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

[Fuse]

General,

I know all the fans want Randy to come out and tell us what is going on and his plan going forward but I respect that telling the world what our strategy is probably doesn;t make good business sense. I think I can see what the club is trying which is to focus on developing our own talent and add the odd gem such as a Darren Bent. The days of spending £5m on an Sidwell or £10m on a Curtis Davies who contribute nothing means we should look at other ways of skinning the cat. IF we save our money for bigger purchases such as Bent to add to our young players then I think that is a far better strategy anyway - key is if we do add when the time is right.

I think AM needs to review what we have and we need to give the youngsters a chance to become first team players, we will never do this if we feel compelled to have to play someone we bought for big money even if they don't add to much. If we also end up with 5-6 homegrown players in teh teaqm not only will they naturally be more loyal to Villa than ones we have bought in (potentially avoiding a Downing type turncost situation) but alos it makes the club more attractive to parents who need to decide which club to send their youngsters to. SO I think I see the method in the madness.

What I would say is that I think it would not do any harm if Randy did come out and reaffirm his love, commitment to Villa and that he is still fully behind getting us to the top. I personally don't mind us trying a different method to the MON days but we do need to let the fans know that it is going to be a slow process

[Richard]

General given the euphoria that met Randy's purchase of Villa 5 years ago did you ever imagine there would come a time when a poll asking fans whether they approved of his ownership would see a near 50:50 split of those in favoue against those who disapprove?

[markavfc40]

General,

Is the reasoning behind having gone in for Martinez and subsequently employing McLeish that we were looking for a manager with experience in battling relegation? Martinez had been in a couple of succesful battles with Wigan but its a little concerning that McLeish lost the fights in his two battles against the drop.

With your fans hat on General if you were to place a bet where would you put it on us finishing this season?

Regards

Mark

[irreverentad]

Hi General,

I think part of the discord is that the fans really want to hear some reassurance from Randy about the future. I think Randy is great and I would not want any other owner in charge BUT sometimes he needs to give the fans something to cling to.

Randy used to do an end of season sit down with written media. Is there any reason he has not done that this year?

I understand Randy is not one to be in the media constantly and does not do tv, but a lot of fans (including myself) like the leader of the club to speak about their plans.

I really think if he did the written/avfcwebsite features (as he did last season) it would really unite the whole club & its fans again so we are all pulling in the same direction. Surely aksing him to do something he did last year is such a small price to pay in order to get 'The Lion to roar once more!' (* I am open to offers from AVFC marketing dept for that line!)

PLEASE come back to me on this.

Best regards,

[Biffta]

Hi General,

Can you urge the board to get a move on with some more good news, it's a daily battle with negative villa fans and it's dragging down my positivity and I'm sure it's also wearing on other positive Villa fans. I would go as far to say that there are a certain element of Villa fans who are desperate for McLeish to fail so they can be proved right...unfortunately these idiots dont see the connection...so to help, the board DO NEED to communicate and take some positive actions sooner rather than later, honestly it's not a time to bury heads in the sand

"Don't let the bastards drag you down"

[Denis_B]

General it is reported that the club had to repay a loan of £15m on the 31 May 2011 - that has been done - was this where the Young money has been used and why the full money from Young and Downing is not available to the manager?

Was this loan one from the Lerner Trust?

[Brumstopdogs]

General

Why, when so many of your paying customers say that the communication at the club is awful is nothing done about it?

Surely most successful businesses listen to their customers and act on their feedback. It's about time the club started doing the same.

[VILLAFC2000]

General,

As always thanks for your continued commitment on these boards its appreciated. I personally think AM will be able to do a stern job at the club and will surprise a few supporters.

I was wandering the board set some objectives roughly 5 years ago for ambitions of the club, which correct me if I am wrong was to finish in the top four champions league in a five year plan.

Now the five years have passed have the board reviewed these objective and what have they concluded?

What are the specific objectives for this season, or the next 5 years are they still Champions League...?

With regards to the UEFA Financial Fair play rule Manchester City have just signed an estimated lucrative 400 Million deal for their stadium and shirts rights over 10 years. Arsenal signed a similar deal 90 million over 15 years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jul/12/arsenal-manchester-city-premier-league

Both Arsene Wenger and some of the Directors at Liverpool have expressed their concern at the integrity of this deal and whether or not the deal is within the average Market value.

It would be fantastic to hear your wisdom and views on this. What do the boards think about this....?

I really hope that the UEFA fair play rule helps to make it a level playing field.

As in my opinion the PL FA CUP, CL are becoming a tad boring – irritating, mostly seeing the same standard teams Chelsea, Manchester United, City dominating it year after year, as they have done for the last decade.

General you really are a legend and it would be great to hear back from you with regards to the questions above.

Up the Villa.

[Ulver]

General

A serious question about upping revenue. It seems to me Villa don't do too great on the merchandise sales side of things. It's not an area in which I have any working knowledge but two glaring things strike me as odd.

In the last two seasons we've had a lot of training gear produced in what can only be described as 'odd' colours. First it was team Purple, and now it's team Yellow.

I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but i'd hazzard a guess sales in either colour are poor simply because they aren't the kind of colours men tend to want to walk around in.

This is just my theory, but surely if our main training kit colour was of the claret, blue or white variety i would suspect sales would be double, if not treble at least.

When you even have a young football loving lad of 5 turning his nose up at purple/yellow gear you know something isn't right.

Who makes these colour decisions?

I've always thought of the Villa is a bit of a traditional club, and that if you give the fans what they feel comfortable with and they'll buy/wear it.

I understand these companies like Nike probably have people employed to come up with colour schemes for merchandise, but i'd be AMAZED if those purple/yellow ideas have been big sellers.

Sorry for the long winded post.

Ulver

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. First off, I am NOT ducking questions. I said that I would not be on the site every day...that I would be on the site on the weekend. I am sorry but I have a full time job and I just don't have the time I had before. That does NOT mean that I am not trying to answer your questions and that I AM sending your comments to Randy. Please understand that it is a two part process...I answer questions and I also have to pass on your thoughts...it is not just a simple matter of coming on the site and making a few comments.

2. Fuse: I don't know how many ways I can say it but I will try again...Randy is totally committed to the Villa. NOTHING has changed in his love of the Club. He has not lowered his sites....CL football is what he wants, what we want, what the fans want. His plan should be clear to all. 1) Have a great youth program that feeds young players of quality into the Club, 2) Have a solid squad made up of lads who have experience coupled with young stars who have premiership games under their belts but need some veterans to help them, 3) Be adept at picking up some quality players when they become available and "fit" the needs of the Club...Bent would be an example...so would our keeper. 4) Make smart moves (sales) when the time is right and the opportunity is there...particularly if you have the opportunity to replace with quality, 5) Bring the wage bill down to a level that makes the operation of the Club revenue positive...but do so over time and in a manner that makes sense. 6) Keep improving the facilities of the Club...making investments that pay off. NONE of this is new at all. This has been his plan from the beginning. The ONLY difference is that when we started, Randy had to spend a good deal of money to improve facilities while, at the same time, buying players to augment the folks that were at the Club at the time. Again, if you look at the roster (youth and reserves and 1st team) when we arrived and look at it now, you will see that Randy has stuck to his plan.

3. Richard: I am surprised by the 50%-50% vote re. Randy...surprised and saddened. I am sorry that almost 50% of the Fans fail to appreciate what this man has done for OUR Club...in so many ways. I guess memories are short.

4. Relegation experience played ZERO role in the selection of a Manager. I hope that was a joke. As a Fan, my expectations for the coming season remain high. I see us as high as 4th place and no lower than 9th. I honestly think we will surprise people...I am pretty excited by what I see.

5. irreverantad: I will ask Randy if he might write something for the Fans. The problem with this is, of course, that those Fans who are with Randy will be happy and those who aren't with him will simply claim "PR." Look what they say about me....that all I am is "PR." Well, they will say the same about Randy.

6. Biffta: I am not really sure what more we can do to "bring good news"...especially when some of the "bad news" is generated by our own fans. We signed a solid keeper, our Manager has been positive in the press, we have had open training, we have won the only game we have played to date, we have indicated we are seeking to sign another key player....I am not sure what more we can do.

7. brumstopdogs: I disagree that we don't communicate. I read our web site and I see communications all the time. I communicate at least once a week (remember, not too many Clubs have a Director communicating with fans...if any). The fact that we don't use the British media as a communications tool is probably why you feel we don't communicate...well, you know my answer to that one.

8. VILLAFVC2000: Yes, CL remains our goal....see post #2. Fair play rule is only as good as the enforcement of the rule. That all remains to be seen.

9. Ulver and villabromsgrove: Good points...I like the part about the child. I will pass your comments up. Oh, "VBG", I am not a coward for what it is worth.

10. As always, both Randy and the Manager assess the needs of the Club...with the Manager taking the lead. Once assessment is done, decisions are made. History absolutely shows that Randy supports the Manager. I understand that some people think I am ducking the question but I don't know what more I can say. If you can't believe in what has happened, I certainly am not going to be able to convince you.

11. Markavfc40: Players such as Barry, Milner, Young, Downing, etc etc are absolutely offered contracts. Season Tickets: I have NEVER come on this site and stated EXACTLY what are numbers are. That would make no sense...whether they were high or low. What I will tell you is that our ST numbers are where we expected them to be....they are where they were at a comparable time last year. It is amazing to me that we actually have fans who HOPE our ST sales are low...what kind of Fan hopes that their Club has lower ticket sales. Do those fans actually believe that this is good for the health of the Club? Sort of a strange way to think.

[markavfc40]

Season Tickets: I have NEVER come on this site and stated EXACTLY what are numbers are. That would make no sense...whether they were high or low. What I will tell you is that our ST numbers are where we expected them to be....they are where they were at a comparable time last year. It is amazing to me that we actually have fans who HOPE our ST sales are low...what kind of Fan hopes that their Club has lower ticket sales. Do those fans actually believe that this is good for the health of the Club? Sort of a strange way to think.

General,

As this response was in reply to my question I'd like for you to tell me who these fans are who hope that the club has lower season ticket sales? and I hope you aren't implying I am one of them. I've had a season ticket for 24 years on the spin and have just renewed again for both myself and my daughter who is 13 and this is her 8th season on the spin as a ST holder. I like nothing more than to see a full VP as it makes the match day atmosphere/experience much better and I'd say 99.9% of fans feel the same.

Therefore what is giving you the impression that fans want ticket sales to be low as you have also stated this previously?

Regards

Mark

[Dodgyknees]

"Richard: I am surprised by the 50%-50% vote re. Randy...surprised and saddened. I am sorry that almost 50% of the Fans fail to appreciate what this man has done for OUR Club...in so many ways. I guess memories are short. "

Football is not about yesterday, it is not about today, it is about tomorrow. A lack of spending in this window and the loss of our two most creative players WILL see us fall backwards behind teams. Surely that is obvious?

Secondly, 5 year plan GONE. What happens for the next 5 years? Is there any planning afoot for the future success of our club, regarding investment in the team and the safe-keeping of our quality players.

Also, where has the money from player sales gone? Has it been used to pay off club debts or is it available for use by the manager who you promised would receive full backing?

Do you have an answer for this? What is this new company for? Is it to do with the rebuilding of the North stand or more to do with rumours of Randy looking for outside investment / a sale?

The past: I appreciate everything Randy has done in the past, the original backing of MON was fantastic and it looked like we had a chairman who could give us back the glory days. The small things like the scarves, league cup free travel, Holte pub and more were great touches and meant a lot for fans.

BUT>

We're now looking at the next 5 years with no idea where the club is heading, when you came to the club you gave us all so much hope with a 5 year plan, that plan has now ended and the fans are left wondering what is happening.

"we have indicated we are seeking to sign another key player....I am not sure what more we can do.

"

Key players last season; Young, Reo-Coker, Downing, Friedel - all gone, Cuellar another player who might be going, Petrov getting older, reliance on young players is not the way forward - it is a great idea to use youth, but relying on so many all at the same time spells disaster. We're losing so much quality and if things go wrong leading up to January, with no transfer window to add to the numbers, what are we going to do? You cannot honestly believe one more quality player is enough....?

We're selling our players, we relying on a twice relegated manager and have a very short number of decent players in certain positions on the pitch. It is fantastic having the scarf, amazing having the pub and brilliant having some of the amazing memories from the past 5 years but football is a game about WINNING and the scarf and memories will mean nothing if all we do from now on is watch the pennies and sit mid table waiting for god knows what.

Every moment we stand still, teams will catch us, everytime we go backwards, teams will over-take us. The only way to ACHIEVE in football is go be pro-active and go forward, you can possibly have success through the sale of players for high amounts but you have to replace those with better quality than you had before in order to move on.

Spurs have sold players such as Berbatov, Carrick and others for high amount of money, they did not sit back and buy "just one high quality replacement" they went and looked for the next generation who can push them on and they were not scared to make mistakes, they went for Modric, they went for Bale, they went for Defoe back from Portsmouth and it worked, they did not sit back for one moment and think the money will buy decent but sub standard players!

How on earth can a manager be expected to do something special, the team from last season was closer to getting relegated than we are prepared to admit, the fact other teams we so crap is what saved us! And this was with players such as Downing and Young, now we are expected to add to this with one more quality addition but after losing three of the players who were "main players" for most of last season?

How can you expect fans to be happy with you when it seems like all we are doing is sitting still? We're going to be in a lot of trouble and if we have any injuries we will sink like a stone.

SITTING STILL IS NOT ENOUGH. We are passionate about our team and will be here in 50 years time, you and Randy with all due respect will not be. We do not want the club to be a sitting duck, we do not want middle of the road. We are Aston Villa and we moan and want the best because we love the club. We spend money by the bucketload, for me it costs £3,000 a season to see 8 games and that is not a regret, I do it because I love this club.

But I do not want to sit at Villa park and be happy with surviving.

What are the plans for the future???

[dudevillaisnice]

we have indicated we are seeking to sign another key player....I am not sure what more we can do.

Sign more than one player perhaps? If you think one key player is all we need then we are in trouble.. do I have to remind you we only have one natural LB at the club? one of which was frozen out and one is prone to errors for some time now.

Unfortunately the indication also seems the Ash money won't be reinvested either?

[1968]

General

keep up the good work,

well done for getting the obscene wage bill down,

well done for moving on high earning over age players,

the club are starting to bear fruit from 5 years ago,

Up the villa

[lennythekad]

Hi General,

Are the club aware that those of us travelling to Hong Kong that purchased £36 tickets, via the club (the dearest available), are sitting in just about the worst possible section in the ground, in the lower tier right by the corner flag. I would have thought the dearest tickets would be in the Upper tier near the halfway line, wouldn't you?. Locals are paying £10 - £16 for the same tickets.

You could say that if you can afford to go to Hong Kong, what difference does another twenty quid make, but nobody likes to be taken for a mug.

Any comments?,

Thanks for your time.

[OnlyOne]

I am not really sure what more we can do to "bring good news"...especially when some of the "bad news" is generated by our own fans. We signed a solid keeper, our Manager has been positive in the press, we have had open training, we have won the only game we have played to date, we have indicated we are seeking to sign another key player....I am not sure what more we can do.

How is the bad news generated by the fans?

During this summer you've released a load of players and sold two of our best players. You've brought in just a goalkeeper and it's nearly August. McLeish has said he's looking to bring in one more player.

Do you honestly believe that will be enough? Not only do we look very thin in certain positions, but even our starting lineup involves kids and players who didn't perform at all for the majority of last season. That's a massive risk and I don't see how you can think we'll challenge top 4. McLeish isn't a miracle worker as we've seen in the past.

Why is it the board won't pay Wigan's price? We've sold Downing for 20m, so of course Whelan will expect N'Zogbia to be a higher value if Downing is worth that much. We would still be getting a better replacement for half the price. That's good business. How can you expect the fans to be happy if you're now not paying the extra 1m after making 35m from Downing and Young? Please don't tell me this is something to do with pride. At the end of the day, you're messing with Villa's future here. We have no decent left wing and each passing day there's a chance another club (like Everton) will jump in and get this player. Fans will be very happy if you manage to get him.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

General, you state "what more can we do" ....

when we've just sold 2 players for around £35-40 million as well as losing I'd call a good player in Nigel Reo-Coker in midfield, then I'd at least expect more than around what, £13-14 million spent?

You say about manager being backed and supported etc.....that was done under O'Neill and Houllier, make no mistake but the new manager would have spent -£25 million ish, I'm really surprised you can geniunally say

what more can be done

....how about spend the money we generated in sales in order to make our squad even more competitive? What happens if we get 3/4 injuries, our squad is thin to the bone.

Let's just say we sign a winger and sell Cuellar (which looks most likely), I have our bench down as:

Guzan, Clark, Beye, Baker, Delph, Bannan, Gardner, Hogg, Herd, Ireland, Heskey.

So going past the first 11....we have 3 senior players.

Heskey, Beye and Ireland. Two of which are past it and should be moved on. One of which, there is hope for the new season but he's hardly a given to perform.

We will have:

11 senior players good enough for Aston Villa.

Then the rest of the squad up are made up of young players who haven't even played over 30 league games for the club.

What more can you do!? How about identify our squad is extremely weak and bring players in to rectify that?

Are you honestly telling me having 50% of the players making up your squad 21 or under is a good idea?

[ulstervilla]

I just want to point out that I didnt ask the question about season ticket sales hoping that they were low!

I asked the question because I am interested in how OUR club is fareing at the moment. I like to know if the fans are still buying as many as ever, personally I would expect them to be down as there is a percentage who didnt like the managerial appointment, a percentage who are dis-heartened by big players leaving and also the simple fact that the economic climate is not good so some people cannot affford season tickets at present.

[Tayls]

Hi General how's things going state side?

Looking forward to the new season and seeing the results of our pre season games. Hope we win that cup

Not really that fussed if we sign a whole new team or not- I do love the whole transfer window thing when it involves us and I always feel proud when we see the pictures of the new signing and they say how great our facilities and everyrhing are. Makes me happy.

It would be great to see a new signing soon, the man who will replace one of the guys we sold, the same guys we were proud to have as players for the past few seasons. I'm happy for Young, he gave us, what, 4 years? Did a great job, he deserves to go and play for the champions. Downing, did ok last year in a time that was full of problems, but only gave us a year and a half and then thought he was too good... He won't be getting any thanks from me. £20million was great business if that is indeed how much we got for him. Well played on that.

What I am struggling to understand is, we have identified the man AM wants, but not working quickly to get it done, get said player bonding with the team and learning Mr McLeish's philosophy. But, there we go, that's your guys job to bring the talent in.

I like how things are going at the moment, making changes to Villa Park etc etc... It all looks good and I too am excited to see what our team can really do next season... I think Ireland can be a massive player for us and of course Bent and Albrighton I am expecting big things from. I really wanna see the defence tighten up like we did a couple of seasons ago... Since we lost, I think 7-1 to Chelsea, we have been dreadful at the back. But, we have a new and I think better all round keeper (don't get me wrong Brad Friedel was great and I'm gutted we didn't retain him till he retired and have him become a coach or something) and Dunne and Collins in the centre with Warnock and Young on the flanks. Pretty solid really! No need for loads of goals to be leaked.

Where I think we struggle most is the centre of Midfield - very lightweight, no real ball winners who will take it and then make a sweet pass to split defences. We need that man. maybe Makoun is that man... Hope so.

Where do you think we need to improve General, based on last year and what you have seen so far?

[Mazrim]

General, bear in mind this poll was on this site based on the votes of 222 people (not the wider fanbase of Aston Villa) at time of posting of which 54% were pro and 45% against Randy's ownership. The poll was created in a time of negativity for the club and I dare say a couple of wins and a signing or two would swing the poll further in support of Randy dramatically, such is the nature of the beast with these polls.

My personal experience speaking to fellow Villa fans, match going Villa fans in the main, is that Randy has a lot of credit in the bank with them and respect but recent goings on have caused some concern.

Selling £40m pounds of players and buying £13m (Given and possibly N'Zogbia) isnt what we were led to expect when saying McLeish would be backed, for instance. That's one sore point.

Of course this might not be the case but you have to understand our local media amongst others, plus direct quotes from the manager are painting that picture all too vividly.

The manager's calibre is another sore point which has been mentioned a billion times already, but it will take some good results to banish those and I look forward to getting them.

I think most fans could accept the need to recoup financial losses (if this is the case) as long as it is clearly communicated to us.

I think a lot of fans are looking forward to the new season and many have great faith in our youth players and look forward to seeing them progress, but feel we are light in a few areas besides that addressed by signing Given and N'Zogbia.

Just a bit of feedback.

Weeeeooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.......