New chairman and Lerner ramblings

[not3bad]

5 live reporting that Brian little is joining the board!? Would be a strong first move!

WHAT!!!!!!!!

This would be ace!!

[saunders_heroes]

The last #avfc boss to win a trophy could be set to join the club's board.

So could a former Bank of England chief. https://t.co/HNKf9wb4lx

Any truth in this?

It's unconfirmed as yet.

Positive move if it happens.

[passport1]

Does anyone know of an organisation that has both a chairman and a CEO? How can a CEO be a CEO when he reports to a chairman?

Whatever Hollis' (and Fox's) capabilities are, we have a structure in place that lends itself to conflict and politics and not to good corporate management.

They are completely different positions in most organisations, and for examples of companies having both I give you:

M&S
British Airways
Arsenal
Easyjet

Etc. In fact I'd be surprised if most big companies didn't have both.

It has been a few years since I retired Risso, and it looks like a certain amount of job title engineering has been going on there.

The 'chairman' of M&S, for example is a non executive director. It begs the question therefore of what exactly he is chairing. I can understand a role that acts as a conduit/sanity check between what the CEO is doing and what significant shareholders are comfortable with. In an age where the cost of failure is a good deal more than profits dipping by a few mil it makes sense.

Getting back to my original post and the Villa, a relatively small organisation with a single shareholder, it is hard to see how a structure with an owner, a chairman and a CEO will work. If Hollis has any job to speak of, Fox loses powers that (presumably) he once held. If on the other hand he is a non exec director, Lerner's man on the spot with peripheral executive powers, he isn't going to be doing much.

Lerner has previous with the Browns for setting up management structures that guarantee conflict. It did not work well.

I agree this type of structure for a business the size of a football club with one shareholder  is meaningless.  A plc Chairman is usually in place to moniter and question the CEO on behalf of the shareholders who are widely spread . Ultimately he can act to remove the CEO but is not involved in the day to day running of the business.

As many have said its just another layer of management .Ultimately Lerner still controls the club.

[saunders_heroes]

I don't know if Sir Brian has the necessary experience for a role on the board but I welcome him back to the club with open arms(if it happens ) and I know he will be trying his best to improve things at the club. I've never heard of this Hollis guy but with the shit storm that we've found ourselves in I'm happy to wish him and the rest of the board the very best of luck in sorting the club out. Something had to be done. We couldn't carry on the way we were. It's going to be very interesting times ahead.

Little knows his football though and certainly knows the Villa. He's the footballing link the board needs.

[exigo]

The last #avfc boss to win a trophy could be set to join the club's board.

So could a former Bank of England chief. https://t.co/HNKf9wb4lx

Any truth in this?

Just Nigel Kennedy, David Cameron and Prince William to get in for the full set.

[DB]

Don't forget...Mervin King, Ian Lavender, one of the Weasley twins, Geezer Butler.

[DB]

Don't forget...Mervin King, Ian Lavender, one of the Weasley twins, Geezer Butler.

Oh, next time I will read above properly.

[not3bad]

The last #avfc boss to win a trophy could be set to join the club's board.

So could a former Bank of England chief. https://t.co/HNKf9wb4lx

Any truth in this?

Just Nigel Kennedy, David Cameron and Prince William to get in for the full set.

Don't forget Tom Hanks

[kippaxvilla2]

I don't know if Sir Brian has the necessary experience for a role on the board but I welcome him back to the club with open arms(if it happens ) and I know he will be trying his best to improve things at the club. I've never heard of this Hollis guy but with the shit storm that we've found ourselves in I'm happy to wish him and the rest of the board the very best of luck in sorting the club out. Something had to be done. We couldn't carry on the way we were. It's going to be very interesting times ahead.

Little knows his football though and certainly knows the Villa. He's the footballing link the board needs.

Agree I'm not just saying this because he's ex Villa but if you listen to when he commentates on our games he talks so much sense throughout really does know his stuff still.

[PeterWithesShin]

Brian has been co-commentator on a few games i've listened to the last few months and he does talk a lot of sense. Him joining isn't going to suddenly fix everything but at least it a) gives us as fans a bit of a 'lift' b) someone on the board we can relate to c) some football knowledge on the board at last. And d) I love Brian, he was my first hero so i'll just be delighted he's back home again.

[paul_e]

I don't know if Sir Brian has the necessary experience for a role on the board but I welcome him back to the club with open arms(if it happens ) and I know he will be trying his best to improve things at the club. I've never heard of this Hollis guy but with the shit storm that we've found ourselves in I'm happy to wish him and the rest of the board the very best of luck in sorting the club out. Something had to be done. We couldn't carry on the way we were. It's going to be very interesting times ahead.

Little knows his football though and certainly knows the Villa. He's the footballing link the board needs.

Agree I'm not just saying this because he's ex Villa but if you listen to when he commentates on our games he talks so much sense throughout really does know his stuff still.

Hasn't he been working in a DoF role for Jersey for a few years, that's similar enough to be considered reasonable experience.  I'm much more interested in this than SGT or Big Ron who would both be very poor appointments now (Taylor would've been very good 10 years ago in that role, Ron would be awful PR no matter how much we liked him), I think that, if nothing else, all of the negatives about Hollis couldn't be repeated for Little so it would get the fans back onside and earn the club the time they need to rebuild and get rid of the toxic atmosphere that's settled in the last few years.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

This was always going to be the statement, they pretty much told us that last month so I don't understand why anyone is surprised/shocked/angry but if this thread is remotely indicative of the general fans then the guy is fucked before he starts, far too many people willing to throw him under a bus without seeing anything more than a very normal introduction statement.

Last summer Lerner promised to appoint a chairman if the sale didn't happen and this is him fulfilling that, it doesn't mean cost cutting or planning for the championship or anything of the sort, it simply means that he's sticking to his word.  I get that people are pissed with him over his poor management of the club but this should be a step towards improving that and yet he's getting shit over it and being told to drop the value of the club.  He even outright admits to having made a mess of things (read the 2nd paragraph of the story on the original link - "not been on stable footing for at least five years", "getting into the thick of troubled organisations, working with embattled executives", "deeply serious predicament in which the Club has found itself" - none of that suggests he's oblivious of the problems or doesn't see that the senior management structure has been at the heart of the problem) but it's clearly easier for many to call him thick and slag him off a bit more than accept that this is him trying to address his mistakes.

The money thing, he's absolutely right, spending huge sums with nothing to show for it can only work for 2-3 clubs in the country and all of those have a massive advantage over the rest of us from huge commercial operations underpinned by champions league money.  All the others that try to do the same end up in the shit, we're right art the end of that process and still people don't understand.  Spending money wisely will still happen, nothing suggests that isn't the case, they just won't throw money around stupidly, and allow huge amounts of waste, we should never be in a situation like we were a couple of years ago where we had a squad worth a fraction of what it cost. Losing those huge sums of money is not something supporters should be hoping for, as I said in the summer I find it bizarre that net spends of £20-30m every season are seen as some sort of requirement by so many fans no other league/sport operates to such utterly destructive intentions.

A rare chink of light in a whole mountain of shite I've seen written about this today.

Hear hear!

[olaftab]

Stop praising him. At this rate  he is going to write even longer emails!

But it's good😊

[Steve67]

Brian has been co-commentator on a few games i've listened to the last few months and he does talk a lot of sense. Him joining isn't going to suddenly fix everything but at least it a) gives us as fans a bit of a 'lift' b) someone on the board we can relate to c) some football knowledge on the board at last. And d) I love Brian, he was my first hero so i'll just be delighted he's back home again.

Perhaps ask Sir Brian to concentrate on fan liaison? Good PR stunt to get the fans to like the Board a bit more. I suggest signing a few players this window might help a bit too. I hope this isn't yet another scrap Randy decision in appointing Hollis.

[olaftab]

To have a man who genuinely loves Aston Villa join the board would be brilliant. And he walks on water. I hope this is true.

And for me it's like getting a bit of our club back because Brian is there.