Randy Lerner - How will his reign be remembered?

[Louzie0]

Bump


2006 - MON years; optimism, enjoyment, then a bit frustrating, followed by horrifying betrayal and associated devastation in a week in August

2010 - appointed safe pair of hands followed with internationally acclaimed team builder

2011 - IATB very ill, appointed Pedestrian ( but recommended) Safe Pair Of Hands after deputy to IATB had finished season OK

2012 - relegation battle. Sacked PSPOH, went after Scandinavian potential superstar, appointed go-getting Scottish manager wanting young and hungry players. Coincided with needing to balance books and then some.  Partly FFP, partly own business in USA.

2013 - relegation battle
2014 - relegation battle

2015 - relegation battle. Sacked CEO PF, appointed TF. Sacked GGSM, appointed Mouthy but Bostin and Confident Manager. Witnessed Renaissance.
FACup
14th place in PL.

2016
FACup again, 5th place premier League, Manager of The Year.

2017
FACup again, 1st place Premier League, MOTY, CL semi finalists.

2018 - 2040
FACup again, UEFA Champions League Cup winners...MOTY....

2040 -
FA Cup again. Outer Galactic Arm League Champions....

Look at the middle bit. 2010 - 2015.  We've all suffered. I would really like Randy to enjoy the Villa getting somewhere, as we all would.

[not3bad]

Question to be answered on 31st May.

[MONCABA]

So close......and yet so far.

[Damo70]

Good intentions but a couple of strange managerial appointments. GH was in his sixties, with a history of bad health and had been out of management for three years. TSM 1 had just got our local 'rivals' relegated and had been criticised for his style of play throughout his time there. TSM 2 was also a bad appointment, although to be fair seemed a good one at the time. But as I have said before, in any job if you make a bad appointment nobody will accept the 'good idea at the time' line, you will be held accountable if it turns out to be a bad choice. He also stuck with TSM 2 for too long, which was strange as he acted swiftly with TSM1.

[Villafirst]

Failure. last 5 years have been dreadful (apart from last 2 months under TS)

[silhillvilla]

If we lift that trophy having stayed up, in what may be Lerners last game ? He would go down as a legend.

[saunders_heroes]

Failure. last 5 years have been dreadful (apart from last 2 months under TS)

Agreed, but if we stay up (which we will) then lift the FA Cup at the end of the month he will be by default an absolute legend.

[German James]

His reign's not over yet!

[old man villa fan]

His reign's not over yet!

I think you're right there.

I think he has found the club harder to sell than he thought.  I think he has had a change of thought and decided to keep the club but step back from any day-to-day involvement.  I can see him growing the club commercially and diluting his ownership by bringing in key investors.  The FFP rules have pulled up the drawbridge on major new investment in clubs and Lerner has seen this and was, I think, one of those that voted against it.  However, with any financial rules, there will always be ways around them if you want to go that way.

[Legion]

If we stay up and win the FA Cup, he might even change his mind about selling.

[silhillvilla]

If we stay up and win the FA Cup, he might even change his mind about selling.

Yep. If the above happens and he departs I think we are looking at some sort of statue , failing that a large plaque.

[supertom]

I saw an old Guardian article from April of 2010 in passing the other day. Some may remember it. There was a suggestion, including what they had quoted from O Neill, that Pube Head was looking for assurances about the summer from Randy. Further it was suggested that due to fan discontent (this was after the Chelsea 7-1 all but ended our top 4 hopes) and an impending budget slash, O Neill may have been eyeing a way out.
So was his departure really that surprising? I recall in pre-season him not being to enthusiastic. He seemed to have lost interest. And of course the nature of his departure was still totally self serving (he knew what was coming and decided to fuck off before ruining his record here) and horrifically timed. He should have left in May and gone with a little good will (close but no cigar).
Anyway, without opening up another O Neill debate, it did seem like one or two whispers saw O Neill doing a runner even as far back as April that year and saw the Austerity measures in the horizon.

Anyway. As for Randy. He started off with great vigour but ultimately didn't have the nous. He only thought four years ahead and couldn't sustain what he was doing. He basically gambled on us being top 4. The implosion since has been partly a result of his financial dealings here, and also of course, mostly poor appointments since O Neill fakked off.

However. If his tenure brings about our first FA Cup trophy since 57, then that will go a long way into giving him a more popular legacy. And indeed appointing Fox seems a step in the right direction, and the D.O.F role has also been discussed. Whether we eventually need or get one is another matter but the identification that our structure needs work is at least a step in the right direction. He's got to back us financially again. He can provide more than he has whilst staying within FFP. He doesn't have to be here every week, he just needs to show he's still actively trying to push us forward, rather than merely surviving on a meagre budget. Again it was more gambling. Gambling that we would have just enough about us to stay in the league whilst operating on a shoe-string. I think this season was the first that Lerner realised there was always an inevitable outcome doing that. Thankfully we finally acted on canning Lambert.

[Nelly]

O Neill may have been eyeing a way out. So was his departure really that surprising? I recall in pre-season him not being to enthusiastic. He seemed to have lost interest. And of course the nature of his departure was still totally self serving (he knew what was coming and decided to fuck off before ruining his record here) and horrifically timed. He should have left in May and gone with a little good will (close but no cigar).
Anyway, without opening up another O Neill debate, it did seem like one or two whispers saw O Neill doing a runner even as far back as April that year and saw the Austerity measures in the horizon.

Sorry to carry on about O'Neill, but does anyone remember that Twitter story that O'Neill had quit being picked up by the media? It might well have been total nonsense, but who knows if there was any truth behind it. It wasn't long after that when he did actually go I think.

Lerner was incredibly badly treated by O'Neill I think. I seem to remember him flirting with Liverpool at one point too.

[Holte L2]

O Neill may have been eyeing a way out. So was his departure really that surprising? I recall in pre-season him not being to enthusiastic. He seemed to have lost interest. And of course the nature of his departure was still totally self serving (he knew what was coming and decided to fuck off before ruining his record here) and horrifically timed. He should have left in May and gone with a little good will (close but no cigar).
Anyway, without opening up another O Neill debate, it did seem like one or two whispers saw O Neill doing a runner even as far back as April that year and saw the Austerity measures in the horizon.

Sorry to carry on about O'Neill, but does anyone remember that Twitter story that O'Neill had quit being picked up by the media? It might well have been total nonsense, but who knows if there was any truth behind it. It wasn't long after that when he did actually go I think.

Lerner was incredibly badly treated by O'Neill I think. I seem to remember him flirting with Liverpool at one point too.

Yeah I do.  it was shortly before we played Bolton away in April 2010.

My first thoughts where immediately horrified.

[Villa in Denmark]

If we stay up and win the FA Cup, he might even change his mind about selling.

I think he might well stop actively looking for a buyer regardless.

It looks like the club has reached a point where it's pretty much self sustaining.
It looks like he's got a CEO in place who can actually run the club as opposed to Paul Faulkner who in retrospect seems to have been more of an operations manager type role.

If these two points pan out it's probably actually easier to keep us than try to sell us with the proviso that everything has it's price so if the right if the right "sort" turns up with a difficult to turn down kind of offer.

He's certainly in a position where he can sit back from any day to day affairs (which is probably better for him and us) and only be involved in big decisions, extra investment, sign off on change of manager and such like.