The_Rev Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General krulak here: 3) I understand you didn't like that we sold Young and Downing. I get it. All of your concerns are known by the Club. At the end of the day, we didn't like last year either. We believe that AM is a fine choice and will do a fine job. Young and Downing departures will, at the end of the day, be good for the Club. I'm perplexed by this. I am trying to figure out what it means, and the only thing I can assume is that you are announcing the club are downsizing without actually announcing it. I cant see how Young and Downing being sold are good for the club from a footballing point of view. We are talking about (arguably) our most talented player in Ashley and everybody's player of the season last season in Stewart. From a financial point of view it makes sense. Have the club decided that spending £70m+ a year in wages to finish 6th is futile when we can spend (and I'll admit I am pulling a figure out of the air here) £40m a year on wages, finish between 8th-12th and ultimately reap the same kind of rewards. What we lose in prize money, gate receipts and the like we will more than make up in lower overheads and there really isnt that much difference between finishing 5th or 6th and finishing 17th when you think about it. If you are not in the top four then avoiding relegation is really all you have to worry about because history has shown how seriously everybody takes the Europa League these days so what is the point in even trying to qualify for that? So are we downsizing? Is cashing in on our better players good for the club because it means the club's bank balance will be healthier? Because I cant see for a second how selling our best players is good for the club from a footballing point of view, and as a fan I do reserve the right to see everything from a footballing point of view first because you know, that's the thing that keeps me interested in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazrim Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I think that our Squad will be much stronger than any of you give us credit for and I think that they will make us proud. Unfortunately, we won't know until we get to the season. I am willing to wait and see....some of you are not. I get that too. I wish that the Fans had a bit more faith in Randy and the Club but I appreciate why some don't. Sooooo, we will just wait and see who is correct. Good enough for me. And count me as one who still has faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Me too. Remember General if next season does go well, it might be very tempting to think told you so, when you get all the fans with short memories praising you on here again. Just remember that there are many Villa fans who are patient enough to see what develops and still trust the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan501 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Good Morining General Many thanks for coming onto the thread, I am very happy with your response, I respect you alot more for that and I will wait and see what happens for the season as you have clarified what my concerns are. I know you and the board will see us fans alright keep it going Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Director of Aston Villa says to fan "Come and say it to my face". Nope, can't see that getting in the papers at all. And losing Ashley Young and Stewart Downing good for the club? Are you serious? I honestly think your usefulness on here is way past its sell by date. All we get is "we know best" and "wait and see, it'll be alright". Post edited TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I think that our Squad will be much stronger than any of you give us credit for and I think that they will make us proud. General Sidwell Davies Pires Walker NRC Young Downing Salifou Osbourne Carew, Friedal have all gone from the first team squad. Cuellar also looks like leaving and if rumours correct Heskey wont be far behind him. At this point we have signed Given, which leaves us with 12 players down (10 if you dont count Salifou & Osbourne) If we are to be as you say "much stronger" are we likely to see Randy appear on the ITV show "Fool Us" as he must surely have some magical powers that Penn & Teller would love. Or more seriously how are we going to improve when our numbers are being depleted to the extent they are at the moment and with very little sign that we are going to sign two or three additional players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General krulak here: 1. First off, I try to get on the Boards at least once a week...and I think I have done better than that lately. As most of you know, I have a full time job now and can really only get to the sites on the weekend. It is NOT because I am afraid to come on the sites...please. 2. My comment about American Football was not to say the AVFC was following the American Football method. What I was saying is that combining youth with experienced players is not necessarily a bad thing. More importantly, what I was saying was that you needed a strong youth contingent always moving up in the organization if you really want to be successful. I believe that Villa has a strong youth contingent and that if we continue to nurture them and place them with experienced players, we can achieve great success. To just summarily dismiss that model because it happens to be used by a team in the NFL doesn't seem smart to me. Again, just my view. 3. There is no question that the Champions League is a double-edge sword. My personal view is that the first thing that needs to be done is some sort of salary cap....right now it is the cost of players that makes the league the way it is. 4. dodgyknees: I will forget the fact that you called me a liar...although I can tell you that I would not let you get away with that type of insult if we were fact to face. You can call me a lot of things but the day you start questioning my integrity is the day you need to cool your jets. I don't know who you are and I don't know how old you are but....you need to apologize or keep of this thread. "Stop the sale of our players like we did Barry?" We took all sorts of heat when Barry left!! Give me a break. From a business standpoint, we got 20M pounds for Downing....before you go cutting your wrists, let's see who we get to replace him....and yes, he can be replaced. Before he got here, he was a good player but not a 20M pound player....we will get another. You hit the nail on the head..."an inflated price." If we can get 20M pounds for someone like Downing, why wouldn't YOU, as a Fan, not want us to do it??? We can replace the man....and in the end, with someone who WANTS to play for us and who will play for us. Do we think it is "harder than we thought"? The answer is NO. What has happened is that the League has changed with the influx of wealth....the only thing that makes it "harder" is the money being splashed around. BUT, Randy has done a lot of spending too. 5. No, the Club can handle more than one transfer at a time. At some point, the Fans need to understand that we do NOT run transfers according to the Fan's timeline, we do it according to the Club's timeline. Some opportunities pop up and you can jump right on them....but most need a good deal of work. It is not as simple as the Fans think...it is not just a matter of saying, "Hmmmm, I like this lad so I will just go get him." It may be that simple if you are a multi-billionaire but if you aren't, it takes time and effort to get the right deal. 6. We are not "inactive" in buying players. See above. 7. I am not sure how many times and in how many ways that I can tell you that 1) I understand we had a crap season last year 2) I understand you didn't like the choice of Manager, 3) I understand you didn't like that we sold Young and Downing. I get it. All of your concerns are known by the Club. At the end of the day, we didn't like last year either. We believe that AM is a fine choice and will do a fine job. Young and Downing departures will, at the end of the day, be good for the Club. I may be completely wrong but here is what I think: I think that AM will surprise you and be a strong Manager for our Club. I think that our Squad will be much stronger than any of you give us credit for and I think that they will make us proud. Unfortunately, we won't know until we get to the season. I am willing to wait and see....some of you are not. I get that too. I wish that the Fans had a bit more faith in Randy and the Club but I appreciate why some don't. Sooooo, we will just wait and see who is correct. General, Thank you for this response. This is the first time I've seen anything like this from a board member of AVFC. Good to see some passion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi Gen, Hope all is well. With regards to the Official Website, if I click "News" then i get a page with "Invalid request" written on it. Don't know if this happens to everyone, but you may want to pass this on to the relevant person if it doesnt get lost amongst other things. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedge Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Great response General, some fans reactions have been ridiculous. Not all of us have lost faith General! We haven't even kicked a ball yet but already some people are writing us off, I think we will be have a much stronger season than last year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General you told us we'd see action and all we've seen is more players being sold. Surely you can't be surprised that fans aren't impressed. Also why did Mcleish tell fans that downing wouldn't be sold unless it was ridiculous money when this clearly wasn't the case? Not a great way to start a relationship with fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holtelower Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 sorry, thread rules - no repeat questions, no transfer questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cracker1234 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi General, Knew it was coming, but Given is a good signing....5 year deal I think is a good idea, but who decided to have pictures of him taken with that goalkeeper top without ironing it first? Some may comment on the colours, but the top being un-ironed bothers me much more. See for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthsimo Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi General Took my son and daughter on the Villa Park tour yesterday. I would like to express my thanks to our tour guide and thank Villa for a wonderful day. Thought you might like some positive feed back instead of everything being negative at the moment. Especially liked the bit about how nothing, no even pictures get moved or taken down without Mr Lerners approval. And who said he is not hands on and Villa through and through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted July 18, 2011 Moderator Share Posted July 18, 2011 General, Season ticket holders this year are being offered AVTV for free as part of the package - can you confirm when this will start please. Can you also confirm when the new season ticket packs will be sent out. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General, not sure if you watched it or not but what was your view on the program "how to buy a football club" on Channel 4? the corruption in football is there to be seen.. what's your take on this? McLeish's name was mentioned but it wasn't anything serious (I think it was filmed whilst he was at SHA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avid_1977 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General, Do you think it would be a good idea to consult the fans with regards to kit designs and colours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfcmatt123 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General, I for one would like to say that the signing of Given is a step back in the right direction. Are similar calibre moves been planned for the remainder of the summer. I hope so.. it would really get some of the doubters back on side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaks Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi General; Very pleased with our first bit of business of the summer, I hope 3 or 4 more players of this quality will be brought in so we can all look forward to the new season. Still a lot of work to be done, but it's a very good first step. I hope this will be achieved with some investment to the squad, along with money brought in with the sales of 2 of our best players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villafc82 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General, when do we get our new season ticket packages? I really want to watch so many videos uploaded to AVTV recently and can't because Villa haven't posted them yet. When will we get them? I expected to have it by now Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 General can you explain this; New company at Villa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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