Randy Lerner

[Jimbo]

It's entirely possible we had one shit owner after another. They're two different kinds of shit, but it all ends in pain, embarrassment and humiliation for the supporter.

[dave.woodhall]

"Doug hadn't mentioned me at all but Dick phoned him and said I was interested. Dick deserves all the credit."

There's also a bit about how he thought he'd gone as far as he could with Watford and needed to manage a big club to have a chance of the England job. I'll type it up if you like.

[Chris Harte]

"Doug hadn't mentioned me at all but Dick phoned him and said I was interested. Dick deserves all the credit."

There's also a bit about how he thought he'd gone as far as he could with Watford and needed to manage a big club to have a chance of the England job. I'll type it up if you like.

Well that's a revelation to me.

No need to type it up. Like I said, how it came about is not important. That it did is.

[dave.woodhall]

"Doug hadn't mentioned me at all but Dick phoned him and said I was interested. Dick deserves all the credit."

There's also a bit about how he thought he'd gone as far as he could with Watford and needed to manage a big club to have a chance of the England job. I'll type it up if you like.

Well that's a revelation to me.

No need to type it up. Like I said, how it came about is not important. That it did is.

Him getting the job was important, but it was the luckiest thing that Doug ever had happen, particularly given that Dave Bassett was about to be appointed. This was typical of the one thing Doug has over everyone else - whenever he was in trouble a manager invariably fell into his lap.   

[Chris Harte]

"Doug hadn't mentioned me at all but Dick phoned him and said I was interested. Dick deserves all the credit."

There's also a bit about how he thought he'd gone as far as he could with Watford and needed to manage a big club to have a chance of the England job. I'll type it up if you like.

Well that's a revelation to me.

No need to type it up. Like I said, how it came about is not important. That it did is.

Him getting the job was important, but it was the luckiest thing that Doug ever had happen, particularly given that Dave Bassett was about to be appointed. This was typical of the one thing Doug has over everyone else - whenever he was in trouble a manager invariably fell into his lap.   

Perhaps another way to look at it is that he took advice from someone.

Having the ability to take advice off people, and recognise it as good advice, is a very important ability. One that good leaders should possess.

[dave.woodhall]

It's a pity he didn't take advice for the previous five years in that case.

[Chris Harte]

It's a pity he didn't take advice for the previous five years in that case.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks, eh?

[dave.woodhall]

And a pity he didn't take a bit more advice over the next nineteen.

[Chris Harte]

And a pity he didn't take a bit more advice over the next nineteen.

Not sure what you're getting at. Ron Atkinson did alright for a while, as did Brian Little, and to a lesser degree John Gregory. But I'm sure you don't need a history lesson from me.

Sure, there were failings too. Venglos, O'Leary. Even Sir Graham revisted didn't go as well as we'd hoped.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

Bloody hell, talk about a butterfly flapping its wings: if only Hutton had managed to clear the ball yesterday we may well have won and we’d have some hope.  By shanking it into his own net, not only did we lose the match but he’s changed the world as we know it.  Overnight we've been relegated never to return, Doug Ellis has become a popular, selfless and competent chairman, Moyes is guaranteed safety spurned, Pulis is a manager to admire, O’Neill was hard done by, and to cap it all Randy Lerner has apparently pledged to invest a further billion pounds if enough of us call him a c***.  It’s almost as if people have lost their minds.   

Good rant and you left out Fat Sam who said a week ago that he has no chance of saving Sunderland unless he finds the right players in the transfer window has now become Pep Guardiola  on here after a couple of lucky wins in 5 days!

I also forgot to mention that Marc Albrighton is the new Messi.

[dave.woodhall]

And a pity he didn't take a bit more advice over the next nineteen.

Not sure what you're getting at. Ron Atkinson did alright for a while, as did Brian Little, and to a lesser degree John Gregory. But I'm sure you don't need a history lesson from me.

Sure, there were failings too. Venglos, O'Leary. Even Sir Graham revisted didn't go as well as we'd hoped.

And every opportunity was spurned. But as you said, there's no need for a history lesson.

[Villa in Denmark]

I'm confused.

It wasn't important that we appointed Taylor as someone like Dave Bassett might have achieved similar, but the way we came to appoint Taylor wasn't important as the important thing was we appointed him?

So as long as we sacked Bingo Billy and replaced him with someone else we were sorted?

Just like we were getting rid of Turner for ?

The improtant thing is we appointed Taylor. History shows us this.

How we appointed him isn't important (in nearly thirty years I'd heard nothing untoward about how Ellis had come to employ Taylor until today!) The important thing is that we did employ him.

I've no idea if Dave Bassett could have done the same, done better or done worse. You brought his name in to the subject - I've no idea why.

Bassett was just a random name from that period, as an alternative to Taylor. You said that Ellis had taken appropriate action by appointing Taylor, but that how we'd appointed him wasn't important.

But if Taylor's appointment was more luck than insightful action then anyone but McNeill would have done as how we got there wasn't important.

I agree that in the context of the wellbeing of the club, he we ended up with Taylor as manager is irrelevant, the important thing is that we did.

It's the Doug taking appropriate action by appointing him I disagree with. Taylor was pure dumb luck.

Sacking a dead duck manager is the easy part, finding the right replacement is the hard bit and if anyone should know about that it's Doug. God knows he had enough practice.

From how I remember them

Turner wouldn't have had try too hard to get him. Hopelessly out of his depth. Unmitigated disaster.

McNeill out of work and pure unmitigated shit.

Taylor already discussed.

Venglos. Looking for a job after Italia 90.Brave decision, could have been inspired choice, probably a couple of years too soon.

The only 2 I can remember where he actively went out and got the right man were Atkinson and Little and I can see why he went for Gregory

Taylor part 2 cheap and easy option.

O'Leary. The biggest mindfuck appointment until McLeish. Cheque book manager working for Doug? Easy option - out of work, still a "name"

Appropriate action?  Sorry, not buying it. Doug's history was going for the easyish option.

[dave.woodhall]

McNeill was at Manchester City when we appointed him.

[Villa in Denmark]

McNeill was at Manchester City when we appointed him.

My mistake. I was sure he'd been sacked by them.

I'll put it down to too many teenage hormones at the time to have been properly paying attention to the contractual niceties.

[tomd2103]

And yet, seemingly without quibble, he sold the club to Randy Lerner. Both a pair of unique gentlemen, or knobs as I prefer to call them.

To be fair, it seems that Randy had everyone fooled for a while.

I may be wrong, but Martin O'Neill smacks me as the kind of manager who wants to run a club from top to bottom.  I imagine that type of set up would have suited Lerner, but once O'Neill walked the decisions were left to him and things began to go wrong.