Randy Lerner

[ciggiesnbeer]

First time poster. 

Welcome!

[AV89]

First time poster. 

Welcome!

Thanks!

Wish it was in better circumstances mind.....

[Des Little]

My advice - Lock the knife drawer.

[Malandro]

First time poster. 

Welcome!

Thanks!

Wish it was in better circumstances mind.....

Your summary of the last ten years is more or less what I think too.
Welcome aboard.

[Legion]

Very similar to mine apart from I liked the idea of Houllier.

[brian green]

You could be Darren Woolley''s natural heir one day AV89.

[AV89]

I did warm to Houllier towards the end, but I just felt the top was too big for a guy with health issues.

Compared to the ones who've followed him, he's like to second coming of Ron Saunders.

[DB]

First time poster. 

Welcome!

Thanks!

Wish it was in better circumstances mind.....

Great 1st post. Spot on....MON era built.on sand and no idea after 6 years how to sort it out. Now to the point of relegation.

[alftitimus]

Lerner~ ~  TOUGH GUY or WIMP ?

This is a serious question to me.

From MON confessing that he buttered him up with questions about his US team and admitted that Lerner realised he'd done an overnight 'homework' of Wiki-- he eventually walked and won his compo.
Weak Lerner ?

Houlier got out through illness --but eventually went back into football.
Hoodwinked Lerner ?

McLeish--Jesus--- couldn't praise him enough.
Scary Lerner ?

Lambert ---FFS 
Actually hinted/alluded that our leader "may" have been in another box, and "actually" attended matches incognito that the media didn't realise. He didn't say he did...just hinted at it.
Round about the time he started calling him "Randy" rather than "Mr Lerner"
Scary Lerner?

Tactics Tim - was in a separate reality.
Reverted between Randy and Mr Lerner -- one time I heard him refer to him as  the "OWNER"
WOW!... he was gone anyway.
But was Lerner Scary to him?

Brian Clough stood up to owners, produced European Champions.
Went a whole season with 13 players and won the League.
Called out Owners and Bullies and stood his ground.

Every manager we have had under Lerner has appeared a brown-nosing
redundancy whore.

Except possibly MON and now Remi.

Is Lerner a WIMP?
Is Lerner a SCARY DON ?

We know he's cr@p at business, marriage and sports--- so I'm tending toward..
WIMP (but the brown-nosing does worry me)

 

[adrenachrome]

[Jimbo]

Lerner~ ~  TOUGH GUY or WIMP ?

This is a serious question to me.

From MON confessing that he buttered him up with questions about his US team and admitted that Lerner realised he'd done an overnight 'homework' of Wiki-- he eventually walked and won his compo.
Weak Lerner ?

Houlier got out through illness --but eventually went back into football.
Hoodwinked Lerner ?

McLeish--Jesus--- couldn't praise him enough.
Scary Lerner ?

Lambert ---FFS 
Actually hinted/alluded that our leader "may" have been in another box, and "actually" attended matches incognito that the media didn't realise. He didn't say he did...just hinted at it.
Round about the time he started calling him "Randy" rather than "Mr Lerner"
Scary Lerner?

Tactics Tim - was in a separate reality.
Reverted between Randy and Mr Lerner -- one time I heard him refer to him as  the "OWNER"
WOW!... he was gone anyway.
But was Lerner Scary to him?

Brian Clough stood up to owners, produced European Champions.
Went a whole season with 13 players and won the League.
Called out Owners and Bullies and stood his ground.

Every manager we have had under Lerner has appeared a brown-nosing
redundancy whore.

Except possibly MON and now Remi.

Is Lerner a WIMP?
Is Lerner a SCARY DON ?

We know he's cr@p at business, marriage and sports--- so I'm tending toward..
WIMP (but the brown-nosing does worry me)

 

Let's run this one by the Enigma machine.

[in exile]

Make him go away please

[Bad English]

[Des Little]

What the fuck
What the fuck
What the fucking hell is that?

[tomd2103]

First time poster.  Have been a regular visitor for a while, but never really had the inclination to post.  However, yesterday's fiasco has persuaded me get a few things off my chest.

Ten years ago, this club was on a sticky wicket.  We had an unpopular chairman whose penny-pinching was bringing the club to its knees, and a condescending manager who appeared to revel in winding us up.

I was convinced that 2006/2007 would see us relegated.  I'm not old enough to remember the 86/87 season, as my first season was 89/90, but family and friends had told me of the utter dejection that relegation would bring.
 

Then, the arrival of Mr Lerner offered hope.  I remember vividly watching the press conference to announce Martin O'Neill's arrival and feeling that after years of under achievement, things were finally looking up.  We had a manager who appeared to get us.  Whose enthusiasm to bring success matched our own.  It seemed this grand old club was finally ready to stir from its slumber.

The first four years were great.  We were able to throw punches against the big boys for the first time probably since Brian Little's era.  We felt that we could take on anybody, and there is no better feeling as a fan than that.  Off course we all know now that it was built on sand, but we were frequently assured that the powers that be knew what they were doing.

When O'Neill left, it was the first time I felt anxious about our future.  Now it would be Lerner who have appoint a manager for the first time.

I never felt Gerard Houllier was the right man.  His history of health issues and the length of time since his Liverpool days made me feel he was yesterday’s man.  But there were glimpses of promise in amongst the mayhem of that season.  When he left us, I hoped we could get someone who could build on that.

Then came McLeish.  No doubt a decent enough man who clearly respected the history and stature of the club, but it was never going to work.  Not so much for the Blues connection, but his record there of two relegations in three years.  It was then I found myself drifting away from Villa and starting not to recognize us as a club.

Lambert offered me hope that maybe we could turn it round.  I defended him for the first season - despite the tale of woe it brought.  That run to the end of the season filled me with optimism.  We played some good football and looked to have secured some very talented young players who had a brilliant team spirit.

Sadly it failed to last, and when we lost to Palace on Boxing Day 2013, I ran out of patience with Lambert.  I expected him to be gone at the end of the season, yet was dismayed that he was still here the following season.  By the time he finally went, I had been worn down by his defeatist tactics and demeanor.

Now I never wanted Tim Sherwood in the first place.  I disliked his brash style at Tottenham, but in the position we were in, it was hard to see any other credible appointment we could make.

Even though we finished strongly last season, the thumping at Southampton was a warning, followed by that shameful showing in the cup final.  As the season descended into another struggle, Sherwood pointed the finger at everyone but himself.  His ludicrous comments after the Blues game proving that he thought he could pull the wool over people’s eyes.  I quite frankly shed no tears when he left the club.

Now here we are with Remi Garde.  A decent and honest man whose integrity in the face of the crap surrounding him has impressed me, even if his results have been less than what we had hoped.  Sadly, I don't think any manager on the planet has a chance of doing anything while this current regime continue to hold the power.  They don't "get" the club.  They don't feel the hurt we do after every moral-sapping defeat.  They've achieved something even Doug Ellis and David O'Leary never managed - they've broken Aston Villa and left it with no heart, no spirit and no pride.

Ten years on.  We have an unpopular owner whose penny-pinching has now brought the club to its knees.  We've gone full circle in the last decade.  What an absolute waste.

Sums up my feelings entirely.  I remember our last relegation and even though we went down, there was always the hope that we could turn the corner and go be challengers again (which we were just two seasons later).  It's different now.  If we go down and manage to get promoted next season, I can't see us doing anything but battle relegation in the top flight under the current owner.