Concrete Ron

[eastie]

Baker is just not good enough,neither is Clarke but he's less of a liability.

There is the  young lad Donacien who is going to be a very good player. May be time for him.

I'd like to see him on the bench and part of the squad - I think he could be a really good defender in the future for us

[dave.woodhall]

Ron likely to miss entire Christmas programme. This is very much like last year. Lerner simply has to buy a replacement CB with EXPERIENCE! But I'm not holding my breath. I just don't see what Lerner gets out of his ownership of our great club. Oh for the days of being a shareholder- why doesn't RL sell 49% of his shares back to the fans? This sole ownership sucks.

Yes, I remember everyone saying so at the time.

Absolutely. Let's go back to the good old days when Doug just had a majority shareholding. The days when we all had a huge say in everything and everybody was happy.

One of the increasingly large number of things that piss me off as I head towards old age and cantankerousness is the amount of our supporters who now say that it's wrong for Randy to own all the shares. I've no idea how many of them were falling over themselves to sell to him in 2006 but I do know that those of us who wanted to hang on to ours because we preferred the idea of being able to poke our noses round the door once a year were in a very small minority because, apparently, the best way to run a club back then was for one man to own it all. This was itself in contrast to just nine years earlier when flotation was the way forward.   

[Richard E]

I wanted to keep my one share because it was a Christmas present from the missus. She was not best happy. And getting the annual report etc was interesting.

[eastie]

The day I had to hand over my shares was a sad one for me but I had no choice and accepted that it was in the club's interest at the time - it was nice to be a shareholder and I still have frame the embossed stamped share certificate which Randy sent us all later on

Randy has been good for the club and invested a lot of cash ,it's not a bottomless pit though and sadly various managers have wasted large amounts of that cash.

[bones.]

I wanted to keep my shares too, an inheritance from my Grandad who in a small way helped to keep the Villa going in the 60's. The moneys gone on things I cant remember, having the shares meant much more than the filthy lucre. You could say the moneys gone on players we probably wont remember!

[Toronto Villa]

Ron likely to miss entire Christmas programme. This is very much like last year. Lerner simply has to buy a replacement CB with EXPERIENCE! But I'm not holding my breath. I just don't see what Lerner gets out of his ownership of our great club. Oh for the days of being a shareholder- why doesn't RL sell 49% of his shares back to the fans? This sole ownership sucks.

Remind us all again how fan voting went under the old system when it came player acquisition. My memory is a bit hazy but I don't recall getting a call from the club asking my opinion ahead of a potential transfer.

[olaftab]

Remind us all again how fan voting went under the old system when it came player acquisition. My memory is a bit hazy but I don't recall getting a call from the club asking my opinion ahead of a potential transfer.

I think that's just you TV. At one point being a 100 shares shareholder Douglas showered me and my good wife with gifts prior to O'Leary's appointment. He was round at our house everyday with hampers of food and boxes of chocolates pressing me to endorse his choice of manager. In the end I got fed up and told him "Dougie you are in charge just make a decision". Those were the days.....

[dave.woodhall]

Remind us all again how fan voting went under the old system when it came player acquisition. My memory is a bit hazy but I don't recall getting a call from the club asking my opinion ahead of a potential transfer.

I think that's just you TV. At one point being a 100 shares shareholder Douglas showered me and my good wife with gifts prior to O'Leary's appointment. He was round at our house everyday with hampers of food and boxes of chocolates pressing me to endorse his choice of manager. In the end I got fed up and told him "Dougie you are in charge just make a decision". Those were the days.....

You're joking, but when it kicked off in 1979 Ron Saunders visited shareholders 'asking' them to vote for the Bendalls.

[olaftab]

Ron had balls. Say no more.

[Damo70]

Ron likely to miss entire Christmas programme. This is very much like last year. Lerner simply has to buy a replacement CB with EXPERIENCE! But I'm not holding my breath. I just don't see what Lerner gets out of his ownership of our great club. Oh for the days of being a shareholder- why doesn't RL sell 49% of his shares back to the fans? This sole ownership sucks.

Yes, I remember everyone saying so at the time.

Absolutely. Let's go back to the good old days when Doug just had a majority shareholding. The days when we all had a huge say in everything and everybody was happy.

One of the increasingly large number of things that piss me off as I head towards old age and cantankerousness is the amount of our supporters who now say that it's wrong for Randy to own all the shares. I've no idea how many of them were falling over themselves to sell to him in 2006 but I do know that those of us who wanted to hang on to ours because we preferred the idea of being able to poke our noses round the door once a year were in a very small minority because, apparently, the best way to run a club back then was for one man to own it all. This was itself in contrast to just nine years earlier when flotation was the way forward.

Personally I felt for the shareholders and thought it was a bit of a PR own goal, but also understood Randy's desire to own all the shares. As for which way is better, I question how much difference it really makes compared to life under Doug as regards any real say or power shareholders had.

[dave.woodhall]

Like I said, we could poke our heads round the door. There was no real power (in fact no power at all) but it made us like we had a stake in the club even though there's far more dialogue with fans now than there was then.

[Dave Clark Five]

When Lerner eventually goes, we will know the true feelings of Villa fans towards him.

[PeterWithesShin]

Doug gets votd out by a show of hands. Doug votes himself straight back in with proxy votes and carries on doing what he wants.

[Dave Clark Five]

Doug gets votd out by a show of hands. Doug votes himself straight back in with proxy votes and carries on doing what he wants.

At least there was a vote. We all had the chance of a say.

[PeterWithesShin]

A vote that ultimately meant nothing.