Christian Purslow - Resigned

[SaddVillan]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jun/12/aston-villa-target-monchi-sporting-director-christian-purslow-leaves?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Looks like we've stepped up to the plate and are ready to pay Sevilla what they want to release Monchi.

[chrisw1]

The Greasy handling and use of the money, the Gerard appointment, Not fixing the catering or the transport and in the absence of great commercial deals fleecing the season ticket holders at every opportunity is not the odd bad call.
Its a litany of fuck ups.
Thankfully we have owners that we have.

Your usual hyperbole.
The spending of the Grealish money will have been mostly down to Lange.  Yeah he gave his silly speech, but people like you will have been calling for a statement from the board.
The Gerrard appointment  - yes it was a shit decision.  It's amazing how no other CEO in the PL has ever made a bad managerial appointment isn't it?
Transport - I agree it's poor.  Do you think we should have spent 30 million improving the train station or do you think persuading the council to do exactly that would have been better?
And as for fleecing fans, I agree to a point.  But our season tickets are still competitive in PL terms.  Is it really that surprising that they're looking to bridge the revenue gap with the exact teams we are trying to chase down on the field?

[eamonn]

£100m was as much as we were ever gonna get for Grealish. When that transfer clause was put in, September 2000, there seemed little prospect in Grealish courting such bids but he went onto have an impressive 202/21. He also, would have been advised not to sign any new deal without such a clause in place (CV, weren't you doubting the existence of a release clause right up until the time we sold him?).

How we spent the money is another matter, the "three players to do one player's job" was silly and proper spin but in the end, we got some use out of Ings and at least 60% back on him while Buendia and Bailey have contributed enough for Emery to trust them as regular starters when fit (even if a lot of us doubt their consistency). Emery has shown us that good coaching can help make up for risky signings.

[Chico Hamilton III]

If it hadn’t been for Emery’s announcement barely 6 months ago, we’d still be queuing up for beer at half time, moaning about season ticket hikes, terrace bar rip offs and the shit manager that Purslow imposed on us. I don’t give him any credit. Suppose we’ll need to hire  someone to suck up to Prince William now though.

[SaddVillan]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jun/12/aston-villa-target-monchi-sporting-director-christian-purslow-leaves?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Villa target Monchi as sporting director after Christian Purslow leaves

Monchi is at Sevilla, where he worked with Unai Emery

Release clause of about £1.7m in Monchi’s contract

Aston Villa have confirmed the departure of the chief executive Christian Purslow as they target Monchi from Sevilla as a key cog in their overhaul under Unai Emery. Purslow had been in charge of the day-to-day running of the club for almost five years but has left as part of a restructuring.

Villa are ramping up their attempts to appoint a sporting director to work closely with Emery. After Barcelona’s Mateu Alemany rejected a move to Villa Park, Emery is keen on reuniting with Monchi, with whom he worked at Sevilla. It is thought Monchi, the Sevilla sporting director, has a release clause of about £1.7m.

Emery has been given great freedom to reshape Villa after leading the club into Europe for the first time in 13 years despite succeeding Steven Gerrard last November amid relegation concerns.

A new sporting director would take care of the football business operations, in conjunction with Emery. Last month Villa announced the arrival of Chris Heck as president of business operations. Alberto Benito and Pablo Rodríguez have also recently been appointed to Villa’s recruitment staff. It is thought Purslow, who worked in executive positions at Chelsea and Liverpool, declined the chance to stay in a different role.

In a club statement Villa’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, paid tribute to the 59-year-old for his role in overseeing “a transformation of the club both on and off the pitch”. Purslow said: “It has been a total privilege to lead Villa for the last five years. I am proud that I leave the club in a much better position on and off the pitch than when I arrived.”

Villa are determined to strengthen, with Emery keen to add a full-back, a winger and a striker. On Saturday Villa announced the signing of Youri Tielemans on a free after the Belgium midfielder exited Leicester City. Tielemans’s former Leicester teammate Harvey Barnes is also thought to be among those of interest to Villa, who are set to reward John McGinn and Ollie Watkins with new contracts.

[Clampy]

Every club makes a bad managerial call. Some do it several times a season.

[paul_e]

I don't think he was out of his depth at all, he's very experienced and good at what he does.

I did find him a little hard to trust, though.

Anyway, here's the best tweet on it all:


will ross 💛
@TheWillRoss
·
32m
Replying to
@AVFCOfficial
Will we replace him with 3 CEOs that collectively have his key 3 strengths?

I know this was written as a pisstake but I suspect that's exactly what's happening.

Heck will take over the commercial side of things.
Emery and Monchi (assuming he comes in) will handle the football side.
That just leaves the stuff about being in the premier league meetings, handling the stadium plans, etc which won't have been enough work for a CEO so those bits will either go to Sawaris or we'll see someone come in as more of a club secretary style role to handle those aspects.

[Pat Mustard]

I don't think he was out of his depth at all, he's very experienced and good at what he does.

I did find him a little hard to trust, though.

Anyway, here's the best tweet on it all:


will ross 💛
@TheWillRoss
·
32m
Replying to
@AVFCOfficial
Will we replace him with 3 CEOs that collectively have his key 3 strengths?

I know this was written as a pisstake but I suspect that's exactly what's happening.

Heck will take over the commercial side of things.
Emery and Monchi (assuming he comes in) will handle the football side.
That just leaves the stuff about being in the premier league meetings, handling the stadium plans, etc which won't have been enough work for a CEO so those bits will either go to Sawaris or we'll see someone come in as more of a club secretary style role to handle those aspects.

What's Steve Stride up to nowadays?

[chrisw1]

Oh, and if you think our success is just down to the owners money and nothing to do with how the club has been run, then take a look at how much Everton have spent in the last 5 years.

[Risso]

I don't think he was out of his depth at all, he's very experienced and good at what he does.

I did find him a little hard to trust, though.

Anyway, here's the best tweet on it all:


will ross 💛
@TheWillRoss
·
32m
Replying to
@AVFCOfficial
Will we replace him with 3 CEOs that collectively have his key 3 strengths?

I know this was written as a pisstake but I suspect that's exactly what's happening.

Heck will take over the commercial side of things.
Emery and Monchi (assuming he comes in) will handle the football side.
That just leaves the stuff about being in the premier league meetings, handling the stadium plans, etc which won't have been enough work for a CEO so those bits will either go to Sawaris or we'll see someone come in as more of a club secretary style role to handle those aspects.

Exactly Paul. Although we still do have a Chief Operating Officer in Paul Tyrell. I wonder if he's staying (as I believe he's Purslow's mate), and if he is, he'll maybe deal with the stadium side of things. His background is communications, but his current Villa role also takes in stuff like health and safety, IT and general operations.

[Steve67]

Overall, I think Purslow has done ok.  Let's be honest, as a football club, the size and shape of Aston Villa, we should be in the top 10 of the Premier Division.  Check. That said, with these owners, with this Manager, OK isn't really good enough and it's time to kick on again.  We are in a better position than we were, footballing wise, but I can't help feeling that he was a smarmy character who, left to his own devices, wouldn't have got us where we are, without a great deal of help from Emery and the owners.  In other words, done ok, but his time had come and we need to move up a level.  Exciting time to be a Villa fan but the kit, the transport links and the facilities, need sorting. 

[Clampy]

I think done ok is about right. He's not been as bad as some are making out.

[rob_bridge]

I thought he has done well overall. The Gerrard appointment was the big flaw but the other 2 management appointments were spot on.

When he came we weren't filling the ground and we are now so some of the problems now exacerbated are due to the success in growth of the club.

He seemed to be at the forefront of checking the Big6 whenever they made johnnybignoises about breakways etc...

At the end of the day the club is in a much better state than when he took over. I don't even know who took over from Fox, prior to that it was Faulkner and prior to that the' General??'. Let's face it he was a billion times better than those amateurs.

[Des Little]

I think this is a sign that the owners are stepping on the gas now, and probably don't think Purslow can handle it. 

[rob_bridge]

I think this is a sign that the owners are stepping on the gas now, and probably don't think Purslow can handle it.

Yes - 5 years for CEO is actually about right amount of time in top level football