Randy Lerner

[markeeeebeeee2005]

If you knew the entire story, and the actions of Bernstein and King, you might understand why thing went down the way they did. The offensive emails are the tip of the iceberg. I have long stated that I think RL has made some huge mistakes along the way and think he has more than his share of the blame in this horror story. How can he not? But there are two sides to every story and that is certainly the case in this latest episode; in this particular instance, I think Randy showed a great amount of restraint, believe it or not, prior to the firings resignations, and an equal share in the last day or so after these two showed their class by airing it all to the press. How some here on the boards can not read the tea leaves and see just what sort of men these two are for behaving in this disgraceful manner is beyond me. I suppose there is so much hatred of RL that they cannot see clearly, and I get that even if I think it is only partially fair, but if airing dirty laundry in the press does not say something to you about the egos of these two "men," I am not sure what to say.

This narrative that my father up and left when the going got tough is unfair as well - no surprise I would say that - the timing looked bad, but the reality is that he became the president of a college that was about to be shuttered and was close to $100 million in the hole. His remit was to stop the dam from bursting in a year and then get the college on firmer footing over the next two all while an accreditation group was standing at the executioner's block. He tirelessly traveled and spoke to all who would listen so as to raise money and get the college solvent. To say this took all of his time is not an understatement and this is why he left, plain and simple. It was certainly not because he was cowardly or felt shame in some way, which is a pathetic suggestion. Also, he has never been and will never be involved in football operations, so for those who think his presence on the board is somehow negatively affecting football decisions, this is not a role he fills, and rightly so.

I am not really going to say more about this, but I thought some of the comments towards him were unnecessary and I would simply say that the boardroom issues are more thorny than some have suggested, though others have been fairly close to the truth, but not nearly cynical enough about the actions of the two former board members.

Appreciate you posting Pelty.  My view is that the two men probably did what they did in order to put the focus on Randy and make him realise that it is time for him to to do the honourable thing as custodian of Aston Villa, that is, it is time to pass the Club on.  All the better if he passes the Club on to people with the aptitude, skills and ambition to get the Club where it should rightfully be - challenging at the very top of the game.

Randy's ten years at the Club have been a disaster in every sense.  We don't need to go into it, we all know it.  The Club is rotten to the core and the two men (figures who command an awful lot of respect in the worlds of football and finance) simply wished to fix it at best or highlight it at worst.  If Randy remains at the Club, calling the shots, making the appointments, holding the purse strings, Aston Villa will tank further.  Please get that message across to him: HE is destroying the Club. Indeed he has made it not just a UK laughing stock but an international laughing stock too.  I'm sure he is the nicest and most well-intentioned of gentleman but clearly the realm of sports ownership is not for him. 

Randy now has the chance to leave this Club with his head held high so long he communicates his intentions clearly to the fanbase and then sells us on to genuine people with the the expertise, plan and ambition to rebuild Aston Villa on every level. When King resigned I think his intention was to let the fanbase know this and his interview on Bloomberg yesterday clarified this further. By giving us this information King did the fanbase a great service because Randy has kept us all in the dark for far too long now. 

It is now up to Randy.  If he sells us on to charlatans like Haslam, in a fit of pique, I would not be in the least surprised BUT, going on King's interview yesterday, this is his chance to be remembered with a huge degree of fondness for, clearly, there are decent buyers waiting in the wings. Please pass on the message that, for the good of Aston Villa - and himself - it is time for him to go. 

The bit I have highlighted.  Okay, not very professional if it's what went on but at the same time being as exasperated as I'm sure they were they must have been driven to it.  Sometimes the truth hurts and it would appear that RL hasn't ever been given that truth up until now.

All fair, and perhaps that was indeed King's intent, but I think we differ on whether or not K&B acted appropriately. I do not have contact with Randy, so I will not be able to pass on any ideas, wishes, etc.

Don't worry Pelty. He's cut us off as well.

Did you see my question asking what your fathers remit at the club is?

[Hookeysmith]

If you knew the entire story, and the actions of Bernstein and King, you might understand why thing went down the way they did. The offensive emails are the tip of the iceberg. I have long stated that I think RL has made some huge mistakes along the way and think he has more than his share of the blame in this horror story. How can he not? But there are two sides to every story and that is certainly the case in this latest episode; in this particular instance, I think Randy showed a great amount of restraint, believe it or not, prior to the firings resignations, and an equal share in the last day or so after these two showed their class by airing it all to the press. How some here on the boards can not read the tea leaves and see just what sort of men these two are for behaving in this disgraceful manner is beyond me. I suppose there is so much hatred of RL that they cannot see clearly, and I get that even if I think it is only partially fair, but if airing dirty laundry in the press does not say something to you about the egos of these two "men," I am not sure what to say.

This narrative that my father up and left when the going got tough is unfair as well - no surprise I would say that - the timing looked bad, but the reality is that he became the president of a college that was about to be shuttered and was close to $100 million in the hole. His remit was to stop the dam from bursting in a year and then get the college on firmer footing over the next two all while an accreditation group was standing at the executioner's block. He tirelessly traveled and spoke to all who would listen so as to raise money and get the college solvent. To say this took all of his time is not an understatement and this is why he left, plain and simple. It was certainly not because he was cowardly or felt shame in some way, which is a pathetic suggestion. Also, he has never been and will never be involved in football operations, so for those who think his presence on the board is somehow negatively affecting football decisions, this is not a role he fills, and rightly so.

I am not really going to say more about this, but I thought some of the comments towards him were unnecessary and I would simply say that the boardroom issues are more thorny than some have suggested, though others have been fairly close to the truth, but not nearly cynical enough about the actions of the two former board members.

Appreciate you posting Pelty.  My view is that the two men probably did what they did in order to put the focus on Randy and make him realise that it is time for him to to do the honourable thing as custodian of Aston Villa, that is, it is time to pass the Club on.  All the better if he passes the Club on to people with the aptitude, skills and ambition to get the Club where it should rightfully be - challenging at the very top of the game.

Randy's ten years at the Club have been a disaster in every sense.  We don't need to go into it, we all know it.  The Club is rotten to the core and the two men (figures who command an awful lot of respect in the worlds of football and finance) simply wished to fix it at best or highlight it at worst.  If Randy remains at the Club, calling the shots, making the appointments, holding the purse strings, Aston Villa will tank further.  Please get that message across to him: HE is destroying the Club. Indeed he has made it not just a UK laughing stock but an international laughing stock too.  I'm sure he is the nicest and most well-intentioned of gentleman but clearly the realm of sports ownership is not for him. 

Randy now has the chance to leave this Club with his head held high so long he communicates his intentions clearly to the fanbase and then sells us on to genuine people with the the expertise, plan and ambition to rebuild Aston Villa on every level. When King resigned I think his intention was to let the fanbase know this and his interview on Bloomberg yesterday clarified this further. By giving us this information King did the fanbase a great service because Randy has kept us all in the dark for far too long now. 

It is now up to Randy.  If he sells us on to charlatans like Haslam, in a fit of pique, I would not be in the least surprised BUT, going on King's interview yesterday, this is his chance to be remembered with a huge degree of fondness for, clearly, there are decent buyers waiting in the wings. Please pass on the message that, for the good of Aston Villa - and himself - it is time for him to go. 

The bit I have highlighted.  Okay, not very professional if it's what went on but at the same time being as exasperated as I'm sure they were they must have been driven to it.  Sometimes the truth hurts and it would appear that RL hasn't ever been given that truth up until now.

All fair, and perhaps that was indeed King's intent, but I think we differ on whether or not K&B acted appropriately. I do not have contact with Randy, so I will not be able to pass on any ideas, wishes, etc.

Don't worry Pelty. He's cut us off as well.

Did you see my question asking what your fathers remit at the club is?

Here is an idea then Pelty

Cut / Paste onto a word document all the questions / comments on here and send them to your Father (a publicised board member) he surely has Randy's ear so he can forward them

Either way you do it - you are not impotent in all of this

Do something positive!!!

[saunders_heroes]

I'm glad Bernstein and King acted the way they did. After the way Lerner has humiliated and degraded our club over the last 5-6 years it's the least he deserved. The sooner this poison has been cleansed from this club forever the better.

[Comrade Blitz]

He tirelessly traveled and spoke to all who would listen so as to raise money and get the college solvent.

Any chance he'll want to put those skills to work on the Villa?

[Risso]

I must say I find it quite remarkable that it's King and Bernstein who are acting unprofessionally rather than a board member that tells all to his son who uses the information on a public forum.

Indeed Peter. A director of the club has clearly been talking about internal company matters with a family member, and that family member is now making the information public. I don't know if there will be any legal fall out from King and Bernstein's resignations, but this will hardly help the club's position if there is.

Of course Pelty as a poster is free to post what he likes, but I have to say that it is ill-advised, as it's not just his personal opinion being posted. The media is also on the look out for any further dirt to embarrass us with.

[pelty]

I must say I find it quite remarkable that it's King and Bernstein who are acting unprofessionally rather than a board member that tells all to his son who uses the information on a public forum.

Your opinion and you are welcome to it. My purpose, as it ever is, is to have my say, as is the right of all who come on here. I never am here at the behest of anyone and I always speak as a fan of the club. I am gutted that we are where we are.

[pelty]

I must say I find it quite remarkable that it's King and Bernstein who are acting unprofessionally rather than a board member that tells all to his son who uses the information on a public forum.

Indeed Peter. A director of the club has clearly been talking about internal company matters with a family member, and that family member is now making the information public. I don't know if there will be any legal fall out from King and Bernstein's resignations, but this will hardly help the club's position if there is.

Of course Pelty as a poster is free to post what he likes, but I have to say that it is ill-advised, as it's not just his personal opinion being posted. The media is also on the look out for any further dirt to embarrass us with.

Actually, it is all my opinion. I have stated that there is more to it than the press suggests... this is my opinion and my opinion alone. Others might think differently, including the board. I have not had exposure to the full details by any means, but the little I do know simply suggests that there is more to the story... but this is all my opinion and no one else's.

[Villa in Denmark]

I can only agree Peter.

I would add that to refer to King and Bernstein as "these 2 men" is to completely ignore and denigrate who they are and what they're achieved in their lives by their own hard work and cannot be held in the same division as what Randy Lerner has achieved off his own back.

Randy Lerner might not have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but the guy from whichever upmarket "flatware" company was prominent in Ohio in the early 80's wasn't too far behind, way before he had to make his own way in the world, which depending on how you look at it was either sensibly taking his time to find something he wanted to do or drifting from one project to the next without ever actually achieving much.

Even his biggest success, the investment vehicle he set up, Securities Advisors, Inc was pretty small beer for the potential resources it had behind it.

And anyone complaining about the treatment he gets and the way he's talked about should remember that he willingly and voluntarily took on responsibility for what was a 130 year old institution at the time. An institution cherished and loved by several hundred thousand people around the world.

He took on that responsibility and from day 1 has failed to live up to it, as it's now apparent that the positivity of the first 5 years was actually either the wild profligacy of someone with no self restraint, the mad gamble of someone who should be nowhere near anything with responsibility for finance or budgeting or the actions of someone who just really is rather whimsical and without forethought.

He might be a great guy as a personal friend and through the family trust has obviously carried on his fathers admiral philanthropic work.

Unfortunately for him, non of that counts for anything, as we're talking about how he's mismanaged the club over the course of 10 years and I'd bet quite a lot that whatever Bernstein and King have said, it's not as rancid as is being hinted at. They're two professional guys who've operated at the top of their fields for decades, with Bernstein in particularly having been the person used to cleaning up other peoples shit. Man City and Wembley being the most high profile cases.

That kind of stupidity and unprofessional behaviour doesn't come naturally to people who've had the careers that they've had and if they have veered off on that tangent there's a whole load of shit behind it that no-ones even thought about looking at yet.

As an aside, Pelty are you privy to the contents of these e-mails, or are you just repeating what you've been told?

If you are privy to them, I'm not expecting you to reveal their content, but would question how professional it is that these contentious documents are doing the rounds.

[bob]

I must say I find it quite remarkable that it's King and Bernstein who are acting unprofessionally rather than a board member that tells all to his son who uses the information on a public forum.

Indeed Peter. A director of the club has clearly been talking about internal company matters with a family member, and that family member is now making the information public. I don't know if there will be any legal fall out from King and Bernstein's resignations, but this will hardly help the club's position if there is.

Of course Pelty as a poster is free to post what he likes, but I have to say that it is ill-advised, as it's not just his personal opinion being posted. The media is also on the look out for any further dirt to embarrass us with.

Actually, it is all my opinion. I have stated that there is more to it than the press suggests... this is my opinion and my opinion alone. Others might think differently, including the board. I have not had exposure to the full details by any means, but the little I do know simply suggests that there is more to the story... but this is all my opinion and no one else's.

Your say sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

[peter w]

pelty, there's a song doing the rounds at the moment. It contains the line, "I just don't think you understand". I never thought it applied to a poster as much as it does to Lerner but now I'm not so sure.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

I must say I find it quite remarkable that it's King and Bernstein who are acting unprofessionally rather than a board member that tells all to his son who uses the information on a public forum.

Indeed Peter. A director of the club has clearly been talking about internal company matters with a family member, and that family member is now making the information public. I don't know if there will be any legal fall out from King and Bernstein's resignations, but this will hardly help the club's position if there is.

Of course Pelty as a poster is free to post what he likes, but I have to say that it is ill-advised, as it's not just his personal opinion being posted. The media is also on the look out for any further dirt to embarrass us with.

Actually, it is all my opinion. I have stated that there is more to it than the press suggests... this is my opinion and my opinion alone. Others might think differently, including the board. I have not had exposure to the full details by any means, but the little I do know simply suggests that there is more to the story... but this is all my opinion and no one else's.

Pelty. Have a look back at your original post. Those are not the words of someone sharing an opinion. You have written in a way that says those criticising Randy don't know the facts and you do.

[peter w]

Yes, it's someone backtracking after reading what Risso posted about the press trawling through here for more comments. You'd think they'd learn after the pig in mud episode wouldn't you?

[1_Pablo_Angel]

Pelty, Mervyn King was the Governor of the Bank of England and had to deal with the worst fiscal crisis in living memory, and by most accounts really didn't do badly at all (the political faults are largely for others), and is clearly a great fan of the club who cares deeply about its future. David Bernstein was instrumental in dragging Man City back from oblivion, and cared so much about the fans in that instance that he kept a photo of a young boy, a City fan, crying as they were relegated to the third tier, just as a reminder of what he owed them.

Frankly, where do you get off defending Randy and comparing him favourably to those two? What the hell has Randy ever done that would allow you to get all superior about Mervyn King? What in Randy's record makes you think he could even look David Bernstein in the eye when it comes to caring about the fans? The man has gutted the club, hobbled it, starved it to death, and now the biggest disaster in nearly three decades has befallen it - largely because of him - and he's got nothing to say. Nothing. Not even some pseudo-Biblical gibberish (what would he say to 'comfort' us this time? That the meek shall inherit the earth?).

Come back and start babbling on about honour and dignity when Randy's actually had the guts to say one word or do one thing to show the fans that he cares. In the meantime, perhaps save your aspersions for lesser men - and I can think of a certain football club owner you could start off with.

Fantastic post.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

So what is it Pelty your opinion or fact?

[pelty]

I must say I find it quite remarkable that it's King and Bernstein who are acting unprofessionally rather than a board member that tells all to his son who uses the information on a public forum.

Indeed Peter. A director of the club has clearly been talking about internal company matters with a family member, and that family member is now making the information public. I don't know if there will be any legal fall out from King and Bernstein's resignations, but this will hardly help the club's position if there is.

Of course Pelty as a poster is free to post what he likes, but I have to say that it is ill-advised, as it's not just his personal opinion being posted. The media is also on the look out for any further dirt to embarrass us with.

Actually, it is all my opinion. I have stated that there is more to it than the press suggests... this is my opinion and my opinion alone. Others might think differently, including the board. I have not had exposure to the full details by any means, but the little I do know simply suggests that there is more to the story... but this is all my opinion and no one else's.

Your say sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

OK, appreciate your opinion.

Clearly, there is no room for conversation here, so I will return to lurker status and will try to say no more. I apologize for saying what I have; my intent was not to enflame, to act the toady, or anything of that nature, but merely to state an opinion that there is more to the story.

As for my *opinion* of King and Bernstein, it could not possibly be lower and I do not give a damn about what they have accomplished. I respect it, but it is in the past and their present actions do not impress me. This, too, is my opinion...

Have a good day all...