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

[vivaashleyyoung]

Disspointed by the Downing news General but you and Randy are still doing a terrific job. Football is a disgraceful sport. Look at Fifa for example.

Keep up the good work.

[GarethRDR]

General Krulak; long-time reader, first-time questions poser...er, umm, poserer. Poser of questions. Yes, that's what I'm trying to say.

September this year will mark the 5 year anniversary of your involvement with the club. In this half-decade (and in particular, following the trials and tribulations of the most recent campaign) you have seen both the best and worst of life in the world of English football.

You have savoured, as we have, the sweet taste of a cup final only to have fate (and some 'questionable' refereeing :winkold:) cruelly snatch glory from our grasp. You have felt the buzz and atmosphere of a European night at Villa Park, but witnessed the dejection born of bitter defeat on foreign soil. You have cheered on both exciting new arrivals and academy-grown starlets as they have worn our badge with pride and dignity, yet suffered the ignominy of those who have sought to further only themselves.

In a way, these events serve as an epitome of Aston Villa; the perennial nearly club. I like to hold onto the belief (as foolhardy as that might be) that, in spite of the ever-growing gap between the top of the Premiership and the rest of the league (and in spite of the overwhelming spending power of Russian oligarchs and Arab tycoons) there is still a chance that this club can truly achieve something, that this seemingly never-ending cycle of disappointment can be broken once more.

Enough of the vomit-inducing impassioned rambling though! To questions:

• -Looking back, how have you enjoyed your time with us thus far? Is there anything you would have done differently?
  -What would you consider your personal highs and lows to have been? No pulling punches here please, if your lowest point was Moustapha Salifou stealing your parking space then I want to know!
  -Realistically, what are your hopes for the future? Where would you picture the club in another 5 years time?
  -How do you believe we can best improve the profile of Aston Villa as a global brand? Your involvement with the club alone was enough to bolster interest and bring in new support from across the pond, how can we capitalise on this?

Many thanks for your time, General. As you are a military man (and I am a stickler for schmaltz) I shall leave you with the motto of the Royal Air Force, whom my Father and Grandfather proudly served. It is a motto that would seem most apt.

Per ardua ad astra

[ChrisNichollsToe]

General,

If we sell both Downing and Ashley, will the club knock 50% of ticket prices next term?

I only ask, cos i think we may need to, just to fill the empty seats.

[Tayls]

Hi General - hope all is well?

Can you clear up this mess for us - why is it that both Young and Downing want to move onto 'better things'?

We might aswell not bother signing players because all we do is help them out in their careers, then sell them on in dodgy deals that don't benefit us at all.

We are a bend over club in the premier league - whats the point?

[carlitobrigante]

Most fans like me still back the board 100% but boy are you putting this faith to the test. You cant deny the wheels seem to have completely come off recently and things look rather bleak.

I dont blame Randy or Houllier for this. Its a combination of bad luck, some poor contigency planning, and a previous manager who has done all he could to sabatage this season, no doubt so his 6th place finishes look like they came only thanks to his supposed managerial genius.

Fans are describing AVFC currently as rudderless, amatuerish, leaderless and without any sort of long term plan and i hate to say it but thats the perception the club is giving out at the moment. I worry about the people Randy has entrusted the club to and its going to take a massive investment this summer to get us back into the top 6 let alone any further, money im not sure Lerner can afford to put in on top of what he has spent already.

We need to get a grip on things and fast. Some communication to the fans as to what the hell is going on would be a good start. Otherwise all the effort Randy and people like yourself have put in so far will be for nothing. Every penny of his own money Randy has spent will have been wasted. He will be further away than ever from making us self sustaining and getting any return on his investment. Filling Villa Park week in week out will be even less likely, and every good player we have will be looking elsewhere.

[CLIVILLA]

Isn't it ironic that on this day, the anniversary of the most memorable of day in the history of Aston Villa, we should be discussing the possible departure of of one of the clubs 'star players'.

I rarely post on here but do read the comments, sadly it is usually with a wry smile on my face, as all I ever read is the same old rhetoric from the club that I have read for the last forty five years since I first went to Villa Park. Yes I know that makes me an 'old git' in the eyes of all you mainly young ones that post on here.

What is being written now is no different to what I have been writing about for years, either to the local press or the club itself, don't forget we didn't have messageboards etc. I have had many, many letters printed demanding answers to the way the club is run, why we always have to sell our top players as soon as some club comes knocking or we want to buy someone and have to sell first.

There are a few older posters on here who I am sure will confirm theses facts. The Board, whoever it consists of, will always deny we are a selling club, stating look at these figures, look at our investment, who else is doing...etc etc. Nothing ever changes though as we sell star after star player year after year. Instead of 'pushing on' we sell, why be the next 'Harrods' when we can trade like a corner shop thank you very much?

I wont go back to far, you can have a look in your record books, the younger ones may not remember some of the names we have sold, but their are dozens going back to the sixties, just as we start to achieve something we sell. Remember we won the 1st division title and were European Champions, just a couple of years or so later we were relegated without trace!

Straight upto date, a flirt with top four finish, Champions league football, let's go the extra mile......mmmm no not this time let's sell our captain, Barry. Next season, Milner, this season possibly Young, Downing. But we are not a selling club, we have ambition, we want to be challanging the top four, getting into the Chamipons league keeping our stars, attracting top stars!

Lads, I and guys my age have seen and heard all this from every board for as I say nearly fifty years, it will never change we are Aston Villa! Succesive top six finishes and then a relegation battle, the club I love, the club I have travelled around the Country literally several hundred times to watch, the club I have watched in a couple of dozen European countries, the club who I have had a season ticket with for the forty five seasons I said earlier.

You may ask why I still go down Villa Park if I feel like this, simply it is the same as you.....I love the club and always will, but beware things will never change here. The Five year plan is nearing it's end, we have lost/could lose star players, where are we/how far have we come.......pretty much the same as we were five years ago.....strange and just very sad isn't it?

[Tayls]

^^

This!!!

Ok I havnt seen as much as you in my age but since i started to understand what football is all about in my early teens it's mainly been disappointment. 22 now, and still feel as though I'm being let down by the club who just let our best players leave.

General - this needs to be sorted and fast. We have gone round full circle, The league is getting better, tougher, richer - we are going to be left behind.

Note - I'm not complaint about the money being spent by Mr Lerner, it's the fact we are losing our talent and barely going anywhere!!

[deeps]

Hi Gen,

Do the board want to move on to bigger and better things?

[largelugs]

Hi General,

Did you expect the lack of loyalty of players when you joined the club? Is American sport also riddled with players who constantly jump for the dollar signs despite what the club has done for them?

Do you get players leaving teams moaning about not being showed enough respect, despite being well played to do very little?

Do you get coaches who fail to show passion for their team?

Or is this just something that blights football?

[Brumstopdogs]

General

I personally think the most worrying thing at the club at the moment is the lack of leadership and commumication.

What is happening with Houllier? (common sense would be to get rid)

Why are our players wanting to leave?

What are the aims of the club?

Come on wakey, wakey Villa. Please can we have the professional football club back that we had when you first started.

[Denis_B]

General, it is clear that Randy has to operate the club on a financial basis that he can 'afford'. Would he not consider a partner getting involved to inject capital?

The Mittals (obscenely rich British Indians worth £15.5 BILLION) have tried to get involved with QPR but Eccleston has 'pissed' them off and they have pulled out. It is rumoured they are now sniffing around Fulham.

Now with respect to both of those clubs compared to us they are nothing. Given our very large potential Asian customer base wouldn't a partnership with them make good business sense?

We have the Asian support base, the potential for a much higher profile internationally and then the injection of cash - or is this Randys 'pet project' for him alone?

Rich list stuff

[jacketspuds]

General - What the hell is going on at our club?

First we hear Pires' hissy fit about not being played and now Salifou is being released.

How do you expect the club to move forward next season with our 2 "world class" players leaving the club?

[Ingram85]

Hi general!

Hope you are well and now catching your breath now the season has ended.

Was wondering, now we know when the kits are going to be available, when do the club actually plan to 'reveal' the kits so we can have a look prior to purchase? Any plans for a city centre style shindig again or a low key 'official promo shots' style reveal?

Im guessing its still being discussed and the official line is the boring 'something is in the pipeline but not too far away' but dates would be nice as it would be something to look forward to at least. Pretty please!

UTV!

[Richard]

General will the club be taking account of the opinions of the fans when making the decision on the manager

[RussG]

The "communication" from the board at the moment is abysmal, I thought we'd seen the back of those days.

[Oaks]

Hi General;

With our best player over the last 4 years likely to leave, our best player last season looking unsettled, one of our better players last season being released and with our manager (who's been pretty average on the whole) sick, i hope Aston Villa, the management and the board have some major movements this summer, or next season could be worse than the last one.

[thamutznutz]

In addition to my previous much longer post - I have a short comment to make hoping for a somewhat reasonable response/explanation if you would so please.

Last season I paid £550 for my season ticket. I paid this with us still having Milner, Young and Downing, our three best players and this coming off 3 top 6 finishes in a row. This season Randy is asking me to pay £30 more to see a team who will seemingly have none of these players and had spent 90% of this season fighting off relegation. Is that correct?

Promises of "we are looking to do this and looking to do that" aren't going to help me come the day I have to hand over my money. If we are selling our best and haven't bought any adequate replacements do you think it is fair to ask 25000 fans to part with this kind of money based upon hope? Out of interest, do you know what last seasons average attendance and this seasons was... what are you expecting next season realistically?

This post may have come across with a hint of sarcasm - that was not the intention, but as a business consultant with a solid understanding of price elasticity I would really be interested in how villa think this plan will work.

[Moorski]

Hi General,

After the season we have just had and now Ashley Young set to leave, the club is in serious need of a lift, To re-appoint GH is only going to make things worse so please appoint a new Manager that will lift the spirits of the supporters and get the place buzzing again.

I hope the Board do not miss this opportunity,another season of uncertainty will not be good for Aston Villa.

[JugHead]

Hi General, with Villa on the OS advising of the 10 players released from duty at AVFC (the likes of Carew, NRC & Pires due to their specific contracts expiring) can you please clarify who actually decided this & when? Was it GH, was it GM or was it the Board? I appreciate that NRC & Villa could not agree on terms for a new deal (media speculation) but what was the process & who was involved?

[Biffta]

General, a few weeks ago Stewie Downing said he would play for the villa in the championship, he then has a mtg with Paul Faulkener and almost immediately said he wanted to look at his options, what happened? Is this a ploy by his agent to increase his wages? Please, I have utter faith in the board and especially the owner at Villa, please don't let us go through what we have just been through ever again...