Popular Post blandy Posted January 17, 2016 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted January 17, 2016 6 hours ago, Richard said: Tell me Pete , what do you think the raison d'etre of AVFC should be? If we were putting together a mission statement (to use corporate language that consultants may love) what would it be ? I was kind of hoping you'd answer the question I asked first - "Genuine question - what do you think the "culture" [of the club] is?" On your question, I'm pretty much the last person to be putting together a "mission statement", as I mostly consider them to be complete and utter bollex. But like I've said multiple times over the years that what I want from Villa is for the club to be the best it can be, and do the best it can do within the resources available. I've never demanded owners or others put money in (though taking money out gets my goat, but Ellis has gone). So really I just want everyone to do their best, to behave honourably, use their abilities in whatever field they operate in to make the club be the best it can be. Personally that includes things which are not going to happen - sane ticket prices, for example. I think the club should respect the local population, former players and workers, supporters and opponents and be a "good example" of sporting behaviour and conduct. In some ways the little things matter as much as the big things. Ashley Young being a diving git never went down well (to use a pun) with most of our fans (let alone opponents). Alan Hutton's ludicrous assaults from time to time - ditto. The club is for the supporters and the players and it should do everything possible to make us proud (and by the way, supporters also have a responsibility to also behave to the same ethos, in my book). If you really pushed me, I'd (for a ridiculous fee) suggest the "mission statement" should be "Prepared". 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: Who is the other chap? Not sure of his name but he came 2nd in the 2.30 at Doncaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Richard Posted January 17, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted January 17, 2016 1 hour ago, blandy said: I was kind of hoping you'd answer the question I asked first - "Genuine question - what do you think the "culture" [of the club] is?" Yes , I avoided answering that as to be honest I dont know, I'm not sure anyone knows and I think that is part of the problem. We have some intelligent, thoughtful fans and former employees of this club that I think would be highly motivated to help the club if those running would be willing to listen. This is another part of the problem. I dont think they are prepared to listen. I think that they are arrogant in actually thinking they have the correct solution and will continue to pursue it even though it has failed. They will carry on banging the same drum that has brought us to this position not accepting they could be wrong, or that there are people worth listening to. Lots of people have said the thing that gave us the biggest problem was the rise of Man Citeh. I think quite the opposite. The thing that has caused us the greatest problem IMO is not the rise of the money clubs, but the rise of the "smaller"clubs. The rise of Southampton and how they conducted business , developing younger players and selling for a lot, has actually been the biggest factor for us. Closely followed by Palace, Swansea and latterly Leicester have been a huge problem for us as I believe those running our club have seen that and tried to use that same template at Villa. I dont have an issue with that but they tried to impose the template without any substance. Tried to use it with nothing to build on. It's like your mate has windows on his pc so you go to the files try and copy it to use on your own pc. It wont work. You have the template but there is no coding for it to work. We have no identity as a club, none whatsoever. Those running it do not, IMO, have the first idea of the industry in which the business is operating. They have tried to implement a solution without laying the groundwork for that solution to be a success . And as we have continued failure and stumble from one chaos to the next they do not understand why it is failing and just continue to try and implement it. There is nothing there at the club and that is a big big worry because there needs to be, and quick or else we are going further down. Under Ellis we had an identity. Maybe people did not like it or agree with it but we knew what we were and worked to it. He never invested to go beyond and restricted what we could have been but we had an identity. Under Lerner I couldn't tell you what we stand for. Proud History Bright Future was the strapline used. Fine, tell me what the bright future is, what we stand for and how you are going to achieve it. he never has. Part of that is because I dont think he ever knew. It was mostly superficial I think. I suspect he came in thought he could make an initial investment in a business that was underachieving and could achieve more and that it would be easy. There was never any detail, or clarity on the journey. Just come in spend a bit it will be easy and then sit back and wait for the success. Largely he had a manager that he could rely on for that but he left and his managerial apppintments since have not been able to as he has tried to be more involved , restricted the investment but still without the clear identity. What does Aston Villa stand for? What does it mean? We can't answer that as fans and how bad is that? The employees and those charged with running it cant answer it either and they need to be able to. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morley_crosses_to_Withe Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) We had an identity under Ellis. LOL. Our identity under Ellis was that of a club who'd fallen from the very top, who never ever restored ourselves to where we should have been. A club who could have been massive, but never was. A club who had sporadic periods of doing better, but still a world away from where we could have been. Holloway was right: we're a half arsed club who used to be famous. That identity was set by Ellis and it start still prevails today. Edited January 17, 2016 by Morley_crosses_to_Withe 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 He's the chairman. Or is he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 If it genuinely means very limited involvement from Lerner than I'd even be happy if Gordon the Gopher was the chairman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blasterpocket68 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 He is a bean counter come to cut costs , a puppet for Learner he will have no real authority, other than to reduce the costs of running the club in the championship. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 I'm a bean counter and we aren't all about cutting costs. My role in my company is to squeeze the best out of the resources we have and find ways of increasing that revenue base through synergies, new avenues for revenue generating and exploring new markets. Obviously there are far more people than me involved in my business but I am a senior person and over the 5 years our revenue has doubled and our employees have almost doubled. You squeeze the resources you have , re-invest and just just keep growing. Bean counters always get the bad rub of the green in terms of "come to cut costs" which is not true, we get value for money from the cost some of us use that to generate more. I'm not defending him, I'm defending the argument that because he's a bean counter he obviously wont benefit Villa and will continue to cut costs. I'm pretty sure that if I was put in his role, with my background you would say the same about me but if you talk to anybody that knows me I'm all about growth, expansion and improvement. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted January 18, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted January 18, 2016 Credit where it is due: We haven't lost while Hollis has been appointed. (yes, massively tongue-in-cheek) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted January 18, 2016 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2016 We haven't signed any players either... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted January 18, 2016 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2016 13 hours ago, Richard said: .They have tried to implement a solution without laying the groundwork for that solution to be a success . And as we have continued failure and stumble from one chaos to the next they do not understand why it is failing and just continue to try and implement it.....Under Lerner I couldn't tell you what we stand for. Proud History Bright Future was the strapline used. Fine, tell me what the bright future is, what we stand for and how you are going to achieve it. he never has. Part of that is because I dont think he ever knew. It was mostly superficial I think. The bit quoted I completely agree with. I I hadn't really thought of it like that before, but seeing it written down - spot on. He's always had, I think the best intentions and not the slightest clue as to how to make it work. The absence of (apart from very early on) of people who know what they're doing and the refusal to listen to or appoint knowledgeable staff has been an absolute killer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 19 hours ago, TRO said: If we had of had that on the field since august we might not be where we are now. I know what you mean, but don't under value hard work and great attitude. You clearly don't "know what I mean". Of course hard work and attitude are great attributes, but 1) Hollis is using the words as code for "minimal investment" and 2) every single team would hope to display these traits but Hollis gives no blueprint around how he will outperform the pack ( inside info: he won't) please don't buy into this garbage - we will need far far far more than buzzwords and platitudes to succeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 I think you guys are over-stating what a Chairman (or any board member) actually does. They normally sit on multiple companies at once (Hollis is now on 3 at last count), and their job is basically to make sure the CEO is doing his job properly and that the owner's investment is being protected. I'd be amazed if he was at Villa Park more than a few days a month. Day to day running, finances, transfers, staff etc etc... this will all be going through Tom Fox. Hollis will be doing little more than the odd mission statement, shareholder meeting and rubber stamping of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 26 minutes ago, mwj said: I think you guys are over-stating what a Chairman (or any board member) actually does. They normally sit on multiple companies at once (Hollis is now on 3 at last count), and their job is basically to make sure the CEO is doing his job properly and that the owner's investment is being protected. I'd be amazed if he was at Villa Park more than a few days a month. Day to day running, finances, transfers, staff etc etc... this will all be going through Tom Fox. Hollis will be doing little more than the odd mission statement, shareholder meeting and rubber stamping of stuff. I think you're describing directorships rather than chairmanships however I broadly agree. I don't think people are over-reacting, they are mostly using the thread as a vehicle to point out the sturcutural flaws which have developed within the club under Lerners "stewardship". My opinion is the Hollis is just window dressing; a cardboard cut-out bought in to stand in for an absent owner. It is very unlikely that he will have any positive impact at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 39 minutes ago, mwj said: I think you guys are over-stating what a Chairman (or any board member) actually does. They normally sit on multiple companies at once (Hollis is now on 3 at last count), and their job is basically to make sure the CEO is doing his job properly and that the owner's investment is being protected. I'd be amazed if he was at Villa Park more than a few days a month. Day to day running, finances, transfers, staff etc etc... this will all be going through Tom Fox. Hollis will be doing little more than the odd mission statement, shareholder meeting and rubber stamping of stuff. Int wresting how he intends to "shake it up" then isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 8 minutes ago, VillaCas said: I think you're describing directorships rather than chairmanships however I broadly agree. I don't think people are over-reacting, they are mostly using the thread as a vehicle to point out the sturcutural flaws which have developed within the club under Lerners "stewardship". My opinion is the Hollis is just window dressing; a cardboard cut-out bought in to stand in for an absent owner. It is very unlikely that he will have any positive impact at all I said over-stating, not over-reacting but agree with you 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 For my business I have to 're-bean-count' every 2 years or so because of constant changes in the market. I can imagine that football is no different but dwarfs my modest baby in not only finances but also in capacity. But IF RL lays out a brief of "do the best you can with what you have but dont come asking for monies from me - and by the way, save as much money as you can so I can lower my selling price step by step till this "liability" is sold" Then SH will direct his aims at that objective. I think we can only hope that till he succeeds and the club is sold we havent dropped too many leagues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Just now, Richard said: Int wresting how he intends to "shake it up" then isn't it? Not really. He probably used a email template he still had from his KPMG days... <insert company here> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 (edited) 4 minutes ago, mwj said: Not really. He probably used a email template he still had from his KPMG days... <insert company here> Isn't that unwise given that it was his first statement on the back of a high profile role at a very media and public focused company which does depend a lot on the public in order for it to have a successful business? oh and by the way he didn't use a template from his KPMG days Edited January 18, 2016 by Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwj Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Just now, Richard said: Isn't that unwise given that it was his first statement on the back of a high profile role at a very media and public focused company which does depend a lot on the public in order for it to have a successful business? How was it unwise? He's just paying a little lip-service to the fans. He doesn't need to impress shareholders or the wider stockmarket. The only person who's opinion he should be worried about is Randy's (as his boss). I imagine Randy would also have issued him some equity, just to make sure their interests are aligned (and I imagine Hollis is no fool and made sure he got some). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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