MO'N on Goals on Sunday

[LeeB]

What are you going on about? Maybe you're not Very bright so I'll dumb it down for you. Randy Lerner was at Remi Gardes first match

Is this some kind of Star Wars shit?

O'Neill is a Sith, I get that, but is Garde Luke Skywalker, a new hope?

And does this leave Joe Cole as R2D2?

[Bad English]

No. R2G2 says we are all offside, inbreds or in the corner.

[peter w]

Pretty boy Jack must be Leia.

[Bad English]

"I am disturbed by your lack of points"

[Dave]

"I am disturbed by your lack of points"

"I find your lack of points disturbing"

[Bad English]

That'll learn me not to OK Google it!

[joe_c]

Gabby the Hutt

[Villa in Denmark]

Gabby the Hutt

Very good.

These are not the goals that you're looking for.

I've got a bad feeling about this.

[Rigadon]

What did for Lerner and MON was man city.  Their wealth effectively ended our hopes of getting in the champions league.  Lerner knew it and pulled the plug on spending to get in it, and refocused the spending on staying in the premier league.  The shit managerial appointments since then have had an impact but in truth are a result of the limitations around budgets.

I don't buy the Man City excuse sorry. If anything, it should make the top 4 slightly easier to achieve, because every year there's going to a big team like Liverpool missing out. What did for Lerner was idiocy at every key step. When you look at his tenure as a whole it's been an unmitigated disaster leading to where we are now.

It's not an excuse for what's been a litany of fuck ups since 2011. But Citeh getting rich beyond little old Randy's wildest dreams meant one less place up there in the clouds.  I think that was the biggest factor in Lerner backing off.

[rob_bridge]

Thanks for that cheltenham.

A Plausible Supposition.

[Bad English]

"Don't get technical with me! What position?"

[tomd2103]

Thanks Cheltenham very enlightening. For me it damns Lerner more for not pulling the trigger when he knew it was all over with MON. Why try and manage out a man like him, who, whether you love or hate him, has a clear gift for wily self preservation. Why not just sack him, which in this scenario would be more straightforward and dignified and with less risk of long term fallout?

I mean, if MON was being asked to justify purely football related decisions (why mcgeady not player X) by Faulkner and they knew he wouldn't tolerate it, then they were in a ridiculous situation. He shouldn't have still been in the position he was. Can you then blame MON if he reacts exactly the way they expect? And if they are trying to push him out why should he resign at a convenient time for them?

On the last point, sorry but that does grind my gears. Am I to be sympathetic with a billionaire who abandons us to nosedive into the championship because he has his ego bruised by his one time ally? Sorry but grow a set, randy.

I agree that it shows Lerner and Faulkner up as pretty poor and weak leaders.  They let the scenario drag out all summer and then were eventually taken to the cleaners paying O'Neill a fortune.  Saying that, thinking back to 2011, it would have been a big call at the time to sack O'Neill and wouldn't have gone down well in many quarters.

[CorkVilla]

No matter how much time and money O'Neill was given I don't think he ever would have made us a top 4 club. The teams style of play was turgid at the best of times and woefully outdated. He bought Emile Heskey; really can't say any more than that.

[OzVilla]

Thanks Cheltenham very enlightening. For me it damns Lerner more for not pulling the trigger when he knew it was all over with MON. Why try and manage out a man like him, who, whether you love or hate him, has a clear gift for wily self preservation. Why not just sack him, which in this scenario would be more straightforward and dignified and with less risk of long term fallout?

I mean, if MON was being asked to justify purely football related decisions (why mcgeady not player X) by Faulkner and they knew he wouldn't tolerate it, then they were in a ridiculous situation. He shouldn't have still been in the position he was. Can you then blame MON if he reacts exactly the way they expect? And if they are trying to push him out why should he resign at a convenient time for them?

On the last point, sorry but that does grind my gears. Am I to be sympathetic with a billionaire who abandons us to nosedive into the championship because he has his ego bruised by his one time ally? Sorry but grow a set, randy.

I agree that it shows Lerner and Faulkner up as pretty poor and weak leaders.  They let the scenario drag out all summer and then were eventually taken to the cleaners paying O'Neill a fortune.  Saying that, thinking back to 2011, it would have been a big call at the time to sack O'Neill and wouldn't have gone down well in many quarters.

It would have been a big call but it all depended on who the replacement was.  Memories are short when the football and results improve. Southampton getting rid of Nigel Adkins was a big call at the time but then they got Mauricio Pochettino in and they never looked back.  If you like, MON was our upmarket Nigel Adkins, we just stuffed up the next bit........................................................ continually.

[cdward]

The thing i remember a lot about MONs time, is that we were always successful signing players.
Historically we would be linked with players but they never materialised (Carlton Palmer, Benni McCarthy etc'), under MON they always came. I can't remember us missing out on anybody at that time.
Obviously it was the massive wages we were paying them, highlighted by the example of Luke Young turning down Liverpool.
It was the same scenario that Leeds found themselves in, paying over the odds for mediocre squad fillers.
Trouble was the massive wages bill vs turnover was not sustainable unless you had Champions League income, we tried to break into the top 4, and only reached 6th, and the plug had to be pulled.
The rub really came when Man Citeh waded in to take up one of the champions league places with ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, it was obvious Randy would not be able to compete financially with these clubs turnovers, and decided to cut his cloth accordingly. This didn't fit in with the plan that MON had been sold so he walked.

I am just grateful that now relegation is a reality, we shouldn't be crippled by the big wages, and we will not become the new Leeds.