The General's thread - do not respond to other posts!

[thegiddygambler]

General would you consider informing Sky Sports News on the day you plan to post? It's just that I regularly come on here to see if you've posted but you usually haven't. I watch Sky Sports regularly and if they could put a "Sky Sports BREAKING NEWS C. Krulak returns" banner across screen I could then just stop coming on here to look and could find out from Sky Sports News instead.

[Dodgyknees]

One of the posts above just made me laugh, a lot!

Which one made you laugh general?

[steaknchips]

Looks like Aston Villa and us fans have now become somewhat on the back burner since your new job in Birmingham, Alabama.. I notice you have plenty of time on facebook talking to the students..

Last activity on to Villatalk = 3 weeks ago.

Last activity on to facebook = Yesterday.

If you have no interest in Aston Villa or its fans, or just cant be bothered to use the fans forums anymore. Why not have the courtesy to just pop in and say so? Or at least PM a mod to close the thread down...Instead of having loyal fans just writing on this thread making fools of themselves?

Are you interested in the club and its fans on this site? Or not?

[Pilchard]

With our illustrious manager only two days ago saying he wasn't selling any more players as we needed to keep experience in the squad now admitting Luke Young is in talks with QPR the question has to be asked:

1. Who is making the decisions on whether to sell someone at the football club

2. When will this fire sale, which is negatively effecting AVFC, going to end? Are we near the point where we don't have to continue this panic over trying to get players off the wage bill?

3. If we are still having to sell players, because the people in charge of the football club cannot run it in a way to be able to sustain a normal sized squad of players, is it not better for the good of the club and it's supporters to have someone in charge who is capable of such a thing?

Not expecting a reply, mind.

[ChrisNichollsToe]

General,

On top of Faulkners letter telling him how disapointed he was that my 12 year old has not renewed, he is now recieving phone calls from the club!!!

What is the law in this country, about pestering children for money?

If that does not piss me off, my experience of tuesday did it for me.

Firstly, we were told that their were only four seats left together in one section of the ground, the family stand.

Suprising that when we got there, there were literally thousands of empty seats left, all rows of them.

When i buy i ticket general, i want to sit where i wish to sit, and not where some ticket office staff wants me to. You see General, we go home and away, week in and week out, and dispite my 12 year old not having a season ticket anymore, our loyalty is unquestionble, dispite what your lapdog faulkner says.

But it did not end there......

My eldest son queued for a bottle of beer, and only got to the front of the queue as the second half kicked off. He was then refused to be served because of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ive now decided that you won't see me at our home games for the rest of the season. Im reigning in my expenditure on the club, and will be concentrating on the away games, where we are appreciated and treated better......

That is all

[Dodgyknees]

General, do you look at clubs such as Crawley and wish we had their spending power?

[steve-67]

General,

I am aware that we are not normally allowed to ask about transfers but I'd like to know whether Mr McLeish will "be backed" before the close of the window next Wednesday?

Luke Young said to be set for QPR, Andreas Wiesmann off on loan, hopefully picking up his wages or paying us a loan fee. How many more out before the board realises that we will get injuries, suspensions, dummies thrown out of prams etc?

Can you also confirm if Villa will receive any money if Gary Cahill is sold by Bolton please?

[VILLAFC2000]

General,

Where are you....?

Hope your OK and its nothing serious. It would be great to have you back on the boards.

Keep the Faith

[DeepDish]

Any comments on the attendance today?

I think 30 000 is about the right number to expect on this day, but I think that with some serious money spent on players you could get the numbers up toward the 36-38 000 mark.

Keep selling players and not improving the squad, I can see mid 20 000 attendance next season.

[TrentVilla]

Hi General,

Just curious on your thoughts about the attendance today, just 30k for our second home game of the season and a local derby. Surely this must be a huge concern to the club? We've been told that we have sold around 20k season tickets which means that taking into account the away fans we've managed to only sell around 7-8k of match tickets. I know it was on tv General but 12k empty seats is down to more than just tv.

We've been told the wage bill needs reducing to be more in line with revenue, well we've reduced the wage bill a great deal this summer and it seems the fans are voting with their feet. I'd like to know if the likely reduction in revenue this will bring will mean the wage bill needs to be reduced yet further?

It is very hard to see a way forward at the moment it just seems the club is going backwards both on and off the pitch.

Not expecting a reply but thought I'd ask.

[markavfc40]

Just back from Villa Park General. Simple question for you can you tell me when we last had 30k for a league game? I said after the Blackburn game,and another very poor attendance, that the club are reaping what they sow and they certainly are wouldn't you agree.

Breaks my heart to see such poor support and although I have again stuck by the club myself I can fully understand why thousands of others haven't.

Your are dealing McLeish a very poor hand to work with and its shocking to think that you claimed he would be backed.

Mark

[steaknchips]

General, do you think McLeish is good enough?..He seems too defensive and not creative enough as a manager.. Im not gonna blame lack of signings for low attendances,dont you think we have enough quality in the squad to turn over Wolves at home? or at least give them a game? We seem to lack courage, we seem to lack a side playing to win.. Do the board have themselves to blame for 30k attendence at home in a local derby, with this style of football? Will the attendence become less and less as the season progresses? Does it matter who the board allow McLeish to sign, when we play in this style? 24m on Darren Bent is a shame...10m on N'Zogbia is another shame.. Did the board do their homework before appointing this manager because Villa do not look a top club under him...We seem to play very much like Birmingham City did last season and no matter who we sign, maybe it wont change..

Should the board watch the teams play under the said manager before employing them to take on the role as our manager? Because the style rarely changes from club to club with how manger's set up their teams. Its like Fergie at Aberdeen, he set the team up to win, regardless of who they had signed at the time...And now at Man U he is still that same guy..A born winner..

Poyet at Brighton, he isnt in the championship to "just take part" even though 1/2 the teams in that league are better on paper...He will still try and promote them..And we too maybe needed a manager that would "still try to get us into Europe" and win games..We dont seem to have that in McLeish...Or at least I certainly dont see Aston Villa going into games trying to win under his managerial guidance..

[vazquez]

* "We will finish 4th" maybe you ment 14th?

* "Manager will be backed" We have replaced Downing with cheaper option and bought goalkeeper to replace our previous number 1. Is that backing or did you mean that when angry fans ask McLeish to be sacked then you back him? Is it backing that you have got rid of about 10 players and still manager needs to sell before he can purchase? Is it backing that there is 4 days left in the window and you haven't made the money available?

We haven't lost but we have played against three very average teams in Wolves, Blackburn and Fulham. And the performance has been poor, just HOOF it up and hope that Bent can rescue us. We are going to fight for the relegation with this team, manager and directors.

Now the wage bill is something like 60% from last season, have you made similar saves in the non-playing staff (Faulkner, Lerner and other directors), thought not.

[GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS]

Hello General

I do not want to get into the childish bickering/insults which have begun to come from some members, but I do have a question which I think needs to be answered in order to end this growing feeling of frustration which is building up amongst most of the fans.

Last season I think you will agree was something of a disaster. We as a club slipped from being a top 6 side to one which flirted with relegation pretty much all season long. To quote the fact that we finished 9th is a bit naïve as lets be honest, it took some freak results on the last day to get us there and realistically we deserved to be nearer 15th.

Now if I recall correctly you said that yourself, Randy and the rest of the board were extremely disappointed with last season and measures would be taken to make sure that it didn’t happen again. Can I ask what these measures were and whether they have actually been made? I ask because so far I have seen the following:

We have sold our two best senior players: Ashley Young & Downing.

We have released/loan expired four first team players: Friedel, Reo Coker, Walker & Luke Young.

We have sold/released/loan expired on numerous squad players: Carew, Bradley, Pires, Hogg, Osbourne, Salifou.

We have replaced a manager who spent the last season teaching the team to play a possession based, passing game with a manager who has no history of managing teams playing this style.

Out of those players that have left we have only replaced like-for-like quality in the goalkeeping department. Charles N’Zogbia is a welcome addition but is not as good a player as Ashley Young nor Stuart Downing.

We are having to utilise Stephen Ireland, a player that last season was deemed not good enough for the first team squad.

We have done nothing about known trouble makers such as Richard Dunne, James Collins and Stephen Warnock. The latter in fact now been given another chance.

Now I can accept that we have a new manager (for better or worse) and that he is entitled to reassess the squad and use players that may have not been previously in favour. But no matter how good Alex McLeish turns out to be, I cannot see him being able to perform better than Gerard Houllier with a side that over the course of the summer has become significantly weaker.

I appreciate that player wages are too high and need to be brought under control. But I put to you that it is the fault of the board that they were left to spiral out of control in the first place and that the method you are employing to bring them down is too severe. Enforcing a one-in-one-out policy on a side who have lost so many quality players with only a few replacements coming in is surely suicidal.

The Chairman is ultimately at fault for this situation and, with the greatest of respect, he must for the sake of the club take the hit until the players with huge salaries are out of contract. If not he risks wasting all the great work he has done so far in re-establishing Aston Villa as a force in the Premier League.

[tomav84]

General

are the purse strings really that tight that the so-called free tea/coffee to season ticket holders is only available when buying more than one? Incredibly petty moan I know, but when one queues up only to find this out when getting to the kiosk the good deed quickly becomes an inconvenience and actually backs up the total lack of investment this summer when the board wont even give a free brew to those that renewed without getting some more money first. Oh and a crafty one regarding the away travel discount being only on cup games...bet you are all praying for home draws all the way through arnt you so that these vouchers will all be useless? These were almost a nice touch too but the small print represents the state of the club's finances. Shame.

[Robbie09]

Hi General

First time post to you, I have been a season ticket holder for the last 42 years since the age of 4 and now attend with my 2 lads. I consider myself dedicated in my support yet level headed in my expectations and accept that the landscape has changed in the last couple of seasons with the influx of money at certain clubs.

Despite the events over the last 2 or 3 months or so I have tried my hardest to muster enthusiasm for this season. I'm not going to go over old ground about the appointment of the manager and the selling of our better players but today summed up the apathy around the club. Never did I imagine that the crowd for a local derby would be lower than that of a game against Blackburn. You can come up excuses for this but the truth is that a lot of fans have lost faith in the board.

Out of 20 friends that were season ticket holders last season less than half have renewed and most of these were STH for more than 15 years. Demographically they represent an average cross section and none of them cite financial reasons for not renewing.

I have always supported Mr Lerner and defended him when unfair criticism has been levelled his way. I can accept the need to be more prudent but what irks me most is the lack of communication from the board. Yes we have received letters from Mr Lerner and Faulkner; but sorry they cut no ice with me. That approach certainly doesn't make me feel I'm a valued customer, more like it's a half hearted response borne out of necessity to try and appease us. I feel that supporters' loyalty is now being taken for granted. I'm inclined to understand why some supporters view the silence from the board as being an insult to the fans.

General my enthusiasm is diminishing, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. No doubt I'll continue to cough up £1000 on season tickets and £1000's more on merchandise, away tickets etc but what are the board going to do to try and entice the missing thousands back to Villa Park whilst at the same time instil confidence in me that my support is not being taken for granted.

Thanks for reading this and hope to hear from you sometime soon.

[jacketspuds]

Hi General, I see that AMC promised L. Young a return to London if a financially suitable deal came up.

Did he make any sort of promise to Habib Beye should someone offer 4 Desperado's and a Kebab?

[Brumstopdogs]

30k for a home derby. If you have any doubt as to why that may be (just incase you're still interested):

Lack of communication from the Board (you being a prime example - one minute you say you'll be on here once a week and then you disappear without the courtesy of letting us know why!)

Lack of investment in the playing squad.

Lack of any visible strategic direction.

Failure to listen to fans with the managerial apppointment.

Lack of any financial controls until it is too late.

Not an impressive list is it?

Lerner/Krulak and the Board out.

[R.I.C.O.]

General

Not a bad point today, we game it our best but it just wasnt enough.

Most Villa fans I have spoken to are prepared to give the new man time, and we make small progress. At least we look hard to beat now, unlike the craven way we played under Houllier. Although the atmosphere is far from ugly, 10k empty seats is not good.

Where are you?

[VillaRoy]

We are being compared as equals to teams like Wolves by many pundits now, and its easy to see why, while many people believe teams such as Stoke, Fulham and co should finish higher than us. Do you think our stock as a competitive football club been lowered considerably? I think a lot of the fans think this and in many ways it is quite easy to see. We only have Bent, Gabi, N'Zogbia, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Ireland, Heskey, Beye, Petrov, Given, Makoun, Cuellar on our books that are actually experienced, debatably proven players. Thats 13 players, the rest are youngsters, who for the most part are still unproven. 2 of those players, Beye and Ireland literally never seem to play also. As it is with these fit, we look destined for mid table. Don't you think a couple of injuries could seriously put us in the trash this season? Or are the board ready to accept mid table or lower finishes?

Also, the communication between fans has been shocking the past month. Riots have shrouded Birmingham, preseason ended, attendance has fallen, players have left the club and we are 4 games into a new season of football. All this has happened since there was last communication.