The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[olaftab]

I'd love to see the best players playing for Villa and us winning stuff.

Yes and I would like to see people not dismiss us as nonentities.

[curiousorange]

Who wouldn't like the type of players and success enjoyed by Man City over the last few years? You'd be barmy not to want that.

Indeed.

I am 45, it could quite easily be a choice between year after year of watching shit players win next to fuck all for another three decades and then dying, or watching some brilliant players playing CL football year in, year out.

If it comes down to that, I will choose the brilliant players and the excitement every single time.

If some of you fancy the Dave Spart route of sticking with what we have now, good luck to you, you can do that when I'm dead.

It struck me earlier that we're probably the only ever-present PL team not to look like we belong in the league. We haven't had a decent title challenge since '93, haven't troubled fourth since '96, haven't had a sniff of a CL challenge since that Stoke equaliser and haven't won a pot in nearly twenty years. Our style has regressed, we have a squad full of lower league players and we have a budget of peanuts. It feels as if we were promoted two years ago and are just waiting to be found out.

Put me down for the get rich quick silent multibillionaire takeover please - if they have the money, they can have mine once a fortnight.

[Jimbo]

There are Villa fans who can vote that haven't seen us win a trophy. Short of changing the club's name, colours or location, whatever it takes to change that.

[pauliewalnuts]

It struck me earlier that we're probably the only ever-present PL team not to look like we belong in the league. We haven't had a decent title challenge since '93, haven't troubled fourth since '96, haven't had a sniff of a CL challenge since that Stoke equaliser and haven't won a pot in nearly twenty years.

Not sure I agree with that at all.

Who are these clubs, for example, records since 1992:

Club 1

7 bottom half finishes
6 top six finishes
Best finish 4th

Club 2

6 bottom half finishes
9 top six finishes
Best finish: 2nd

Club 1 is Spurs. Club 2 is us.

[Toronto Villa]

Have to remember it took Man City two billionaire owners before they became who they are even if the first was massively shady. If our next owners build on some of the good things started by Randy but from a football side do everything right to put the right players on the pitch, management team off it, I can enjoy whatever years I have left in the knowledge that every single season we will be going for things. Quite frankly I'll gladly accept the Liverpool model of JW Henry who spent a bunch, finally got the right manager and are about to win the league. It shows you don't need stupid amounts of money to win it, just money spent on good players with a manager who knows how to get the best out of them.

[curiousorange]

It struck me earlier that we're probably the only ever-present PL team not to look like we belong in the league. We haven't had a decent title challenge since '93, haven't troubled fourth since '96, haven't had a sniff of a CL challenge since that Stoke equaliser and haven't won a pot in nearly twenty years.

Not sure I agree with that at all.

Who are these clubs, for example, records since 1992:

Club 1

7 bottom half finishes
6 top six finishes
Best finish 4th

Club 2

6 bottom half finishes
9 top six finishes
Best finish: 2nd

Club 1 is Spurs. Club 2 is us.

Yeah, I see that, but what I'm getting at is that even the perennial underachievers have had eras where you thought they would permanently break the monopoly of the top four, apart from us. I wouldn't say, of all the ever-presents, that any of them have regressed so badly in such a short amount of time either.

[London Villan]

I wonder when and what it was that tipped Lerner over the edge and made him think I've had enough, b*ll*cks to this...

[PeterWithesShin]

Must admit, if I was Lerner i'd probably say bollocks to spending more of my money on that lo,t i'm off.

[pauliewalnuts]

It struck me earlier that we're probably the only ever-present PL team not to look like we belong in the league. We haven't had a decent title challenge since '93, haven't troubled fourth since '96, haven't had a sniff of a CL challenge since that Stoke equaliser and haven't won a pot in nearly twenty years.

Not sure I agree with that at all.

Who are these clubs, for example, records since 1992:

Club 1

7 bottom half finishes
6 top six finishes
Best finish 4th

Club 2

6 bottom half finishes
9 top six finishes
Best finish: 2nd

Club 1 is Spurs. Club 2 is us.

Yeah, I see that, but what I'm getting at is that even the perennial underachievers have had eras where you thought they would permanently break the monopoly of the top four, apart from us. I wouldn't say, of all the ever-presents, that any of them have regressed so badly in such a short amount of time either.

But that's a change of argument, you said the only ones to look like they don't belong in the league, that is plainly not true. Look how close Spurs and Everton went to not belonging in it, too.

We've regressed, that much is true, but we are far from the only ones to go through this. What we have to make sure we do is limit the regression to somewhat worse than Everton or Spurs, but nowhere near as bad as the likes of Leeds or Forest or Wednesday, or lots of other sizeable clubs who are stuck in irrelevance in the lower leagues for years.

I really don't think it's true to say Everton or Spurs looked like they could permanently break the top four, either, to be honest. Both look good at the moment, yes, but they don't look like any sort of permanent cartel breakers just yet.

[Toronto Villa]

I wonder when and what it was that tipped Lerner over the edge and made him think I've had enough, b*ll*cks to this...

He probably thought of packing it in like the rest of us after any one of a number of top notch home displays

[dave.woodhall]

Yeah, I see that, but what I'm getting at is that even the perennial underachievers have had eras where you thought they would permanently break the monopoly of the top four, apart from us. I wouldn't say, of all the ever-presents, that any of them have regressed so badly in such a short amount of time either.

Apart from the time we finished runners-up, or the time we finished fourth then fifth (when Alex Ferguson said we were the club he thought most likely to break through), not to mention the three six places in a row you mean?

[pauliewalnuts]

I wonder when and what it was that tipped Lerner over the edge and made him think I've had enough, b*ll*cks to this...

Whatever it is, it didn't take long, did it?

Remember all that "we're here and we will be here through thick and thin" stuff? It is hard to see that as anything other than bullshit. They started the withdrawal pretty much the minute things started to go south.

Randy spent a lot of money on us, that's true, but he lost interest super fast. Remember all that fan engagement, the proud history stuff? What happened to that?

All of a sudden it turned from "We're going to have a museum, we're having a replica EC made and everything!" to "it needs to be self supporting financially". We don't even have a trophy room, FFS.

When they took over, they were here all the time. I read an article about today's statement just now and the accompanying picture showed Randy with a Rapid Vienna security pass on. That's what he used to be like, over here for lots of matches, wanted to buy a house here, they'd go to away matches, he'd go to European matches, the lot. Then it turned into not showing up for two years.

It's nigh on impossible not to conclude that he lost interest pretty quickly

[Jimbo]

I don't think Lerner ever recovered from MON.

[PeterWithesShin]

For the first 12 years of the Premier League, Everton finished in the top 12 twice. By the end of 2006 they had managed 3 top 10 finishes.

Spurs first top 6 finish in the PL was 2006.

[ROBBO]

When he first bought Villa didn't Randy say that if he couldn't make us successful he would get out and let somebody else try?