Christian Purslow - Resigned

[pauliewalnuts]

Thank the Lord for the return of the major music events, one of the things the club has consistently failed us on.

That's what you take from that post?

Given the hostility towards price hikes, I would have thought a significant source of income like this was pretty welcome.

No, I don't disagree with the rest, I just thought "yeah right" when i saw that!

In the larger picture, it's going to be a pretty insignificant chunk of income, mind.

[Monty]

I agree with Chris. I don't like Purslow's slightly smarmy persona and his need to be front and centre for everything, but the owners clearly trust him and he's a massive upgrade on everybody we've had before. Of course he's going to focus on making money, as would anybody else we had in the job if it wasn't Purslow doing it. I don't agree with everything he does, but at the end of the day we've got the best manager we've had in over 20 years and are having a real stab at the top 6, after a horrendous start to the season.

(A horrendous start that seems disproportionately to have been his fault...!)

No but seriously I agree with this, compared to what we're used to from our executives Purslow is an unfathomable improvement. The Alemany approach is further proof of this.

[Drummond]

Sorry Dave

The greasy cash.
The Holte Terrace
The badge /crest debacle.
The pre match “experience “
Season Ticket prices.
The catering problems.
The Gerrard appointment.

Cheers, some good points there.

I agree the Greasy cash could have been better spent, though I'd argue we weren't in the place we are now to attract players.
The Terrace View is a bit shit, but I don't think it's a failure. Yet.
The badge/crest thing isn't a bad thing, it's a small matter of taste.
The music before games helps to build atmosphere, but I agree it goes on too long and stifles any natural fan build up, it's close to there being a fucking drum. (p.s. Anyone hear one at fucking Arsenal last night? Wankers).
I don't think the season ticket prices are something that makes him a failure. We're aiming for the big time, we're in a good run of form and that will hopefully continue. I think ticket prices are crap for football full stop.
Catering problems are shit.
Gerrard was a completely stupid fucking move, I agree. Some thought it would work, for some reason.

Some pros
Our reputation and standing with other clubs and the Premier League has risen.
The North Stand, Villa Live and environs development is ambitious and looks like we're a 21st Century club finally.
The Academy investment, in terms of player recruitment is brilliant.
The Academy building development looks good and is critical to improvement.
The staffing situation, DoF, Emery, Lange (soon to be replaced with Alemany), the Academy staffing, Harrison etc. All significant improvements. (and barring Gerrard his other appointments were timely too).
Promotion and staying in the Premier League and hitting FFP requirements.
Increased commercial revenue and partnerships (room to improve but that is surely coming on the back of the rest).
Season Ticket and match day ticket demand.
No behind the scenes shenanigans, we seem stable.
The demand from supporters seems to be increasing, despite the items on your list. (I know this could be argued back and forth about tradition v the modern game etc, but as a CEO he's performing).
The shirts. They never court much controversy any more.
Villa Park is on the host venue list for the Euros.
Fan engagement seems to be improving.

[paul_e]

I, along with many, didn't want gerrard, and with hindsight he was an appalling decision but from the perspective of Purslow it was someone he knew well who had met the challenges set for him up to that point well who many thought was a shoe-in to go to Liverpool in a few years time so I can understand the logic of thinking he was good enough to be worth a look and that his profile would help us in the transfer market (and the latter bit definitely happened). I don't think it's fair to suggest that decision was a sackable offence as some have suggested/implied.

The pre-match and badge things are just silly, plenty of people will think what we're doing now is great, both are subjective and don't really belong on a list of things to beat the CEO with.

The Grealish cash one is another where hindsight comes into play, that summer there were plenty on here thinking that adding Buendia, Bailey and Ings in his place made us a stronger squad and fixed our over-reliance on 1 player.

The rest is fair but not enough to consider him a failure, especially given all the positives that Drummond lists.

[Risso]

I, along with many, didn't want gerrard, and with hindsight he was an appalling decision but from the perspective of Purslow it was someone he knew well who had met the challenges set for him up to that point well who many thought was a shoe-in to go to Liverpool in a few years time so I can understand the logic of thinking he was good enough to be worth a look and that his profile would help us in the transfer market (and the latter bit definitely happened). I don't think it's fair to suggest that decision was a sackable offence as some have suggested/implied.

The pre-match and badge things are just silly, plenty of people will think what we're doing now is great, both are subjective and don't really belong on a list of things to beat the CEO with.

The Grealish cash one is another where hindsight comes into play, that summer there were plenty on here thinking that adding Buendia, Bailey and Ings in his place made us a stronger squad and fixed our over-reliance on 1 player.

The rest is fair but not enough to consider him a failure, especially given all the positives that Drummond lists.

If nothing else, the Gerrard decision left us with Kamara, who I think will go on to become one of our best ever players in the coming years. If he's not always injured, obviously.

[paul_e]

I, along with many, didn't want gerrard, and with hindsight he was an appalling decision but from the perspective of Purslow it was someone he knew well who had met the challenges set for him up to that point well who many thought was a shoe-in to go to Liverpool in a few years time so I can understand the logic of thinking he was good enough to be worth a look and that his profile would help us in the transfer market (and the latter bit definitely happened). I don't think it's fair to suggest that decision was a sackable offence as some have suggested/implied.

The pre-match and badge things are just silly, plenty of people will think what we're doing now is great, both are subjective and don't really belong on a list of things to beat the CEO with.

The Grealish cash one is another where hindsight comes into play, that summer there were plenty on here thinking that adding Buendia, Bailey and Ings in his place made us a stronger squad and fixed our over-reliance on 1 player.

The rest is fair but not enough to consider him a failure, especially given all the positives that Drummond lists.

If nothing else, the Gerrard decision left us with Kamara, who I think will go on to become one of our best ever players in the coming years. If he's not always injured, obviously.

Also Emery wouldn't have been available then, and if Gerrard had been better he might not have been available to us when we finally potted Gerrard so despite being fucking shit he was the bridge that led us from a good guy who was just a bit out of his depth to a good guy who is genuinely an elite level manager.

[Towser]

When you think about it we had some good luck at times when we all thought we were having bad luck, all the below changed our fortunes for the better at the time they all happened, sure there may be more incidents as well

Whelen missing the penalty
Losing to Fulham in play off final
Gerrard being rubbish

Some things went the other way as well, owner losing interest, manager walking out days before new season, those 2 alone took us more than a decade to recover from, recovery that is still ongoing

[ChicagoLion]

When you think about it we had some good luck at times when we all thought we were having bad luck, all the below changed our fortunes for the better at the time they all happened, sure there may be more incidents as well

Whelen missing the penalty
Losing to Fulham in play off final
Gerrard being rubbish

Some things went the other way as well, owner losing interest, manager walking out days before new season, those 2 alone took us more than a decade to recover from, recovery that is still ongoing

I don’t want luck I want consistent improvement and professionalism across every aspect of the club.
Emery exemplifies this and I think the latest appointment also does.
Yet we are amateurish in so many off field aspects and these are down to Our CEO who I don’t think is up to it.

[Dante Lavelli]

It strikes me from these comments that some of the areas he is being criticised are outside his responsibility. Hopefully the new guy from Barca will take the front foot on all future managerial appointments and Lange should have dictated how the Joe money was spent.

That said, we appear to be missing an individual in charge of the supporters’ needs; so everything from creating new ones, community engagement and what happens on match days.

[ChicagoLion]

It strikes me from these comments that some of the areas he is being criticised are outside his responsibility.

He is the CEO

[edgysatsuma89]

I'm more than happy to admit my dislike for him is immature and childish and should therefore hold no weight. I can't stand Alan Titchmarsh and that's literally because of his smile. The gurning prick 

[LeeB]

I'm more than happy to admit my dislike for him is immature and childish and should therefore hold no weight. I can't stand Alan Titchmarsh and that's literally because of his smile. The gurning prick 

I can't stand Miguel Amiron's face, looks like he's come straight from Soundgarden's 'Black Hole Sun' video.

[eamonn]

The hills have eyes.

[dave.woodhall]

It strikes me from these comments that some of the areas he is being criticised are outside his responsibility. Hopefully the new guy from Barca will take the front foot on all future managerial appointments and Lange should have dictated how the Joe money was spent.

That said, we appear to be missing an individual in charge of the supporters’ needs; so everything from creating new ones, community engagement and what happens on match days.

This is the problem. Purslow is good at networking, he might be good at the commercial side in the long term but everything about him to date indicates that he sees supporters as a necessary evil to be taken for every possible penny.

[Risso]

It strikes me from these comments that some of the areas he is being criticised are outside his responsibility. Hopefully the new guy from Barca will take the front foot on all future managerial appointments and Lange should have dictated how the Joe money was spent.

That said, we appear to be missing an individual in charge of the supporters’ needs; so everything from creating new ones, community engagement and what happens on match days.

This is the problem. Purslow is good at networking, he might be good at the commercial side in the long term but everything about him to date indicates that he sees supporters as a necessary evil to be taken for every possible penny.

Is there a Premier League chairman who that doesn't apply to, though?  If we want Villa to be successful and compete for the top 6, then it's going to cost money, and the supporters are one source of cash.