itdoesntmatterwhatthissay Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Doing a great job, keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-67 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General, Given some of the absolute tripe written in the press about the mighty Aston Villa in the last few weeks, do you/the Villa Board intend to take any action against any of the papers? Regards, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeps Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Gen, Is this Facebook account in your name legit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 2 relegations in 4 years, Dire football, Birmingham fans glad to see the back of him, please tell us fans that you're not trying to bring this man to our club from the sty. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villadude Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Will there be any announcement today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_Evans Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Dear General I am taking all the manager rumours with a pinch of salt. But please don't assume that all opposition to McLeish would be based on his BCFC connections. My opposition is based on a thought-through, measured view of how football should be played. I have seen with my own eyes (like so many others) Birmingham play some of the worst football played in the Premier League. McLeish would be another MON, a man under whom we would keep crashing our heads against that glass ceiling. I will be there next season whatever happens and will back the Board's judgment when the decision is made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuintonK6 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General, What are your thoughts on the planned protests at VP? I've heard rumours from from the blue half of the city that if these protests go ahead there will be a gangs of there supporters turning up intent on causing violence? Is this concerning to the club or just taken with a pince of salt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steell Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Dear General, I realise that running a football club cannot be a democracy and also that you and the board have been patronised by many of the fans - I don't doubt your intentions for our great club. However, AVFC is not a business it is a sports club who are effectively only in existence to provide entertainment and a structure that allows the fans to support the team that they chose to follow. So, it's not the job of the fans to appoint the manager, agreed, but to imply that Mr Lerner can choose this appointment without regard to the wishes of the fans is to show a complete misunderstanding of the whole history and purpose of our club, and any club. If the board had pushed through McClaren, I think you would have found a minor annoyance with the fans but a willingness to have given him support until such a time as results started to slide. IF you press on with appointing McLeish you'll find that you have made a serious error of judgement which will have irreversible consequences, and the potential legacy of Mr Lerner will be in tatters. This is redeemable General, please see sense and recommend that, on this occasion, the fans instincts are completely valid and should not be ignored. I don't care that he managed BCFC, I really don't, but I do not think he's good enough to take the kind of risk that you're planning on taking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boskos Angel Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Dear General I am very dismayed by the rumours surrounding Mr Mccleish, after last season i expected us to be chasing a manager with a real pedigree (Moyes, Coyle, hughes) and while im am sure everton had been approached at least? I was also excited by the prospect of Martinez who is one of the brightest young prospects. However, how does Mccleish fit the criteria suggested last week? I do not believe that peoples outrage is because of where he is coming from, as if it were Moyes crossing the divide I doubt there would be a single complaint. Aston Villa fans do not enjoy negative football, it does not suit a club of villas stature and we have never won anything playing this way. While I am sure Mr Mccleish deserves an interview surely the board would not employ a manager who relegated the nearest rivals twice? We want to fill Villa Park not have empty seats on the first day! Having said this yesterday i renewed my season ticket for the 11th time and will always support you, Randy, the board and WHOEVER is the manager at the given time. Thank you for reading and everything you and the board have done for the club Lee murray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulver Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Dear General I've just woken up to your comments on the McLeish situation, which I'm led to believe by Mr Fear are genuine. To say I'm dejected and depressed after reading it is an understatement of gigantic proportions. I'm aware by now that you do listen to us supporters on here, even if you don't always take note of supporters feelings. But having read your own thoughts on the whole McLeish fiasco I'm almost lost for words. Only a couple of days ago, the club issued a weak, watery statement claiming we were "working hard to secure the best candidate for Aston Villa who will complement the Club's commitment to be true to our heritage, competitiveness and passionate fan base", which probably embarassed every supporter enough as it was, due to it's meaningless fluff. A few days later we're being linked with a FAILURE who you claim is some sort of respected manager who only FAILED because he had poor backing. I'm absolutely baffled. You also seem to think the enormous anti McLeish outpouring from the Villa faithful is all based on him being a Birmingham manager ... ABSOLUTE NONSENSE! Of all the fellow season ticket holders I've spoken to in the last 2 days (and that's quite a few) less than a handful put that forward as a reason for not wanting him. Alhtough you don't need to be a genius to know what trouble it would bring from all sides, and at a time when tensions between the two clubs is at an all time high. I ask a few simple questions : 1. What has McLeish shown whilst managing in England that could give anyone a glimmer of hope?. His defence is decent i'll grant him that much, but when you play 8-1-1 formation and stiffle you way to bore draws it's hardly surprising is it ? 2. I thought we'd planned to adopt a new style of football with the appointment of Gerard, a more cultured game. Well McLeish is totally the antithesis of that. His teams play caveman football as you and the rest of the board would know if you'd watched his team as much as we all have. 3. I was under the impression we would also be trying to promote our youth throught he ranks seeing as we can no longer compete financially. When has McLeish ever done that ?. He's never been known for bringing through youth at all. 4. I'm getting to the point where I'm worried about the boards ability to attract anyone. If we've really gone though a list of respected managers with pedigree and been rebuffed by them all (based on paper talk), then it stands to reason someone isn't doing their job properly. Who is it?. If a club the size of Aston Villa, cannot attract a high profile manager something must be seriously wrong with our approach strategy or interview process. Is this once again down to having no football men on the board ?. It seems as if our #1 criteria is 'Must be a good bloke who wont cause waves'. Because it's sure not 'must be experienced and respected as a forward thinking, coach and manager'. It's long been a stone thrown at the club that we don't have a football man on the board, and it's never been more glaringly obvious as to why we need one than it is right now. We're either tip toeing around not wanting to upset anyone or acting crazy and enflaming the neighbours. I don't know what's going on from one day to the next. And if we actually aren't doing either and it's just paper talk, then the club need to say something. Because the club are looking smaller and unprofessionally run by the day. The outpouring of groans when Martinez was linked was audible all over the Birmingham area, nice bloke, plays good football - but totally inexperienced at the level we were all told we'd be competing at by now. The vocal outcry at the potential McLeish interest has been heard over the entire country! Supporters should never choose a manager, but on the other hand, it'd be a foolish move to antagonise a supporter base by appointing a man many clearly openly hate. You might as well appoint Trevor Francis to the board. Utterly dejected. Ulver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atalbot01 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General.... Could you please confirm that the quote attributed to you was actually from you... http://tinyurl.com/3n7nx6w Mods... Please dont delete this... it is not directly linked to the Management situation, I would like to hear the Generals views in a safe environment where we know comments attributable to his name are actually his comments. Firstly, I would hope that following previous 'Pigs in Mud' remarks you would not again inflame the relationationship with our neighbours by making derogatory remarks again.... But if these remarks are directly attributable to you, I would like to ask the following: Firstly I (and most people) will accept your comments concerning the fact that you are neither confirming or denying rumours. You state that you are a fan and you understand the fans, what we stand for etc.... if this is the case, you would understand that our objections to the named candidate are fourfold... (1) The fact that he HAS overseen 2 relegation campaigns, despite financial backing from his Club... he continually picked substandard players (Cameron Jerome) despite having proven quality in his squad (Kevin Phillips) (2) His style of football is more akin to Sunday League football... long ball kick and rush football (3) What qualifies Sir Alex to judge a managers ability... has he ever chosen a manager for his club,.....? (4) We as lifetime fans of this club are not missing the point... local rivallry cuts deep amongst both sets of fans, and to take a manager with a track record of relegation rather than success shows that you and the board are the ones missing the point, and are sadly not as close to the culture and fans views as you espouse that you are. If these remarks are not from you, I apologise for the direct nature of my comments and questions... however in a culture of free speech, I would like to take my and offer you your right to reply. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 General could you update us on Season Tickets sales please? I know you usually dont mind doing this but it always interests me at this time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunther Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General. I couldn't give a hoot when the shirt comes out as it's not particularly important! Regards, Blunther Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cjamesk Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 General regardless I'll back the management as I'm a Villa fan first and utmost, but for all the "good intentions" I fear ( in a historical context ) a Bay of Pigs scenario with the appointment of McLeish. For all the thousands of pounds Randy must be spending on "Football Experts" / advisor's I can't fathom why his CV would even be brought forward for consideration, and why a club like Villa can't attract anyone bigger and more successful. His football is dire and a chimpanzee with ADHD could be successful in Scottish Football. To inspire you need confidence and I can't see this appointment being either. UTV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UTVPK Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 General, I know it is not ideal for the need to explain yourself or even confirm our deny that alleged post about AM, but i think it is appropriate, due to the uproar this has caused, along with the managerial search as a whole. Mods - I am not asking if he is to be appointed etc! My opinion is that fans feelings on a new manger should be considered. The issues we have are that the managers we have heard about thus far are not exactly making us jump for joy. Mclaren " very funny" Martinez "meh" Mcleish " lets organise a protest" Not the best three choices. It is said that the club may have banded out letters here and there, but not one manager linked to the villa at the moment matches the supporters ambitions. - we hade had the MON quality for many years. it felt good!. This leads me to think the ambitions of the board are now mid table, push for Europa at the most. Big players want to acheive big things, big managers want to acheive good things, passionate fans want the best for their club. At the moment we have top players that want to leave, a top manager who walked out and now fans that are thinking about not attending games. We hear you talking as a "fan" general, so I hope the whole AM post was a fake. A Villa fan would not utter so much tosh about a gaffer that flirts with relegation and gets a team sent down 2 times in four years. It was mentioned in said post that "imagine what he could do with a board that supported him". Imagine what the club would do if the fans no longer supported the board. I look forward to all of this coming to a head soon, an appointment is needed quickly, regardless. I love my club and I just want the best for it and my fellow supporters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Responding to your message about not letting the fans picking the manager. Of course not, but the fans in this instance have a lot more knowledge to the game compared to you guys. And when this happens, this violent level of dismay - it should be a clear indication that you are making a huge, huge mistake at board level, once again. You failed miserably the last time, and this time you are forking out people two levels under Houllier. The man has no pull when it comes to acquiring the right players (because he has never worked with any good players), he has relegated twice with a team good enough to stay up and he plays horrible football. He is known for his defensive and boring style of football, so how come you are interested? In the end of the end, the fans that matters (economically) are the ones that needs to be pursuaded to come to Villa Park. I was there once last season, even though I do not live in the country, but do not expect people like me to make an effort to go over when the team is uninspiring. Appointing Alex McLeish is like saying you want to have 32.000 people on the ground, how is that for financial planning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerbob Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General I detest the pooh across the City as much as the next Villa fan but if the board think the Mcleish is the right man you must ignore the fans as we dont have all the facts. We must let the board manage this not the French Revolution were the crowd rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil. Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General, I know that you, Randy and Paul Faulkner all have the best interests of the club at heart. Randy has spent huge amounts of money on the club since he joined and his commitment cannot be doubted. My worry is, with the amount of money he has spent we seem to have gone nowhere and are back to square one again. If any other club had spent as much money as he had i believe they would be challenging for the Champions League. My point being, do you think that it would be of benefit to the club to appoint somebody with a bit more experience in handling situations like the current one we find ourselves in? Personally if we are in for the likes of Alex Mcleish then somebody at Villa isnt doing their job properly and all the money that Randy has spent is going to go down the drain because we are either going to stand still or go backwards with somebody like Mcleish in charge. I cling onto the hope that the club is working on somebody considerably better than Mcleish but at the moment it really doesnt look like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiganvillain Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Sir, If as is alleged, PMs from you to people are being posted willy nilly on websites I'd completely understand you leaving these forums for good. I'd hope you don't but fully support your action (or lack of it) if you did Nil Illigitimi Carborundum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisNichollsToe Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hi General, Hopefully, you can clear something up here. Some people think the below comment was from you on Facebook, though it was quickly withdrawn. Could you tell us whether you wrote this, or not? "Richard, you know I am not going to tell you anything. I will say that the uproar over McLeish is absolutely uncalled for....he certainly has proved he can manage in the big leagues...just imagine what he could do if he was with an owner who supported him." "First off, NO ONE is confirming a rumor...I am just stating a belief. You all cling to the fact that he has seen his lads relegated twice...well, the first time he was not with the Club long enough to make much of a difference. Secondly, ...look at the owners he has worked for and their support of him monetarily. Then look at Randy and what he provides to his Managers. Third, look at his record with other Clubs...as a Manager and player. Check with Sir Alex and ask him about the man...you will get an entirely different sense. All I am saying is that the fact that he managed BCFC should not be the driving factor. Those fans who X the man out because he managed our biggest rival just seem to miss the point. YES, Randy and the Board understand the feeliings of the Fans...we are neither deaf nor blind. At the same time, whether it would be this man or any other, we need to do what we think is right for the Club. NO action is taken without HUGE input from many knowledgeable people. Honest to goodness, if a single man can cause all the fans to abandon ship, that is a sad state of affairs. What you are basically saying is, "Randy, let us pick the Manager...we know more than you, those who are advising you, those who are in the game and know the individuals, those who make a living recommending managers and players, etc. etc" Sorry, that just doesn't seem right to me. Again, I am not confirming the rumor...just simply stating my feelings...as a FAN!!!!!!!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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