The Randy Lerner thread

[heystally!]

Plenty of good upcoming managers would take the job at the Premier League regardless of the budget. To manage at Villa, a club with a Premier League status is a massive bonus and privilege.

I completely agree, but that doesn't mean that there are no logical reasons why the board went with McLeish.

They wanted someone who would work on shoestring. They wanted someone with Premier League experience.

Martinez fell in that bracket. They went after him. They failed. So they went for McLeish, who was also in that bracket. They got him.

I don't think it was a good appointment, I don't think it'll turn out to be a good appointment. But I understand why the board did it.

Personally I think they should have looked down a division, to a bright, young, upcoming manager. But they didn't.

[Tony_Tony_Daley]

Houllier wasn't as bad of an appointment as people make out, the problem is if there is something people can point at and moan about, they'll find it.

The cold hard fact is, he tried to make us play football, he tried to make us play from the back and play fluent decent football, he just didn't have the right players nor did he have enough time to bring in his own players.

Houllier fell out with Dunne because Dunne smokes like a trooper and Houllier didn't like this (when your paying a player thousands a week to defend, you don't want him having messed up lungs) I know this as fact.

Gabby wasn't playing because Gabby is a lazy trainer n has very limited movement, which means if he dont move about...how can you play decent football, I love his form this season but his movement still is shit, face facts.

Houllier wanted players to move closer to the club because why shouldn't they?, they get paid stupid money to represent a football club and they shit on you back.

Get over the whole Houllier thing, point the blame at the players during his tenure, bunch of primer donner's who cant take orders from there boss, how many of us would still be in employment if we didnt do what the boss said?

My whole point to this post is, Houllier's appointment while not "fantastic"..it wasn't that bad, get over it...move on n point it at the lack of financial muscle and the blatant Mcleish appointment clanger and the shit football being played now.

[OnlyOne]

Plenty of good upcoming managers would take the job at the Premier League regardless of the budget. To manage at Villa, a club with a Premier League status is a massive bonus and privilege.

I completely agree, but that doesn't mean that there are no logical reasons why the board went with McLeish.

They wanted someone who would work on shoestring. They wanted someone with Premier League experience.

Martinez fell in that bracket. They went after him. They failed. So they went for McLeish, who was also in that bracket. They got him.

I don't think it was a good appointment, I don't think it'll turn out to be a good appointment. But I understand why the board did it.

Personally I think they should have looked down a division, to a bright, young, upcoming manager. But they didn't.

But we've seen AM working on a shoestring at SHA and he failed in the Premier League. Twice. Why did they think he was good enough to work on a shoestring here? He even outspent clubs like Wigan and Wolves, but still failed. Now it seems in the January window he wants emergencies to get us out of the relegation battle. That's not exactly working on a shoestring if he needs funds.

At least with an unknown prospect he could work out in the top flight. The whole 'Premier League Experience' is a farce if that person has to proven be a failure there.

[Hanky]

Houllier was an out of left field appointment. It didn’t work and they should have sacked him last christmas, bought in someone and let them spend the £24 million for Makoun and Bent in the way they would have chosen. Instead we have spent that money, all the money on termination package, on hiring a new clown. By the end we have spent a fortune. And this was supposed to be a money saving exercise? Would have probably been cheaper to keep on Irish zebedee

This for me. They shot themselves in the foot in doing this which is why I won't accept that we are trying to cut the spending when we are losing money this way.

[heystally!]

But we've seen AM working on a shoestring at SHA and he failed in the Premier League. Twice. Why did they think he was good enough to work on a shoestring here? He even outspent clubs like Wigan and Wolves, but still failed. Now it seems in the January window he wants emergencies to get us out of the relegation battle. That's not exactly working on a shoestring if he needs funds.

At least with an unknown prospect he could work out in the top flight. The whole 'Premier League Experience' is a farce if that person has to proven be a failure there.

I'm assuming the logic is that at SHA he had worse players than he would inherit at Villa, so they believed that he could do a job with a better squad.

Also they could have looked at the likes of Paul Ince and Tony Adams and got scared that an unproven manager might not get the respect of the players. Unproven managers have come into the league, but the likes of Rodgers and Lambert have had a year or two to work with their squads so know the players.

I'm not defending the McLeish appointment. It's just kind of obvious why the club did it. No point in questioning why they made that move.

[Hanky]

But we've seen AM working on a shoestring at SHA and he failed in the Premier League. Twice. Why did they think he was good enough to work on a shoestring here? He even outspent clubs like Wigan and Wolves, but still failed. Now it seems in the January window he wants emergencies to get us out of the relegation battle. That's not exactly working on a shoestring if he needs funds.

At least with an unknown prospect he could work out in the top flight. The whole 'Premier League Experience' is a farce if that person has to proven be a failure there.

I'm assuming the logic is that at SHA he had worse players than he would inherit at Villa, so they believed that he could do a job with a better squad.

Also they could have looked at the likes of Paul Ince and Tony Adams and got scared that an unproven manager might not get the respect of the players. Unproven managers have come into the league, but the likes of Rodgers and Lambert have had a year or two to work with their squads so know the players.

I'm not defending the McLeish appointment. It's just kind of obvious why the club did it. No point in questioning why they made that move.

Maybe. Then why Lerner didn't go for Hughes is beyond me as he fits the bill better than McLeish. Well I suppose it is because Lerner is supposedly big mates with Al-Fayed, which is why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

[limpid]

Maybe. Then why Lerner didn't go for Hughes is beyond me as he fits the bill better than McLeish. Well I suppose it is because Lerner is supposedly big mates with Al-Fayed, which is why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

How do you know that he didn't?

[markavfc40]

why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

I'd suggest that inheriting daddys money and never having to have to get his hands dirty in making a living or upset a few people whilst climbing the ladder has meant that Lerner lacks any kind of ruthless streak.

[Hanky]

Maybe. Then why Lerner didn't go for Hughes is beyond me as he fits the bill better than McLeish. Well I suppose it is because Lerner is supposedly big mates with Al-Fayed, which is why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

How do you know that he didn't?

Well obviously I am not ITK and therefore it is speculation but IMO Hughes quit Fulham expecting to get the Villa job so it was all in our hands.

[heystally!]

Maybe. Then why Lerner didn't go for Hughes is beyond me as he fits the bill better than McLeish. Well I suppose it is because Lerner is supposedly big mates with Al-Fayed, which is why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

How do you know that he didn't?

Well obviously I am not ITK and therefore it is speculation but IMO Hughes quit Fulham expecting to get the Villa job so it was all in our hands.

Isn't there a clause in the contract that Hughes can't join another club til next summer because he quit with one year left? I thought that was the reason we didn't/couldn't go for him.

[bickster]

Maybe. Then why Lerner didn't go for Hughes is beyond me as he fits the bill better than McLeish. Well I suppose it is because Lerner is supposedly big mates with Al-Fayed, which is why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

How do you know that he didn't?

Well obviously I am not ITK and therefore it is speculation but IMO Hughes quit Fulham expecting to get the Villa job so it was all in our hands.

Well thats what the press would have you believe, there was another scenario that involved him taking over at Chelsea under a D.O.F. but a certain Russian Chairman, simply changed his mind.

[CI]

Surely the logical move would have been to appoint Sid & KMac rather than panic and appoint McLeish, thus avoiding compensation and a high risk, volatile appointment that will probably end in a seven figure pay off

[sharkyvilla]

I'm not sure I'd fancy us getting taken over by the Qataris and buying the title, giving players £250,000 a week. I'll always stick up for Randy and sure the last two managerial appointments leave a lot to be desired but I can see the reasoning behind both. It's just the deadwood left from O'Neill's reign that is the problem and I really hope it's true that Randy is waiting until they are off the books before reinvesting his money. He couldn't go on giving out £30m a season forever unless they got in the Champions League so it's inevitable he'd have to scale back as he isn't quite that wealthy. He and O'Neill had a good go but it's really tough.

[heystally!]

I'm not sure I'd fancy us getting taken over by the Qataris and buying the title, giving players £250,000 a week. I'll always stick up for Randy and sure the last two managerial appointments leave a lot to be desired but I can see the reasoning behind both. It's just the deadwood left from O'Neill's reign that is the problem and I really hope it's true that Randy is waiting until they are off the books before reinvesting his money. He couldn't go on giving out £30m a season forever unless they got in the Champions League so it's inevitable he'd have to scale back as he isn't quite that wealthy. He and O'Neill had a good go but it's really tough.

I'd be happy with a takeover, but not to the extent Man City have approached it. I've always been proud that Villa are a sensible and smartly run club, so in my eyes, a takeover should mean that we are able to afford better players and increase our wage budget, but more in line with clubs like Liverpool and Spurs. Not offering £250,000 per week to a player, thus alienating other squad members. I kind of hate City for just playing the game like Championship Manager, after editing the database of course.

[smetrov]

Maybe. Then why Lerner didn't go for Hughes is beyond me as he fits the bill better than McLeish. Well I suppose it is because Lerner is supposedly big mates with Al-Fayed, which is why we won't get anywhere as we are being too 'nice'.

How do you know that he didn't?

Well obviously I am not ITK and therefore it is speculation but IMO Hughes quit Fulham expecting to get the Villa job so it was all in our hands.

Isn't there a clause in the contract that Hughes can't join another club til next summer because he quit with one year left? I thought that was the reason we didn't/couldn't go for him.

think that was Ancellotti.

there was speculation that we couldn't approach Hughes until July 1 unless we agreed compo with Chelsea. the amount of compo talked about was similar to what we paid blues for Mcleish.

I reckon Mcleish was the easy option - i don't lerner could be bothered with negotiating or put the effort into getting someone better. Not only does lerner not want to put cash in - he doesn't want to invest time either.

[Houlston]

I reckon Mcleish was the easy option - i don't lerner could be bothered with negotiating or put the effort into getting someone better. Not only does lerner not want to put cash in - he doesn't want to invest time either.

Not sure McLeish was the easy option given the fans backlash, the negotiations with Birmingham and the threat of legal action. You also state him not wanting to put cash in but as you know McLeish did not come cheap.

[OnlyOne]

Making Kev Mac the manager would have been the easy option.

This is what makes it more aggrovating. It's the fact Randy actually made the effort of bringing AM here and is putting his reputation/money on the line.

This manager isn't a safe bet at all. The odds were stacked against him from day one.

[smetrov]

I reckon Mcleish was the easy option - i don't lerner could be bothered with negotiating or put the effort into getting someone better. Not only does lerner not want to put cash in - he doesn't want to invest time either.

Not sure McLeish was the easy option given the fans backlash, the negotiations with Birmingham and the threat of legal action. You also state him not wanting to put cash in but as you know McLeish did not come cheap.

What I meant was. Randy \ Aston villa had a manager - within hours Lerner was on his jet back to USA. job done

[Mantis]

Making Kev Mac the manager would have been the easy option.

This is what makes it more aggrovating. It's the fact Randy actually made the effort of bringing AM here and is putting his reputation/money on the line.

This manager isn't a safe bet at all. The odds were stacked against him from day one.

Yeah, I agree. It's as if he thought McLeish was some sort of decent manager.

[smetrov]

Making Kev Mac the manager would have been the easy option.

This is what makes it more aggrovating. It's the fact Randy actually made the effort of bringing AM here and is putting his reputation/money on the line.

This manager isn't a safe bet at all. The odds were stacked against him from day one.

Yeah, I agree. It's as if he thought McLeish was some sort of decent manager.

I wonder if he made up his mind in March. Blues were mid table and had just won the CC Cup.