Ellis!

[Ad@m]

I'm not sure losing a semi-final 3-0 is almost winning a trophy. There's also a big difference between going massively beyond your means like Leeds did and not taking any risks to try and get there which is what we did. There's a decent middle ground there but Ellis never had the balls to go for it.

Exactly. Finishing second twice in three seasons then winning the league cup twice in three seasons should have been an excellent opportunity to go on to better things. In Ellis's eyes those relative successes just helped to keep the fans quiet.

Prick.

[Villa in Denmark]

Name a chairman that isn't / wasn't a dickhead occasionally ? Chop ellis in half he is claret and blue , I don't get all the pent up anger.

There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and wilfully dismantling a team that had won the highest honours without giving the manager the resources to rebuild.
There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and wilfully refusing to recognise said teams achievements in the subsequent 24 years despite so many opportunities.
There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and wilfully placing the club in a situation where that lot from B9 showed more class and compassion towards Tony Barton's family than we did.

Edit
There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and appointing an obviously under qualified manager to replace Barton to manage the retrenchment that resulted in relegation.  It was akin to replacing the tempremental Irishman with Dean Smith at Walsall.

Can you spot the theme yet?

Then just for good measure, throw in his refusal/inability to allow the club to progress at several subsequent points throughout the 90's for god knows what reasons.
Just hypothesising here but options are:

1. He genuinely was so short sighted that he couldn't see the opportunities when they presented themselves.
2. He was too scared to really give it a go.
3. Mid table mediocrity with the occasional good run suited him down to the ground.  Maximum ego massage for minimum risk (not to his own fortune I might add) whilst being able to draw a (for the times) enormous salary for the privilege in an era where club chairman didn't draw a salary for functioning as a de facto CEO.
4. He was scared of what might happen to his position /  relevance with a truly successful manager.


People may offer up Leeds as an example of how it could go wrong but there were three fundamental differences.

1. They started throwing money at it from comparatively nowhere (they's finished 13th and 11th in the previous 2 seasons) before they really started throwing money at it in '97-98. We're talking about building on teams that were already sniffing around the top.
2. The scale of investment required with half decent management would have been significantly lower
3. The financing of the splurge on players was suicidal.
I'm sure others can thing of more.

[richl]

Name a chairman that isn't / wasn't a dickhead occasionally ? Chop ellis in half he is claret and blue , I don't get all the pent up anger.

There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and wilfully dismantling a team that had won the highest honours without giving the manager the resources to rebuild.
There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and wilfully refusing to recognise said teams achievements in the subsequent 24 years despite so many opportunities.
There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and wilfully placing the club in a situation where that lot from B9 showed more class and compassion towards Tony Barton's family than we did.

Edit
There's a world of difference between being a dickhead and appointing an obviously under qualified manager to replace Barton to manage the retrenchment that resulted in relegation.  It was akin to replacing the tempremental Irishman with Dean Smith at Walsall.

Can you spot the theme yet?

Then just for good measure, throw in his refusal/inability to allow the club to progress at several subsequent throughout the 90's for god knows what reasons.
Just hypothesising here but options are:

1. He genuinely was so short sighted that he couldn't see the opportunities when they presented themselves.
2. He was too scared to really give it a go.
3. Mid table mediocrity with the occasional good run suited him down to the ground.  Maximum ego massage for minimum risk (not to his own fortune I might add) whilst being able to draw a (for the times) enormous salary for the privilege in an era where club chairman didn't draw a salary for functioning as a de facto CEO.
4. He was scared of what might happen to his position /  relevance with a truly successful manager.

I'm sure others can thing of more.

Say what you think and don't chicken out, come on!!!

[robbo1874]

You can't argue with most of that. The 80's stuff aside, which appears vindictive and probably was, he just got bypassed by the modern era. Whilst he was undeniably a ****** for much of the time he was owner, it still brings a smile to my face seeing him when the cameras zoom in on him at matches these days. My friend on here Chico III tells a very funny story of a late night letter penned with his brother in law to Ellis after copious drink / substances taken. I'd love to see the cameras zoom in on him when Delph is lifting the fa cup in May.

[brian green]

To me I see the big picture of the whole period of his power at Villa Park as being dominated by self interest. He saw the chance to rise from middling prosperous entrepreneur to, by regional standards, great personal wealth and influence. Villa was far better for him than he was for Villa. The coup which was the sale of shares in the club to fans like me, for him would far outweigh anything achieved on the football field. He comes across as a benign old buffer now and to me he is like the old bloke who likes to go down to the paddock and pat the horse he once won a lot of money on.

[bill]

Name a chairman that isn't / wasn't a dickhead occasionally ? Chop ellis in half he is claret and blue , I don't get all the pent up anger.

He spent a number of years on the board at the Sty. Also looked at the possibility of buying Wolves. Would any of us have contemplated that. Chop him in half, and it says Doug Ellis.

[dave.woodhall]

Name a chairman that isn't / wasn't a dickhead occasionally ? Chop ellis in half he is claret and blue , I don't get all the pent up anger.

He spent a number of years on the board at the Sty. Also looked at the possibility of buying Wolves. Would any of us have contemplated that. Chop him in half, and it says Doug Ellis.

He didn't look at, he bought Wolves.

[NeilH]

Blimey, first of all I see the Who’s Who thread cropping up and now a debate on Ellis is raging. It feels as if I feel asleep and have woken up somewhere around 2005, when I was a far more prolific poster.

[Lucky Eddie]

I'm no Ellis fan but even at his vintage he can still be arsed to go to VP more than many likeminded egocentrics who fuel them selves posting shit on here for likes.

[rob_bridge]

Name a chairman that isn't / wasn't a dickhead occasionally ? Chop ellis in half he is claret and blue , I don't get all the pent up anger.

He spent a number of years on the board at the Sty. Also looked at the possibility of buying Wolves. Would any of us have contemplated that. Chop him in half, and it says Doug Ellis.

He didn't look at, he bought Wolves.

Did he make a profit on the sale? Serious question.

Wasn't he involved with Derby as well? Or is that my imagination?

[dave.woodhall]

Name a chairman that isn't / wasn't a dickhead occasionally ? Chop ellis in half he is claret and blue , I don't get all the pent up anger.

He spent a number of years on the board at the Sty. Also looked at the possibility of buying Wolves. Would any of us have contemplated that. Chop him in half, and it says Doug Ellis.

He didn't look at, he bought Wolves.

Did he make a profit on the sale? Serious question.

Wasn't he involved with Derby as well? Or is that my imagination?

He took Wolves into receivership so I doubt he made anything there. He's often mentioned as a director of Derby but I've never seen it confirmed anywhere.

[go on the dog]

He saved the club and brought in Tommy Doc and that's when I started supporting the Villa. Also to play Santos and see Pele at Villa Park was a special night in the dark times of 3 day weeks and power cuts etc.

"He" didn't save anything. He was part of a consortium, the rest of whose names are scandalously forgotten when great Villa men's names are mentioned. .

Ive said it before Dave, theres a book in it somewhere, Ellis the Villa years

[LeeB]

I'm no Ellis fan but even at his vintage he can still be arsed to go to VP more than many likeminded egocentrics who fuel them selves posting shit on here for likes.

Guilty as charged.

[Richard E]

I'm no Ellis fan but even at his vintage he can still be arsed to go to VP more than many likeminded egocentrics who fuel them selves posting shit on here for likes.

Guilty as charged.

I must have missed the bit where this site had a "like" function. Can someone show me how to use it?

[LeeB]

I'm no Ellis fan but even at his vintage he can still be arsed to go to VP more than many likeminded egocentrics who fuel them selves posting shit on here for likes.

Guilty as charged.

I must have missed the bit where this site had a "like" function. Can someone show me how to use it?

I misread and thought it said "licks". I only do stuff for licks.