Mervyn King joins the Board

[aj2k77]

It was mentioned 2 months ago that a new Chairman and board member were on the brink of being announced, so I doubt it.

A lot of things are mentioned. It doesn't mean they're true.

But it was because here he is.

And two months ago he wasn't.

Two months ago Fox said we were about to announce a new Chairman and a new board member. If it took them two months to convince someone just to join the board then no wonder we couldn't convince any players to join us. The timing, as per usual, is poor and lacks judgement.

Maybe, just maybe, something happened to delay the appointment but whatever the reason I still fail to see how appointing a non-executive director to the board of any company can be good, bad or indifferent timing.

Maybe. There's always an unknown excuse to explain away our errors.

[paul_e]

It was mentioned 2 months ago that a new Chairman and board member were on the brink of being announced, so I doubt it.

A lot of things are mentioned. It doesn't mean they're true.

But it was because here he is.

And two months ago he wasn't.

Two months ago Fox said we were about to announce a new Chairman and a new board member. If it took them two months to convince someone just to join the board then no wonder we couldn't convince any players to join us. The timing, as per usual, is poor and lacks judgement.

Maybe, just maybe, something happened to delay the appointment but whatever the reason I still fail to see how appointing a non-executive director to the board of any company can be good, bad or indifferent timing.

Maybe. There's always an unknown excuse to explain away our errors.

And there's always some elaborate conspiracy theory to turn any story into an error.

[bertlambshank]

The statement came out when it did because the board are still a treating the fans with contempt.
All it needed was someone to tell whoever it was to hang on a week or two and we would have had none of this.
Hopefully getting a fan on the board will stop this,and I bet HH is now crying on his barge wishing it was him.

[aj2k77]

The statement came out when it did because the board are still a treating the fans with contempt.
All it needed was someone to tell whoever it was to hang on a week or two and we would have had none of this.
Hopefully getting a fan on the board will stop this,and I bet HH is now crying on his barge wishing it was him.

That's it mate, it just requires a bit of tact. We are getting relegated and haven't signed anyone in the transfer window. The fans are angry with this. Shall we release a statement saying that Lord King of Lothsbury has joined the board? Or shall we give everyone a week or so to settle down first?

[aj2k77]

It was mentioned 2 months ago that a new Chairman and board member were on the brink of being announced, so I doubt it.

A lot of things are mentioned. It doesn't mean they're true.

But it was because here he is.

And two months ago he wasn't.

Two months ago Fox said we were about to announce a new Chairman and a new board member. If it took them two months to convince someone just to join the board then no wonder we couldn't convince any players to join us. The timing, as per usual, is poor and lacks judgement.

Maybe, just maybe, something happened to delay the appointment but whatever the reason I still fail to see how appointing a non-executive director to the board of any company can be good, bad or indifferent timing.

Maybe. There's always an unknown excuse to explain away our errors.

And there's always some elaborate conspiracy theory to turn any story into an error.

What's the conspiracy? It was intimated he was joining 2 months ago. Like Hollis. Hollis was given time to settle in before announcing his role. It wouldn't be outrageous to think that King agreed at a similar time. It sounds much more unlikely that something came up for the retired 70 year old man that meant he couldn't accept our offer until just after a botched transfer window. They just never consulted their brains before announcing it.

[dave.woodhall]

You're right - there is no conspiracy. Just an inconsequential story that like every other inconsequential story will automatically be howled down by a few people on the internet and greeted with mild interest by everyone else.

[Pete]

I can't take any credit for this, nicked from the comments thread under the Guardian article:

Remi Garde's Claret & Blue Fiscally Responsible Keynesian-Economic Army

[paul_e]

I'd already answered that anyway.  2 months ago there was mention of this by Fox at an event in response to "where's the chairman Randy promised?"

Just because he said something along the lines of 'you'll hear something soon' doesn't mean it was agreed at that point.  What we can take from it is that Fox knew Hollis was being talked to, that's it, we don't know when those talks started or when he actually took the job, we do know that it was some point before the anonuncement because he wanted to get a feel for the club before it was announced.  Given all of those things is it really impossible to think that King might have gone through a similar exercise and the announcement was made because everything was agreed and ready to be made public?

If anyone on the board knows anything about football supporters or the current 'feeling' of Villa fans they'll know that regardless of when they made this announcement they'd get a range of responses.  Given that why would you delay it or rush it to try to time it around anything else, there's no point doing that so it's better to just go public as soon as everything is in place to do so.

I just think you're creating a motive that doesn't exist and then getting at the club for having it (even though they haven't).  There's plenty of things to be angry about with the club right now, stop hunting for new things where they don't exist.

[Ormy Droid]

I can't take any credit for this, nicked from the comments thread under the Guardian article:

Remi Garde's Claret & Blue Fiscally Responsible Keynesian-Economic Army

We're not Keynesians now 

[Risso]

Fuck off Hollis you c***. Happy enough to talk about a boardroom appointment, but completely silent after failing to back the manager. Twat. 

I also have to agree with this even though I frown upon profanities used in haste.

Excellent rant!

Not really because if Hollis had come out on Tuesday morning and apologised to the fans he'd have been given shit.  If he'd given a list of players that we spoke to and explained exactly why each of them hadn't worked out he'd have been accused of making it up and it being because we didn't offer them enough money.  If he says nothing he's hiding from the fans.  People are pissed at the board and that means there is literally nothing they can do before the summer that will matter one jot to public opinion.  On that basis I'd rather they just got on with the job of making sure that we are in a much better situation this time next year, nothing else is worth their effort and that includes making nice public statements to show that they're thinking of the fans.

The board will be happy to see that however bad things get, and however inept a level that they operate at, that there will always be a level of fan that backs them in their idiocy.  Well done paul_e, you're the sort of fan that the board will be eternally grateful for.  Here, I have some magic beans, would you like to purchase them?

I just think you're so full of your own opinion that they could've said anything and you would've posted the same rant, it's got fuck all to do with me backing them or not and it's a point I've been fairly consistent about for a long time.  I think the regular demands for a 'statement from the board' about everything and the fall out of 'don't tell me show me' whenever they oblige serve as perfect proof that once fans are pissed off there's fuck all the board can say to do anything about it so what's the point?

Can you honestly dispute that you wouldn't have bitched about the board in any of the scenarios I give?  I like the fact that you'd rather be patronising than try to dispute what I said though, that says more than enough for me not to need a 'statement'.

I'd rather bitch about the board than fellow fans, but each to their own.

[paul_e]

Am I bitching about you though?  I'm simply countering the idea that what you typed was an 'excellent rant' because I don't think it was, so what I'm doing is disagreeing with you, and for that you've accused me of backing the board (which I didn't do), offered to sell me magic beans (so implying a mix of stupidity and naivety) and now you're accusing me of bitching about the fans, which again, I didn't do.  I simply pointed out that if you react like that to this announcement then there's is pretty much nothing the club could have said where you wouldn't have reacted in that way.  You've dodged answering that point twice now so I'm confident that you know full well that it's true.

Fundamentally I don't see how, after 3 weeks, you can think it's remotely appropriate to call anyone: a c**t, a twat and tell them to fuck off.  I'd suggest that if that's a genuine response that you have some serious anger issues that you need to deal with.

[Clark W Griswold]

Regardless of the finer details I'm more than a little staggered that anyone wants to put the time and effort into coming onto a message board defending the board (as a whole), given the way things have gone at the club over the past few years. We're talking very minor points of indifference in a big sea of shit.

[old man villa fan]

If the appointment is a good one, you make it as soon as you can so that the person can do what they have been appointed to do, so that you take the benefit. You do not play politics and delay.

[aj2k77]

If the appointment is a good one, you make it as soon as you can so that the person can do what they have been appointed to do, so that you take the benefit. You do not play politics and delay.

Why would it be politics to delay the announcement if he first wanted to get a handle on what has been going on behind the scenes?

It's all just conjecture anyway. The only facts are  2 suits were the only January transfers and people will question if the club knows what they are doing in that case. The club got away with not being questioned enough during the past 10 years and it's left us in a state just believing they know what they are doing.

[not3bad]

The only facts are  2 suits were the only January transfers and people will question if the club knows what they are doing in that case.

They would have at least played it slightly smarter if they acknowledged that "these aren't the kind of transfers fans may have been hoping for..." but they didn't.