Black Monday or Good Friday?

[Bazdavies79]

If you are looking for a COMPLETE denial, you have got it!! Randy will support MON...simple as that.

Excellent response. Legend.

[villacross]

General Krulak - That is exactly the response that I wanted. But please try not to subjugate my argument as having no intellectual rigour. Any opinions or assumptions, I qualified as such andif not apparent to the reader, I apologise. However, the financial data contrasting Aston Villa's football staff spend -v- other Prem clubs was on public record until Randy Lerner's acquisition last year.. Current comparisons therefore have to be conjectural; there is no alternative. We now never hear or see anything officially from the Club about any finances (which is your prerogative). I am surprised to hear that Richard's comments were outside his remit. Perhaps it would have been wise to correct or qualify them immediately they became news instead of allowing the cynics to turn them back on the Club, as they have in the last month or so. As Chief Executive Officer , what else is outside Richard's remit?

Incidently MON stated last season (I believe it was on the AVFC website) "I expect to be challenging for European football next season (or something similar, meaning Prem. League, Top6 or 7). So how doeas this "sit" with your time-frame of expectations? I felt at the time, that it was perhaps a little cavalier, if not foolish. I don't think any sensible fan has ever expected to see European football at Villa Park for at least 3, possibly 4 or 5 seasons. It must take time, as you have said. More important it must be enduring, not just a "flash-in-the pan". And to now have your denial that there is no "cap" on wages and Martin has got the Board's 100% backing on any aquisitions he may need - that is good enough for me. Thank you General. UP THE VILLA

[smokingzen]

What people seem to have neglected in this thread is that there was also a statement made last year (by MoN i think, the General might wish to correct me) about how we wanted to redevelop the wage structure of the club and take the emphasis away from the basic wage and put more emphasis on performance based bonuses. In my opinion i think this is the way forward and a very real and powerful way to motivate players to really put in 100% effort, day in day out, week in week out. We have had too many highly paid players who have seemed content to sit on the bench or play in the reserves and pick up their big fat cheque every week. Lets make the players earn their money.

[HolteExile]

General Krulak here:

1. Not even sure how to respond to this post...a post without any intellectual rigor or basis behind it. A post that regurgitates Richard Fitzgerald's comment that has been discussed by myself no less than 20 times...a comment that was NOT the Club's position and NOT one that even falls within his remit. A post that presupposes that Randy Lerner has put a "cap" on expenses for players and for the Club. If you are looking for a COMPLETE denial, you have got it!! Randy will support MON...simple as that. Let's face it, MON is in the best position to know what he needs for his Squad (now and for the future). He has scouts that also know what he wants and are out there doing their jobs. He knows he has an owner that will support him. Neither Randy, MON or I have ever said that one year after taking over the Club we would be challenging ManU day in and day out. We are not there yet...BUT, that IS the goal and we WILL get there! BUT, we will get there in a timeframe that makes sense...and that will be lasting.

I think thats the potential danger with articles like the one posted on the frontpage. I do have some sympathy with VC's position. Exasperating is one word that could come close to describing MON's transfer dealings to date this summer.

Don't get me wrong, the situation is far from hopeless. I think most observers felt we needed around four quality additions to the side primarily in these positions: GK, RB, Midfield and RM/forward. With Carson and Reo Coker we are halfway there. The kudos from signing a goalkeeper for a British record fee (Gordon) would have been nice, but reading between the lines it looks like MON was always waiting on Carson. I have my doubts about NRC but thus far he potentially looks like the midfield general that we've been crying out for years.

Harewood? I'm not going to go there, but he along with the other two are MON's choices.

In much the same way that it's MON's choice to keep his powder dry for most of this transfer window. And thats thats the issue for me. None of this is indicative of a board not backing the manager or setting restrictive uncompetitive wage limits et.c. Much as I respect the General and FitzGerald and value their contribution to date they are not, in truth, football people. As such FitzGeralds comments about World Class signings that have generated so much milage probably miss the point. For the board it's probably a case of "Martin wants this player -ergo he must be World Class".

Thats the level of trust they have in him. I doubt for that FG and the General with the greatest will in the world know the difference between a Harewood or a Defoe/ Yakubu for example. Thats MON's domain.

On every occasion they (the board) have been questioned they have so far produced the goods, be it the Petrov signing, money during the last transfer window, the Holte Hotel... and so on.

And so the danger for me is that we as supporters appear ungrateful. I'm not singling out VillaCross in this issue. But the drip drip effect of that and similar largely unfounded criticism directed towards our board (as can be viewed in the General's thread) displays no obvious advantage to me.

[villacross]

HoltExile- I tink you have missed the point. My sole purpose in putting forward this post was to push for clarification as to whether or not the Club was being still managed on a controlled expenditure basis. And as more than 60% of virtually all Prem Clubs expenditure is player wages, this would be the main area of control if such strictures were in place by Randy & Co. You have seen the General's reply and clearly no such barried exists. MON is free to buy and sell who he wants for any price! That'll do me, we can;t expect any more from the owner - it's now down to O'Neill, it seems to me that he is in the unique position over all other UK managers of having sole responsibility for player acquisitions regardless of price.

[OutByEaster?]

Surely we already knew that, the General has mentioned it several times in the past, Richard Fitzgerald has I'm sure mentioned it at some point. I'm not sure of your reasons for bringing it up and I'm not sure we've learned anything new.

Still, congratulations to you for putting the point so well and getting the formal response that you needed.

[ElAvila]

Hahaha the General gave it to him good..no intellectual rigor...I love that. I said the article was junk from the beginning and they posted it front page. I'd be upset if I were the General too. The article was lacking FACTS and that much was obvious, which of course made me wonder how it was even posted frontpage in the first place.

No worries General, I'm with you on this one, I'm 110% positive MON will get the players he wants and the players WE need. Cheers, UP THE VILLA.

[Jez]

Hahaha the General gave it to him good..no intellectual rigor...I love that. I said the article was junk from the beginning and they posted it front page. I'd be upset if I were the General too. The article was lacking FACTS and that much was obvious, which of course made me wonder how it was even posted frontpage in the first place.

No worries General, I'm with you on this one, I'm 110% positive MON will get the players he wants and the players WE need. Cheers, UP THE VILLA.

Was the original article writer not allowed an opinion? Or do we all have to have the same one?

[peterms]

Hahaha the General gave it to him good..no intellectual rigor...I love that. I said the article was junk from the beginning and they posted it front page. I'd be upset if I were the General too. The article was lacking FACTS and that much was obvious, which of course made me wonder how it was even posted frontpage in the first place.

No worries General, I'm with you on this one, I'm 110% positive MON will get the players he wants and the players WE need. Cheers, UP THE VILLA.

So front page articles need to be factual? Hmmm, rather cuts down the scope, don't you think?

I think it was posted front page because it was cogent, tackled some current ssues of concern, and wasn't a slagging. Just my opinion.

It's good to hear the clear backing of MON. That won't end the concerns, though my view is the concerns are overstated.

[bickster]

what Peter said - who said factual was part of the process, well written and well presented, yes thats important but factual - bugger me lets give up on posting, factual rarely happens

[prmort]

Its going to take many years of development (at the present pace) before we get anywhere near the standard of player who is going to command (deserve)wages in excess what GB is said to be on now.

My concern is totally pointed towards the ability of MON to attract players of any description. We cannot even sign a Scottish keeper for 3 times his worth. I am sick and tired of hearing MON stating that he is bringing quality not quantity. A couple of injuries and suspensions and i think he may wish for a bit of quantity. And as for signing quality...... can anyone tell me when MH became a quality player.

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

Villacross: Fair play. I think we are basically on the same sheet of music and absolutely want the same thing. Let there be NO doubt, Randy wants a winner...and will do what needs to be done to get that winner. At the same time, he will not "micro-manage" his Manager...for all the obvious reasons. Re. Richard Fitzgerald: All who read my thread know that immediately after his statment became an issue, I was on the thread making sure that everyone knew that Player selection was not Richard's remit. There was no hesitation...no sugar-coating. Richard's primary task...and one that he is doing extremely well...is to assist in making Aston Villa a world-wide brand. Everything from the deal with Nike to the LED Boards to other key relationships that you all will see in the future are the result of Richard's hard work and Sporting/Marketing expertise. He is doing exactly what Randy wants him to do. Does he wish he never made his "famous" comment...absolutely! But it has been explained by me on multiple occasions and at some point we need to stop "hanging our hats" on it.

[peterms]

General Krulak here:

Randy wants a winner...and will do what needs to be done to get that winner. At the same time, he will not "micro-manage" his Manager...

Contrast this with the threatening approach of Tottenham's chair, with his undermining and destructive ultimatums. Who would you rather work for?

Does he wish he never made his "famous" comment...absolutely! But it has been explained by me on multiple occasions and at some point we need to stop "hanging our hats" on it.

Maybe it's the long summer and the relative lack of activity that's led to this, but the absurd degree of textual analysis of every utterance coming out of VP is beyond a joke. It's like Life of Brian, but without the wit. If people can't say anything without every word being quoted back to them hundreds of times, they will increasingly become reluctant to say anything. That's in no-one's interest.

[villacross]

General Krulak. We fans have waited more than two decades for someone like Randy Lerner to take the reins at VP (metaphorically speaking). Neither I, nor I believe, does any other fan wish to embarrass or undermine anyone at the Club. I just guess we become suspicious when we sometimes take too much notice of what we read in the press, we add “2 + 2” and get 5. At the time of writing my piece, I had no knowledge of the previous “lineage” on the “big-signings” topic otherwise I would not have raised it again. My main focus was simply on whether or not the HDE wage cap was still in existence. Your answer was unequivocal and very refreshing.