Time for Randy to go?

[pauliewalnuts]

To answer the question - is it time for Randy to go - go where?

You can't demand an owner "go" like you can a manager. The owner can only pass on ownership if there is someone willing to buy the club off him at terms he'll accept.

There may not be anyone waiting to buy (and, seeing how much financial shit we are in, who can blame them?)

What i want as regards McLeish is for him to go.

What I want as regards Lerner is to appoint people who know how to run a football business. He doesn't have to throw vast amounts of money at the club.

The thing I want him to do above all else is to stop making piss poor decisions.

[Dave Clark Five]

Some people amaze me - they're entitled to their opinion but whatever happens they can't find it within themselves to criticise the club, it's owner, CE or manager. It's almost worth getting relegated to see what they would say then.

Why don't we have one moaning and whingeing thread? It would be much easier to follow.

[dave.woodhall]

If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?

One bad season?  Yes, that's all it is, a mere blip, and next season everything will no doubt be hunkydory.  We've sold our best players, we've got an embarrassment for a manager, and the finances are beyond appalling.  But yes, people are just upset because "it's one bad season".  Christ.

Yes, one bad season. Not two, or three. One.

You know that old joke about people asking if H&V is the match programme?  Why don't you just go the whole hog and change the name?

You really can't handle anyone disagreeing with you can you?

[dave.woodhall]

Good one, Risso

And why might that be?

[the weatherman]

Last year i worked out that Carson Yeung and Randy Lerner attended 26 games between them.

This year it's been 2, and in fairness Yeung has an excuse... he has no passport

[pauliewalnuts]

If he did go, would the next owner get the same abuse after one bad season?

Two.

It isn't about a bad season or two, though. It's about this one looking like our worst since Sky invented football, plus a whole slew of other statistics which point to just how poor we are.

I don't get it. He spent lots of money for four years, then when the must-control-everything manager walked out and shat on us, he conspired to manage things so poorly that the level of hopelessness right now equals that in the last summer of Doug (and no two ways about it, it does), and the manager who walked out looks vindicated.

There's also a lingering bad taste from four years of solid marketing exercises and dialogue with fans, telling us how important it was to hear what we had to say, which disappeared overnight when things started to go a bit pear shaped. It's really hard not to be cynical when you look at that course of events.

That's partly what I mean. We had four good seasons when he was the prefect owner, one when everything that could go wrong did, usually more than once, and this season, which has been awful. I'd rather encourage Randy to get back to the visionary days of 2006-10 than rave hysterically about how he should fuckofflernerthevillaisours.

The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.

When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.

Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.

[dave.woodhall]

The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.

When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.

Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.

I think a lot of it was to do with when you're on a roll, all pulling together, things generate themselves. He left, the momentum stopped rolling...

[PeterWithesShin]

I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.

[PeterWithesShin]

The horrible, horrible thing is ..... and it makes me feel a bit queasy to admit this ... but it looks increasingly like the man most responsible for a lot of things going well in the 06-10 period was O'Neill.

When he left and they were "on their own", it all started going pear shaped.

Don't get me wrong, the pube headed one was a vindictive shit and his half arsed transfer policy is a big contributing factor to where we are, but it's really hard not to look at events since and think that once the new kids were handed the ship and told "it's all yours", it headed straight for the rocks.

I think a lot of it was to do with when you're on a roll, all pulling together, things generate themselves. He left, the momentum stopped rolling...

My worry is, how do we get it going again. There seems no prospect of anyone giving us a shove in the right direction again.

[dave.woodhall]

I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.

They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.

[Risso]

The only thing 'visionary' about Lerner's first four years was chucking so much money at O'Neill that even he couldn't fail to produce a half decent team.  The main reason we're in this mess is that spending £10m in fees and wages on the likes of Marlon Harewood, and then wasting further exorbitant sums on the other chaff that O'Neill bought like Curtis Davies and Steve Sidwell is OK if you have a bottomless pit of money, but isn't if you haven't.  Failure to set reasonable constraints for O'Neill wasn't 'visionary' it was stupidity and bad business practice of the highest order.

[caster troy]

I think Randy can salvage this situation if he sacks McLeish and brings in an experienced football man to deal with the football side of things like managerial appointments, contracts etc. Leave Faulkner to marketing or whatever. If we get the right manager in once June comes around I reckon we can bounce back really strongly next year.

[saunders_heroes]

I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.

They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.

Steve Stride would do nicely.

[PeterWithesShin]

I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.

They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.

There has to be many people who could do the role, they don't have to be a Villa man. Just a decent knowledge of football would help them with a lot of things.
Would Randy even look for someone though, or would it be an admission that he, and the board, are struggling a bit? Not knowing him I have no idea if he would be too stubborn or proud to do it.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think the board and Randy need help, someone with a bit more football knowledge to offer advice.

They do, but of the usually quoted suspects, Sir Graham's at Watford, BFR's retired and Ian Taylor is a great bloke but whether that transfers into business ability remains to be seen.

I think it is also too easy to point at someone who clearly loves the club and assume they'd be the man. Ian Taylor is a Villa fan who played for the club, and does a bit of meet and greet. Like you said, how does that transfer to the skillset he'd need?

Also, there's always the question f whether people mentioned would even want to do the job. Martin Laursen is a good example of that. Perhaps he likes doing a bit of media work and seeing his family?

It is too easy to go for the sentimental option, although I understand the thinking, when what we need are cold hard business decisions.

I'd rather have a tough, cold bastard who had no prior attachment to the club, but who'd do a fucking good job.