General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[avfc89]

Well said General.

[Texas_Mike]

"but it is NOT just a matter of calling up a Club and Player and offering a wad of money....if it were that simple, we would have a bunch of players!"

General with all due respect it might be that easy. I may be wrong but MON appears to be very cautiious with his dealings and I suspect he will not easily make an offer that cannot be refused. Why walk away from Bentley if he is someone we want. 1 offer, 1 refusal, a statement we offered a fair price so we wallk away. Throw some extra cash at them and see how they react.

Don't worry about PR, we all know the score. The issue is purely driven by a lack of transfer spend. I think 99% of Villa fans know we aren't spending on transfers because MON is not asking. You do have a gem in him, many a manager would have tested Randy's pockets to the limit. I just want him to test Randy a little more than he is.

Keep it up General..... our club is better and you a part of the reason. Just don't take you off the goal (a better team) - it could still go wrong.

[bully]

General Krulak here:

....what we are doing now is trying to make OUR Club better.

You're not trying General, you ARE making OUR club better and those of us with an ounce of intelligence know it.

Keep up the good work, top rant btw!

[Peter1968]

Cheers General.

Reading through the above shows that you are genuine in what you say, and i certainly would not discribe it as PR.

Yes it is a competitve league, and with the level i hope we are aiming at, then the players we want to attract have more suiters and contracts do tend to drag on. Just how important is success in these two games in attracting those sort of players?.

Do you think the big four are so out of touch now, that the major investment needed to break into that club is to risky, and that a period of steady growrth and stability is needed, before we even try to do that?

I mean, theres no point putting the club at risk financialy on the hope that it works out. I think you will find, that most of the undercurrent of disgruntlement comes in the fact that we have said what our goal is, but our actions in trying to achieve that dont seem to match....people are nervy, they feel we have been here before.

Expectations for this season are high, as they should be for a club of our stature. But sometimes, expectations can have a negative side to them, since you will always be falling below those expectations. Sounds weird, but not to weird i hope, General!

[villabromsgrove]

General, Mrs K is not your only defender against the charge of PR. You are the best thing that has happened to VT and long may it continue.

[trekka]

What a fantastic response.

Many thanks General. I coughed all of my coffee out all over my keyboard reading that!

It was a fair result today. I trust we'll get the result needed at VP and I know we're all looking forward to the new season (well, most of us!).

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Texas Mike: Without going into ANY details, your premise is wrong. You have NO idea of what went on with Bentley so your post is specious. And asking me or the Club to describe what went on would be crazy.

2. We are battling to move up in this League. It takes special players to make that kind of move. They don't grow on trees and they are not easy fish to catch. Going from 16th to 11th is one thing....players to go from 6th to one of the top 4 is a slightly different proposition and it does not happen overnight. I would ask ALL to think about that....the closer we get, the harder it gets. Let's allow MON to do his job.

3. Tough result tonight...own goal is a hard one. The lads played hard...they will bring it "home" at Villa Park. I hope that many of you are there to cheer the lads on.

[rjw63]

!

2. On a completely different subject. I read on another blog that my appearing on these boards is for PR. What a bunch of shite.

Love it

[ShaldonAVFC]

please please please please please please can we have a right back so we dont look a bunch of cocks aginst a cack danish team please

[steve-67]

Hi General,

Can I ask you a question about the Brad Guzan work permit situation please? I wondered how this sort of thing works. Is it a case of the club having to make an appointment with the home office and going down to present a case or do we send them paperwork and they "get back to us?". Either way, can I ask you when the club is expecting the outcome?

Best wishes,

Steve.

[joegarthy]

Rock on Gen. It was fantastic PR at the start, but we dont know how lucky we are to have you on here...thanks.

We've been there in the past and filled our team with past it 'have beens' (one was playing against us tonight). I'd take the small squad any day of the week when it's filled with quality.

Thanks again - I for one and happy to wait.

[JohnCresswell]

3. Tough result tonight...own goal is a hard one. The lads played hard...they will bring it "home" at Villa Park. I hope that many of you are there to cheer the lads on.

I think we'd have all taken the result before the game tonight, General. It's a very good result and I don't know if you can/do pass on messages to the AVFC squad, but if you do get the chance then please do pass on congratulations to the team for a decent result in hard conditions. Craig Gardner in particular never stopped going despite not being comfortable in what he was asked to do, and it's just a shame that a certain other player (well, one really - the one left back at Bodymoor waiting for someone to pay up the cash now he's made a fool of himself) isn't as committed as Craig.

[privateer]

!

2. On a completely different subject. I read on another blog that my appearing on these boards is for PR. What a bunch of shite.

Love it

I see you are picking up on the vernacular quite nicely.

[bully]

Actually it should be 'what a load of shite' but we got your drift!

[markavfc40]

General your first post yesterday was spot on.

I'm not sure who suggested that what you do is a PR stunt but the answer you gave was one which 99.99% of Aston Villa fans would agree with.

You must have the patience of a saint though as no matter how many times you reiterate the fact you have nothing to do with transfers and that it is solely down to Martin O'Neill who you and the board have complete faith in, you still get asked questions regarding this aspect of the club.

Keep up the good work General.

[MaxVillan]

general, I don't often post here but I've got to come on and thank you for your good work!

if I was you, and had to face even half of the questions some 'villa fans' on her eput towards you, I think I'd have shot myself already.

The better man general :winkold:

Also, wasn't the best result tonithgt, but it was away. We'll stuff 'em at our place.

[Peter1968]

General Krulak here:

2. We are battling to move up in this League. It takes special players to make that kind of move. They don't grow on trees and they are not easy fish to catch. Going from 16th to 11th is one thing....players to go from 6th to one of the top 4 is a slightly different proposition and it does not happen overnight. I would ask ALL to think about that....the closer we get, the harder it gets. Let's allow MON to do his job.

Its difficult General to answer fully, since we all want to hear different things. Raeding your answer above, just confirms my opinions. Its not easy, it does take time, and patiance is a virtue.

I tend to think that some of the comments immeadiatly after the take over were misjudged. All they did was raise expectations to such an height, it was impossible to lower them.

I feel, and youve angrilly refuted the "PR" angle tonight, that if we were more open about our goals ( tell em how it is!), i think we would all agree.

Chelsea have spent, and continue to do soi, millions ion belonging in the top four. They have a rich benefactor, so why not?. But the point is, they are not us. We are historicly and by fan-base, THE bigger club.

The area in which they belong has more compitition. We , on the other hand have a rich area in which to exspand ( The Midlands). And i know its something as a club, that you and everybody at the club are doing their danmed hardest to exploit.

But there is no way we are going to outspend Chelsea.

Would you then agree that the best policy, is to invest slowly. Acheive year on growth, and wait...untill the stability is there, to invest the money to break into the four?

Im a patiant guy General, Honestly

Oh....i apologise for the spelling and the grammer. I have fat fingers, and they get fatter after a few beers, sorry general :winkold:

[thamutznutz]

General, as this is my first post may i firstly say how great it is to have you letting us fans know whats going on in the club we so love

However, our needs are becoming obvious, almost every play from Odense was down the left wing today to take advantage of our right back situation, so it goes without saying we need a right back and pretty damn quick. The keeper situation im unsure of because i cant quite understand how we have obtained a keeper of a quality worthy of progression into the top four for less than half a million, simple supply and demand dictates his price is low because nobody deemed him worth more?! as for Friedel, surely 38 is pushing it, so i ask why did all the speculation of Robinson (what according to the press was as good as a done deal) fall through? Also what i felt we lacked last season, and most certianly now barry is off is an all out attacking midfielder, not only a talisman like lampard to chelsea or gerrard to liverpool but someone to help chip in with the goals that are almost certianly not going to come from carew and gabby... as much as i like them, neither is a 20 a season man, carew is too slow and gabbys first touch is somewhat lacking, he panics, look at tonight, had he passed to carew it would have been a certain goal but he didnt know what to do under the pressure, a michael owen is what we need (isnt he unhappy at newcastle?!)...

Sorry to make this post so long but having lost more players than we've signed, as well as being on the verge of losing our best player and talisman not to mention already having the smallest squad in the prem i cant possibly see how we plan to progress? the teams above and below us are signing heroes, and if not at least trying, im not asking randy to throw 200k a week at ronaldinho, but right now we need someone to make us believe that villa have a small chance of not falling below 6th, let alone breaking into the top four!

Iv always championed MON, what he did for ashley was fantastic, but the transfers need to come, and soon, otherwise it will have all been for nothing! I guess what i am hoping for in response is some form of explaination for how a team with such promise, a great manager and supposed financial backing, is struggling to field a player in each position without even having injuries as an excuse?

[leemond2008]

General Krulak here:

1. Let's start with the basic premise that I am a Villa Fan and I am as anxious as anyone to sign players. Hopefully no one out there will challenge that sentence. That being said, almost every comment goes back to "small squad", "is MON slooow", why do some players seem to "get away" from us, why aren't we signing new players and the ones we have, don't we know we are playing a game in 90 minutes, etc. etc. Seriously, is there anyone out there that does not think MON can count...that he doesn't know how many players he needs and that he is short a few??? MON knows exactly where we stand...and has NOT been sitting on his bum and is NOT happy with the numbers. Does anyone really think that MON does not know we have a game in 90 minutes?? Geezz, of course he does. Does anyone think that Randy requires MON to sell before he buys? If they do, they are DEAD WRONG!! Does anyone think that Randy will not open his wallet for MON? If so, they are DEAD WRONG!! Look around the league...seriously, there have not been a plethora of signings. We are about the norm. Why? To be serious, your guess is as good as mine. I can speculate but that is all it would be. I can assure you, MON is working! He is not sitting on his bum. Transfers are hard and getting harder...the league is competitive, agents are in the mix, lots of things going on. It is NOT just AVFC. It is VERY important to us because of where we are now and where we want to go...I understand that. At the same time, those few folks who seem to believe that Randy or the Board ought to jump in and start micromanaging the process are just asking for trouble. MON has a huge amount of help...at Villa Park, at Bodymoor Heath and across the Pond. It is not just a one-man show BUT, MON is the final arbitrator and you will not see Randy or the Board getting into his business. We will do one key thing...WE WILL SUPPORT HIM!!! Randy has NEVER, EVER, said no to MON. Again, I understand your frustrations but it is NOT just a matter of calling up a Club and Player and offering a wad of money....if it were that simple, we would have a bunch of players!

thing is general every other team in the prem can field a squad of players.

[JV79]

and furthermore General. I am a long standing Oz Villa fan of 29 plus years; two points I disagree with:

1. MON has had 2 full seasons to gather a squad capable in numbers and

2. Can you answer a simple question not thought of from Villa fans? Why are the Cleveland browns fans so hostile towards Randy's cost cutting ways and apathy ridden team?

Randy would of made quite a profit from T.V money thus far, very smart businessman I'd say.....

Cheers