Fox, Almstadt and Reilly to go?

[Stirchley Villain]

Of course if one was of a cynical disposition, which I am not, one might think that it was quite convenient this gets leaked to the press just as the heat of fan anger is ramping up, thereby deflecting attention away from The Custodian himself.

I was reading a few American news articles on the net last night (dated from 2009 if anyone fancies a Google search) and it really is astonishing how everything that happened there fits the same pattern as to what is happening at Villa.  It seems, back then, the Cleveland Browns fans were on the point of revolution and protests against Randy, only for him to take the sting out of it all through generating positive media stories and making swift stop-gap appointments. 

From looking at the cases of the Browns and Villa one gets the impression he knows exactly what he is doing:

1) At all times he keeps a distance, acts aloof and maintains the image of being a passionate supporter who is as upset as anyone at (the inevitable) poor on pitch performance.

2) Whilst doing the above, he has a strategy of keeping (and managing) fan expectations low (which in turn means he doesn't have to plough long-term money into his investment).

3) He appoints layers of expendable management to soak up the ire of the fans for the on-pitch failures and to maintain the impression that he has played no part in all the on-pitch woes.

4) He sits back and plays the long game, waiting for the value of his investment to reach a point where he is happy to sell.

Whilst all the time losing somewhere between 200-250 million

It's not a great plan of someone who knows what he's doing is it

To be fair he didn't say he wasn't still an idiot.

[Brend'Watkins]

The only way forward is to rip it up and start again.

Yep.

I don't want to see any of the current squad, French or English,  pull on a Villa shirt ever again. Worst collection of villa players I have ever seen and I wouldn't keep a single one of them if I was running things

I'm with Chico

I'd most definitely keep Ayew if we can.  He'll run riot in the Championship. He'd run riot in the Prem as well if he had a half decent midfield supplying him.

[PeterWithe]

He'll be the first one off, probably one of only a handful that will be coveted by PL sides.

[dave.woodhall]

Who has leaked this story i wonder?

Depends whether it's true or not.

Do you have any idea if it likely to be true?

None whatsoever. It might happen but if it does I can't imagine this story has been leaked already. You're talking about getting rid of an entire management structure and the only people who'd be privy to such knowledge wouldn't be likely to share it with the Mail.

[Ger Regan]

I doubt very much he will lose a quarter of a billion on Villa.  Like I say, I think he will sit back and play the long game.

What long game is this exactly?

[Stirchley Villain]

I doubt very much he will lose a quarter of a billion on Villa.  Like I say, I think he will sit back and play the long game.

What long game is this exactly?

Sitting watching his financial stake in the club shrink to next to nothing at this rate.

[sickbeggar]

I 'm not really sure how Randy or Hollis thinks anyone is gonna buy the theory its the fault of those three. One of the advantages of employing "yes" men is they tend to do exactly what you want. Does anyone think Fox took it upon himself to reduce the wages bill or secretly scuppered our transfer dealings in January without Lerner's knowledge? Or Reilly took it upon himself to start scouting players in lower leagues on lesser salaries with potential sell-on profits? Yeah i'm sure Lerner was phoning up every week demanding they spend big on proven quality. All of them were working from the brief set-down from Lerner and while it may cheer a lot of us up to see them get the bullet, it changes nothing.

[peter w]

The only way forward is to rip it up and start again.

I believe that the torpor we are witnessing is symptomatic of deep-rooted problems and therefore fundamental changes have to happen, including offloading dead weight (both on and off the pitch).

Glass of orange juice, anyone?

We can only hope to God that the senior management team at Villa Park are not as dumb as they make out.

Ah joe I could feel your pain when you wrote that. If I could have held you I would have held you, let's rip it up and start again.

[Billy Walker]

I doubt very much he will lose a quarter of a billion on Villa.  Like I say, I think he will sit back and play the long game.

What long game is this exactly?

Sitting watching his financial stake in the club shrink to next to nothing at this rate.

It's going to be a long, long game!

[PaulWinch again]

I doubt very much he will lose a quarter of a billion on Villa.  Like I say, I think he will sit back and play the long game.

What long game is this exactly?

Sitting watching his financial stake in the club shrink to next to nothing at this rate.

It's going to be a long, long game!

There's no real logic to that given what we've seen from him. If he was looking for a return he wouldn't be cutting costs and sending us down. If he were looking for a return he'd realise he'll have to invest significant money to build his asset again.

[olaftab]

Reilly, Almsted and Fox can fuck off right you. They are responsible for humiliating this great Club.

[Stirchley Villain]

Reilly, Almsted and Fox can fuck off right you. They are responsible for humiliating this great Club.

Randy watched Moneyball and thought he could apply these principles to us. This was after be bought us and thought he could win the Champios League by investing a quarter of what the other teams hoping to win it were investing. The man's an idiot and it's all his fault.

[saunders_heroes]

Reilly, Almsted and Fox can fuck off right you. They are responsible for humiliating this great Club.

What's Randy's part in all of this pantomime then?

[Villa in Denmark]

Reilly, Almsted and Fox can fuck off right you. They are responsible for humiliating this great Club.

What's Randy's part in all of this pantomime then?

Throwing hundreds of millions of pounds at it to no effect.

[Des Little]

Look, it's a team game. One man can't ruin a club. That's why RL got help.