Randy Lerner

[Phil from the upper holte]

For all Doug's faults I bet he's as fed up as we are, I can't see him sitting there feeling all smug because Randy has fucked it Right up. Actually come to think of it I'm surprised they haven't asked for advice as he ran it that Long

[Richard E]

For all Doug's faults I bet he's as fed up as we are, I can't see him sitting there feeling all smug because Randy has fucked it Right up. Actually come to think of it I'm surprised they haven't asked for advice as he ran it that Long

They could ask him for advice about how he managed to relegate us in 86-87 because the current regime have not managed to crack it yet despite flirting with that achievement for several seasons.

[Stirchley Villain]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

Most 90 year olds I know are lonely. All of their real friends are either dead or gaga. And my face lights up when I see my mates too. I assume Mrs Ellis is alive, but I'm prepared to be corrected on that. I've been told by someone who knows him well that he's a lovely man, but I'm not so sure about that myself, I'll give you that.

[dave.woodhall]

For all Doug's faults I bet he's as fed up as we are, I can't see him sitting there feeling all smug because Randy has fucked it Right up. Actually come to think of it I'm surprised they haven't asked for advice as he ran it that Long

Unless he was somewhere else, one of the most respected men in European football was at the match yesterday and they haven't asked his advice on a single thing since the day they let him leave.

[saunders_heroes]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

You know even if I thought any of this was true I'd still bet he'd be at Villa on match day even if he had a social life akin to Jack Grealish.

[old man villa fan]

The difference between Ellis and Lerner is that Ellis never put any of his own money into the club for it's running and buying of players.  He made a living out of the club and at various times made a fortune on the disposal of his share.  Lerner on the other hand has poured in £millions and will only see a minor percentage as a return if he can find a buyer.

Lerner has shown his lack of understanding of running a football club and it has cost him.  It hurts me to see us now but I cannot bring myself to abuse him.  His biggest fault was he ran out of money and I would not have expected him to bankrupt himself to keep us fans happy.  He had to call time on the club living far beyond it's means.  The way he went about with hindsight was wrong, although some decisions stood out at the time as plain stupid.

The pressure in PL football today is immense, although I would say some of it due to it being over hyped.  How much of the "we mustn't get relegated because we will not come back" is down to the hype of PL is the only thing that counts.  Why do people think we cannot take a step backwards to improve going forwards.  The key to making it work is to have a good manager/coach that is tactically aware in the modern game and does not have to rely on buying more and more players and motivating them to relative success until the message loses its effectiveness and you start going backwards.

Going back to the pressure comment, our cannot afford to fail (i.e. get relegated) has seen us buy stop-gap over the hill players because of their so-called PL experience.  Why have we been reluctant to give youth a chance.  It does not matter how many times you rotate poor players, they are still poor.  I often wonder whether our young players have become demotivated in the last 5 years because they see little opportunity of making the 1st team and this is why we are not seeing any players coming through.

The game was a lot easier for a club like Villa in Ellis's day compared with now.  As somebody else commented, for Ellis to take the European Champions to relegation in 5 years takes some beating.  What we are experiencing now does not compare to that, even ignoring the reason why it happened.

[dave.woodhall]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

You know even if I thought any of this was true

I'm a liar then am I?

[Chris Harte]

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

Being pleased to see a friend means he's please to see his friend, not that he has nothing else in his life.

Saying selling was the worst thing he'd ever done could mean a number of things, like for instance, that he wished he was sufficiently well enough to continue to do a job.

The rest of what you've said means nothing. It seems to me there is no evidence.

Alternatively, if you are correct and he has nothing else, then that's in common with probably ninety-eight percent of people fortunate to reach his age.

[Stirchley Villain]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

You know even if I thought any of this was true

I'm a liar then am I?

You certainly have a hard on for HDE...

[dave.woodhall]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

You know even if I thought any of this was true

I'm a liar then am I?

You certainly have a hard on for HDE...

I'm stating my opinion, as you are. You don't have to take part.

[saunders_heroes]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

You know even if I thought any of this was true

I'm a liar then am I?

You claim he's got nothing else in his life and I don't agree. You did say something along the lines of "you can believe me or not" didn't you?
I don't.

[saunders_heroes]

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

Being pleased to see a friend means he's please to see his friend, not that he has nothing else in his life.

Saying selling was the worst thing he'd ever done could mean a number of things, like for instance, that he wished he was sufficiently well enough to continue to do a job.

The rest of what you've said means nothing. It seems to me there is no evidence.

Alternatively, if you are correct and he has nothing else, then that's in common with probably ninety-eight percent of people fortunate to reach his age.

Precisely. It all sounds a bit spiteful to me.

[Stirchley Villain]

Do you?

Strangely enough, yes I do.

Well go on then.

There's the games when he's arrived at the ground desperate for someone to talk to, then his face has lit up when one of his mates arrives. The interview he gave a year or so after he sold up when he said it was the worst thing he'd ever done. Or there's the times I've been told about - and I'm not going to break confidences or say things that I feel should't be aired publicly; you can believe me or not, I couldn't care less one way or the other - that show for all his money and for everything he's done in his life he's a very lonely man.

You know even if I thought any of this was true

I'm a liar then am I?

You certainly have a hard on for HDE...

I'm stating my opinion, as you are. You don't have to take part.

I know... but thanks for reminding me.

[dave.woodhall]

You claim he's got nothing else in his life and I don't agree. You did say something along the lines of "you can believe me or not" didn't you?
I don't.

You do think I'm telling lies then?

On second thoughts, I can't be arsed arguing. I know I've been told, I know what I've seen. Doug Ellis likes to return to the scene of his greatest triumphs regularly. Whether it's out of some paternal loyalty or whether he sees it as an old comrades reunion I really don't care. He goes to the match, Randy doesn't. He took millions out, Randy's put millions in. He took us down, Randy probably will. Judge each man by his deeds, or something like that.   

[old man villa fan]

I still think Lerner has simply made mistakes and trusted the wrong people, or those he has brought in have done and that is why we are where we are. At the end of the day he has tried to sort out a better structure at the club, but its just not worked. Not sure what continually bashing him for the 300 or so million he has pumped in is actually trying to achieve.

You can have any structure you like at the club, but if you're gonna run the club on a shoe string you're gonna be in trouble, and boy are we in trouble.

Do you think Leicester are run on a shoe string compared to ours?

Have they had 5 years of cutbacks behind them?

It depends where you are coming from.  Leicester have been building from a very low base with investment.  Villa are just the opposite, we could not sustain the investment and had to cut back or we would have gone out of business.  Until we get through the cycle of contracts of overpaid players it is difficult for us to have a financially stable club.  If we had a bottomless pit of money to call on, it would be great but we don't.

Our problem over the last 5 years has been how we have spent the money, not how much money we have spent.  The only possible exception to this I would say is this year when we needed to spend more than the £50m or so we spent to replace the key players that left and ones that stayed but needed replacing.  In my opinion, we were £20m short of what was needed.  I said at the time we needed a keeper, a right back and a solid left-sided central defender.  Why on earth we have a 25 man squad with 2 of those players out on loan, I will never understand.