Randy Lerner

[Des Little]

We all know that behind the scenes, the club is in a state of disarray.  I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of these 'insightful' articles between now and R-Day.

[dave.woodhall]

She doesn't really a say a lot.

It seems to come down to:-

1. The owner lives in America and doesn't visit very much.
2. If you abuse the management of private premises you get asked to leave.
3. The club are having to take measures to make sure expenditure is not going to outstrip income when we get relegated.
4. We aren't very good at the moment (which we all know.)

I'm genuinely very sorry if people are going to lose their jobs because of relegation but the contents of this letter are not on a level with, for example, the revelations of the conditions under which people were being expected to work for Sports Direct.

5. Staff whose work finishes by half-time are only paid until then.

Take out the emotive language (for example replace "bodyguards" with "stewards") and all you're really left with is football supporters not happy because their club are doing badly. I can't see what the story is here or what can happen about it.

[Steve R]

It is all very well being dismissive of what she says and ridiculing the was she has said it, but the truth is that the essence of what she is saying is no different to what has been said by many on these pages.

I have real concerns not so much about relegation but about what is being done to the structure of the club in the name of the austerity that relegation supposedly necessitates.

I do not like seeing the club's dirty linen being washed in public to the amusement of all and sundry. But there are times when it is no bad thing that the folk in charge have at least a modicum of public accountability shoved in their faces.

As far as I know Elaine Rose is not a relative of mine.

[nick harper]

What is also depressing is that the Aston Villa chief exec feels the need to have bodyguards to protect him from the fans. If ever there there was a symbol of the current state of the club.

[Brend'Watkins]

Our plight has made it to the The Wall Street Journal, at least they give Randy a dig...

www.wsj.com/articles/the-ignominy-of-aston-villa-1455834198

[eamonn]

Any time an organisation restructures there are inevitably members of staff who feel aggrieved, some of who will want to make their voices heard. That is not to say that this lady does not have a genuine grievance, we only have one side of the argument, but I would be wary of making too much of this in isolation.

You wouldn't hire her then.

[amfy]

It is all very well being dismissive of what she says and ridiculing the was she has said it, but the truth is that the essence of what she is saying is no different to what has been said by many on these pages.

Exactly - not an insider expose then?

We already know that we don't see much of Randy Lerner. It was widely reported that Tom Fox had minders at The Trust AGM so that's not new either.

Fans are thrown out for hurling abuse at Fox, but strangely, these outspoken Villa fans seem far more reluctant to speak to the press. Maybe it happened once? Like one steward didn't recognise the England Manager, and one didn't recognise Gordon Cowans.

No problem with her being an angry Villa fan, the same as lots of other angry Villa fans, but if lifting the lid on Villa Park amounts to telling us that there aren't chocolate digestives in a £400 match package (possibly the only thing new to me in all this) then the might actually be a lot LESS to worry about than we thought!

[Malandro]

Our plight has made it to the The Wall Street Journal, at least they give Randy a dig...

www.wsj.com/articles/the-ignominy-of-aston-villa-1455834198

I might steal the two Villa park drawings in that article.

Don't tell anybody.

[Richard E]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-crisis-bodyguards-protect-10917858

The front page headline is 'Under Siege.'

Drama queens.

[Toronto Villa]

I'd be well upset if my chocolate digestives were missing. I'd have stormed out of the box demanding a full refund. And heaven forbid if it was the dark chocolate version that they had promised and failed to deliver on. But if they had removed my chocolate Hob Nobs...well fuck me, that would have been it

[ciggiesnbeer]

Our plight has made it to the The Wall Street Journal, at least they give Randy a dig...

www.wsj.com/articles/the-ignominy-of-aston-villa-1455834198

I might steal the two Villa park drawings in that article.

Don't tell anybody.

This kind of resonated with me.

"Villa fans streamed out of the park, shouting obscenities. One fan threw his hat on the field, then asked for it back."

[Richard E]

If biscuits are under threat TBAR will be in meltdown.

[Clampy]

What's all this 'it's like Beruit now' all about? Did they chain her up all day? Were there bombs going off outside VP?

[passport1]

I suppose if  Iwere working for a crap company (which used to have a good reputation) and being abused by customers as  i left work in the compnay uniform , the knowledge that the execs running the company were having a good laugh about it behind the scenes might make me  resign. Given that I cared about the company  I might well want to publicise  the management attitude .

I'd be a bit surprised and disappointed if I were then described as a drama queen making a fuss about nothing.

[andyh]

Straight from a representative of the club today.
'The best bit of business was not buying anyone in the January window. We can now go down and come back stronger'