Randy Lerner

[auntiesledd]

Totally pointless statement.  Why not get over here and try taking ownership of this shambles? That's better than feeling sorry  for yourself

I'd rather he stuck to his last promise of delegating authority to the board and letting them get on with what they specialise in, rather than stick his oar in and force experienced operators out.

Indeed, but the hopeless piper can't stop himself calling the sodding tune.

[DB]

You know when you complain to someone about something and they turn the conversation on it's head so you end up listening to their complaints?

Yes. It's like you're p*ssed off with you wife at something then she gets angry at you for being angry at her...

[mattjpa]

Not wanting to sound callous or insensitive but why do people keep bringing up the redundancies? Unfortunately, if you are going to choose to work in a volatile industry like football, where a rubber bladder covered in leather hitting a post can mean the difference between 100 odd million pounds then they have to take the rough with the smooth. The redundancies are systematic of the relegation, i dont think he is directly responsible nor should he apologise although i suppose acknowledgement of them wouldnt have gone amiss....

[kippaxvilla2]

I think it's happening finally.

The only thing missing from that statement worded the way it is is 'be not afear'd, be not afear'd.'

[Richard E]

The sub-editor of the web site obviously went in the redundancies.

That reads terribly.

Signed off "R.Lerner"!

[Clampy]

Like Mattjpa, I've read it a couple of times and to me it reads like a mixture of 'goodbye, an apology and i'll put it right'. I'm swaying towards goodbye.

[Ads]

Its the focus on the what was and what might have been that leads me to think a final goodbye.

[ozzjim]

Not wanting to sound callous or insensitive but why do people keep bringing up the redundancies? Unfortunately, if you are going to choose to work in a volatile industry like football, where a rubber bladder covered in leather hitting a post can mean the difference between 100 odd million pounds then they have to take the rough with the smooth. The redundancies are systematic of the relegation, i dont think he is directly responsible nor should he apologise although i suppose acknowledgement of them wouldnt have gone amiss....

I also think that there would have been some kind of re-structuring whichever division we had been in. The club has been making huge losses for a while now, and realistically there was a need for a full scale review. I accept there may be more going due to relegation, but this happens in any business that cannot sustain the losses we have made.

As for the statement, reading anything into it is impossible. It is complete drivel from a very strange man.

[dave shelley]

There seems to be too much in the media regarding various interest in purchasing the Villa not to have some substance.

The Acorns project is one of the finest examples of giving something to the community I have ever seen/known from a football club.

[TonyD]

Scary shit.   Ramblings of a madman.

[Bottom Right 89]

Like Mattjpa, I've read it a couple of times and to me it reads like a mixture of 'goodbye, an apology and i'll put it right'. I'm swaying towards goodbye.

Definitely sounds like goodbye from him. Whatever you think of Randy he came here with the best intentions but the goodwill he created in the early days has long been forgotten. The best thing he can do for us now is to drop his price and sell to another investor preferably that will be a hands on owner and not an absent landlord.

[Comrade Blitz]

Can someone photoshop Gabby and Lescott on either side of Dupont/Lerner in this - oh and add Villa colours?

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Lerner did the same (accepted responsibility for his balls-up) at Cleveland Browns in Jan 2012 before selling up to Haslam
http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-hunter/2012/01/rumblings-xtra-12012.html?year=2016&month=1
(4th item down)
The only problem is it took him a further 7 months before he finally sold in Aug 2012!!! We can't afford for him to take that long too sell. He needs to go now and take his pathetic excuse of a "note" with him

[stuart r]

If he was closing a multi million pound sale I don't think he'd be piping up with that type of statement. I could be wrong but I think he'll be doing his "best to position Villa for the quickest possible return to its rightful place among England's elite" next season. Can't wait. A nagging sense of inevitability has set in.

[john e]

I've read the statement through as if it was a farewell, I have also read it through as if he has no buyer but still intends to find one eventually

it works both ways, its anyones guess