The Randy Lerner thread

[Big_John_10]

True, but the alternative is that in the 7 years sine Lerner arrived, our net spend is the 8th highest amount in the premier league, so you could argue he deserves much better.

Could you?

If you employ managers like houllier and Mcleish I don't think you deserve much better.

And when you look at the net spend over the last few years a long with the constant cutting of the wage bill i don't think you could expect much better.

Some of you must think Lerner is the unluckiest man in the world. There's a reason he failed with the browns and we're currently in this state and its nothing to do with luck.

[ClaretFondu]

Lerner has given a lot of money to the club, only to see us get into a relegation battle, so he can full well be cautious, thats understandable.

Whats not understandable is slashing of the wage bill, we're not going to get anyone if he constantly wants to pay players less, If he carries on doing this, we will only manage to sign Championship, League 1 and League 2 players. Which will mean we get relegated.

[LeafyVilla]

Could you?

If you employ managers like houllier and Mcleish I don't think you deserve much better.

And when you look at the net spend over the last few years a long with the constant cutting of the wage bill i don't think you could expect much better.

Some of you must think Lerner is the unluckiest man in the world. There's a reason he failed with the browns and we're currently in this state and its nothing to do with luck.

For me this sums it up completely, the guy was a clown at the Browns and he's proving to be just as clueless here, although The Holte pub does look nice, bright future my arse....

[Richard]

He has a tattoo

[Villarocker]

Lerner has given a lot of money to the club, only to see us get into a relegation battle, so he can full well be cautious, thats understandable.

Whats not understandable is slashing of the wage bill, we're not going to get anyone if he constantly wants to pay players less, If he carries on doing this, we will only manage to sign Championship, League 1 and League 2 players. Which will mean we get relegated.

But, if the reports of us needing to get the annual wage bill down to around £50m are correct, we should be still able to attract decent players. That puts each of the 25 man first team squad on something like £32k per week. When you consider that there will be back up players on £15-£20k per week we should still be able to have top earners on £40-£50k per week. That's enough to get a decent squad together. The question is, will we be able to afford the transfer fees? We need at least another 6 players added to that first team, if they each cost between £5-£7m we will need to stump up a further £30-£42m to build a decent team. Reports are that Lerner has given Lambert £5m to spend this transfer window.

Edited January 13, 2013 by villarocker

[LondonLax]

He has given Lambert more money to spend than any manager in the bottom half of this league to repair the squad.

The manager has messed up our summer by trying to change too much too soon.

You can't pin this all on the owner.

[Villarocker]

He has given Lambert more money to spend than any manager in the bottom half of this league to repair the squad.

The manager has messed up our summer by trying to change too much too soon.

You can't pin this all on the owner.

I agree with you on that. But, he spent £7m on a striker to replace Heskey. He had to do that because we had nobody other than Bent to put the ball in the net. Weimann has turned out to be a bonus for us. We needed new full backs because the last two were useless. He's brought in players that are equally out of sorts but, we're they his first choices? I would guess not!

The owner is probably scared to hand over more money right now but the cold fact is, if he doesn't give Lambert decent money to spend now we will go down this season. There's simply no escaping the fact that we are so poor that relegation is highly likely to happen.

[Nabby]

Agreed also he has tried to make us a more attractive team to watch yet we have conceded more than any other team and scored less.

[Harry]

But, if the reports of us needing to get the annual wage bill down to around £50m are correct, we should be still able to attract decent players. That puts each of the 25 man first team squad on something like £32k per week. When you consider that there will be back up players on £15-£20k per week we should still be able to have top earners on £40-£50k per week. That's enough to get a decent squad together. The question is, will we be able to afford the transfer fees? We need at least another 6 players added to that first team, if they each cost between £5-£7m we will need to stump up a further £30-£42m to build a decent team. Reports are that Lerner has given Lambert £5m to spend this transfer window.

A £50m wage bill works in the PL but its way too much for the Championship as we will lose probably £50m of revenue when we go down (including the extra money next season) plus attendances, hospitality, merchandise etc will all be shredded so what do we do then? And what do we do when the parachute payments end? Based on what is now happening try to reduce the wage bill still further. Once we go down we will say there.....end of.

The simple truth is the blame for the last seven years sits with the owner. All the key decisions rest with him.

[DCJonah]

I agree with you on that. But, he spent £7m on a striker to replace Heskey. He had to do that because we had nobody other than Bent to put the ball in the net. Weimann has turned out to be a bonus for us. We needed new full backs because the last two were useless. He's brought in players that are equally out of sorts but, we're they his first choices? I would guess not!

Were the fullback positions really that important? We had both Hutton and Warnock (who featured the season before) and then had Stevens, Lichaj, and Herd that could all fill in/challenge for the position. Instead we went into the season with Vlaar, two untested youngsters in Clark and Baker, and Dunne having a longterm injury.

I'm very happy with the Benteke signing, I think he'll go on to be a good Premier League player. We did, however, manage to stay up last season even though Bent missed a large part of the season. I would say both CB and CM were more important positions to fill before looking at fullbacks and a new striker though.

[Villarocker]

That's a fair shout Jonah! Buying one new CB after releasing two did seem a bit of a gamble in the summer and it clearly came back to haunt Lambert. The full backs did need replacing but the players brought on have just not been up to the task.

Harry, you make a great point about next season. I agree with you that it seems almost certain that the wage bill will need cutting back even further if we are relegated. What kind of team will we be left with then.

[VillakevBromsgrove]

I wish people would stop banging on about the money we have spent, we need to look at the bigger picture. take an honest look at the squad, for the last 2 years we have all said it was not good enough, the managers have said it was not good enough,

Yes we have some high earners but we have a squad of 25 players, out of these 25 how many players would we say were of premier league standard, honestly we have 9 or 10 players, the rest are youth players or those on the brink of being what we would call covering players for injury,

I may be wrong but looking at it PL has not just got to get a first team but make the squad better than what we have, to have players who can come in and make a difference,

I love what happens when we have a bad spell, the players who we all said should never play for Villa again or are poisonous to the squad suddenly should come back and help us because they are better than what we have - really,

Last year Collins was called a word removed, not fit to wear the shirt, the worst defender we ever had, now people are saying we should not have got rid of him.

We need probably 3 players to come in to keep us from relegation, what happens though next year?

The state of the club is bad and I like everybody else I am p---ed off with it but we have to brake this cycle we are in of just doing enough to survive.

The chairman can not be held responsible for our best players leaving, this happens everywhere and will continue to happen as long as players and agents are there.

Without doubt RL and PL have not performed well this season, maybe there was funds going to be made available this jan but the position we are in and the drop in attendance has changed things.

I have sat back after like everybody else having a rant and a sulk and tried to look at the bigger picture, We have been a club that has been going no where since we won the European cup, yes we have the odd season where we over achieve, but on the whole we are a top 12 team. We need to change things long term,

I wish I knew how but I dont, this we must leave to the experts,

Getting rid of PL will not change things, he said it was a long term project and he is paid to know these things, He obviously has a plan in line with RL to change our fortunes over the coming seasons, No we do not want to be relegated, no doubt RL and PL do not want this either,

The question is if RL left would things honestly change? I am not so sure. Again I say we do not know all the facts, we are fans who follow the team,

There is enough evidence out there to show what could happen to us, Blues, Blackburn, Forest, Wolves, Leeds.

We need to think about things before calling for heads to roll, will them leaving help the situation or make it worse. Remember we are fans and will follow for thick and thin.

UTV

[mikeyp102]

I suppose he could spend big still go down and be completely **** to the point of threatening the existence of the club.

I'd rather have a club than not and football does exist outside the premier league believe or not.

Most of these fans asking to just spend spend spend will move onto supporting City or Utd when we go down anyway, the ONLY thing that will be worth us being relegated.

Why would fans change, yes there may be the odd one but seriously most are villa fans through and through (it's hardly a fashionable club to support for glory hunters). People want RL to spend because they can see how poor the team is and that relegation seems a distinct possibility. The way the new money deal is will really have an adverse affect on the future of the club should we go down, as should we come straight back up (which is by no means a certainty) there will be a sibnificant gulf between us and even the likes of Fulham/WBA etc...

[VillakevBromsgrove]

Why would fans change, yes there may be the odd one but seriously most are villa fans through and through (it's hardly a fashionable club to support for glory hunters). People want RL to spend because they can see how poor the team is and that relegation seems a distinct possibility. The way the new money deal is will really have an adverse affect on the future of the club should we go down, as should we come straight back up (which is by no means a certainty) there will be a sibnificant gulf between us and even the likes of Fulham/WBA etc...

We have to look at what PL said, he can get 2 or 3 players in to help but long term they may not be the players he wants to move forward, again we think short term fix and he is thinking long term,

As much as it hurts if we have to go down to improve then so be it, I am sure PL and RL do not want this and the club desperately does not want this but again we can not keep buying players on big contracts for the short term who will effect the long term strategy of the club. we need to brake the cycle to move forward.

[Keyblade]

£20 million for 8 players get you the poor quality we now have.

And £20 million wasn't backing the manager, it was doing the minimum to give his investment a chance of surviving. But as some said in the summer it wasn't enough.

And seriously think about the wages the 4 lower league lads are on. I don't see how that can be ignored. I'd be amazed if Bowery is on more than £10,000 a week. Now I know we didn't need a striker but what quality player is coming to this club for the transfer fee and wages that we got Bowery for?

We can talk about net spend all day but the players don't make their decision to come here on what their transfer fee is.

Wages is the key and Lambert had to cut them.

Agreed. 20M was relatively a lot, but nowhere near enough for the rebuilding required. Lambert had to spread that 20M for 8 different players, that is hardly going to get us quality. The vast majority of those signings have been good (only Bennett and El Ahmadi who the jury is still out on look like bad buys).

[jonno_2004]

If that £20m or so he spent in the summer is viewed as an investment, then it looks a good one.

I'd say all the players bought except Bennett, Bowery and El Ahmadi will have seen increases in their value. Only 3 weeks ago I was seeing comparisons with Benteke and Drogba, Lowton has looked decent as has Vlaar and Westwood. If those players were to be sold now Lerner would receive more than the original £20m regardless, so I don't buy the cautious approach to transfer spend - where we've hemorrhaged money in previous years is due to paying over the odds for players we'd never see a decent return on and putting them on high wages. We even recouped all of the original transfer spends on Downing, Young and Milner and then some.

Providing we can get the right player in on decent wages then the initial outlay shouldn't be an issue - after all, the man's just sold something for $1 billion, liquidity is not a problem.

[foreveryoung]

I will always support Lerner but I have always said he has ill advised on football issues, you could blame him for this as he has never really employed a football head I.e a Graham Taylor. Money wise he just don't want to get in the same situation of buying shit players an paying high wages which is obvious. The only thing I can't understand is we all know he is much a businessman but it seems there is no real urgency to stay in the Premiership knowing the money he would lose if we get relegated. Im still hoping the club have something up there sleeve like the infamous Bent signing

Edited January 13, 2013 by foreveryoung

[AshVilla]

20 mill is laughable really in terms of how shit the squad is that Lambert inherited

This squad needs at least 50 mill spent on it

Edited January 13, 2013 by AshVilla

[AXD]

If that £20m or so he spent in the summer is viewed as an investment, then it looks a good one.

I'd say all the players bought except Bennett, Bowery and El Ahmadi will have seen increases in their value. Only 3 weeks ago I was seeing comparisons with Benteke and Drogba, Lowton has looked decent as has Vlaar and Westwood. If those players were to be sold now Lerner would receive more than the original £20m regardless, so I don't buy the cautious approach to transfer spend - where we've hemorrhaged money in previous years is due to paying over the odds for players we'd never see a decent return on and putting them on high wages. We even recouped all of the original transfer spends on Downing, Young and Milner and then some.

Providing we can get the right player in on decent wages then the initial outlay shouldn't be an issue - after all, the man's just sold something for $1 billion, liquidity is not a problem.

key word in this: decent, they have looked decent. we need players that look good/great. Benteke has had moments, as did westwood. of course it's easier as a striker than as a DM.

Vlaar has also looked decent, and yet everyone is expecting him to be the answer to our defensive problems. He will not be, he will be an improvement over our current players, but that's nothong special.

if we don't get one GOOD CB (scott dann is one I'd like) and an allround midfielder (to take pressure off westwood and give Ireland or Nzogbia some freedom to do what he wants) this transferwindow, I don't think we'll make it.

[Keyblade]

key word in this: decent, they have looked decent. we need players that look good/great. Benteke has had moments, as did westwood. of course it's easier as a striker than as a DM.

Vlaar has also looked decent, and yet everyone is expecting him to be the answer to our defensive problems. He will not be, he will be an improvement over our current players, but that's nothong special.

if we don't get one GOOD CB (scott dann is one I'd like) and an allround midfielder (to take pressure off westwood and give Ireland or Nzogbia some freedom to do what he wants) this transferwindow, I don't think we'll make it.

So we don't need players that are decent like Vlaar, we need players that are good like Scott Dann. Gotcha.