Randy Lerner

[Jon Crofts]

This is all Lerner's fault.  He hires, he fires.  It's his baby.

Maybe not the specific performance last night as the players and Lambert are 100% on the nose for that one but to try and absolve Lerner from any of this is just madness.

The whole Proud History Bright Future bullshit (Copyright The General and where ever he works these days) the total, complete and utter lack of a plan, the over spending and then asterity measures that are akin to a 2nd division side, his horrendous record for appointing Managers (one with a well known heart condition who subsequently then had to leave inside a year with said condition, TSM need I say more) his total silence which borders on the disrespectful.

This is absolutely, completely Lerners fault as he's mismanaged us to this point today.  it might take us years to recover from that buffoon.

Wish i'd never heard his fecking name.

Yep, you're right. The man at the top ultimately carries the can.

So if he sacks Faulkner and Lambert, appoints Stride and Van Gaal and we finish top four next year is Lerner a good chairman again?


The point I'm trying to make is that we can all make poor decisions, managers make bad purchases and chairman get managerial choices wrong. How many times did Levy have to sack a manager before he ended up with Redknapp? Is he a crap chairman too? Or is he a genius because things are going well for them now?

One thing is for sure though, Mr Lerner really has to earn his corn over the next 12 months or so, his period of good grace is well and truly over.

12 months?  He's got the rest of January.

[Irish villain]

Can anybody see Lerner ever getting it right? People make mistakes but they usually learn from them. Things go bad at a football club like villa from time to time but they usually take their warning and move to correct things. In the Premier Leage era we've seen Everton and Spurs have close shaves and then look to address the problems. We ourselves have done this in 1995, 2003 and 2006.

This time we have let the slide continue. We haven't arrested it or more specifically the leadership at the club has not resolved to correct what was becoming an unacceptable situation. Last season we came so freaking close to the drop we should have made sure we brought in enough quality (as in 1995 for eg) to ensure it wouldn't happen again  and that we should be building a platform again. They haven't and we are looking like certs for the drop after knocking on the door for a couple of years.

I wasn't around in 1986-87, an undoubted cock-up by Ellis, but the stakes this time are higher what with the new TV deal kicking in. That's why I think this cock-up that has been unfolding before our eyes since August 2010 is of a far bigger magnitude.

If we go down, we have to hope we do a Newcastle but I'm not sure we could. Our squad is exceptionally poor and has not battle (something needed in the Championship).

As I said last night, this is Lerner's mess. He has appointed the managers, we can't keep turning on them. If he sacked Lambert who the heck would they turn to? I shudder at the thought of them having to appoint another manager with us in a precarious position. I don't want them appointing another manager until we are in a position where good managers want to join us as they can see potential again!

[Mazrim]

Some people are unlucky in love. I think Mr Lerner is unlucky in Sport.

[villadelph]

Enter Paul Faulkner into the same exact scenario. He is the top of the food chain. Randy does not inject himself into club drama. He said it himself in the interview where he questioned, "Are sports teams just a rich man play toy?" He said that he employs footballing people to handle the football and has full faith in them.

Randy isn't there, so stop asking for his head. He has blind faith in his model that drove the (Revived in1999 after previously folding) Browns into the ground. The business plan works if you employ the right man, but Paul Faulkner IS NOT that man. He has no history in the game, can't kick a ball and is strictly a suit.

Err, fine, but Holmgren was a football man through and through, as you say, Faulkner is fucking clueless and had probably never seen a game before getting this job, after working for a credit card company.

Big difference.

You also can not divorce Randy from the appointments he makes, either. It just doesn't work that way.

As for sitting back and letting things unfold, without interfering, you think Randy had no input to issues like the wage bill? Or the McLeish appointment?

Quite.  It was his jet movements that fist alerted people to the TSM and possible OGS appointments.  To be fair, nothing that Villadelph says above makes a word of sense.

It's a shame you can't see it. This is the same exact recycled disaster that happened in Cleveland. Whether you want to believe it or not doesn't matter, it's identical to a tee.

What exactly did I say that doesn't make a word of sense..?

[Risso]

Some people are unlucky in love. I think Mr Lerner is unlucky in Sport.

Unlucky meaning 'shit' in this instance.

[Jon Crofts]

I'm not for 1 minute defending MON but if Randy Lerner had laid out his vison that's coming to fruition right now, can you blame him for walking away from the train wreck?

[Toronto Villa]

Some people are unlucky in love. I think Mr Lerner is unlucky in Sport.

Unlucky meaning 'shit' in this instance.

I bet you wish you were part of admin and could implement a word filter right now

[Mazrim]

I'm not for 1 minute defending MON but if Randy Lerner had laid out his vison that's coming to fruition right now, can you blame him for walking away from the train wreck?

One that he was largely responsible for causing? Well I'll blame him for that at least.

[Jon Crofts]

I'm not for 1 minute defending MON but if Randy Lerner had laid out his vison that's coming to fruition right now, can you blame him for walking away from the train wreck?

One that he was largely responsible for causing? Well I'll blame him for that at least.

True enough.

[mr woo]

I'm not for 1 minute defending MON but if Randy Lerner had laid out his vison that's coming to fruition right now, can you blame him for walking away from the train wreck?

It's been said a thousand times O'Neill walked purely to protect his reputation because he'd been told the piggy bank was empty. That may or may not be true, but the accepted version of events is that Lerner made it clear the club had to be run self-sufficiently.

Call it a 'vision' if you want but it makes perfect sense as a business model. Bad news for those that wanted to be keeping up with the Ambramovichs but is it a fair criticism?

[Jon Crofts]

I have no doubt about the need to be self sufficient or about how & who led us down this path, Lerners breed of self suffiecient seems to be subsistence, it isn't working.

[mr underhill]

it seems to me that Randy has actually been pretty benevolent with funds but I am the first to admit I don't understand the machinations of football finace. Is it possible to quantify exactly how much he  personally has put in, including the purchase price, since 2006 and how much has come back to him? Is he really Scrooge incarnate? Lots of shortcomings as a businessman and owner but surely a lot of clubs would be happy with him as their owner?

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm not for 1 minute defending MON but if Randy Lerner had laid out his vison that's coming to fruition right now, can you blame him for walking away from the train wreck?

It's been said a thousand times O'Neill walked purely to protect his reputation because he'd been told the piggy bank was empty. That may or may not be true, but the accepted version of events is that Lerner made it clear the club had to be run self-sufficiently.

Call it a 'vision' if you want but it makes perfect sense as a business model. Bad news for those that wanted to be keeping up with the Ambramovichs but is it a fair criticism?

Everyone knows we have (or had) an issue with the wage bill representing a huge chunk of our total turnover.

Quite clearly, something had to be done about it. Nobody is really going to argue with that. We don't have endless money on tap.

The problem isn't that he wanted to fix it, it is that he's gone about fixing it way too quickly, and the pain it is inflicting has contributed in a large part to keeping us at the arse end of the table for the best part of three years.

It's like saying "the economy is fucked, we need to cut spending". All politicans will agree with that, but far from all will agree with the way (ie the speed and severity) with which the government are going about it.

I keep saying this, but it strikes me as glaringly obvious, but if you look at what we spent over the summer, the fees were a decent chunk of change. The players, though, all came from lower leagues or selling European leagues, and will therefore be on (comparatively) lower wages, thus easing the pressure on the wage bill. The club told us several times that the problem wasn't $$$ for transfer fees, it was the wage bill.

It is like having 300 quid to do the weekly shop, but having to spend it all at Aldi.

The long term damage it could do is huge. We could easily end up getting relegated, for starters. Then there's the damage this is doing to some of the young players. Some of those players are getting crucified week after week at the moment, and they've all been dumped in it together. Who in the dressing room stands up and lifts the side after some of these beatings we've taken?

[paul_e]

The very last sentence is the key bit.  We don't have any leaders.  The idea that you learn from defeats is fine, but only if you have people to help you put it in perspective and can drag you back up.  We haven't got anyone doing that, the only player in the squad I'd even think of trying is Vlaar but with his ongoing injury we need more options.

Some of the younger players are like rabbits in the headlights at the minute.

[hilts_coolerking]

It's all very well saying bringing in younger lower league players is all part of Lambert's forward planning but what other choice does he have?  In other words, it's not so much part of his plan as it is a restriction that's been imposed on him.