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The Randy Lerner thread


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I think whatever happens this week there needs to be a realistic assessment of lerner's time here and a debate on where we are heading with him
There's an ongoing one, and has been pretty much from the moment he took over. How realistic it is, I'm not sure, it seems to vary with on the field fortunes. As you'd expect, as we tend to judge the owner, manager and players by what happens on the pitch. When results are bad, some or all of them cop for loads, and when we do well, the opposite is the case.

Many signs point towards him looking to offload the club - from the appointment a couple of years ago of that chap who specialises in that sort of thing, to the redundancies, reigning in of the wages and spending.

He's maybe not actively, desperately looking, but it feels like the club is being neglected somewhat by the owner.

That might change in the next few days, or it may be a false reading anyway.

The next TV deal, starting next season is a massive windfall, really. Maybe there's a strong desire to get the wages at a level where some return could be had, via the greater TV money, without it all going straight to agents and over-rated players. Maybe that would allow loans to be paid off reasonably, without meaning we have to go through what we've gone through in the past 2 years, again.

The problem with that is that the squad looks painfully callow and lacking in experience, and little or no better than last year's squad.

The express article resonates because it's like it's written by a fan - lots of emotion. Most of the people running clubs don't work off emotion, they work off accounts.

The single thing I find hardest to get my head round these days is exactly what is Villa for? Is it simply about survival? is it about preparing to be sold? is it about competing for the top 10, is it about a longer term plan to do something ( I dunno, attract another investor to share the ownership, or whatever)?

Of all the things that were so obviously wrong last season, quite a few remain to be sorted out: -

Yes, the manager has gone, and yes a few overpaid under-performers have gone in the past 12 months - Beye, Collins, Heskey etc. Cuellar (though I find it hard to see what he did to keep getting overlooked)

But the rest is the same. Same reliance (reliance, not being able to gently integrate) on young players with a handful of games between them.

Same lack of proven quality in key positions.

Same lack of communication. Same disillusioned fanbase.

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He's been in my bad books for at least two seasons. It's amazing how your opinion of a man can change from hero to zero in such a short period of time.

But it's all his own fault. I'd now be more likely to want to throttle him than shake his hand if I ever bumped into him that's for sure.

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I'm not so sure Randy will give Lambert any money this week. Surely if the money was there, we would have been in for players earlier? I know we have been poor the opening two games, but can't see a knee jerk reaction from Randy. We were in the shit last January and he didn't shell out then, apart from Keane & that was only a short loan.

Personally, I think we're going to have to go with what we've got. Just can't see another £20m Darren Bent signing and we're worse now than we were then.

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this club is run by accountants which is all well & good but not when every other Premier League club is run by the desire to be successful!

I am sure we have a desire to be successful, and I am sure other football clubs are also run by accountants.

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The squad reminds me a lot of Newcastle when they went down. Loads of awful journeymen players on over-inflated wages due to poor management, and poor managerial appointments. I can also start to see the same antipathy (verging on hatred it seems from some people) towards Lerner as there was for Mike Ashley. Ashley had enough, cut back and tried to sell the club, but finding a buyer for a Premier League football club is incredibly hard, especially when the current owner is already a billionaire. Finding someone richer is nigh on impossible. It leaves the owner very little option other than to stick it out, put up with the abuse and try to find the best way of getting the club back on its feet. It's going to be a slow process.

With Newcastle, I think that tough period is all but forgotten. Even renaming St James' Park doesn't seem to bother them that much whilst they are flirting with Champions League football. Their turnaround has been utterly remarkable and the decisions by Ashley to change the managers at the right time and revamp the scouting system have paid huge dividends. McLeish's appointment was a massive PR gamble by Lerner that failed horribly, although I am sure he would be grateful for the job he did in cutting a lot of the wage bill whilst keeping us in the division. The damage to Randy's reputation amongst the fans though is at an all-time low because of it, much like Ashley's was during the relegation.

The key is backing a manager with the quality to rebuild a club on a sound financial footing. He needs all the help he can get through scouting which has obviously been identified by Lerner and co and we seem to have made encouraging movements on that front. Lerner has clearly seen the approach Ashley has taken at Newcastle and its medium-term success, for all its short-term pain. Our problem is can we really afford to go down a division, which is the way we are heading with this playing squad? I'm pretty sure that all contracts have clauses where they get reduced if relegated, which makes players easier to move on, plus with parachute payments and hopefully immediate promotion back to the Premier League, it isn't the financial nightmare it perhaps looks on paper.

But nobody wants to get relegated, ever, fact. So Lerner will hopefully see the need to dig into his pocket now but for the right players. No players approaching 30 on over 50 grand a week for 4 years and no sell-on value just for the short-term boost to keep us in the division. At most we can afford to bring one of these players in if they have the right mentality to lift a club. If we get too many of these players we will just end up at square one. I trust Lambert over the long-run to get this club back into shape but it has to be done in the right way. I genuinely think we can turn a corner next season if we hold our nerve. Unless Lerner can find somebody richer than him to spend a fortune on getting us back into contention with the other big English clubs, this is the best way forward.

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I have absolutely no problem with Randy Lerner.

I fully understand what he is doing and pleased he recognised his mistake when he did.

Sure, we may go down with the current squad (thats football I suppose) - but we will not implode like others have.

Football is getting silly, to the point where people are actually walking away from it. Its completely unsustainable.

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The squad reminds me a lot of Newcastle when they went down. Loads of awful journeymen players on over-inflated wages due to poor management, and poor managerial appointments. I can also start to see the same antipathy (verging on hatred it seems from some people) towards Lerner as there was for Mike Ashley. Ashley had enough, cut back and tried to sell the club, but finding a buyer for a Premier League football club is incredibly hard, especially when the current owner is already a billionaire. Finding someone richer is nigh on impossible. It leaves the owner very little option other than to stick it out, put up with the abuse and try to find the best way of getting the club back on its feet. It's going to be a slow process.

With Newcastle, I think that tough period is all but forgotten. Even renaming St James' Park doesn't seem to bother them that much whilst they are flirting with Champions League football. Their turnaround has been utterly remarkable and the decisions by Ashley to change the managers at the right time and revamp the scouting system have paid huge dividends. McLeish's appointment was a massive PR gamble by Lerner that failed horribly, although I am sure he would be grateful for the job he did in cutting a lot of the wage bill whilst keeping us in the division. The damage to Randy's reputation amongst the fans though is at an all-time low because of it, much like Ashley's was during the relegation.

The key is backing a manager with the quality to rebuild a club on a sound financial footing. He needs all the help he can get through scouting which has obviously been identified by Lerner and co and we seem to have made encouraging movements on that front. Lerner has clearly seen the approach Ashley has taken at Newcastle and its medium-term success, for all its short-term pain. Our problem is can we really afford to go down a division, which is the way we are heading with this playing squad? I'm pretty sure that all contracts have clauses where they get reduced if relegated, which makes players easier to move on, plus with parachute payments and hopefully immediate promotion back to the Premier League, it isn't the financial nightmare it perhaps looks on paper.

But nobody wants to get relegated, ever, fact. So Lerner will hopefully see the need to dig into his pocket now but for the right players. No players approaching 30 on over 50 grand a week for 4 years and no sell-on value just for the short-term boost to keep us in the division. At most we can afford to bring one of these players in if they have the right mentality to lift a club. If we get too many of these players we will just end up at square one. I trust Lambert over the long-run to get this club back into shape but it has to be done in the right way. I genuinely think we can turn a corner next season if we hold our nerve. Unless Lerner can find somebody richer than him to spend a fortune on getting us back into contention with the other big English clubs, this is the best way forward.

A very well balanced piece that. Good Post!!

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Can I just make the point about Newcastle and relegation. They went down for one reason and one reason alone. They appointed the strangest managerial choice since Wilkinson rocked up at Sunderland. Joe ‘F’ Kinnear.

Whether Lerner is good or bad is not really borne out in the current manager; he has appointed a manager in Lambert who is in no way comparable to JFK...

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Can I just make the point about Newcastle and relegation. They went down for one reason and one reason alone. They appointed the strangest managerial choice since Wilkinson rocked up at Sunderland. Joe ‘F’ Kinnear.

Whether Lerner is good or bad is not really borne out in the current manager; he has appointed a manager in Lambert who is in no way comparable to JFK...

I disagree with that. I believe that if Joe Kinnear had of stayed healthy - they would have got at least one more point.

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I have absolutely no problem with Randy Lerner.

I fully understand what he is doing and pleased he recognised his mistake when he did.

Sure, we may go down with the current squad (thats football I suppose) - but we will not implode like others have.

Football is getting silly, to the point where people are actually walking away from it. Its completely unsustainable.

Truly unbelievable.

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Can I just make the point about Newcastle and relegation. They went down for one reason and one reason alone. They appointed the strangest managerial choice since Wilkinson rocked up at Sunderland. Joe ‘F’ Kinnear.

Whether Lerner is good or bad is not really borne out in the current manager; he has appointed a manager in Lambert who is in no way comparable to JFK...

McLeish is comparable though. Lambert is the Hughton character ready to get the club moving forward again

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I have absolutely no problem with Randy Lerner.

I fully understand what he is doing and pleased he recognised his mistake when he did.

Sure, we may go down with the current squad (thats football I suppose) - but we will not implode like others have.

Football is getting silly, to the point where people are actually walking away from it. Its completely unsustainable.

Truly unbelievable.

Why?

To some people it's just football, we have no control over it, so why get all worked up and stressed about it?

I'm not saying I feel that way, but I can understand why people would...

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I have absolutely no problem with Randy Lerner.

I fully understand what he is doing and pleased he recognised his mistake when he did.

Sure, we may go down with the current squad (thats football I suppose) - but we will not implode like others have.

Football is getting silly, to the point where people are actually walking away from it. Its completely unsustainable.

Truly unbelievable.

Why?

What you want me to sit here and hurl abuse at some guy I don't know because he wont spend his money on what I want?

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I just don't understand how someone can have no problem with their team getting relegated and have no problem with the owner who causes it.

I know you don't understand, have a read, it's not that people are happy or have no problem with how we are, it's just the ways in which they choose to react.

For some people, it's less about blame and more about sympathy, for some it's the idea of what support is and isn't, for others it's about pinpointing the cause of problems and either trying to find fixes or pointing fingers, but I don't think there's anyone on here who has no problem with our present situation, or who thinks it's good.

People are different, your opinion is your opinion, other peoples opinions are theirs, none are exactly right or wrong, although there are themes that are likely to run through all of them.

I wouldn't be happy if we were relegated, I've not given up on us staying in the division just yet though, I recognise that the owner, board and chief exec haven't done well and have made some serious errors over the past two years, but I'm not looking for a night of the long knives, I think they're naive and at times foolish, but they're paying for those lessons and I still hope they'll learn them, that belief in them doesn't make me an idiot I hope (although they do seem to be trying) and your belief that their incompetence should lead to their immediate removal doesn't make you one either - but your belief that anyone who disagrees with you is a fool probably says more about you than them.

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Big John, Id like for Saturdays to come round and for me to look forward to the game. I want to get that sinking feeling when we concede and that euphoric feeling when we score. I want to enjoy supporting Villa again.

I dont want to go down, but Im tired of becoming frustrated at things I cant influence.

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