Steve Hollis insisted he would never be Randy Lerner’s “poodle” as the Aston Villa chairman spoke of his determination to oversee the sweeping changes that he believes are essential to give the Midlands club the best possible chance of bouncing back next season.Speaking the morning after Tom Fox tendered his resignation as chief executive officer and at the end of a week when Hendrik Almstadt departed as sporting director, Hollis sounded optimistic about Villa’s future on and off the field. It was notable, however, that he would not give any guarantees that Rémi Garde would remain as manager beyond the end of a season that will almost certainly end in relegation.Hollis explained that David Bernstein and Mervyn King, who are part of a new‑look Villa board, were looking closely at the football side of the club, with Brian Little also acting as an adviser, and that any judgment on Garde would need to wait until their extensive review was complete.“Rémi Garde, when you look at his CV, is one of the top managers in Europe. He has joined an organisation that needs fixing and it is one of the toughest jobs in the Premier League,” Hollis said. “But David, Mervyn and co are working closely with Rémi and the team. Let’s see where David and the team get to. I don’t want to fall into the trap of ‘this is what I think’. It’s a board who are doing this review and it’s the board that will make the decisions and communicate when it’s ready.”Hollis, a former deputy chairman of Birmingham Metropolitan College, was appointed at Villa Park in January, when Lerner announced that he would become more detached from the club. The two men first met in the United States, where Hollis made it clear that he would accept the offer to replace Lerner as chairman only if he was given the power that goes with the position.“I was very clear when I took the chair: ‘If you want some poodle who’s just going to be your mouthpiece, you’ve got the wrong bloke, because I’m not doing that. You’re a board member, Randy, and I’ll respect you as a shareholder but that’s the relationship we have.’ It’s brave. It’s part of his family assets and he’s handed over the stewardship of that asset to a new board team.”As part of his drive to turn things around at Villa, Hollis revealed that he had visited a number of clubs to establish “key ingredients” for success. “No1 is stability and clarity around what the strategy is.”Although Hollis warned that there could be cuts further down the road – “If you want to fix something you have to take a bit of pain along the way” – he insisted that the financial picture was not a concern and went as far as to say that Villa “will have one of the strongest balance sheets in the Championship” in the event of relegation. “We have a business model which works through for the next two or three years,” Hollis said.The atmosphere at Villa Park in recent weeks has been close to mutinous, with much of the supporters’ anger directed at Fox and Lerner, whose reign as owner has spectacularly unravelled. After three successive top-six finishes under Martin O’Neill, Villa have spent the past six seasons season fighting relegation and are currently rock bottom, nine points adrift of safety.“The one thing I do see is there’s a pent up frustration from supporters which is understandable and what they want is a quick fix,” Hollis said. “I keep saying never waste a good crisis. Use this as an opportunity to call the bottom and then put in place things to do which will see better times to come.”Asked whether this is “the bottom” and as bad as it gets for Villa, Hollis replied: “I’d like to think so. I’m a businessman not a football man. If you remember in the financial crisis every one was trying to predict the bottom. It takes a brave man to predict the bottom in any swing or cycle. I’m not going to fall into that trap. Hopefully it is at the bottom. We just need to work hard at it.”
So our new chairmans latest outburst is that Villa must build football gravitas......for those that don't know what gravitas means, Oxford dictionary states that it means DIGNITY.Well Mr Chairman, if you want to build dignity at Aston Villa, get the "players" who have got us in the crap we're in, to have the dignity to quit their contracts, with immediate effect.I mentioned "players", meaning those on the pitch as well as off it.
Although Hollis warned that there could be cuts further down the road – “If you want to fix something you have to take a bit of pain along the way” – he insisted that the financial picture was not a concern and went as far as to say that Villa “will have one of the strongest balance sheets in the Championship” in the event of relegation. “We have a business model which works through for the next two or three years,” Hollis said.“The one thing I do see is there’s a pent up frustration from supporters which is understandable and what they want is a quick fix,” Hollis said. “I keep saying never waste a good crisis. Use this as an opportunity to call the bottom and then put in place things to do which will see better times to come.”
Quote from: eddiemunster on March 19, 2016, 08:29:12 AMSo our new chairmans latest outburst is that Villa must build football gravitas......for those that don't know what gravitas means, Oxford dictionary states that it means DIGNITY.Well Mr Chairman, if you want to build dignity at Aston Villa, get the "players" who have got us in the crap we're in, to have the dignity to quit their contracts, with immediate effect.I mentioned "players", meaning those on the pitch as well as off it.How exactly does he do that?
Quote from: PaulWinch again on March 19, 2016, 08:30:32 AMQuote from: eddiemunster on March 19, 2016, 08:29:12 AMSo our new chairmans latest outburst is that Villa must build football gravitas......for those that don't know what gravitas means, Oxford dictionary states that it means DIGNITY.Well Mr Chairman, if you want to build dignity at Aston Villa, get the "players" who have got us in the crap we're in, to have the dignity to quit their contracts, with immediate effect.I mentioned "players", meaning those on the pitch as well as off it.How exactly does he do that?At gun point? During the plane journey to an off the books CIA approved torture centre, perhaps? Merv might be able to furnish us with a few contacts for that last one. Or failing that, what the 'players' really need is some good old fashioned mob retribution, not this new fangled poncey social media stuff. IMO Emoji's are no substitute for the threat of actual physical violence. And if that's not possible due to various legal reasons, a rousing rendition of "You're going to get your fucking head kicked in" as we warm up would be as good a place as any to start.
I just heard him trot out the 'custodian' line. He's on message then.Dear god.
Southgate spent four years trying to leave the club, on and off. So it's a no for me. A bit of self respect has to kick in somewhere along the line.
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Topic: New chairman and Lerner ramblings (Read 92454 times)
