The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[dave.woodhall]

My take on it was that he had been badly burned by MON's splurges and then when he took all that flak  that followed he retreated into his cave and tried to rein things in. This is something that his business senses would have told him to do but unfortunately he had to deal with fans and not sensible shareholders so hence the poor perceptions of him as a custodian of our club.

If things have finally turned a corner(fingers crossed of course because it was only one game) then perhaps he will regain his passion(?) for the club and may just decide to stick around , especially if no suitable option turns up ( ie no Eastern Ukraine moneyglot with dubious connections)

He does need to find some experienced advisors though and pretty quickly too.

I think there's a lot of truth in that, and also maybe the reason for his non-attendance. He'd look at the stick he was getting (some of it justified, some not) and wonder why he should fly across the Atlantic to get it in person. 

[brian green]

My view is that there are far more things right about Randy Lerner than there are wrong. My intuitive feeling is that the surge in popularity of football in the US and the probable boost in Randy's status with his peers has him thinking twice about selling. A hard nosed CEO and a truly contrite Lambert for taking so long to respond to the blindingly obvious and I would be very happy for the For Sale sign to be taken out of the window.

[newtonsballs]

My view is that there are far more things right about Randy Lerner than there are wrong. My intuitive feeling is that the surge in popularity of football in the US and the probable boost in Randy's status with his peers has him thinking twice about selling. A hard nosed CEO and a truly contrite Lambert for taking so long to respond to the blindingly obvious and I would be very happy for the For Sale sign to be taken out of the window.

Super post, especially the highlighted.

[Percy McCarthy]

He left a book of signed cheques where Lambert could find them. Hence the signings of Aly and Carlos, the "one or two more", and Randy's hasty return when he saw the Sanchez press conference accidentally on the net while looking for Shumanite porn.

[bertlambshank]

If things do go right this season I expect an in depth interview from Lambert saying he got things wrong,has learnt from them and it will make him and the club stronger.
Expect a withdraw from sale sometime after.

[oldtimernow]

 ;Dhehe

[pauliewalnuts]

My view is that there are far more things right about Randy Lerner than there are wrong.

As someone else on this page said to me, they very often got the small things just right, but the big things wrong.

As for him staying around, I doubt that will happen (at least not out of choice), and to be honest, I'd rather have a chairman whose heart was still in it, which - judging from his statement - isn't the case with Randy.

[Dante Lavelli]

I'd be delighted with Randy staying on as I genuinely think he has the interests of the club at heart and is not an egotistical leader looking to boost their profile. 

Ironically, however, I think the club does need some sort of figurehead (possibly with a big ego) who would relish the chance to impose their vision on a football club and single mindedly implement the changes.  This CEO would also need to have the authority to make key decisions and control the purse strings on the proviso that they stay within Randy's set parameters.

[bobdylan]

We need it all sorted before next summer, which will be massive for the club, we could see Vlaar, Delph, Gabby, Bent, Hutton, N'Zogbia and probably Benteke leave freeing up huge amounts of wages and how we rebuild is vial.

[Holte L2]

He left a book of signed cheques where Lambert could find them. Hence the signings of Aly and Carlos, the "one or two more", and Randy's hasty return when he saw the Sanchez press conference accidentally on the net while looking for Shumanite porn.

That's just made me laugh out in the middle of the office!

[Dr Butler]

My view is that there are far more things right about Randy Lerner than there are wrong. My intuitive feeling is that the surge in popularity of football in the US and the probable boost in Randy's status with his peers has him thinking twice about selling. A hard nosed CEO and a truly contrite Lambert for taking so long to respond to the blindingly obvious and I would be very happy for the For Sale sign to be taken out of the window.

Super post, especially the highlighted.

yes that is excellent Brian, and maybe Randolph has flown over to complete Vlaar's new contract ? and maybe, just maybe sign a couple of more players 

[Jimbo]

When it came to running a football club - with all the social, community and altruistic responsibilities that entails - he got much of it right. When it came to running a football team - with all the challenges of man management, appointing the right people, and maintaining (even improving) a competitive edge on the field of play - he got much of it wrong.

Whether an owner of a football club likes it or not, he's also its leader. I'd have my doubts about a leader who, at the first signs of continued criticism, retreats back into his shell for fear of taking it on the chin. I'd also have my doubts about an owner who can't make his mind up whether he wants to stay or go. Personally, I think he'll be as good as his word, and will go provided the right offer comes in. In the interim, any spending on the squad is just protecting his investment. Frankly, it's no more than should have been done these last three years.   

[brian green]

My most strongly held wish is that the club is no longer at the mercy of cheap shot idle journalists. If that means Randy staying sobeit.

[andyh]

All he needs to do is appoint a top quality CEO.
Then he can be as hands off as he wants, without needing to sell and walk away.

[pauliewalnuts]

All he needs to do is appoint a top quality CEO.
Then he can be as hands off as he wants, without needing to sell and walk away.

That's a good point.

If he wants to be hands off and stay the other side of the atlantic, then the very least he should be doing is putting in place a convincing management structure to run things.

I'm not going to blame Paul Faulkner for everything which has been badly handled, but the club hasn't really seemed like it is being steered in any particular direction (at least no direction we'd want to go in) over the last few years.

Someone who really, really knows what he is doing, able to stamp his personality on the club. That is what we need.

In fact, that is what we had when O'Neill was here. We're all pretty familiar with the pro and anti MON arguments so no need to go over them, but you got the impression he saw it as "his" club and that if anyone was running things, it was him (although he seemed too convinced of this by the end).

When he left abruptly, they had to sink or swim. In the end, they didn't really manage either, they sort of just floundered around a bit and kept their head above water.