced PL prize money is a short term solution. Randy is being badly advised if he thinks relying on the cheaper youth team players will turn us into a successful "franchise". The projected loss in revenue next season must surely be greater than the money saved in reduced wages.

[WarleyWonder]

The future is bleak under AM ......

[paul_e]

Surely the wage bill cutting versus the drop in attendance revenue and reduced PL prize money is a short term solution. Randy is being badly advised if he thinks relying on the cheaper youth team players will turn us into a successful "franchise". The projected loss in revenue next season must surely be greater than the money saved in reduced wages.

Well, if we count prize money from this season into next years finances that's a £5m loss

Add 10000 lower crowds at ~£25 a seat - £250000 x 19 = £4.75m

I remember reading something which suggests the average fan spends £6 per game on matchday for non ticket stuff (so in the shop, programme, food and drink, etc) so another £60000 x 19 = £1.14m

Sales of merchandise outside matchday will be affected as well but those figues are difficult to even make a guess as so we'll add £1m as a guideline

5m + 4.75m + 1.14m + 1m = £11.89m

So a loss of roughly £12m as things stand - that's around £230,000 a week which would completely offset any savings we've made on the wages front.

If Lerner and Faulkner are doing proper budgeting they will know this already, if they choose to ignore this it's safe to say they don't care about the long term finincial situation at the club and are purely interested in reducing the outgoings as muc h as possible as quickly as possible.  If this is the case I can only think that is because there is far more to the Qatar rumours than many people think.

They will have accounted for reduced revenue as a result of the cost cutting but if they intend to stay long term they will know that the loss of revenue can't outstrip the reduction in expenses, which it is doing currently, and they will have to act to resolve the situation.

The issue around this is that they may think that throwing money at McLeish to spend on players is the answer, in which case we can expect a decent sized budget for him in the summer.

[Concrete John]

Our average crowds haven't fallen by 10,000 this season.

[mr underhill]

I was told this story over Easter by my brother-in-law is a senor partner corporate lawyer in Birmingham and was at a dinner very recently at which he was introduced to Villa's FD. He could not understand why gates were down and echoed the party line that McIdiot was doing an ok job in challenging circumstances. Says it all really. They are all oblivious to reality.

[Doorbell]

I was told this story over Easter by my brother-in-law is a senor partner corporate lawyer in Birmingham and was at a dinner very recently at which he was introduced to Villa's FD. He could not understand why gates were down and echoed the party line that McIdiot was doing an ok job in challenging circumstances. Says it all really. They are all oblivious to reality.

Depressing.

[Vanilla]

Dost would be a good signing i feel but we need a huge squad overhaul with 7 or 8 in and out , newcsatle have done it but whether we can find the gems they have found is open to question.

I think we will ship out the 7 or 8, but I can't see that many coming in.

[pauliewalnuts]

Interesting piece in the Guardian here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/10/aston-villa-alex-mcleish-stoke

Best of all, though, was this comment from a user, which made me laugh.

I think McLeish genuinely hates winning football matches. His idea of perfection would be 38 nil-nil draws over the course of the season.

I imagine when he held the carling cup trophy, actual physical evidence of winning several matches, his hands started to burn like a vampire holding a crucifix.

Super stuff.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

he was introduced to Villa's FD. He could not understand why gates were down and echoed the party line that McIdiot was doing an ok job in challenging circumstances. Says it all really. They are all oblivious to reality.

Doesn't that just show you what a bunch of thick bastards they must be.

[pauliewalnuts]

I was told this story over Easter by my brother-in-law is a senor partner corporate lawyer in Birmingham and was at a dinner very recently at which he was introduced to Villa's FD. He could not understand why gates were down and echoed the party line that McIdiot was doing an ok job in challenging circumstances. Says it all really. They are all oblivious to reality.

Depressing.

Isn't it just. It's not this season's shiteness that worries me most. It is the thought that those in power actually think there's nothing much wrong.