Randy Lerner

[mr underhill]

but we, the fans, don't.

[frank black]

Any news on this chairman?

Think we've decided it's Bitty McLean. Chaka Demus and Pliers was never going to work.

Bernie Madoff? He would be able to generate some additional income in the short term.

[brian green]

And who is the refuge of last resort for clubs whose management and executives "get what they deserve". The supporters, the fan base.

Ask any Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest fan.   And yes even flavour of the month Leicester City when they went into liquidation leaving a trail of suffering unpaid creditors behind them.

[joe_c]

Nail hit on head by Matt Law there.  Too many people not qualified to do the job, poor treatment of people like Graham Taylor and Steve Stride.

Lerner and his gestapo-like board deserve everything they will get from relegation.

Been a while since we had a Godwin's Law transgression to lighten the mood.

[Villa in Denmark]

Nail hit on head by Matt Law there.  Too many people not qualified to do the job, poor treatment of people like Graham Taylor and Steve Stride.

Lerner and his gestapo-like board deserve everything they will get from relegation.

Been a while since we had a Godwin's Law transgression to lighten the mood.

Quite ironic that the whole problem from day 1 has been about not being ruthless enough and being too appeasing.

[Irish villain]

Applogies if posted elsewhere:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10118235/aston-villa-getting-what-they-deserve-says-matt-law

What a lot of posters and journalists have been saying for a long time. He is spot on with those remarks. It seems to be as though almost all villa commentators have identified Lerner as the main problem at Aston Villa.

[LeeB]

Applogies if posted elsewhere:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10118235/aston-villa-getting-what-they-deserve-says-matt-law

What a lot of posters and journalists have been saying for a long time. He is spot on with those remarks. It seems to be as though almost all villa commentators have identified Lerner as the main problem at Aston Villa.

To be fair, you don't need to be Hercule Poirot to realise it.

[Chris Jameson]

Applogies if posted elsewhere:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10118235/aston-villa-getting-what-they-deserve-says-matt-law

What a lot of posters and journalists have been saying for a long time. He is spot on with those remarks. It seems to be as though almost all villa commentators have identified Lerner as the main problem at Aston Villa.

To be fair, you don't need to be Hercule Poirot to realise it.

Bloody typical of this club relying on a cheap foreign detective when the likes of Morse and Lewis are available or even the maverick Luther.

[Walmley_Villa]

Can we recommend he visits Channel 4's Tattoo fixers? He could turn his 'Villa' ink into a flower or something.

I have to say when we finally are rid of him can we get the badge changed? The yellow lion sums up our owner and team!

[rob_bridge]

Any news on this chairman?

Think we've decided it's Bitty McLean. Chaka Demus and Pliers was never going to work.

Bernie Madoff? He would be able to generate some additional income in the short term.

Sir Allen Stanford

[Damo70]

We could appoint Donald Trump as chairman and still couldn't be more ridiculed and pitied than we are already.

[Chris Harte]

We could appoint Donald Trump as chairman and still couldn't be more ridiculed and pitied than we are already.

To be honest I'm not seeing the "ridiculed and pitied" thing yet.

Sure, Mark Laurensen states that we're relegated already at every opportunity, but then so do many of us on here anyway.

I have to pinch myself at times at how bad we've become under Lerner. We've been in the top flight nearly thirty season, yet here we are as far adrift as you'd expect a team that had come up to the PL straight from League One, never mind the Championship. As much as it will hurt us as fans, Lerner's fuckwitism will ultimately cost him an absolute shedload - I fail to see any short- to medium-term scenario where he's going to get £150M for the club once the inevitable is mathematically confirmed.

[r1hvy]

We have unfortunately been a victim of the whim of this man, he lost interest and we have gradually got worse every season since. This is the risk you take when a foreign chairman takes over with no love or respect for the history of a club and sees it purely as a hobby or business acquisition.
We may be able to come back stronger as a club over time, it has happened before but not with Lerner at the helm I fear and who would now want to buy the club especially at Lerners asking price?

[kippaxvilla2]

This new chairman, it's the General isn't it?

I suggested this a week or so ago, I think I might actually cry if this happens.  Even if it isn't, it will be someone who knows fuck all about football and has spent a career in timber framed building construction or time share sales such is the fuckwittery of Lerner.

It'll probably someone totally random and unconnected.

Sarah Millican, Chaka Demus, Claire Balding, Leonard Bernstein. That sort.

I heard it was Pliers.

[Villa in Denmark]

I'm not even sure he lost interest.

The more apparent it's become that they hadn't got a scoobies what he was doing from day one, the more I'm convincing myself that he came in with a budget of £XM plus the purchase price and MON as his manager on Doug's recommendation and when the money was gone he didn't know what to do.

MON went close in years 2&3 but had used almost all of the budget, persuaded Lerner to fund one more push and when that went south and Lerner said no more money without selling some first, MON flounced off and Lerner was left standing there not knowing what the hell to do.  From that day to this it's been pretty much incessant crisis management.

Regardless of the individuals filling the roles, the sort of structure that's being put in place now should have been there from day 1.  The transition to a post MON world would have been less painful with less writing off of huges sums on player contracts. We may never have reached that tipping point anyway as either MON's worst excesses would have been curbed or he'd have stomped off earlier leaving a couple of £10 notes in the kitty.

We used to moan about MON not having a plan B.  Well neither did Randolph.