New chairman and Lerner ramblings

[dave.woodhall]

Eric Woodward was appointed commercial manager in 1968, retired about ten years later and died, I believe, around 1998.

[kippaxvilla2]

I've heard of Eric Houghton.

[Villafirst]

Once again our blinkered board ignore appointing someone with football knowledge to the board. Still they know best. Why do they continue to ignore advice and carry on in their own pig-headed way?

[PeterWithe]

Once again our blinkered board ignore appointing someone with football knowledge to the board. Still they know best. Why do they continue to ignore advice and carry on in their own pig-headed way?

I don't know much about these things but as we only appointed a chair of the board a day ago, won't it be him taking the decision on what football man, if any, is best suited to work with the rest of the board? That won't happen in a day.

[Ads]

Once again our blinkered board ignore appointing someone with football knowledge to the board. Still they know best. Why do they continue to ignore advice and carry on in their own pig-headed way?

Is it necessary to have a football man on the board? Spurs' board is full of bankers and accountants (sorry Chicago Lion).

Their executive with responsibility for football operations has a degree in PE and became an accountant with the NHS. They don't seem to be missing out on not having Hodole or Villa on the board. They also have a detached owner too and a CEO with two jobs.

Spurs seem well run and do ok outside of the monied elite. They don't spend a great deal net in transfers either.

I like the idea of Sir Brian joining, just because he's ace. But does he have anything useful to add? I'd hope so, but I am not sure this clamour for a "football or Villa man" really means anything, as I am not too sure those shouting for it have a unified definition of what their role or contribution would be.

[cdward]

Eric Woolban Woolban?

[Jimbo]

I remember Eric Woodward. A devout Christian. Went on holiday to a remote Scottish island and was never heard of again.

[oldtimernow]

Eric Woodward was appointed commercial manager in 1968, retired about ten years later and died, I believe, around 1998.

the youngsters on here are so impatient at times....us old'uns have seen it all before and are all therefore a bit more inured to it...it's part of the Villa DNA i think just when you think good times are round the corner then reality bites.

My Dad had to wait nearly 60 years before he tasted real success, at least i only had to wait 30 years or so

[bertlambshank]

I remember Eric Woodward. A devout Christian. Went on holiday to a remote Scottish island and was never heard of again.

Flaming hell!

[LeeB]

I remember Eric Woodward. A devout Christian. Went on holiday to a remote Scottish island and was never heard of again.

We could do with him, there's been many times we've been unable to find The Equaliser.

[chrisw1]

2. It's a bit rich of Lerner to talk about failure in the last five years when watching it happen and leaving it the point of absolutely no return and fans getting into public confrontations with players before doing anything about it.

Not true, this has been arranged for at least 6 weeks, the original statement makes that clear, the timing is a coincidence and nothing more.

I really hope this guy succeeds but there is a lot of corporate speak about 'phases, shake ups, troubled organisations etc and precious little about how we are actually going to improve our lot on the pitch and given Randys appalling record regarding appointments I'm still nervous about what will happen next.

What would you expect a guy who outright states he's not a football man to say in this regard?

The fact that Lerner is stepping back further (is this possible) is a good thing

It's not so much stepping back, it's more replacing the need to hunt him down to ask about finances with walking down the corridor to speak to Hollis instead, that's my view, Hollis will have an overall budget and he'll have total control from there.  I suspect the only involvement from Lerner now will be regarding a buyout and an annual review, which is fine, we need to remove the complexity that is him having to be involved and not wanting to be.

I agree that a football man on the board would be a good idea and I like the idea of Brian Little being the choice for that, hopefully something will come of that pretty quickly.

On the first point au contraire - I am of the firm belief that Saturdays shenanigans expedited the announcement and that is what I was referring to.  I reckon he would have been looking at things for time immemorial if things hadn't come to a head - and this was further enhanced by poor Remi's second almost plea for a statement, two weeks after asking for one in the first place.

With regard to your second point, there is a big PR play to be had at the very least.  We the fans have been watching absolute shit, dross, lack of ambition, lack of application on the football pitch for 5 years.  All we wanted to hear was something about getting the team back to the upper echelons of British football you know that sort of ambitious type thinking that you want to hear as a football fan - granted we know all what he says in public has to go on in the background to run as a proper business.  But at least try and give us something to get excited about in an opening statement?

As regards the 3rd point, if you seriously think he hasn't already stepped back in the last five years then I have no idea how to answer this point.

I just don't see that we had fox already say at the trust meeting that there'd be news about the chairman soon, it's all opinions but I just don't think they'd have done it like this, especially when the FA cup stuff was largely addressed on the pitch on Tuesday anyway.  I just think that coming into the club in that role you'd want a good run where nothing is said so you can get a feel for things with no pressure, 6 weeks seems reasonable for that.  I do agree that the request from Remi for something to be said seems relevant but I'm sure he'd met Hollis and knew what the plans were all along so I'll judge that as more a way to get the fans off him and players for a few days.

I see what you're saying about the PR stuff but I just don't think you can do that when you're talking about a sport where everyone wants a statement about everything and then as soon as they get one says "don't tell me show me"  I've always found the demands for a statement odd because it's invariably just that we're not playing well and fans are angry, but no amount of statements can resolve that anger as well as a few wins can so it's a completely pointless process.  Can you imagine the reaction if he'd said "we know things are shit but I plan to be top 6 within 5 years", after the initial piss taking about not knowing anything about us that would be a statement that got referred back too for the rest of his time here and used a stick to beat him with whenever the opportunity arose.  Look at the examples: "we know what we're doing", "false narrative", "proud history, bright future" all of these get rolled out regularly to take the piss, any message such as you describe would just be another on that list.

3rd point, crossed wires, that's exactly what I'm saying, he's clearly already stepped back but he did it without bringing in someone to fill the gap, after 5 years he's eventually rectified that, this is why I'm genuinely perplexed that so many people want to have a pop at the guy before he's even got his name on the door.  If he can't find a buyer then this is the next best thing because it means we'll have some hands on management at the very top.  I know very little about Hollis, I know the companies he's worked for and I know he has a good reputation (based on a bit of googling) but that's it so I have no idea if he can fix our problems but I do know that at least now there's a chance they'll get fixed.

This is a very good post.

[loughborough villain]

I have just read the statement from the new chairman.

Basically it appears to me that a man who has vast experience in working within troubled companies was offered the chance to join Aston Villa, looked at it and turned it down because he didn't feel he was right for the job only to be persuaded by the man responsible for the problems (and with an atrocious record on staff recruitment) to convince him that he is the right man for the job!

Got to give him chance I suppose but not the greatest rallying cry is it?

[kippaxvilla2]

2. It's a bit rich of Lerner to talk about failure in the last five years when watching it happen and leaving it the point of absolutely no return and fans getting into public confrontations with players before doing anything about it.

Not true, this has been arranged for at least 6 weeks, the original statement makes that clear, the timing is a coincidence and nothing more.

I really hope this guy succeeds but there is a lot of corporate speak about 'phases, shake ups, troubled organisations etc and precious little about how we are actually going to improve our lot on the pitch and given Randys appalling record regarding appointments I'm still nervous about what will happen next.

What would you expect a guy who outright states he's not a football man to say in this regard?

The fact that Lerner is stepping back further (is this possible) is a good thing

It's not so much stepping back, it's more replacing the need to hunt him down to ask about finances with walking down the corridor to speak to Hollis instead, that's my view, Hollis will have an overall budget and he'll have total control from there.  I suspect the only involvement from Lerner now will be regarding a buyout and an annual review, which is fine, we need to remove the complexity that is him having to be involved and not wanting to be.

I agree that a football man on the board would be a good idea and I like the idea of Brian Little being the choice for that, hopefully something will come of that pretty quickly.

On the first point au contraire - I am of the firm belief that Saturdays shenanigans expedited the announcement and that is what I was referring to.  I reckon he would have been looking at things for time immemorial if things hadn't come to a head - and this was further enhanced by poor Remi's second almost plea for a statement, two weeks after asking for one in the first place.

With regard to your second point, there is a big PR play to be had at the very least.  We the fans have been watching absolute shit, dross, lack of ambition, lack of application on the football pitch for 5 years.  All we wanted to hear was something about getting the team back to the upper echelons of British football you know that sort of ambitious type thinking that you want to hear as a football fan - granted we know all what he says in public has to go on in the background to run as a proper business.  But at least try and give us something to get excited about in an opening statement?

As regards the 3rd point, if you seriously think he hasn't already stepped back in the last five years then I have no idea how to answer this point.

I just don't see that we had fox already say at the trust meeting that there'd be news about the chairman soon, it's all opinions but I just don't think they'd have done it like this, especially when the FA cup stuff was largely addressed on the pitch on Tuesday anyway.  I just think that coming into the club in that role you'd want a good run where nothing is said so you can get a feel for things with no pressure, 6 weeks seems reasonable for that.  I do agree that the request from Remi for something to be said seems relevant but I'm sure he'd met Hollis and knew what the plans were all along so I'll judge that as more a way to get the fans off him and players for a few days.

I see what you're saying about the PR stuff but I just don't think you can do that when you're talking about a sport where everyone wants a statement about everything and then as soon as they get one says "don't tell me show me"  I've always found the demands for a statement odd because it's invariably just that we're not playing well and fans are angry, but no amount of statements can resolve that anger as well as a few wins can so it's a completely pointless process.  Can you imagine the reaction if he'd said "we know things are shit but I plan to be top 6 within 5 years", after the initial piss taking about not knowing anything about us that would be a statement that got referred back too for the rest of his time here and used a stick to beat him with whenever the opportunity arose.  Look at the examples: "we know what we're doing", "false narrative", "proud history, bright future" all of these get rolled out regularly to take the piss, any message such as you describe would just be another on that list.

3rd point, crossed wires, that's exactly what I'm saying, he's clearly already stepped back but he did it without bringing in someone to fill the gap, after 5 years he's eventually rectified that, this is why I'm genuinely perplexed that so many people want to have a pop at the guy before he's even got his name on the door.  If he can't find a buyer then this is the next best thing because it means we'll have some hands on management at the very top.  I know very little about Hollis, I know the companies he's worked for and I know he has a good reputation (based on a bit of googling) but that's it so I have no idea if he can fix our problems but I do know that at least now there's a chance they'll get fixed.

This is a very good post.

It's a contender for longest unintended quotathon.

[Gregorys Boy]

His management experience is at a UNI.  Does he know much about football?  Well he's a Man City fan so I guess the answer is?....

I can't get overally excited about this.  Will need new investment really, but since I don't know much about him will reserve comment.

[Witton Warrior]

I have just read the statement from the new chairman.

Basically it appears to me that a man who has vast experience in working within troubled companies was offered the chance to join Aston Villa, looked at it and turned it down because he didn't feel he was right for the job only to be persuaded by the man responsible for the problems (and with an atrocious record on staff recruitment) to convince him that he is the right man for the job!

Got to give him chance I suppose but not the greatest rallying cry is it?

I've just read the e-mail statement (how did he know my name!?!) and it basically says "your heritage will butter no parsnips and we need to change" - while true it is a bit bleeding obvious