John_Lerwill
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Everything posted by John_Lerwill
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I've just read the inimitable Steve Wade's 'Something for the Weekend' article for this week (click here). In this he states:
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In my view, AM went there with one intent only - damage limitation. The thought of winning probably didn't enter his head - but maybe he was hoping for a draw. Excellent post though!
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Does Wales count as being in europe? Just been listening all the way through the BRMB interview between Tom Ross and PF: BRMB link I actually thought that in the first part he was talking the talk quite well, but when it came to the important bits and Villa's place in the football world then he sounded ineffectual - worse, he didn't try to play up the club in a way that you would expect of a CEO at AVFC. At least, not what I would expect. He's running by the seat of his pants I'm afraid.
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I think that is slightly unfair John. I believe we , those of us who are Villa fans on here, all want the club to do well we just differ on our view of how that is likely to happen or differ on our view of the current status of the club. It does not mean that any of us does not believe we are a great club or that we should not be restored to emminence as you put it. On my comment about hoping we stay up, not sure what the issue is with that to be fair. I mean I think the one thing the majority of us accept is that our fortunes this season will be rocky and that the next run of games we have will put us in a difficult position. If the team shows the "fight" and "spirit" that was on display in the Tottenham game for the fixtures before and after Christmas it is my firm belief that that, coupled with the manager we have/team we have to pick from/lack of investment in reinforcements etc, will lead to us struggling all season. So yes I do hope we stay up. I think if I had said "I hope we get relegated" that people could have had a go, but not for actually positively hoping we stay up. Totally agreed, Richard. However, I was having a wee go at RICO as he was suggesting that "moaning" is going on. I was trying to suggest that such complaints that are coming forth are partly due to the exasparation that Villa is a great club but appears to be going backwards. Of course fans should feel unhappy, but RICO doesn't seem to accept that. Whatever the owner says, I do not believe his belief in the club is as great as the supporters.
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Clearly, R.I.C.O., you don't share in the belief that Aston Villa is a great club and that it should be restored to emminence? Many feel the club has lost (or is losing) its lustre and that's a lot to do with why they're unhappy.
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It's not a proposal, I made, it's just a speculative opinion. Which is why the word proposal was put in single quotes! :winkold: Well, yes, I recognise that, but whichever spectrum you happen to be in you'd want to see satisfactory progression from where things are now. I'd say that it is somewhat unlikely that RL is going to sell up, so accepting that situation and if RL were seen to be taking expert advice, then perhaps even the more extreme protesters might relax a bit more. Key thing is to my mind (assuming little changes on the pitch, and I don't think it will) is that AM should be ejected and an expert advisory appointment made to select AM's replacement. I cannot see a good future under AM even if the team finishes half-way. I'd say that there's quite a few (and I'm among them) think that the General was put in as a voicepiece to paper over RL's weaknesses and that in retrospect many can see that RL's management of MON was not as it should have been. And the great shame is that a supporter like you should have been made to feel that way. There are too many saying the same or similar. Hence RL really does need to get in someone to help direct the club in a better way.
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Absolutely right ... it's the equivalent of "to accumulate you have to speculate".
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Hope I'm not being cheeky, but aren't you arguing with yourself there, Blandy? :? We now seem to be agreed that some kind of football expertise is needed. I'm posing the question/making the point that rather than the insistence that we need a DOF, John, which some people are adamant about, that it just seems to me that a lot of the advice on general sporting or sports related issues that was available and used perviously has perhaps not been available or used in more recent times - i.e things have changed for the worse. They were previously "good" when we had various advisers and so on. It's not the absence of a DOF that is the issue, but that some of the weaknesses, which I acknowledge we have are maybe down to too few people being involved. It's not that the ones we have are idiots or incapable buffoons as some seems to think, just that improvement or a return to previous better situation might be helped by RL getting people like Bob Kain etc to give him a bit more input from time to time. I don't want to argue with anyone. I just say what I think. Fair do's ... I'm certainly not adamant about a DoF and have already said that some football expertise seems to be needed in whatever form is appropriate. Your 'proposal' might provide the solution, although (for my part) I would prefer it's someone like Brian Little who's providing the expertise. So, how should this (possibly now something of a consensus) be transmitted to the powers that be?
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Hope I'm not being cheeky, but aren't you arguing with yourself there, Blandy? :? We now seem to be agreed that some kind of football expertise is needed.
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That kind of argument is equivalent to saying that "Oh, Mrs. Thatcher must know what she was doing to close the pits in the North East". That action passed by with hardly a wimper from the rest of the country and we now find that that area has the highest level of unemployment as her successors have now closed the alternative employment. Commonsense rules, OK?!! 8)
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Just read your article. It says a lot, doesn't it, that the situation has caused that level of discontent? But I empathasise.
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Its funny because no one on here has run a football club or played football at a high level yet many seem to know whats best for the club and have all the answers... Well said. And not only that, but also none of us have any experience of running a football club, but a large number seem to think we have the just the skills and faculties needed to authoritatively pass judgement on the capability and suitability of RL and PF for that role. It's the nature of messageboards and internet, but anyone taking the comments of any of us lot as anything other than mildly diverting waffle from the virtual food holes of skivers and obsessives probably wants to have a word with themself. Come on, Mr. Bland, this sounds a bit dismissive. Mmmm ... I also notice that you never respond to any of my postings. Let's get really real! :winkold: I don't think anyone here pretends they are a football expert of the professional type. Neither are football reporters/commentators in the media. Speaking for myself, I try to speak with the commonsense of someone who ran his own techncial business for over 20 years and dealt with high-level management, CEOs, managing directors etc over a greater length of time. I have developed a nous for knowing whether someone knows his line of business. After working at VP and experiencing what I have has helped me to assess even more closely. But I am not an expert on football. I admit that. What I do go by is the effect of the happenings at VP on supporters. It's seen in the drop in attendances ... it's heard when you meet some stranger who you learn happens to be a ST holder at VP and says he has been foolish to pay for he and his children at VP because the quality of the football does not merit it. The pride has gone out of the Villa. Temporarily I hope.
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I think it's good to look at other clubs and their recent history to get a perspective on where we are. In the right context that's perfectly correct, but you're taking my comments out of context. I was speaking of how RL had set a standard and then dropped it in such away that it's left a lot of people bemused - that's an issue that does not concern comparison with other clubs. I don't think people are bemused by it, I can't for the life of me see why anybody would be. I think people are struggling to accept it as reality. In other words people are ... bemused!!! You can couch in whatever terms you like but you clearly accept that people are in difficulty over what has transpired. Perhaps you're spiltting hairs? I don't think I have suggested that the club is 'badly' run - at least not financially. I mainly support the idea that there's not enough football awareness in the top brass, period.
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Totally agreed. Fine sentiments. I'd argue with some of your earlier statements, but your finishing-up is one I like. But - and this is the serious issue - does the RL/PF team know enough about football to be able to run the club effectively? As ex-bankers they no doubt understand the world monetary situation and doubtless that explains some of the decisions that have been made. But I share the views of some others; I am not convinced that they do understand football enough and that is why (in my view) they need someone on board to balance-up that aspect. If that's not done then I can see a lot of very disappointed supporters for a long time to come - barring a bit of luck in the appointment of the right team manager.
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I think it's good to look at other clubs and their recent history to get a perspective on where we are. In the right context that's perfectly correct, but you're taking my comments out of context. I was speaking of how RL had set a standard and then dropped it in such away that it's left a lot of people bemused - that's an issue that does not concern comparison with other clubs.
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But you'll only get the see bit by being patient. But you choose to dismiss any change in direction without giving it a chance. You might find that if we dont waste money on the likes of Beye, Cuellar, Davies etc and channel that money into other areas like youth we may prosper further down the line. As for the hear bit well I dont know what this fascination is about. No other club continually makes statements and nor do they have to and to be honest it really makes little difference whether they do or dont especially as when they do its pulled apart to pieces and over analysed. Perhaps the big problem is that RL set a standard in the first 3 or 4 years that the fans began to accept? If you come in as a new owner and set your stall out so that it has all the image of a fans-orientated concern then the shock is that over the past 12 months+ those same fans have been rather shut out. Worse, that has happened in a time when Villa's competitiveness has substantially declined. What other clubs do is up to them - what's happened at VP is the issue.
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You make a very good point, Richard (about a DofF). However, this came up in trying to think of a solution to the RL/PF decision-channel route through which AM emanated. What would be an alternative to a DofF? Perhaps a permanent (Villa-focused?) football consultant to be pulled in when a managerial appointment was in the offing? I think I have answered that in my last two sentences of the paragraph you have quoted John.
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You make a very good point, Richard (about a DofF). However, this came up in trying to think of a solution to the RL/PF decision-channel route through which AM emanated. What would be an alternative to a DofF? Perhaps a permanent (Villa-focused?) football consultant to be pulled in when a managerial appointment was in the offing?
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Thanks, B_J, for bringing the debate back down to earth. Bicks made quite a few good comments, but I somehow think he's trying to look at the Villa situation through star-spangled glasses. And clearly no-one was trying to say RL is worse than Doug - I don't know how that interpretation came around. PF is an important link in all this as it is through PF that RL runs the club and the appointment of AM came about through dialogue between RL and PF. As suggested before, a DofF seems a definite requirement at VP, although I feel that Houllier's appointment was not such a bad one. At least he tried to have the players playing football from the back. Villa, as Bicks said, may not get relegated this season - but the very fact that we're talking about the likelihood of Villa sinking close to those depths (for the second season running if it happens) and supporters getting fed up of paying to watch what is being put on offer, is extremely worrying.
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Surely Paul Merson as well - an additional £6m?
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Like most clubs, we will have to survive on what we produce i.e. youth talent/production will become critical. Very few clubs will be able to make large signings if they want to stay within the FFP rules. Probably only the likes of Man U and Arsenal that produce profits that can be re-invested in purchasing players. I think it would make sense for the football league and Premier League to follow UEFA's rules and introduce the concept into the English game. I also think footballers contracts will have to be re-written to accommodate relegations and the consequential loss of revenue. The game really does need a high level review to cover off such items and, in an ideal world, to discuss how to make the game more competitive/interesting as the CL and wealthy owners have distorted the game massively. Barry's answered for me! However, the answer is really in RL's own hands. He intimates that money is available when necessary - it's a pity that a bit more wasn't put in during the summer to boost the midfield. Otherwise I agree with Barry and also (and importantly i.m.o.) in the context of earlier discussion about the appointment of a Director of Football.
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I can't see how it could have been different Richard. My contract only ran to March 2011 anyway, so I'd probably not agree any renewal to it if I had still been there at that time.
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I'd agree Trent, but some of the decisions RL has been making have some of the stamp of HDE about them. RL claims to know all the history but clearly has not looked at Doug's history and what the fans had to endure during his (Doug's) time, nor drawn lessons from Doug's policies.
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I may be wrong as I was only 1 in 1982 but isn't John saying that doug inherited financial issues when he came whereas Lerner is now cutting back due to the financial issues caused from his poor leadership and control? Yes, B_J, those are the distinct issues, but in that post Bicks refers to I was essentially trying to put straight a little bit of the history about HDE. Historically, just because of the 1982 EC success followed by HDE's de facto appointment and what happened afterwards, there's a great temptation to throw all the blame at HDE. It's very easy to do so in retrospect. I'm not saying HDE was innocent, but the situation was not ideal for him by any means. He did not come back as chairman with cash to invest.
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Spot on. All of it.