Randy Lerner

[villabear]

Collymores diatribe is on the Mail's site. Interesting reading.

Collymores Mail article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3281567/Stan-Collymore-fresh-blast-owner-Randy-Lerner-Aston-Villa-axe-matchday-programme-column.html

[Ian.]

Stan, he is trying to sell up though.

[old man villa fan]

As a fan, Collymore can criticise from the outside publicly but a club has to stand together. It is the best for the club if he does not contribute to the programme. I think he is saying as much himself but the newspaper report is making out that he has been discarded. Parting is the best for all concerned.
Interesting that comment about meeting Fox which would seem the opposite to his Twitter comments in the summer.

[andyh]

So, out of two outbursts this week, which of Collymores opinions is his real one?
Does he even know?

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/10/19/stan-collymore-suggests-problem-with-aston-villa-sticking-by-tim/

[pauliewalnuts]

That's a good point about Stan and Fox, I remember him bigging him up after he met him and saying we had reason to be excited.

Bit of a u-turn.

[silhillvilla]

Last week Stan said we need to stand by sherwood .

[aev]

That's a good point about Stan and Fox, I remember him bigging him up after he met him and saying we had reason to be excited.

Bit of a u-turn.

Maybe the stuff they talked about hasn't happened?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Stan seems to have some serious trouble understanding the difference between a Director of Football, a marketing man and a Sporting Director.

[Stirchley Villain]

Randy's PA in Brum asked my mate whether he knew a good laser tattoo removing professional.

[bob]

It's hard to keep up with what everyone has said, isn't it?

[bob]

Moneyball, you say?

[tomd2103]

Stan, he is trying to sell up though.

Yep, unless Stan is trying to insinuate that there have been offers and Lerner is holding out.   

[boozey182]

I don't post very often, but I read on here a lot. I thought I'd just share a thought I've had that has made me think everything is going to be okay. Now, I should point out that this is almost psychotic in its optimism, and based on nothing more than a series of hunches, but hey, when the other choice (reality?) is so depressing, I reserve the right to make up something to keep spirits high. Life is more fun this way.

So my theory is that all of this, the apparent mess we find ourselves in, is all part of the grand plan. Everything. Maybe not Randy's, but a plan non the less.

Think back to February and the aftermath of that Hull match. It was clear that Lambert had to go, and the rumours of a 'relegation zone clause' seemed to make sense considering the timing, probably saving the club a million quid or so. To replace him, while there may have been plenty of good managers around the world (and my knowledge of world football is not very good) that could have come in and done well, there would have been a certain amount of risk involved with bringing in a manager unaccustomed to the Premier League, and at the time we didn't really have any time to let someone get used to the surroundings; staying up was the only option. What we needed was a confident, brash motivator that could get the team playing with a bit more belief and utilise one of the best strikers in Europe. While Tim was a risk, he was a more calculated risk.

The other advantage of choosing a young manager with, let's put it politely, a good deal of confidence in his own ability, is that he might have been happy to sign certain performance related clauses in his contract…

Anyway, we survived. The first part of the plan was a success! However, to put the long term future of the club in the hands of a man with such little experience, and who's deficiencies as a manager were already being exploited by the end of the season, would have been suicide. But what can you do? You can't sack the man that saved you, but letting him spend what precious little money you had would be like letting your seven year old decorate the lounge.

So, you take control of the signings, but humour the egomaniac (who is very hurt by the 'Tactics Tim' nickname) by feeding him a few lines so he can tell the world how clever he is by buying players most fans haven't heard of. You buy players with potential; good technique, quick and relatively young that will both improve the team and increase in value. (You give the manager some of the change at the end to buy a big bloke, just to keep him happy for a bit).

Once the season starts, either it works well with the current manager (unlikely, but great if it does), or it goes horribly wrong, which you've protected yourself against: the contract he signed had a clause in it which states if the team is in the relegation zone (that old chestnut!) at any point after 10 games, you can sack him with much less compensation. Why 10 games? Well there needed to be some protection in case we got dealt a start from hell (which we definitely didn't!) and 10 games seems fair enough. If we're in the relegation zone after 10 games, he's not up to the job but there is still time to bring someone to turn it all around.

When it starts going wrong, he'll undoubtedly start to defend himself, using his cronies in the media. But just keep a dignified silence. It will all be over soon, and he's just making a fool of himself. Don't even make a comment about pigs and muck. Maybe just leak a story that his job is in danger, just so it's not all one way in the press.

Then after the inevitable sacking, and this is the important bit, you can finally appoint your man, that you've been speaking to for a few weeks. A thinker, a man that will both inspire and mould the team. Someone who can use the talented players that you have in place and set a system up that will last well beyond his tenure (I don't know who this could be, by the way!). And as the talented players inevitably get poached by the bigger boys, you'll use the profits to buy more, keeping a bit back for one almighty assault a few years down the line. Everything is going to be okay! Exciting, even!

So you see, fellow Villa sufferers, we don't need to worry. The people in charge know exactly what they're doing, and by the new year, this three week period of confusion, uncertainty and rumour will be a distant dream. Of course, on Monday we might appoint Bob Bradley and be relegated by Christmas. Even at my most optimistic, I couldn't spin that as a good thing.

(Sorry for blabbering on!)

[Legion]

You need to post more often.

[peter w]

If he'd been a real fan of the club, he wouldn't have gone to Cambridge University, he'd have gone to Birmingham Poly.

Warwick Uni, surely?