Christian Purslow - Resigned

[BC Villain]

According to the Athletic;
https://theathletic.com/4602564/2023/06/12/christian-purslow-aston-villa-leave/
"Villa are moving in a new direction with head coach Unai Emery and his team of close assistants taking charge of football matters alongside the owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens (NSWE).
Chris Heck, the new president of business operations, will oversee all the important off-field matters including increasing revenue and globalising the Aston Villa brand, so Villa no longer need a CEO figure as the model has changed."

... which still leaves the issue of dealing with the Premier League, overseeing stadium development and being the front man for the club. Maybe these things were not attractive to Purslow and can be done by more technical experts,, yet to be brought in.

I do hope the front man for the club isn't going to be this Chris Heck guy. Would love to see someone like Ian Taylor given a more senior role in the running of the club.

Why?
What credentials does Tayls have for having a senior role in running a top 7 premier league football club, other than being a legend on the pitch?

Perhaps we could employ Lescott as a car park attendant.

[LeonW]

I think it’s unfair to airbrush Purslow out of our journey over the last 5 years. He’s been part of the successes and the failures.

He was involved in the appointment of Smith who did a good job for us. He was most culpable for Gerrard who was a disaster.

What happens on the pitch can often cure most evils. In his role, I would suggest Purslow did not really succeed in developing the club enough to give us a bigger fighting chance on the pitch. Even accounting for 3 seasons in the championship.

For the money the owners have put in and the fact we made a 100% profit on the sale of Joe for FFP purposes, those most recent financials published made for alarming and depressing reading in terms of our ability to compete. I felt that Purslow took the easy option in raising season ticket prices rather than address the core problems of trying to grow the club. Although those problems have been long standing as we’re all aware. It was probably time to try a different approach to tackling them. In many ways, I think he became a victim of the continual improvement that he sought to drive progress. He reached his own ceiling and the owners acted.

On a personal note, I always thought he treated our supporters with an undercurrent of contempt and was a bit of a starf*cker. I also didn’t like his opposition to an independent football regulator.

[olaftab]

I think he has done a good job, in the time he has been at Villa the club has progressed on and off the pitch. He will be in demand from other clubs and may well have already accepted an offer elsewhere.

He should go to Small Heath and sort the shit out there. That will prove him as unassailable football club CEO.

[Sexual Ealing]

I come from the view that all executives/wealth businessmen in football should be viewed with maximum distrust and any successes they have should only be acknowledged through gritted teeth.

Bingo.

[RamboandBruno]

I come from the view that all executives/wealth businessmen in football should be viewed with maximum distrust and any successes they have should only be acknowledged through gritted teeth.

Bingo.

Agreed. He came across as a smarmy git a lot of the time. The bullshit bingo 3 players to replace the different facets of Grealish was just ultimate spin….very brilliantly parodied by the Villa Podcast. Saying all that, being a smarmy spin driven twat doesn’t necessarily make him bad at his job. Smith had to be his appointment and at the time it was literally the only sensible managerial appointment we’d made in over a decade. Gerrard was also obviously his appointment and will always be a huge stain on his Villa legacy. Once Swaris stepped in to give Gerrard the heave ho and personally appoint Emery, the writing was always on the wall for Purslow.
He was around with some good decisions, one truly terrible one and lots of spin, in what will be looked back on as a really pivotal time in Villa’s history.

[SamTheMouse]

At the very least, he gave us back some credibility in the echelons of football administration. There's no doubt he's respected in the business.

[danno]

He gets credit for the Smith appointment but given who he appointed next, I do wonder if Thierry Henry was his first choice.

[Lastfootstamper]

I think the biggest indicator of how good he is/was is where he turns up next.

[garyfouroaks]

There was a brand new Rolls Royce silver shadow in the farmhouse pub car park on saturday reg V1lla. was that purslow?

[eamonn]

I wonder if he'll keep hold of his shares and his collection of tasteful claret and blue ties.

[trinityoap]

Wasn't V1LLA Doug Ellis' registration number?

[algy]

Wasn't V1LLA Doug Ellis' registration number?

Didn't John Gregory buy a car reg which was something like that whilst he was manager?

[algy]

Just looked, JG sold it on eBay for £39000 in 2010

https://www.bossreg.com/news/64/ex-villa-boss-john-gregory-sells-v1-lla-on-ebay.html

[dave.woodhall]

Wasn't V1LLA Doug Ellis' registration number?

AV1.

[kippaxvilla2]

He was better than Tom Fox.