An open message to Randy Lerner from The Birmingham Mail

[rob_bridge]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

I was.

Yes but didn't he have the General giving updates at the time, and like it or not we had a very effective media freindly communicator in charge of football affairs.

I quite liked the fact he lacked the Mike Ashley approach of sitting drinking beers with fans or the Glazer draining the fans dry approach.

[Dave Clark Five]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

Yes. Go back through old posts if you like. I was shouted down about 'that is the way he is'. I don't blame people for thinking that at the time. It is akin to 'don't change a winning team', but it didn't smell right to me.
As I said before 'beware the silent man and the dog that doesn't bark'.

[dave.woodhall]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

I was.

Yes but didn't he have the General giving updates at the time, and like it or not we had a very effective media freindly communicator in charge of football affairs.

I quite liked the fact he lacked the Mike Ashley approach of sitting drinking beers with fans or the Glazer draining the fans dry approach.

At the beginning the general opinion was that it was great he wasn't in the press all the time like Doug and that pissing the media of in this way  was an added bonus. We weren't told much by the general but everything was good news so it didn't really matter who said it and how. A few lone voices said the club were in danger of alienating the media and there would come a time when they'd need a friendly face or two but what did we know? The good times were going to last forever and we were just jealous that we weren't 'in the loop' as it was put to me. 

[DaveK]

To be fair, back then we could see what the plan was, so it didn't matter as much that Randy never spoke.

[richard moore]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

Yes. Go back through old posts if you like. I was shouted down about 'that is the way he is'. I don't blame people for thinking that at the time. It is akin to 'don't change a winning team', but it didn't smell right to me.
As I said before 'beware the silent man and the dog that doesn't bark'.

And there was always the Cleveland Browns dire performance under his stewardship floating about silently in the background but acknowledged by a lot of us at the time as something we all preferred not to think about...

[dave.woodhall]

To be fair, back then we could see what the plan was, so it didn't matter as much that Randy never spoke.

Back then we were winning, so it didn't matter. It wouldn't matter now, if we were winning. When you're winning nothing else matters.

[David_Nab]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

Yes after the inital PR and talk of IMG coming in it all went very quiet and MON spent large sums of cash with a transfer policy that was short term in the extreme.
I wanted to know what the future plans where ,how we could compete towards the top 4 and plans for Stadium expansion.At first we had the General who gave us some snippets of info but since then it has been ridiculous.

Where we happy when we splashed cash on Bent but even that turned into a nonsense when we then sold his supply line !!

The Manager both TSM and PL have been wheeled out as the public face taking all the abuse for a board who seemingly work from day to day.Fans and people like  Sir GT have spoken about the issues and the club and been ignored ,well currently that ignorance is going to send us down.
I'm not a huge fan of Lambert based on our most recent performances but to let him publicly take the flack all the time is wrong.If your broke Randy tell us , if there is a plan tell us !
 

[richard moore]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

I was.

Yes, remember you being thus Dave. I probably wasn't but then I thought Reo-Coker was a good signing so what do I know. I was more bothered by the toadying to the General and the attacks that rained down on anyone who dared to contradict his 'I'd love to be in the trenches with you when the shit starts flying' mentality which just never rang true to me. He always bore the hallmarks for me of a johnny come lately who wouldn't be around long-term like we all are, have been and will be....unfortunately it sometimes feels right now!

[DaveK]

To be fair, back then we could see what the plan was, so it didn't matter as much that Randy never spoke.

Back then we were winning, so it didn't matter. It wouldn't matter now, if we were winning. When you're winning nothing else matters.

Yup. That's about the size of it. I can just about remember it too!

[Villafirst]

Just a thought, was anyone bothered about R Lerners lack of communication when we were riding high a few years back ?

Yes, I was - his treatment of us PAYING CUSTOMERS is a disgrace. I won't be listening come season-ticket renewal next season.

[Malandro]

We were also fed the line that the club would be professionally and that they liked to do business privately rather than through the press.
I admit that won me over.

It was also passed around about his Family's tragedy and the way the press had treated them, so I guess there was also an amount of understanding.

[DB]

Also, at the time he was being compared to the Yanks over at Anfield, and we all thought we had the better deal...

[Chris Harte]

There's a song that appears to be summing up the Lerner custodianship of our club at the moment. Ironically, it peaked in the UK singles chart during the same month that Villa were last relegated.

Obviously, when "Proud History - Bright Future" was trotted out, we all had a definition of "bright" that was different to that of Mr Lerner.

[pauliewalnuts]

Anyone remember the "we're here through thick and thin" line the General used to use a lot?

First bit of thin, and they're nowhere to be seen. General off forum, Randy not bothering going to the matches (mind you, who can blame him). They're effectively an absentee board.

I understand priorities change, situations change, and so on, but the abrupt, "fuck you" nature of their disengagement is not just disappointing in itself, it is made worse because it makes all the good things they previously did look like cynical marketing which they dropped as soon as they decided they couldn't be arsed any more.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Anyone remember the "we're here through thick and thin" line the General used to use a lot?

First bit of thin, and they're nowhere to be seen. General off forum, Randy not bothering going to the matches (mind you, who can blame him). They're effectively an absentee board.

I understand priorities change, situations change, and so on, but the abrupt, "fuck you" nature of their disengagement is not just disappointing in itself, it is made worse because it makes all the good things they previously did look like cynical marketing which they dropped as soon as they decided they couldn't be arsed any more.

Spot on.