The Accounts are out.

[saunders_heroes]

Then it could be a calculated risk that didn't pay off in in the worst possible way. But it's all guesswork. I remember last year we were nailed on for the drop because we didn't sign the players we desperately needed. It's guesswork because we have no idea of what the plans are, or indeed areni't. Or what RL or PL are planning. All we can do is guess.
Maybe my scenario above is correct and Lambert believes we have enough about us to stay up until then. Maybe we don't have a pot to piss in and Lambert has no one lined up, none of us know.

Who claimed we were nailed on to go down last season?
These relegation battles are too close for comfort, and 4 consecutive ones are beneath a club as great as Aston Villa. The most damning inditement is that some fans just plod along like nodding dogs and never question the chairman who has presided over our decline.

Plenty thought we were nailed on. Go look at the threads from last year to refresh your memory. And just for once could you not insult people who have a different opinion to you.

Well what if they did? It was too close for comfort. Staying in the PL is nothing to celebrate, we should be looking at top 6 not perennial relegation battlers. If you're gonna gloat about you claiming we'd stay up when others said we'd go down then I should gloat about the time I said we'd be in a relegation battle before last season even kicked off due to the standard of players we were signing. I was ridiculed for it by the usual suspects and we all know how last season turned out.
You see we can all point at things to gloat about, you're not on you're own there peterwitheshin.

And where in that post did I gloat? As usual as soon as someone disagrees with facts it's "so what" and more digs. Maybe that more than one person is pointing that out will help you realise that you rarely debate without doing it.

Saying we were "nailed on for relegation" is exactly what I meant about gloating. It was a fully loaded comment and well you know it.

[stuart445]

I'm not sure id be quite so positive about it, to be honest, it's a financial interest, he has to care about that, but I still think his non attendance says a lot about his heart not being in it.

Strictly speaking, those accounts are for last year, so the worst would have been over then. Doesn't look that way at the moment.

I also think that, having struggled to get to this point, there won't be any more chasing the dream going on, in terms of fees and wages.

It is excellent news that he's written off the debt, and I hope the "he's making a big profit" brigade take note, but we've got to be realistic about where we are, and where we are going.

the chasing the dream might not happen in quite so irresponsible a manner, but Everton and Spurs have done it through more astute scouting, management and spending. As long as we are not in the CL or we haven't been bought out by the next minted oil bloke we'll never compete at the very top end which essentially leaves everyone from about 5th place down to compete for those spots below the top 4. It's shit but that's the way it is. What we should be able to do if we do it right, is compete consistently in all competitions on a more sound financial footing. You don't have to be Chelsea to win cups as Wigan/Portsmouth/Swansea have shown.

I don't think Portsmouth is a good example looking where they are now is it really, lets not go down that route.

[PeterWithesShin]

Or maybe it was an observation used to answer Mazrim's question regarding taking the gamble of not signing a midfielder. While many thought we were nailed on to drop without signing players last season, Lambert obviously didn't and was proved correct. Maybe, just maybe, the same applies this season. But for some reason you take one part of a post, decide it means something different and run with it.

[Locko]

Can some financial geek on here tell me what Loans converted to equity means please.

You own 100% of a company. You then loan it a ton of money to keep it afloat. The company owes you that money. You then decide to issue a shitload of extra shares in that company, and buy them yourself. Effectively you've bought your own debt back, leaving the company debt-free and you the poorer.

and in the process make said company more attractive to potential buyers. I'm sure quite recently one of the nationals quoted 'a source' close to Lerner who stated he is amenable to a sale but values the club at £200m based on Fulham's sale last summer. It figures I suppose. The long game on a sale is on....

[Yossarian]

Can some financial geek on here tell me what Loans converted to equity means please.

You own 100% of a company. You then loan it a ton of money to keep it afloat. The company owes you that money. You then decide to issue a shitload of extra shares in that company, and buy them yourself. Effectively you've bought your own debt back, leaving the company debt-free and you the poorer.

and in the process make said company more attractive to potential buyers. I'm sure quite recently one of the nationals quoted 'a source' close to Lerner who stated he is amenable to a sale but values the club at £200m based on Fulham's sale last summer. It figures I suppose. The long game on a sale is on....

If the debt meant you got less for the club then writing off debt is not quite so costly.

[Fergal]

Randy's gesture of £90.1m is amazing and in my own little way I will give a bit back tomorrow by purchasing a programme and not just a balti pie but also a portion of hot chips.

One or two "Randy is making a fortune out of our club" folk need to bookmark this.

Don't they just. And maybe even read it.

I have read it and stand corrected about how I felt about our finances.  Randy has still managed to make a total bollox of things though.  Before we get carried away with how fantastic he is let's remember where we are and what's happening on the pitch.
On a personal note the 'Don't they just. And maybe even read it.' Comment makes you look like a smug school boy sucking up to the teacher.

I'd imagine it's the frustration of having idiot after idiot spouting horseshit about the chairman, when a cursory glance of the accounts tell a completely different story.

It can make you that way.

So you think the club is being well run and only an idiot would question the finances?

Only an idiot would ask the same question a dozen times after getting the same answer on every single occasion.

I am shocked at you Dave, it's totally unlike you to make a snide sarcastic comment about someone.  I also think only an idiot would blindly accept what line he is being fed by the club.
Randy has made a complete and utter bollox of running Aston Villa and just because he has written off a lot of the debt he imported into a club he owns that doesn't all of a sudden make him the messiah. 

[dave.woodhall]

The truth is pointed out and it's snide sarcasm. Dishing it out but can't take it again.

[Fergal]

Randy's gesture of £90.1m is amazing and in my own little way I will give a bit back tomorrow by purchasing a programme and not just a balti pie but also a portion of hot chips.

One or two "Randy is making a fortune out of our club" folk need to bookmark this.

Don't they just. And maybe even read it.

I have read it and stand corrected about how I felt about our finances.  Randy has still managed to make a total bollox of things though.  Before we get carried away with how fantastic he is let's remember where we are and what's happening on the pitch.
On a personal note the 'Don't they just. And maybe even read it.' Comment makes you look like a smug school boy sucking up to the teacher.

I'd imagine it's the frustration of having idiot after idiot spouting horseshit about the chairman, when a cursory glance of the accounts tell a completely different story.

It can make you that way.

So you think the club is being well run and only an idiot would question the finances?

Only an idiot would ask the same question a dozen times after getting the same answer on every single occasion.

I am shocked at you Dave, it's totally unlike you to make a snide sarcastic comment about someone.  I also think only an idiot would blindly accept what line he is being fed by the club.
Randy has made a complete and utter bollox of running Aston Villa and just because he has written off a lot of the debt he imported into a club he owns that doesn't all of a sudden make him the messiah. 

By the way, are you calling me an idiot?

[dave.woodhall]

Yes.

[Fergal]

The truth is pointed out and it's snide sarcasm. Dishing it out but can't take it again.

I think I am capable of taking anything you can type at me Dave, you just keep defending the running of the club for what ever reason.  If Doug were the chairman and he had run up 200 million in debts, got us 4 points out of the relegation zone and playing shit football, had assembled a squad that would struggle in the Championship, had over seen some of the most embarrassing results in the clubs long history and was never here you would have been baying for blood.
Why is that?

[Fergal]

Yes.

I am hurt, I might just go away and cry...

[Dave Cooper please]

By the way, are you calling me an idiot?

If the cap fits.

[saunders_heroes]

Yes.

Be careful, PeterWitheshin will be on here any minute now asking you to cut out the personal insults.

[dave.woodhall]

Maybe if Doug had put in a quarter of a billion pounds, improved the off the field face of the club immeasurably and regarded supporters as something better than a necessary inconvenience I might have cut him a bit more slack.

[Fergal]

By the way, are you calling me an idiot?

If the cap fits.

Put it on then...