Randy Lerner

[saunders_heroes]

Doing the right thing by Villa is not running us on the budget of a bottom five club.  Someone posted last season's Premier League wage rankings the other day and it spoke volumes about the corners Lerner has been trying to cut over the past few years.

It also showed that our budget isn't amongst the bottom five clubs in the league.

No but it shows that it's going down every year and that's significant.

[Dave]

Doing the right thing by Villa is not running us on the budget of a bottom five club.  Someone posted last season's Premier League wage rankings the other day and it spoke volumes about the corners Lerner has been trying to cut over the past few years.

It also showed that our budget isn't amongst the bottom five clubs in the league.

No but it shows that it's going down every year and that's significant.

It is - but if we have say, the 12th highest budget in the league then it shows that it is more than just the money spent causing us to finish below 12th.

As soon as we have the 20th highest budget in the league, the amount of money being spent is the reason to complain about being 20th in the league.

[Villa in Denmark]

I hope I'm right in this, but I believe that Lerner is a basically decent man, who just can't/won't be  boithered with the effort of running a Premier League club anymore but still wants to do the right thing by us.

If he bought the biggest club in the Midlands which rightly or wrongly carries the hopes and dreams of tens of thousand of people yet can't be bothered to run it, then I fail to see how he can be a basically decent person.

Because he just happens to be shit at running a football club does not preclude him being decent. He must be one of the ultimate examples of the road to Hell being paved with good intentions.

You talk about him not being bothered to run the club, which is fair enough, apart from the fact he's shown with us and the Browns that he doesn't have a clue.
The handing over of the daily running to an organisation / structure such as the one in place was the correct decision. Unfortunately it looks as though once again the individuals in office aren't the right people.

I've seen him described as scum on here.
That's the sort of description I'd reserve for the spineless twats that mug vulnerable individuals on the street. Or con pensioners out of their savings. Or abuse children. I'm not saying that's your description by the way, but for me that kind of description is well wide of the mark.

Yes where we are is shit, but I don't believe it's out of malice or ill intent on Lerner's part. Just incompetence.

[saunders_heroes]

What I think is significant is that as our wage budget goes down so does our league position. In reality we've sold our better players on high wages and replaced them with inferior players on lower wages and it happening year in year out. It's a recipe for disaster.

[PeterWithesShin]

Unless you're spending the very top wages, or very bottom, it's not the amount so much as a million or two a year may only be one player, but how you spend it. Benteke was always on lower wages than Zog, i'd bet Ayew is on less than Gabby, Amavi less than even Beye was on years ago as examples. We've just spent far too much of what we do spend, very badly.

[Dave]

Yes where we are is shit, but I don't believe it's out of malice or ill intent on Lerner's part. Just incompetence.

Hanlon's Razor personified.

[Billy Walker]

Doing the right thing by Villa is not running us on the budget of a bottom five club.  Someone posted last season's Premier League wage rankings the other day and it spoke volumes about the corners Lerner has been trying to cut over the past few years.

It also showed that our budget isn't amongst the bottom five clubs in the league.

Apologies, I didn't get a chance to double check before posting.  If I've understood it correctly this time, Randy has us on a wage structure that is competing with the  bottom eight clubs in the league, below the likes of WBA, Stoke and a newly promoted club?  That's not doing the right thing for Villa, it's selling us short, causing instability and potentially setting us up for a good spell outside the top flight.

[Clampy]

I hope I'm right in this, but I believe that Lerner is a basically decent man, who just can't/won't be  boithered with the effort of running a Premier League club anymore but still wants to do the right thing by us. 

That's more or less my take as well, which is why when I read or hear people coming out with comments like 'scum' or 'wanker', as much as I understand the frustration, I just find it so unnesessary.

[Locko]

I hope I'm right in this, but I believe that Lerner is a basically decent man, who just can't/won't be  boithered with the effort of running a Premier League club anymore but still wants to do the right thing by us. 

That's more or less my take as well, which is why when I read or hear people coming out with comments like 'scum' or 'wanker', as much as I understand the frustration, I just find it so unnecessary.

He's just a blithering idiot, with an unsurpassed propensity to fuck up. Fuck knows who he'll sell us to, some total arsehole no doubt, but it will be done with the best of intentions so that's ok. He's a fucking dickhead and I'll be glad to see him gone and I take comfort in the fact that his successor cannot in all probability match his incompetence..

[Chris Harte]

He's just a blithering idiot, with an unsurpassed propensity to fuck up. Fuck knows who he'll sell us to, some total arsehole no doubt, but it will be done with the best of intentions so that's ok. He's a fucking dickhead and I'll be glad to see him gone and I take comfort in the fact that his successor cannot in all probability match his incompetence..

I have to wonder in all seriousness, when assembling his staff, how difficult it was for Lerner to put round pegs in round holes by saying his new CEO must have experience of being a CEO? How difficult it was to hire an experienced head scout, etc?

[Witton Warrior]

He's just a blithering idiot, with an unsurpassed propensity to fuck up. Fuck knows who he'll sell us to, some total arsehole no doubt, but it will be done with the best of intentions so that's ok. He's a fucking dickhead and I'll be glad to see him gone and I take comfort in the fact that his successor cannot in all probability match his incompetence..

I have to wonder in all seriousness, when assembling his staff, how difficult it was for Lerner to put round pegs in round holes by saying his new CEO must have experience of being a CEO? How difficult it was to hire an experienced head scout, etc?

RL - "So Tom what exactly do you know about running a football club?"
TF - "I sold a lot of shirts for a very successful club"
RL - "My kinda guy - you're in..."

RL - "So Paddy what exactly do you know about selecting and buying top-level football players"
continue as nauseum

[pbavfckuwait]

The man is incompetent, I do not believe for a minute he has any ill intentions to cause the mayhem and discord he has, but he is so incompetent he never ever learns from his mistakes, proven by the people in position now and there total lack of suitability for the positions they have been given.
Do I hate him, YES, but I wish no ill to him, my hatred comes from what he has been responsible over the last 5 years at my football club and the daily continual damage he is doing.

[Tayls_7]

The man is incompetent, I do not believe for a minute he has any ill intentions to cause the mayhem and discord he has, but he is so incompetent he never ever learns from his mistakes, proven by the people in position now and there total lack of suitability for the positions they have been given.
Do I hate him, YES, but I wish no ill to him, my hatred comes from what he has been responsible over the last 5 years at my football club and the daily continual damage he is doing.

If someone is responsible for kicking you in the knackers repeatedly then eventually you are going to feel compelled to remove them from your Christmas card list. Frank Spencer used to get on my tits but he meant no harm.

[Locko]

The man is incompetent, I do not believe for a minute he has any ill intentions to cause the mayhem and discord he has, but he is so incompetent he never ever learns from his mistakes, proven by the people in position now and there total lack of suitability for the positions they have been given.
Do I hate him, YES, but I wish no ill to him, my hatred comes from what he has been responsible over the last 5 years at my football club and the daily continual damage he is doing.

I concur wholeheartedly. I don't hate Lerner, I just hate what he's inflicted on the club and want him gone. He is the dodo of sports club owners. A special brand of stupidity that will inevitably lead to extinction. I want him gone. The odds on his successor being quite as inept are slim. Can anyone realistically replicate his special brand of fuckwittery? A leveraged buyout doesn't worry me, we'd then have a committed owner with a vested interest in making the club a success. We've virtually been asset stripped by the Muppet custodian's austerity drive so no worries on that score.  Lerner be gone, even if you make a colossal loss, you reap what you sow, and stupid is as stupid does.

[bertlambshank]

He isn't scum by any means.
Lazy sod yes.