The Randy Lerner thread

[dudevillaisnice]

£££

[Mantis]

£££

I don't think so. McLeish cost them a lot of money. As I said before, if they got him for free then I could understand the whole reasoning behind it (kind of), but this makes no sense. If they wanted to be cheap they could've just appointed McAllister or K Mac as manager. They wouldn't been popular choices but far less controversial than McLeish. Short of doing something ridiculous like appointing a conference manager, I can't think of anyone that would cause such a shitstorm as McLeish.

[Houlston]

£££

but he didnt come as cheap as say someone who wasnt in work

[Villarocker]

You cannot possibly be that thick? You "go on and on" about posters here, yet every bloody post of yours is "Villa fans this, Villa fans that". Stop contradicting yourself. You look silly.

Thats not actually true, a few posts in OT dont say villa or fans

People just need to get a grip, we're half the problem.

If we all stopped bickering and made Villa park full every week, it would help a hell of a lot.

But folk are far too busy getting their nickers in a twist over the fact we're not going to do anything anytime soon.

What happened to just enjoying supporting your local team, watching them play football good or bad.

Football fans in general have been brainwashed by money are far too concerned with what other teams are doing.

If you cannot enjoy football unless your winning something then i dunno why people support football, because its not about the game, its just glory.

Of course its great when its happens, but this is more to being a football supporter.

Welcome back General K

Sorry MG I couldn't help it!

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

£££

I don't think so. McLeish cost them a lot of money. As I said before, if they got him for free then I could understand the whole reasoning behind it (kind of), but this makes no sense. If they wanted to be cheap they could've just appointed McAllister or K Mac as manager. They wouldn't been popular choices but far less controversial than McLeish. Short of doing something ridiculous like appointing a conference manager, I can't think of anyone that would cause such a shitstorm as McLeish.

Indeed.

It is what makes it all even more the nonsensical.

We paid quite a lot in compensation for the privilege of appointing McWank and give him a 3 year contract.

[CI]

Part of me thinks they appointed Eck simply for the publicity / shock factor, just to shake the city up a bit

It would be the sort of thing a yank would do - "shock & awe"

[AndyC]

100% of his appointments have been disastrous so far. Houllier was a head-scratcher, Mcleish even more so (perhaps more like a skull-caver).

Regardless of how it turned out, I don't think the Houllier appointment was a bad one at the time. We'd just had our manager walk out on us right before the start of the season. There weren't really that many options available to us at that time. Houllier did have a fair bit of success and while he had health issues I distinctly remember him being passed fit by his doctor. In hindsight it might look a bad appointment, but as I said, at the time, I don't think it was bad at all.

McLeish on the other hand was as you said, a skull-caver. He'd just gotten SHA relegated after they were looking safe only a few months before. His teams play dire football and he came straight from SHA. While I don't think his SHA connections matter, it did to some people and I'm pretty sure Randy and Faulkner would have had the foresight to know that appointing him with all those things in mind would certainly ruffle a few feathers. Not only that but there were definitely better candidates out there. I just don't understand what their rationale was. It was possibly one of the most bizarre managerial appointments in history.

The other head scratcher is that the appointment came after we were interested in talking to Martinez, who is the complete opposite to McLeish football wise in just about every single way.

Yeah, that's another thing. Doesn't make any sense. They clearly weren't using style of football as criteria when looking for a new manager, nor was success a criteria (obviously). So what was their main criteria?

nobody else wanted the job

[Pilchard]

nobody else wanted the job

The only thing I can think of is that the critera was it had to be a ginger knobhead and Chris Evans was too busy on the one show.

[villabromsgrove]

Imo we are not going to be targeted by an ultra rich buyer. In all probability Randy will be the Villa owner for the foreseeable future. So this debate should be about what Randy can do sensibly within the constraints of the current worldwide recession to improve Villa as a club.

Randy knows that he has made mistakes, and it must be his intention to address the issues that face Villa. Constructive criticism from Villa fans could help to move things forward.

An experienced CEO with a deep knowledge of football could be a valuable addition to the staff, with PF perhaps concentrating on the administration side of things.

An early appraisal of our team's intentions each time they go out on the pitch could be useful, with Swansea, Norwich and even QPR as examples of teams that try to play without fear and often in an entertaining manner.

Positivity is the way forward imo.

[Mantis]

100% of his appointments have been disastrous so far. Houllier was a head-scratcher, Mcleish even more so (perhaps more like a skull-caver).

Regardless of how it turned out, I don't think the Houllier appointment was a bad one at the time. We'd just had our manager walk out on us right before the start of the season. There weren't really that many options available to us at that time. Houllier did have a fair bit of success and while he had health issues I distinctly remember him being passed fit by his doctor. In hindsight it might look a bad appointment, but as I said, at the time, I don't think it was bad at all.

McLeish on the other hand was as you said, a skull-caver. He'd just gotten SHA relegated after they were looking safe only a few months before. His teams play dire football and he came straight from SHA. While I don't think his SHA connections matter, it did to some people and I'm pretty sure Randy and Faulkner would have had the foresight to know that appointing him with all those things in mind would certainly ruffle a few feathers. Not only that but there were definitely better candidates out there. I just don't understand what their rationale was. It was possibly one of the most bizarre managerial appointments in history.

The other head scratcher is that the appointment came after we were interested in talking to Martinez, who is the complete opposite to McLeish football wise in just about every single way.

Yeah, that's another thing. Doesn't make any sense. They clearly weren't using style of football as criteria when looking for a new manager, nor was success a criteria (obviously). So what was their main criteria?

nobody else wanted the job

I'm pretty sure McAllister or MacDonald would've taken it. Also, I expect some lower league managers would've jumped at the chance to manage Villa.

[John_Lerwill]

Imo we are not going to be targeted by an ultra rich buyer. In all probability Randy will be the Villa owner for the foreseeable future. So this debate should be about what Randy can do sensibly within the constraints of the current worldwide recession to improve Villa as a club.

Randy knows that he has made mistakes, and it must be his intention to address the issues that face Villa. Constructive criticism from Villa fans could help to move things forward.

An experienced CEO with a deep knowledge of football could be a valuable addition to the staff, with PF perhaps concentrating on the administration side of things.

An early appraisal of our team's intentions each time they go out on the pitch could be useful, with Swansea, Norwich and even QPR as examples of teams that try to play without fear and often in an entertaining manner.

Positivity is the way forward imo.

Good post except I'm not sure RL is really aware as to what the problems are!!

The business of a football-orientated CEO came up earlier in the thread, but then someone suggested a Director of Football to allow PF to concentrate on admin. I like that idea ...

And I certainly like the idea of positivity. Problem is, how to convey your points to the board?

[villabromsgrove]

Imo we are not going to be targeted by an ultra rich buyer. In all probability Randy will be the Villa owner for the foreseeable future. So this debate should be about what Randy can do sensibly within the constraints of the current worldwide recession to improve Villa as a club.

Randy knows that he has made mistakes, and it must be his intention to address the issues that face Villa. Constructive criticism from Villa fans could help to move things forward.

An experienced CEO with a deep knowledge of football could be a valuable addition to the staff, with PF perhaps concentrating on the administration side of things.

An early appraisal of our team's intentions each time they go out on the pitch could be useful, with Swansea, Norwich and even QPR as examples of teams that try to play without fear and often in an entertaining manner.

Positivity is the way forward imo.

Good post except I'm not sure RL is really aware as to what the problems are!!

The business of a football-orientated CEO came up earlier in the thread, but then someone suggested a Director of Football to allow PF to concentrate on admin. I like that idea ...

And I certainly like the idea of positivity. Problem is, how to convey your points to the board?

John, Do you not think that someone at Villa scans fan forums occasionally? It's probably not the most satisfying task that you can give to an enthusiastic Villa employee at the moment, but the combined experience of committed Villa fans may occasionally point the club in a direction that the Board could benefit from. I'm talking rubbish aren't I!

[John_Lerwill]

... Positivity is the way forward imo.

...I certainly like the idea of positivity. Problem is, how to convey your points to the board?

John, Do you not think that someone at Villa scans fan forums occasionally? It's probably not the most satisfying task that you can give to an enthusiastic Villa employee at the moment, but the combined experience of committed Villa fans may occasionally point the club in a direction that the Board could benefit from. I'm talking rubbish aren't I!

When I was there up to 2010 there was a guy who scanned the various forums, but my assessment was that he did not have a brief to do quite what you are suggesting - i.e. a positive role. It seemed to me that he was purely reporting on any explosive situations cropping up (it might have been - though I might sound conceited - that he was just checking on what I was doing as he reported me on one occasion!).

Maybe that role has developed since ... I don't know. Going by the continued lack of awareness of what many fans are looking for I'd say his role hasn't changed!!

[CI]

nobody else wanted the job

The only thing I can think of is that the critera was it had to be a ginger knobhead and Chris Evans was too busy on the one show.

And Chris is no longer a nobhead, he's a top bloke now

[VillaRoy]

Randy can start making amends with the fans by sacking that bafoon,McLiesh. Clearly won't though! Big Eck will do nothing for us. Don't think he has any trust in our young players. Redknapp clearly didn't trust Hutton's ability as a player, McLiesh thinks he can do anything. He can't. With the December fixtures coming up, I expect us to be around the relegation area. Then Eck can do what he does best in the Prem, get teams relegated! Yesterday was the final straw, the manager gave up before the players, that should never happen! Fuming still.

[Big_John_10]

Nobody can seem to answer me why he wasn't a terrible owner when he was spending bucket loads and we had MON along with contributing to improving the infrastructure?

You often make some terrible points but I think this one is your worst.

How were we meant to know how badly the club was being run behind closed doors?

How were we meant to know that MON would walk just before the season and he'd make two terrible appointments?

How were we meant to know that the general would turn out to be a bullshitting PR machine?

You can only go on what you see and over the past 18 months it's become clear how poor randy has been.

For some reason I can't understand you're happy for us to be a nothing team and think we can't expect better.

[makouns_grin]

For some reason I can't understand you're happy for us to be a nothing team and think we can't expect better.

You dont get it, you seem to be only happy supporting a club if they are spending money and appear like they could do something. Villa will do nothing unless large amounts of money will be spent and it wont be.

Like a hell of a lot of other clubs, are they all depressed and suicidal like some Villa fans are...

If you cannot take that, why not support a club with loads of money, if thats difficult.

If not support the club through thick and thin, rather than looking for the next bad buy to blame everything on.

I'm not happy we cannot spend money i just understand that its not he be all and end all, i still enjoy going to watch Villa whether they were top of the league or bottom of league 1.

Some fans have lost sight of that and feel the need to wave their pitch forks at someone.

[Big_John_10]

You dont get it, you seem to be only happy supporting a club if they are spending money and appear like they could do something. Villa will do nothing unless large amounts of money will be spent and it wont be.

Already pointed out that the team that pissed all over us last night cost less to put together than our starting 11.

[Super-Villan]

There aren't just two options here, makouns_grin. Just because somebody isn't happy wit the current situation doesn't mean the only way they could be won over is for us to spend huge amounts of money and compete with the big boys. There's a wide gap between there and where we appear to be now, and I'd happily be midway between the two. I think it is realistic, and achievable for us to be doing better than we are, with a better manager and a better team. I don't expect miracles, and I don't expect the tripe that is being served up at the moment either.

[Risso]

For some reason I can't understand you're happy for us to be a nothing team and think we can't expect better.

You dont get it, you seem to be only happy supporting a club if they are spending money and appear like they could do something. Villa will do nothing unless large amounts of money will be spent and it wont be.

Like a hell of a lot of other clubs, are they all depressed and suicidal like some Villa fans are...

If you cannot take that, why not support a club with loads of money, if thats difficult.

If not support the club through thick and thin, rather than looking for the next bad buy to blame everything on.

I'm not happy we cannot spend money i just understand that its not he be all and end all, i still enjoy going to watch Villa whether they were top of the league or bottom of league 1.

Some fans have lost sight of that and feel the need to wave their pitch forks at someone.

It isn't just about the money but you seem incapable of accepting that point.