Johan Lange - appointed

[ChicagoLion]

The big news for me, is that the announcement shows that the owners are going to have a closer involvement in the running of the club. I would be a little uncomfortable if I was Purslow right now.
I would not be surprised if there is another major decision to come.

[Mister E]

"Lange has experience of English football having worked as assistant to Stale Solbakken during his spell as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers during the 2012-13 season"

Bodes well...

Hope he hasn't gone stale since then.

[aldridgeboy]

Okore was terrible, right up their with the very worst defenders we've had.

And done for drink driving when he played for us as well

[dave.woodhall]

Okore was terrible, right up their with the very worst defenders we've had.

And done for drink driving when he played for us as well

Was he?

[brentastonb6]

Interesting that the press release is from the owners rather than the CEO, and that they explicitly note the he'll report directly to them.

Isn’t Purslow on the board as a minority shareholder? That’s how I read it.

[PeterWithesShin]

Okore was terrible, right up their with the very worst defenders we've had.

And done for drink driving when he played for us as well

Everyone kept that quiet if he was.

[Somniloquism]

I suspect Aldridge had inside info from other rozzers if true.

[Footy-Vill]

I thought our new man would be Iberian given the talk of Sawiris investing in that Portugese club.

Lange sounds target-driven and a shrewd judge. Hopefully that will remain now that his parameters are higher/more difficult.

Never mind the Balearics

[PeterWithesShin]

Never mind the Balearics

Here's the Aston Villa

[eamonn]

Great work indeed! I'm expecting good things from the PWS-Skillz strikeforce next season. You've gotta be more effective than Davis and Samatta at least.

[SheffieldVillain]

Wasn't there talk of us investing in a Danish club at some point in the last few years or am I imagining that?

[cdbearsfan]

We had a tie-in with AB Copenhagen at some point. Nothing ever seems to have come of it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/1859742.stm

[SheffieldVillain]

We had a tie-in with AB Copenhagen at some point. Nothing ever seems to have come of it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/1859742.stm

Blimey - 2002? I thought it was 3 or 4 years ago!

Edit - Ah, I'm not imagining it... here it is - https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/914845/Aston-Villa-invest-Danish-football-club-Lyngby-BK. Nothing seems to have come of this one either mind.

[cdbearsfan]

You're more up-to-date than me, no recollection of that at all!

[Edvard Remberg]

The speed of appointment suggests he was lined up - which (if true) means a considered plan being followed.

I don't know anything about him, but clearly wish him luck. A few other observations:

• If there was some truth in the 'issue' between Suso and Purslow and the former's relationship with the owners, then the owners have been clear - Lange reports to them
• If he can find gems that is what every club wants. If he does that at Copenhagen, then their business models is that the gems need to polished and sold for a big profit, though in other clubs (us, hopefully in the next few years) those same gems can be developed further to be even better
• Off the top of my head I cannot think of a Scandinavian player at Villa that has been a dud - typically very good technical ability, good athleticism, usually fluent English speakers from day 1.

It might be post PL survival positivity, but it feels like a very good move. UTV

Okore, Helenius...