Kendrick Says It's Time To Ask Questions

[Chris Smith]

I doubt if he's doing it to get a few Facebook likes. He sounds like a passionate long time Villa fan, just like every other Villa fan I guess. Perhaps he's just fed up with the way Lerner and co are running the club?
The club has been in decline for 4 years now and doesn't seem to be any sign of it getting any better. What's your view on it?

I think money will be spent in the summer and it'll be interesting to see how opinions will change again once it is.

As I mentioned several times in the last few days, we're the sixth biggest net spender over the last five years. It's what we do with the money that really matters. Ask Everton and Spurs, they're both in the black with their 5 year net spend.

Those figures quoted can't be true though in that article, didn't it say £186m in the last 5 seasons? If you got back and take a look £43m Lambert, £18m ish Mcleish, £40m ish Houliier. So theres no way in MON's last season with us he spent £86m in transfer fee's.

We've also received a fair bit that on sales during that period. I would be astonished if our NET spend was anythink like £186m.

[hilts_coolerking]

Some criticised the signing of an injury-prone central defender in 1989.

I'm not sure you're comparing like with like there.  McGrath was a gamble worth taking because if we could keep him fit we were getting a genuinely world-class defender at much less than the going rate.  Houllier was already 10 years past his best when we appointed him.  Not only were we taking a huge gamble on his health, we were also taking a huge gamble on him still having the talent / ability / desire that he had had 10 years before.

[Dr Butler]

Some criticised the signing of an injury-prone central defender in 1989.

I'm not sure you're comparing like with like there.  McGrath was a gamble worth taking because if we could keep him fit we were getting a genuinely world-class defender at much less than the going rate.  Houllier was already 10 years past his best when we appointed him.  Not only were we taking a huge gamble on his health, we were also taking a huge gamble on him still having the talent / ability / desire that he had had 10 years before.

not too sure about the McGrath thing Hilts, as he was slightly injury prone due to his knees and I am sure I read somewhere that Ferguson wanted the insurance money for Paul....

was it £450.000 the Villa paid at the time ?

a considerable gamble.....in hindsight a fucking bargain !

UTV
The Doc

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I doubt if he's doing it to get a few Facebook likes. He sounds like a passionate long time Villa fan, just like every other Villa fan I guess. Perhaps he's just fed up with the way Lerner and co are running the club?
The club has been in decline for 4 years now and doesn't seem to be any sign of it getting any better. What's your view on it?

I think money will be spent in the summer and it'll be interesting to see how opinions will change again once it is.

As I mentioned several times in the last few days, we're the sixth biggest net spender over the last five years. It's what we do with the money that really matters. Ask Everton and Spurs, they're both in the black with their 5 year net spend.

Those figures quoted can't be true though in that article, didn't it say £186m in the last 5 seasons? If you got back and take a look £43m Lambert, £18m ish Mcleish, £40m ish Houliier. So theres no way in MON's last season with us he spent £86m in transfer fee's.

We've also received a fair bit that on sales during that period. I would be astonished if our NET spend was anythink like £186m.

With all reason, Chris:

5 Year Numbers - Ranked 6th largest Nett Spenders

Total Spend   179,600,000
Total Sales      93,600,000
Nett Spend     86,000,000
Av Annual      17,200,000

Almost the same as 5th place Liverpool (17,880,000) and a mile ahead of 7th place (11, 800,000). I'm pretty sure those numbers don't include the 15m we've paid out in compensation to managers and their respective previous clubs.

Pretty hard to accuse Lerner of not investing, he's had to cough up a lot of money over the last 5 years. On that issue I have not problems with him, he's been more than decent. The only issue is with the manager he appoints. McCleish was his choice having been a long term admirer of the man and the utter stupidity of offering Lambert an extended contract when he should at least be preparing his managerial contingency plan.

Lerner may be willing to put his money where his mouth is but his pigheadedness regarding managers is his greatest weakness. I don't blame Faulkner who apart from doing a great job behind the scenes at Villa Park, won't have much sway on managerial appointments. Unfortunately, I get the feeling Lerner gives too much importance to the relationship he has with his managers and values their character far higher than their football managerial ability.

Hopefully next time he'll find the right balance.

[hilts_coolerking]

not too sure about the McGrath thing Hilts, as he was slightly injury prone due to his knees and I am sure I read somewhere that Ferguson wanted the insurance money for Paul....

was it £450.000 the Villa paid at the time ?

a considerable gamble.....in hindsight a fucking bargain !

UTV
The Doc

That's exactly my point Doc: with McGrath the risk vs reward was in our favour.  With Houllier I'm not so sure that it was.

[dave.woodhall]

Then you look at the player Houllier apparently had lined up and wonder what if...

[Chris Smith]

Then you look at the player Houllier apparently had lined up and wonder what if...

Yep, those figures clearly reflect the muddled thinking of recent times and why another change would be so risky. I would fear for us if we had to go back to the drawing board again. 

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Then you look at the player Houllier apparently had lined up and wonder what if...

Yep, those figures clearly reflect the muddled thinking of recent times and why another change would be so risky. I would fear for us if we had to go back to the drawing board again. 

I really don't fear us having to go back to the drawing board and starting from scratch. A decent manager could certainly get more out of our current squad and allowed to make a few key signings in the summer but I don't think for one second we need an overhaul. I do fear us having another season of Lambert in charge, even given funds, I just see him very much like MON, tactically inept, extremely limited and very hard to remove in the future. Keeping him after this season just seems so pointless.

[barrysleftfoot]

 Houillier wanted to buy The LB who went to QPR and was an absolute waste of money, yes Cabaye would have been a good buy, but overall GH was not, and probably wouldn't have been a success , McLeish was probably the most incomprehensible appointment of all time, and PL, after initially looking the right appointment, is fast showing he is way out of his depth.

 RL needs help, the one thing about HHs report is the reflection on whether or not RL has enough football experience on the board, and the answer has to be no.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

RL needs help, the one thing about HHs report is the reflection on whether or not RL has enough football experience on the board, and the answer has to be no.

I don't think it's even open to debate.

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

I knew Lerner was clueless about football when he appointed the manager who had just relegated our local rivals. I still can't believe he actually did that.

[brian green]

I have been accused of being a cynic and I plead guilty as charged but I wonder if the presence of a much needed football man of stature and experience in the Villa boardroom has not happened because he might erode the power of those already there and they conspire against change.

[Mister E]

I have been accused of being a cynic and I plead guilty as charged but I wonder if the presence of a much needed football man of stature and experience in the Villa boardroom has not happened because he might erode the power of those already there and they conspire against change.

You cynic

[pauliewalnuts]

O'Neill is the obvious one, and also a few he inherited.

Apologies, I thought we were just talking about managerial appointments but clearly you're also talking about staff appointments more broadly.  What I was driving at was that Houllier, McLeish and Lambert were ultimately down to Lerner.  Is that fair to say?

Definitely. One unfortunate, one inexplicable and one I hope will ultimately prove inspired.

I take it you're classing Houllier as unfortunate?

In many ways it was, but lots on here raised concerns about his health when he got the job and given his age medical history, it could be argued that Randy & Co should have taken it into account more when making the choice.   

It's not like Houllier came here straight from a hospital discharge.

He'd worked for several years before coming here, including managing Lyon.

[IanB]

Two years at Lyon and he needed a rest - "a year off". His health issues were well known. For example he went crackers for a brief time and signed Baros off us in exchange for Carew.