Tom Fox's meeting with Supporters

[Clampy]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Our 3 main weapons are Mods, Clampy, TV and a fanatical devotion to .........

You seem to have a bit of a problem with people not saying what you want them to.

[kippaxvilla2]

Do what the Bolton bloke is doing, writing off £172m or whatever it is....just sayin' like.  According to the last accounts the net debt after he kindly wrote off £90m, or rather converted it to equity was £102m I think - he could settle for that.  Not saying he should of course, Lord knows what I would do in his situation.

[dave.woodhall]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Our 3 main weapons are Mods, Clampy, TV and a fanatical devotion to .........

Don't start complaining because a couple of posters who happen to be moderators don't agree with you.

[tomd2103]

I think we should have protested more against Lerner, and should do more in the future. He is 'trying' to sell, or has been, but not hard enough. He thought he could sit pretty with us as a PL club until the right buyer for him came along (i.e. met his asking price), when in reality we'd have been better off if he'd sold it for a bit less. There isn't loads we can do but at the very least we need to make our feelings clear, anti-Lerner chants, banners (only one I've seen was the 'too little, too late' at Newcastle away last season).

And what good would it do? Is he suddenly going to think, "Hmmm, someone's scrawled Lerner Out on a sheet and they're saying rude words about me. I'll knock fifty million off the price"?

It's not as black and white as that, but we should be ramping up the pressure, it's all very meek at Villa currently. Everton fans do marches almost annually against Bill Kenwright to try and ramp up the pressure on him to sell, and this is whilst they consistently finish top 8. I think people are too worried about what the media will say if we protest, but it's our club and we are going out of the top flight for the first time in 30 years with a whimper.

I'll say it again. Do what, and to what end? He wants to sell, there are no buyers. Nothing is going to change the situation until someone turns up with ¿150 million +.

Marches, protests, whatever we can to make our feelings clear against him. He doesn't exactly enjoy being in the limelight. There has been interest, HH was involved in a failed takeover in the summer for one. He wants to sell for his price, whereas for the good of the club we need him out sooner rather than later. He's looking after himself, and trying to actually show some business acumen for once in his life.

I don't think now is the time for that.  Now is the time for the fan base to rally behind the team vet the next few games. 

[go on the dog]

I think we should have protested more against Lerner, and should do more in the future. He is 'trying' to sell, or has been, but not hard enough. He thought he could sit pretty with us as a PL club until the right buyer for him came along (i.e. met his asking price), when in reality we'd have been better off if he'd sold it for a bit less. There isn't loads we can do but at the very least we need to make our feelings clear, anti-Lerner chants, banners (only one I've seen was the 'too little, too late' at Newcastle away last season).

And what good would it do? Is he suddenly going to think, "Hmmm, someone's scrawled Lerner Out on a sheet and they're saying rude words about me. I'll knock fifty million off the price"?

It's not as black and white as that, but we should be ramping up the pressure, it's all very meek at Villa currently. Everton fans do marches almost annually against Bill Kenwright to try and ramp up the pressure on him to sell, and this is whilst they consistently finish top 8. I think people are too worried about what the media will say if we protest, but it's our club and we are going out of the top flight for the first time in 30 years with a whimper.

I'll say it again. Do what, and to what end? He wants to sell, there are no buyers. Nothing is going to change the situation until someone turns up with ¿150 million +.

Marches, protests, whatever we can to make our feelings clear against him. He doesn't exactly enjoy being in the limelight. There has been interest, HH was involved in a failed takeover in the summer for one. He wants to sell for his price, whereas for the good of the club we need him out sooner rather than later. He's looking after himself, and trying to actually show some business acumen for once in his life.

I don't think now is the time for that.  Now is the time for the fan base to rally behind the team vet the next few games.

Nah lets all turn into Geordies and fight each other and blame everyone else pal 

[villadelph]

How visible is Sheik Mansoor or Joe Lewis?

Can you see them from the ISS?

I don't suppose it matters how visible they are (I had to Google Lewis) as long as they're doing well.

If their on-pitch luck changed then it might become an issue.

If he turned up to every defeat would people suddenly be happy? Of course not.

It doesn't matter where in the world he is as long as he has employed competent people to make sure we're run properly.

Which is the problem, not whether he chooses to live in Sutton Coldfield or New York.

Honestly, it would make me happier if he showed up every now and then.

[ChicagoLion]

I don't think it matters where he lives or how often he turns up. The Man Citeh owner is not ther all the time, his people are though.
The difference is that good owners set a standards which everybody working for them is aware of.
This owner has rewarded and tolerated incompetance and failure and it permeates the club.

[aj2k77]

I guarantee that if Lerner had watched any meaningful amount of Aston Villa matches out of the last few hundred we wouldn't of heard stupid comments that he is re-invigorated and enjoying us again. He also wouldn't have stuck with dead man walking Lambert for so long, waiting for a minor miracle and him to grow a brain. Actually being in touch with us would help in more than a few ways.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't think it matters where he lives or how often he turns up. The Man Citeh owner is not ther all the time, his people are though.
The difference is that good owners set a standards which everybody working for them is aware of.
This owner has rewarded and tolerated incompetance and failure and it permeates the club.

It isn't so much that he has rewarded incompetence, there has never been any real level of competence in the club since he took over.

It was great when he was throwing money at us, yes, but even that we now know was done daftly.

By the time he'd learned to stand up to O'Neill, it was too late, we were massively in the shit and have now spent five years paying for it (although it's not only that money thing which has caused this, there have been other chunks of incompetence, too).

He's a nice bloke and he had a go for a few years, but even an impartial observer would look at the quarter of a billion he blew on us and wonder what level of incompetence it would take to manage to do that and end up in the horrible state we've been in for five years now.

The evidence is damning.

All this 'force him out' stuff is beyond parody, though. You can not force someone to sell something if nobody wants to buy it. It's really that simple.

[goldenjimi]

Something that I find really strange/annoying is why do Fox & Garde have to go over to America to meet Randy when we are so close to a crucial game,why couldnt he make the effort to meet them at the training ground. Garde should be spending as much time as possible with the players. I personally dont give a shit if Randy is at the game or not,but helping the manager out abit wouldnt do any harm.

[Ger Regan]

Not to mention that it needs the right buyer to ensure it's not a frying pan -> fire situation. And yes, it really could get worse.

[Pat McMahon]

Something that I find really strange/annoying is why do Fox & Garde have to go over to America to meet Randy when we are so close to a crucial game,why couldnt he make the effort to meet them at the training ground. Garde should be spending as much time as possible with the players. I personally dont give a shit if Randy is at the game or not,but helping the manager out abit wouldnt do any harm.

I completely agree. What does he do with the rest of his life that makes him so busy he can't come over once every pink moon to see the people running his investment - and get a feel for it.

[Pat McMahon]

Basically Lerner bought a house in 2006 for £65k, has spent £200k on renovation and interior design then placed it on the market in 2014. No buyers at £150k, never mind £250k, so he either lowers his asking price again, taking a big hit, or he takes a punt on further building maintenance just to hold its current loss-making value of £150k.

It currently feels like a bare minimum of maintenance meaning the house continues to dwindle in value whilst vandals break the windows and trash the garden. Meanwhile, planning permission for a slaughterhouse to be built opposite the house will probably be granted in May.

Whichever decision he makes, it doesn't look good.

That's Tipton for you....

Good point Chico - we should take a leaf from the Brooklyn Dodgers and up sticks

[ChicagoLion]

I don't think it matters where he lives or how often he turns up. The Man Citeh owner is not ther all the time, his people are though.
The difference is that good owners set a standards which everybody working for them is aware of.
This owner has rewarded and tolerated incompetance and failure and it permeates the club.

It isn't so much that he has rewarded incompetence, there has never been any real level of competence in the club since he took over.

It was great when he was throwing money at us, yes, but even that we now know was done daftly.

By the time he'd learned to stand up to O'Neill, it was too late, we were massively in the shit and have now spent five years paying for it (although it's not only that money thing which has caused this, there have been other chunks of incompetence, too).

He's a nice bloke and he had a go for a few years, but even an impartial observer would look at the quarter of a billion he blew on us and wonder what level of incompetence it would take to manage to do that and end up in the horrible state we've been in for five years now.

The evidence is damning.

All this 'force him out' stuff is beyond parody, though. You can not force someone to sell something if nobody wants to buy it. It's really that simple.

my comment about rewarding incompetance was giving Lambert a new contract, hanging onto the last CEO I agree with your comments entirely.

[villadelph]

when's the last time he was at a home match?