danceoftheshamen Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 I wonder if Lerner can stil be arsed with Villa. He has sunk a lot of capitial into the club and effectively we are in the same or worse postion then when he bought the club in those summer days of 2006. Doug might have been an annoying old git but he had the last laugh- he never put any of his cash into Villa and got a nice £20 mil payoff when he sold up. Still at least the old boy still comes to the games- Lerner hasnt for years.Obviously the Man City take over totally blew us out of the water and we have never looked like challenging for the top spots since. We can talk about it for days but Lerner bascially gave O'Neill far too much trust in transfers and wages, and we are still paying the price 3 years on. Houllier was a experiment that went wrong, McClueless was a omishambles and the jury is still out on Lambert. What is the most disapointing thing for me is that under Randy, Villa still havent seem to be marketed well enough.I thought americians were good at this! We all thought under Doug, Villa were always under sold. If I remember they brought in some big PR guys, and then nothing happened. A good team helps hugely of course, but even under MON's days we didnt sell out no where near enough. Villa skirts were and still are, hard to buy in shops outside the midlands. Clubs like Spurs have a far better 'brand' than us. I know its mostly down to them being good at the moment, but some of it is still marketing. The North Stand rebuild is totally dead in the water and we face going further back into the pack when West Spam get a free 60,000 stadium. Liverpool are still spending huge amounts whilst United and the rest of the champions league teams are lightyears ahead of us. I dont know how we can catch up other than trying to stick to our current plan of youth development and buying rough diamonds. Unless Lerner is Billy Beane in disguise, this isnt going to have a happy ending. 7 years on and we still dont know him at all. We dont want a return to a Doug type chairman talking nonsense all the times (like a son to me etc, etc) but Randy has to make clear what he wants out of Villa, even if he is uncomfortable in the lime light. My gut feeling is that he tried to get us top four which failed. He has know going to try and recoup the money under Lambert's policies and if we stay up, look to sell in a few years time. Good post! Forget Blues Villa are representatives of the 2nd City but we don't really match up. The fan base is there but we rarely sell out. even when we won the league in 81 we only averaged 33,000. West Ham have never been as big as us and they have the Olympic but they are only renting it and I wonder if the will fill it. You could be right Lerner thought he could make us into a an Arsenal or Liverpool but Man City takeover destroyed everything. In the early 80's though Hooliganism was at it's height & attendances were suffering generally all over. Also we had not long come back from 3rd division oblivion too so many of the fan base were hungover from that too at the time. For me there are many fans who would come back & get season tickets as soon as we can get a half decent team together. It was beginning to happen under MON but lets be honest the football was out dated & we were generally being hammered every game & just catching teams on the break. Ok we did alright but we hardly set the World on fire now did we. I was one of those fans from the late 70's / early 80's & i would love to watch a decent Villa team again.. I would be straight out to buy a season ticket if i didn't think i was just going to watch us get hammered every other week...That's not fun in my opinion & i know many others who feel the same way..Don't get me wrong i was no glory hunter & in fact the club was in the 3rd tier when i started supporting them & i also was a season ticket holder during 2 relegation's post "wonder years". Under MON i did consider getting a ST but every time i went up i thought it was pretty poor if i'm honest so i decided against it. Weirdly though if we can survive this season i actually think, with a few additions, we have the making of a darned good team & i may actually get one for next season. I think part of the problem was 25 years of BS from HDE.. to suffer that after watching us win the games ultimate prizes was frankly the ultimate kick in the nads & the club never benefited properly attendance wise as a result... I do strongly believe the fan base is there but needs to see some real signs that we are a good team with a real chance of competing "properly" not "MON top 6 style". The Ellis era was just false dawn after false dawn after false dawn & this peed an awful lot of fans off myself included. I lost belief in the club & once that's gone it takes a lot to get it back & a few half cocked top 6 finishes under a negative manager were never going to do it for me personally. So my message is simple.... Want me to buy a season ticket & commit my valuable time to supporting this club proper? Like i used to before 3 decades of BS?... Then give me a decent team to support that i can be proud of. I don't care if it costs millions or not i just want a decent flipping team & vision of progress for the club that i can believe in... Not fairy stories & substandard c**p! I don't even care if we don't win the league or European cup but at least give me a team that's fit to wear the colours. We're never going to be able to compete for the truly great players obviously but frankly who needs em?... In the words of our most successful ever captain during the build up to a crucial night game against the then reigning Champions, Liverpool when we needed to beat them to keep us on track for the famous title win in 1980... "We need to beat them the Villa way" & we did ..2-0 (Withe, Mortimer) & the rest is history! So that's my challenge to Randy... What is "the Villa way" in 2013?... Maybe just maybe we are witnessing the birth of that this season.... But we need to survive first! Here's hoping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Yes but the crowds were flooding in when we got promoted back to the first division. They started dwindling after the sales of Andy Gray and John Gidman. I AGREE football had a bad name then with football hooliganism. Even though it was relatively cheap to watch football. Crowds were down after we had a boom time after the war. Late 60s onwards there was a decline because of football hooliganism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillakevBromsgrove Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I agree with all the above, for me though I lost the total love of going to the club when we lost standing in the Holte, I still remember as a child being totally blown away by the atmosphere, the singing and the camaraderie starting at the top of the Holte and ending up half way down when we scored, Now when I go sitting down all civilized just does not give the same feeling it is like going to watch a film, people are more reluctant to sing as they are in full view of everybody and not part of a group. It isnt just at VP but throughout all grounds, it is harder to attract new fans than it used to be, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 If we get a result at Norwich then Lerner needs to back Lambert with a bit more $$$ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceoftheshamen Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I agree with all the above, for me though I lost the total love of going to the club when we lost standing in the Holte, I still remember as a child being totally blown away by the atmosphere, the singing and the camaraderie starting at the top of the Holte and ending up half way down when we scored, Now when I go sitting down all civilized just does not give the same feeling it is like going to watch a film, people are more reluctant to sing as they are in full view of everybody and not part of a group. It isnt just at VP but throughout all grounds, it is harder to attract new fans than it used to be, Aye!.. with you on that VillaKev... All seating sucked the camaraderie away to a large extent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 (edited) So for the 3rd season in a row we go into the 37th game of the season still not safe. After selling the browns for $1 billion dollars and the huge increase in tv money it will be interesting to see what Paul Lambert is given this summer. Is our aim to be back towards the top 6 or is it to simply survive while keeping the costs down? Lambert's starting to turn my opinion of him around, would be nice if the owner could do the same this summer. Edited May 6, 2013 by Big_John_10 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 He made 20 million available in the summer. Theres no point us making big money signings and then getting stuck with them for years on high wages like has happened. I back Lambert to make some more shrewd investments this summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMcKenna Posted May 6, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted May 6, 2013 Lerner hasn't been to game for a long, long time - one of the staff told me hasn't been to VP all season and no one has a clue whether he is interested or not. His reason was that he wanted to be near to his son, which is fair enough but frankly it doesnt totally hold water as he could have easily popped over for a few days in his private jet - i believe given our position, he wanted to avoid stick from the fans. All the signs are that he will sell if the right offer comes in. His strategy was clearly to stop the club haemorrhaging money and if we stay up he has achieved that. We will now hopefully attract a wealthy buyer. IMHO we could be in for another roller-coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I'm pretty sure he was over not that long ago, I seem to remember a picture of him watching training. Either way if he gives Lambert another £20m to spend like last summer then it should do nicely. He must be so relieved to have a manager that adds value to players rather than just spunks money up the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 He made 20 million available in the summer. Theres no point us making big money signings and then getting stuck with them for years on high wages like has happened. I back Lambert to make some more shrewd investments this summer. I think past managers are making you worried. Big money signings doesn't always equal an Ireland or Beye. Lambert shouldn't have to go and rely on unproven shrewd signings again. I'm sure he could find a couple but also with decent money he might be able to bring in a couple more like Benteke. We're falling down the league in terms of income but we're still a top 8 team in that respect and we should be looking to get back in that position. Maybe not next year but the backing Lambert receives will indicate where Lerner sees this club going. I've still seen little to suggest he cares more than us just surviving while keeping costs down until he can find a buyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I think it is very naive to say that we are in a worse state compared to when Lerner took over. One thing is what he has done since, but imagine what would have happened with Doug in charge. The competition is much harder, the financial aspect has become much more obvious and the London-factor clearly a big thing. Lerner has spent cash, albeit a bit patchy, and what more can we ask for? I seriously don't care if he attends games, what has that got to do with anything? He is an investor, he lives in the United States and keeps this club alive. We have no right to spend the most money, and we cannot be angry when we have been top 5-10 in terms of spending over the last 6 years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaForever1970 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 People moan about Lerner but I've still failed to see what we're meant to be doing if we just cannot afford to do things? Saying just run the club better is bollocks, unless you actually run a football club. It's like stupid fans that think we'll just get the tv money in one big cheque Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 but I've still failed to see what we're meant to be doing if we just cannot afford to do things? Not allow a wage bill to spiral out of control? Not hire poor managers? Just a couple of things that wouldn't have seen us get in such a mess. I think even a stupid football fan could tell you that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted May 7, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted May 7, 2013 Not allow a wage bill to spiral out of control? Not hire poor managers? Just a couple of things that wouldn't have seen us get in such a mess. I think even a stupid football fan could tell you that. He's hired 3 managers in his time (MON was in the job before he took over) - Houllier, McLeish, Lambert. In the words of Meatloaf: 2 out of 3 aint bad. The wage bill, however - that was a mistake. Still, he recognised the problem and rectified it. It's one thing to make mistakes, it's another to learn from them - and I believe he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyAnty Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 (edited) Okay Mr Lerner, start turning this club around. Im not asking for crazy money for players but start to market it right and full the stadium every week and the rest will come. We have got the bases of a very good young side who we can build off and a manager with a plan for the future, something that we havent had for a very long time. Now its you and Mr Faulkners turn to step up and make this club great once again. P lambert cant do it all on his own Edited May 7, 2013 by HeyAnty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 It'll be interesting to see what takes place this summer. I wouldn't expect an enormous net spend - and to be frank it shouldn't be necessary. I think we can expect to bring in around £15-20m in sales so I wouldn't think there will be more than about £5-7m net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 It'll be interesting to see what takes place this summer. I wouldn't expect an enormous net spend - and to be frank it shouldn't be necessary. I think we can expect to bring in around £15-20m in sales so I wouldn't think there will be more than about £5-7m net. Hmmm I'll think we'll spend a bit more than that. We have the extra tv revenue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 People moan about Lerner but I've still failed to see what we're meant to be doing if we just cannot afford to do things? Saying just run the club better is bollocks, unless you actually run a football club. It's like stupid fans that think we'll just get the tv money in one big cheque Wots of the point of a billionaire owner - who won't invest in the club ? All the signs are - we will tick over until a buyer can be found. I hope his choice of owners is better than that of managers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 Villa skirts were and still are, hard to buy in shops outside the midlands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 Okay Mr Lerner, start turning this club around. Im not asking for crazy money for players but start to market it right and full the stadium every week and the rest will come. We have got the bases of a very good young side who we can build off and a manager with a plan for the future, something that we havent had for a very long time. Now its you and Mr Faulkners turn to step up and make this club great once again. P lambert cant do it all on his own Yep, it's put up or shut up time for Randolph. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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