Tom Fox announced as new Villa CEO

[dave.woodhall]

Sorry but I struggle with anything "official " out of the club anymore .

Aww, do the nasty people not say exactly what you want them to say?

[silhillvilla]

5 year plans , krulak, bright future ? Compelling football, shunannites ? Come on Dave , what do you think .

[dave.woodhall]

5 year plans , krulak, bright future ? Compelling football, shunannites ? Come on Dave , what do you think .

I think it's pathetic to say "They don't talk to us" then add "I don't believe them" when they do.

[silhillvilla]

5 year plans , krulak, bright future ? Compelling football, shunannites ? Come on Dave , what do you think .

I think it's pathetic to say "They don't talk to us" then add "I don't believe them" when they do.

I didn't say they don't talk to us ?
I'm a fan I want to believe , I just no longer trust Lerner

[dave.woodhall]

5 year plans , krulak, bright future ? Compelling football, shunannites ? Come on Dave , what do you think .

I think it's pathetic to say "They don't talk to us" then add "I don't believe them" when they do.

I didn't say they don't talk to us ?
I'm a fan I want to believe , I just no longer trust Lerner

I'm sure he's distraught.

[hipkiss92]

"We should be finishing seventh or eighth consistently," Fox told BBC WM.
"How do we put the club in position to capture it's value? If we can do that, we believe we can put this club back where it deserves to be."

I suppose an ambition of 7th or 8th is directly proportional to the amount of money we can generate.
Proof positive that slowly our expectations are being managed downwards

If he came out and said we should be consistently challenging for the title what would your reaction be?

There's a difference between managing expectations downwards and having realistic ambitions

[silhillvilla]

5 year plans , krulak, bright future ? Compelling football, shunannites ? Come on Dave , what do you think .

I think it's pathetic to say "They don't talk to us" then add "I don't believe them" when they do.

I didn't say they don't talk to us ?
I'm a fan I want to believe , I just no longer trust Lerner

I'm sure he's distraught.

? Ok

[Gregorys Boy]

What I find interesting about Foxes comments in one breath he seems to be saying Paul Lambert has the club's backing, but in the next that his job could be under threat with the "and that should not take four years" remark.  Overall I think it is a postitve thing for the CEO to be saying, and it is in line with what us fans want too.  Trouble is that with our struggles the last few years I don't know if what he is saying is realistic at least not in the time frame.  But like someone else said it is a start.

[paul_e]

What I like is that they have overhauled the scouting system and added a data-analysis guy: Lambert may not 'do stats' but that is part of he modern game.
Let's see how all this plays out ...

That's far and away the most important bit.  I've been saying for years that I think the scouting at the club is lazy and ineffective, bringing in a statistician and a team of scouts and getting them to build portfolios backed on empirical evidence is the only way for a club to catch the top sides now, Southampton have done just that.

When I interviewed Paul Faulkner after Houlier got the job he said they'd started it then.

I've assumed it was what Houllier came in to oversee so I don't see that as unlikely or remotely surprising. I do however think we never really went full tilt at it, whereas now we've got a director of scouting and a statistician and we're building a full scouting network.

Reading between the lines though I think Lambert has had his role reduced as part of this.  I've said before and I'm sure you've agreed, that I always thought Randy treated Lambert and Faulkner as equals, with the club split into football matters and commercial, with very little crossover.  These comments suggest that Fox is the main man with Lambert, Riley, etc reporting to him.

[Gareth]

Exactly the comments I would expect from a CEO so soon into the job, it's not realistic to expect instant changes, part of him coming in will involve reviewing everything thoroughly - sure there maybe some quick wins but his influence will be seen hopefully over years not months.

I agree that 7th / 8th with cup runs is a realistic target & a sustainable model of revenue to expenditure has to be achieved, the challenge in the short term is to earn a bit of faith by improving the fayre on the pitch. 

Where he will be tested in our eyes is if we get another stupid run of results, performances & negative football a la October - hard nosed business decisions will have to over ride the blind faith Lambert has received thus far.

[dave.woodhall]

I've assumed it was what Houllier came in to oversee so I don't see that as unlikely or remotely surprising. I do however think we never really went full tilt at it, whereas now we've got a director of scouting and a statistician and we're building a full scouting network.

Reading between the lines though I think Lambert has had his role reduced as part of this.  I've said before and I'm sure you've agreed, that I always thought Randy treated Lambert and Faulkner as equals, with the club split into football matters and commercial, with very little crossover.  These comments suggest that Fox is the main man with Lambert, Riley, etc reporting to him.

It's reckoned that Lambert went straight to Randy, bypassing Faulkner, which is one of the reasons why he left. I think, with nothing other than guesswork, that Paul F wanted Paul L sacked last May.

[paul_e]

I've assumed it was what Houllier came in to oversee so I don't see that as unlikely or remotely surprising. I do however think we never really went full tilt at it, whereas now we've got a director of scouting and a statistician and we're building a full scouting network.

Reading between the lines though I think Lambert has had his role reduced as part of this.  I've said before and I'm sure you've agreed, that I always thought Randy treated Lambert and Faulkner as equals, with the club split into football matters and commercial, with very little crossover.  These comments suggest that Fox is the main man with Lambert, Riley, etc reporting to him.

It's reckoned that Lambert went straight to Randy, bypassing Faulkner, which is one of the reasons why he left. I think, with nothing other than guesswork, that Paul F wanted Paul L sacked last May.

I agree, I think it came down to 1 or the other had to go andd Lerner sided with PL

[pauliewalnuts]

What I like is that they have overhauled the scouting system and added a data-analysis guy: Lambert may not 'do stats' but that is part of he modern game.
Let's see how all this plays out ...

That's far and away the most important bit.  I've been saying for years that I think the scouting at the club is lazy and ineffective, bringing in a statistician and a team of scouts and getting them to build portfolios backed on empirical evidence is the only way for a club to catch the top sides now, Southampton have done just that.

When I interviewed Paul Faulkner after Houlier got the job he said they'd started it then.

I've assumed it was what Houllier came in to oversee so I don't see that as unlikely or remotely surprising. I do however think we never really went full tilt at it, whereas now we've got a director of scouting and a statistician and we're building a full scouting network.

I definitely remember the talk of having a proper scouting network two years ago, and how Lambert had appointed that German chap as chief of scouting. Then there was Crewe's manager saying we'd turned up with a 30 page dossier on Ashley Westwood.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad we're acting more professional, but it's not the first time (in recent years) we've heard this.

[peter w]

Wasn't it what lambert had a reputation for? his diligence with regards to his scouting?

[OCD]

There's a few articles come out, presumably from the same interview. It all sounds rather encouraging and it doesn't sound as though any of it is dependent on Lambert. The problem is that it's all things that we don't get to see and may not see signs of for several years. As such, we can only hope that it's as good as it sounds.