Concrete Ron deal done

[Villafirst]

Fair enough.  Don't blame Vlaar for saying what he said.  I'd do exactly the same.  Based on his comments over the past week it looks as if he came away from his meeting with PL knowing that it was all pretty much done.  Then nothing.  Goodwill shot to pieces so how can they create a working relationship going forward?  Shame really.  Lessons will need to be learned.

Yes, Lerner wouldn't in my opinion sanction the deal - which smacks of sell to buy. Lerner needs to go - where have we got after 6 years of his reign?

What a fucking pathetic thing to say.

You're pathetic! This board is about opinions - so deal with it!!

Well your opinion is bollocks, as ever.

So your happy after 6 years of Lerner's reign? Where were we when he took over in 2006? How much progress has there been in the 6 years? Try and answer the questions without your juvenile insults!

Juvenile would be wanting our owner out because he's not rich enough, if you want to support a team that does'nt have to worry about their wage bill when signing players then there's a nice little team ran by very rich men up in Manchester.

Fair enough.  Don't blame Vlaar for saying what he said.  I'd do exactly the same.  Based on his comments over the past week it looks as if he came away from his meeting with PL knowing that it was all pretty much done.  Then nothing.  Goodwill shot to pieces so how can they create a working relationship going forward?  Shame really.  Lessons will need to be learned.

Yes, Lerner wouldn't in my opinion sanction the deal - which smacks of sell to buy. Lerner needs to go - where have we got after 6 years of his reign?

What a fucking pathetic thing to say.

You're pathetic! This board is about opinions - so deal with it!!

Well your opinion is bollocks, as ever.

So your happy after 6 years of Lerner's reign? Where were we when he took over in 2006? How much progress has there been in the 6 years? Try and answer the questions without your juvenile insults!

We've gotten to a cup final, we've had a few adventures in Europe, we spent multiple seasons pushing for a champions league place, we've had some of the best players in the country play for us, everything about the Holte pub, we finished within the top 6 consistently for 3 years or so, and we've come on leaps and bounds in public relations with things such as Acorns, and we've continued to develop very talented players through our academy.

Are you saying you'd trade that all in now? Sure, we've taken a bit of a slide recently - but we improved so much so fast it was always going to be a battle to maintain that level of success. We've had our problems and made a few mistakes, let's just use them as a learning curve and move on into an exciting new era where we can hopefully reclaim all of the above; and maybe a little more.

Yes, but where are we now compared to six years ago? People like Barry, Milner, Young, Downing etc. have been let go due to us not pushing on - we've gone backwards in the last two years with such inept leadership from the Chairman.

[Dave Cooper please]

I wonder will MON test Vlaar with a bid.that would be heart breaking.

Heart breaking?
I'd never heard of him before we were linked and all I know now is that he's quite big and a bit of a nutter.
I reckon I'll survive if he doesn't come.

[PeterWithesShin]

Yes, but where are we now compared to six years ago? People like Barry, Milner, Young, Downing etc. have been let go due to us not pushing on - we've gone backwards in the last two years with such inept leadership from the Chairman.

Looking at it from another angle, Barry had tried to leave a few times before Randy arrived and the other three almost certainly wouldn't have been Villa players in the first place if it wasn't for Randy.

[Dante Lavelli]

Villafirst:  In many ways our early success under Randy was as a result of him chucking money at it in the same way - but a lesser extent - that Man City and Chelsea have done.  It was “financial doping” that could not be sustained in the long run without us fans either multiplying or spending a lot more on tickets.

In the background Randy has also invested large sums in the infrastructure of the club, the training ground for example and possibly increased investment at a youth level.  Whilst this investment does not reap immediate rewards it should not go unrecognised or ignored just because he is now seemingly trying to run Villa in a more viable manner.

[supertom]

Plenty more fish in the sea. There's one person who's word we should have taken, because he's been straight down the middle from day one, and that's Lambert. He stated that things were far from the done deal the papers made out last week.
There's no use debating what's happening with our transfer budget. We'll know for sure come August 31st.
Randy's done a lot for us and gave us a much needed boost when Doug looked like he was gonna head a sinking ship, pig headedly into the championship.
Okay we've gone full-circle somewhat but with few exceptions, most owners out there couldn't outlay what Randy did initially, without having to turn the tap off at some point. We gambled on being top 4, it didn't quite pay off so the books have to be balanced again. Poor choices in managemet since O Neill meant we fell off far worse than we should have, but Lambert seems the right man to not just stabilise us, but move us forward again.

It's just a little bit early to get back onto the Randy bashing. Almost to a man we can agree that this time, he's appointed the right manager. That deserves some credit. Hell we could be competing for the title every year like Utd and still moan about our owner like that lot do.
Randy was naive with O Neill and in a lot of aspects but one thing he's shown of late, that he won't do is take us into financial meltdown. He knows business.

If we don't sign Vlaar, it doesn't bother me. When we shift the remains of O Neills dead wood and shite like Hutton too, then we'll really be able to kick on a refresh the squad. Lambert, and we all knew this realistically, needs to sign 8-10 players to really build his own squad, on top of the few decent players we have. That will take 2-3 windows to do all the buying and selling/releasing required. So far, so good. Plenty of time left.

[Percy McCarthy]

Well said Tom.

[not3bad]

It's all about the management choices to me - in the last couple of years Lerner has made one questionable choice and one very bad choice - but now the signs are he's made a much better one.  So demanding RL leave before we see what happens with this new management team is bad timing in my eyes.

[supertom]

It's all about the management choices to me - in the last couple of years Lerner has made one questionable choice and one very bad choice - but now the signs are he's made a much better one.  So demanding RL leave before we see what happens with this new management team is bad timing in my eyes.

Exactly. And there's pretty much no chance Randy will just up and leave. It'd take months, IF anyone happens to have the bankroll to takeover and he'd still have to want to sell. I also suspect with Randy, that he quite enjoys overseeing the club. He's not the fans favourite he was 3 years ago, but I think he still has an affinity for this place.

Anyone wanting him to just pack his bags and leave need to think again. Wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up first!

[Concrete John]

So your happy after 6 years of Lerner's reign? Where were we when he took over in 2006? How much progress has there been in the 6 years? Try and answer the questions without your juvenile insults!

Would Chelsea be asking the same question of Abramovic a year or so ago when they had regresed to be a 3rd/4th place PL side not winning anything, which is what they were before he came along? 

The thing is that football is cyclical by it's nature.  They may have won more than we did, but they also spent more.  We've had a bad two years, but that does not diminish what we had for the first 4 years of Randy's reign or that we cannot get back to that again.

[pauliewalnuts]

So your happy after 6 years of Lerner's reign? Where were we when he took over in 2006? How much progress has there been in the 6 years? Try and answer the questions without your juvenile insults!

Would Chelsea be asking the same question of Abramovic a year or so ago when they had regresed to be a 3rd/4th place PL side not winning anything, which is what they were before he came along? 

To be fair, though, that'd be to ignore the three league championships, three FA Cups, and two league cups they'd won in the time between him arriving and last season, so it's not the most relevant of comparisons.

[Dante Lavelli]

All of those trophies where won when abramovich was still pumping the money in.  Once he eased off they fell away again probably because they did not have, or more likely trust the players coming through their ranks.

Randy has invested in the youth and training facilities so hopefully we will also bounce back but in a way that does not demand Randy’s millions.

[JJ-AV]

Why is everyone so certain it's off?

Feyenoord were annoyed we won't pay without selling. Collins and Warnock will be off when we come back from the US, won't they?

Transfers are risky business, few clubs operate without a sell-to-buy policy and we were spoilt enough to be one of those for a few years. We can't afford to risk signing Vlaar in case Collins doesn't sod off. It's understandable really.

Footballers are people and we can't just shift 'em around when we want. Collins will probably want his free transfer next year as opposed to moving now and missing out on a pay day.

[not3bad]

Feyenoord were annoyed we won't pay without selling. Collins and Warnock will be off when we come back from the US, won't they?

Depends if we've got a buyer.

[UK Redsox]

Either backtracking by Koeman or a re-translation

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2012/07/23/aston-villa-are-set-deadline-over-ron-vlaar-deal/

He said: “They know what Ron costs, and yet a week later there has still been no contact. He wants clarity. It should be decided around this weekend or else he remains at Feyenoord.

[supertom]

Either backtracking by Koeman or a re-translation

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2012/07/23/aston-villa-are-set-deadline-over-ron-vlaar-deal/

He said: “They know what Ron costs, and yet a week later there has still been no contact. He wants clarity. It should be decided around this weekend or else he remains at Feyenoord.

I thought that original quote came end of last week, and the weekend just gone being the deadline. Sure I remember Koeman quoted as saying that he wanted the decision by yesterday.