First welcome back to General K after a well deserved break hope you are fighting fit !
He has picked the right day to come back and makes the following comments about the news today and the summer so far
2. As you all know, I do NOT do transfer talk but I do think it is important to note a few things:
a) Randy has NOT lost his passion for Aston Villa Football Club!! He has not lost his passion for his vision and goal. Randy has spent more time in the UK over the past two months than he has ever spent. He has been working many issues and has been at Bodymoor Heath often. I doubt if there is an owner in the Premiership that spends as much time, in person (not on phone) at the training grounds. He is Villa through and through!
b) I hope everyone knows that I have NOT lost my passion for the Villa and for what we are striving for!! Not in a heartbeat!!c) “Sell to buy” is too easy a sentence to say. In reality, it encompasses many things. At the end of the day, Football is a business and needs to make sense. The first issue on the revenue v. expenditure scale is wages…wages for the staff and wages for the players. These wages need to make sense and need to be looked at every couple of years. We are doing just that….just like almost EVERY Club in the Premiership is doing. Simply put, if we don’t look at those players who are drawing wages but not playing, we are making a mistake. This is just business. MON knows it, Randy knows it, the Board knows it and YOU all know it. In order to pay a competitive wage to those who are playing for the Club and to enable us to find and get new talent, this is necessary. It is also what football clubs have been doing over the ages. The transfer window is NOT shut…let’s see what happens.
The General for me has confirmed what I said in the earlier blog post and he is spot on.
How any fans can doubt Randy is beyond me. Maybe it is the fickle nature of fans that does this to people but sometimes the wider and longer term picture SIMPLY has to be taken into account. Don’t worry General here is one fan 100% behind Randy and his control of Villa, I support him 100% of the way and of course you !
As for the bit about to sell to buy I explained that before and makes total business sense and if some fans can not see that then maybe they should look at Portsmouth.
Before anyone says to me you did not say this about Ellis, well just look at how much Randy pumped into the club on and off the field before making that statement.
Get real some of you !
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I totally agree! Up the might VILLA! All we need is three new first teamers… A new striker, Attacking Centre Mid and right back… Although I have been thinking…
AMC should be Ashley Young
Right Midfield should be Albrighton although he might not be ready yet so I would like Bentley
Right defence either Richards or Lichaj… He has impressed me alot!
I don’t think we have no money… I think it’s correct that we need to get rid of the deadwood… We’re paying them stupid amounts to sit on the bench…
Ideal signings for me would be…
Richards part-ex
Ireland part-ex
Mcgeady 9 million
Bentley 6 million
Aurelio Free
Huntelaar or Gignac (although strong Irish contingent don’t know if it will go down well after Dunnes comment) lol
Next season we’re gonna need a new Goalkeeper so I wouldn’t mind us trying for Hart on loan or something
Anyway does anyone else feel we possibly could have a similar dynasty to Man Utd from the 90s in our youngsters? I feel yes but they need to play games…
Up The Villa Till I Die!!!!
You make some good points mate but Hart from Man City is a no go. He’ll win the No1 shirt at Citeh nxt season. If we were to get a top keeper for nxt yr it would be Shay Given or Frey from Fiorentina. They have signed Arhtur Boruc from Celtic so they will be looking to cash in.
Your point about Ashley Young playing in centre Midfield could be lost on O’Neill’s ears. Webcam isn’t strong enough to play there. Maybe i’m wrong but he looks lightweight for that position. I’d love to see him get a run up front. He can score goals. Thierry Henry started out wide in his early career and but for the foresight of the whinger that is Wneger he woulda stayed there.
I read the Generals comments and i don’t have a problem with anything he said. It’s what he didn’t say is what’s worrying me. Will we have to sell our best players every season b’cos of oyr lack of spending power?? Are we now to become a selling club??? Are we going to place our future in the hands of our youth systems??? That’s what i really wanna hear!!! Tell me straight and i’ll back Lerner all the way. I just want the truth!!!
My thoughts exactly…Roll on the Lerner revolution.
Inspiring comments from the general and despite the few who will moan that we should not be run as a business, that’s the world we live in. Millner for me is a consistent 8/10, rarely a 9/10. Sell for £25-£30m and bring in more three more 8/10 players (all the usual suspects named on every thread) and we’ll improve. We’ll spend £40m+ this transfer window and we’ll have more plan B options than last season so that’ll do me fine. Too many games last year where I knew after 30 mins, this was not our day. That’s not what I want as a villa supporter, so options to genuinely change the outcome and style of the game will do me fine next year. UTV….
Look at our future stars, we are man utd in the making if you ask me: BENJI in goal CLARK and BAKER in defence LICHAJ at right back DELPH like for like with scholes ALBRIGHTON on the right YOUNG DELFOUNSO AGBONLAHOR attacking!!!
We don’t need to spend that much if anything just a central midfielder in my eyes, Maybe a stab at Lee Cattermole very under rated in my opinion
RE: Ben,
Alrite mate,
The problem with Villa having so many good youngsters is will O’Neill give them a real chance. We don’t need to waste 8/9/10 million on players like McGeady when we hav players in the reserves who could probably do the same job. O’Neill has to change his thinking on young players in our system. He has to trust some of them eventually or what’s the point in having it. If my memory serves me correctly, he tried to do away with the youth system at Celtic fc when he took over. If i’m wrong i will apologise wholeheartedly to the man.
What the General said about the DEADWOOD we have at our club was spot on. What is the point in having players picking up 40/50grand p/w if they never play. That’s a question for O’Neill to answer. There has been a lot of waste and it’s costing us now. Milner gone!!! Who’s next if we don’t sort this out quickly. Ash, Gabby, Delph when he comes good this yr or nxt??? We have to sign all our top players to longer term contracts and then top them up as quickly as possible. That’s what all the top4/5 clubs have always done. Why don’t we???
Just for the record again….I’m in favour of running the club as a business as long as it dosen’t impact on our best players. We can’t afford to keep losing them to rival clubs or what hope have we of ever getting to the promised land………..UTV……VILLA4EVER!!!
Cattermole? He’s more of a defensive midfielder and is terrible at that. We have a great creative midfielder in the making in Bannan. If he can secure the loan deal to Blackpool, get a season of Premier League experience. He knows what it takes for promotion, will know what it feels like to fight relegation. He’ll become a great fighter for a position in the club. Future is bright for him.
Rousing stuff from the general, and I’m so glad MON has finally come out with it, Milners off and I’ll be so glad when he does leave. I’ve been sick of this for ages now.
I am looking forward to the new signings and the new line up. It’s daft to think that they don’t know what they are doing. But then the majority of footy fans are way to emotionally involved to think things through straight, and that includes myself most of the time.
The WC was an unwelcome distraction, if it hadn’t been for that this Milner thing would’ve been over and done with. Ah well, an interesting few weeks, hope it kicks off quickly!
Re: Jon Law,
2 right Jon. I’m not angry with the club for letting him go. I am however angry with Milner for the way he’s handled this whole mess. He shoulda been man enuf to say he wanted out but he wasn’t. I suppose that says it all about these type of players today..NO BACKBONE!!! Milner can go and good ridance to the traitor! I coulda handled him going to any1 else but to go to city will be the biggest insult of all especially after(Humongus Ass)….BARRY!!! I hope he’s happy playing 2nd fiddle to the players city will sign over the nxt few yrs…..
“As for the bit about to sell to buy I explained that before and makes total business sense”
“Get real some of you !….?”
I would strongly suggest you take a step back when addressing genuine Villa supporters with a “get real” tag, – the content via the standard PR spin is pointless whilst your backing a tad patronising.
We currently approach the 5th season of a proposed 5 year plan, the operating income via average gate receipts, merchandising and TV revenue is the highest on record. Likewise this also applies to the new corporate stratergy and commercial / marketing activities (having recently secured the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the clubs history)
In 2010 the club qualified for Europe for the 3rd successive season whilst making 2 high profile Wembley appearances.
Accepted the contracts associated to squad players such as Sidwell, Davies, Shorey, Roe-Coker and Beye present a potential drain, however lets not forget that all were sanctioned by the current regime for a combined total (circa £30m)
Fact – we are investing significantly less than any of our nearest rivals and therefore loosing ground, even given the additional revenues compared to previous years and operating with a squad ‘smaller in numbers to the premiership average’
Over the last 4 years the average entrance fee at villa park has increased by 30% but you choose to highlight that we should consider what happened to Portsmouth and get real?
Speaking on behalf of all genuine Villa fans -the support for Krulak’s communication is at best naive, in reality (whilst drawing comparisons to clubs with a similar infastructure) its pathetic…
Anthony-Daventry
Anthony for your last paragraph you are on only speaking on behalf of yourself
yes revenues have gone up but so have the wages !
Are you aware in terms of revenue the Europa, league and FA cup barely makes a dent a few million here and there
Are you aware in terms of revenue Spurs pull in £40m more and we are on par with Everton
Without Randy’s cash we would be well out of it but there are limits and the wage bill at 83% of revenue as per last season never mind the further additions is unsubstainable ?
what is your solution then ?
Solution… unfortunately my friend its not for you or I to discuss solutions to problems we dont understand.
My issue specifically relates to the positive circulation of a PR spin that in truth will be accepted by the average supporter, ‘without considering the facts’ – to keep this simple and as a direct response to your note:
If the wage bill for AVFC represents 80% of the total revenue then this would reasonable and in no way unsustainable – dont get this confused with players wages alone, this is the companys total wage bill for the year and is (circa 40%) higher than the previous financial year.
With regards to Randys generous cash injection, the club have actually been loaned large sums of money by reform aquisitions and this needs to be paid back in full within varying timelines up to 7 years – you dont get a free ride from a foreign investor, especially a cedit specialist.
If your still happy to fly the Randy flag for investment then consider this – 4 years ago the club was purchased for £64m with zero debt, we are now close to £100m in debt (suggest you check the numbers prior to any response – do you think I actually enjoy this?)
ianrobo this site has been the only thing Villa related worth reading over the last couple of weeks. Better than the annoying, boring and irratating Milner saga.
Daventry – maybe we are spending less than our rivals but we are more finacially stable.
Liverpool – new sponsers paid them 80mill over five years compared to the 20mill over three for us. Their season tickets cost upto £800+ where ours are 450. They have a huge internation fanbase where we have not. Yet they still over 300mill in debt. Look at Woys new signings (with exception of Cole), real top 4 material.
Man Ure – GLAZIERS = ridiculous debt
Chelsea – Abramovich is counting his pennys and tightening the purse strings.
Man Sheiky – No one can compete, they jst stupid with money. If he leaves who can come in and afford the huge wages they paying, answer is no one can.
Spuds and Arse are in the black due to good management like our own.
Remember that in this coming season the maximum squad is 25 players of which only 21 can be over 21. With the new homegrown rule we are looking pretty assured over the next couple of seasons. This is what i believe our future team could be
Siergreist
Licajh
Clarke
Baker
LB???
Albrighton
Delph
Bannan
Young
Fonz
Gabby
thanks for the comments and agree, the situation is not a sbleak as painted and could turn out more positive but this is MON’s big test in his years at Villa
Get it wrong and the pressure will be immense.
first step make Ash Young the focal point of the team, get him off the wing !
man city , and chelsea have bought success built with millions as a foundation , but when their owners get bored and remove there money they collapse, for me i would take season after season finishing top 6, good cup runs competing with the so called debt ridden top4,we`ve been around a long time we`ll be still around when they`ve all crumbled and gone,lets look forward to a solid entertaining season , villa 4 life,
RE: ianrobo, Anthony-daventry, av-jc86 & Chrisb 5876…..
Alrite lads,
It’s great to read comments like yours on the site. It shows that there are plenty of fans out there willing to debate things instead of just slagging the fuck out of each other unlike other sites…..Keep the Faith…..UTV
thats the idea, we disagree, I disagree with many comments but keep it civil and makes for a much better debate like in the pub
don’t lecture me you cretin!
I’ll “get real”
We get this pre-season spin before the start of every season, then see last minute panic buys, which sometimes work,or are a total disaster, that’s why there is so much deadwood at the club, MON’s transfer policy is poor, and predictable.
Randy Lerner has put team matters in O’Neill’s hands, coming up to the manager’s 5th year in charge, are we any nearer to being a force in the CL? Don’t think so!
each season Kebo we get closer, this was never a quick win under Lerner, it was progressive growth but this season will be the most difficult
the real bit is meant to focus people on the economics of the club and to stop dreaming of £100k a week players, won’t happen
I am glad there are some villans out there that can not find too much to complain about with randy’s handling of the club .. we do have a number of players on the books however that are payed fortunes and hardly play 1st team football ..i am a MON fan but realise he has made mistakes in the market and has brought players in that spend more time not playing than anything else ..i hope he learns from this and also hope he can put more faith in his buys so they dont hang around getting stail and milking in the high wages
spot on Runtings, MON is not infallable, he has made mistakes and expensive ones but the good stuff far outweighs that in my view
but this is delivery time for him and it will be a test this season
Runtings, don’t you think Martin O’Neill is a bit past learning from his transfer mistakes?
He’s a seasoned and experienced manager, so should know what he’s doing, and, also realise that the days are gone where he can turn an average player, into a good one, can a manager of his experience really expect players such as Routledge, Knight, etc, to push the club upwards?
The league is now full of world class players, we are seriously lagging behind.
He is buying to standstill, and that is the future, I’m not being pessimistic, but realistic.
Ianrobo, I am really looking forward to this season (same every year in fact). Year before last we scored plenty but leaked goals, turning wins into draws. Last year we tightened up the defence but somehow scored fewer goals. This year we could see the whole thing come together; great defence suffocating opponents, and plenty of goals at the other end.
MoN knows what he’s doing. RL is a businessman, he will not jeorpardise his investment by burdening it with unnecessary debt.
The future is looking bloody good for the Villa. Let’s just enjoy the ride.
By the way, how does this site know what we look like? That avatar it gave me is spookily just like me!
Well put from the general. Doesn’t make MON look too good does it when the general is saying we have too many players drawing big money and simply not playing. All managers buy players that turn out to underwhelm, but MON’s done a lot of it. Everyone will go on about Fergie buying players like Berbatov for 30 mil who do nothing, but MON could not be far away with a few million here and there on players that didn’t work out (Shorey, Beye, Harewood, Maloney, Heskey, there are more I can’t think of right now). We need to clear the ranks of MON’s chaff and concentrate on quality strength in depth. We also have some great youth players who get no look in which seems mad for a club like us. Give players like Bannan a run for god sake – he scored over 20 goals from midfield in the reserves; I admit the reserves, but with first team players around him he could get 10 goals a season in the first team, which is probably 8 times as many goals as Heskey has scored for Villa and England combined.
I don’t think many people will think that Randy and MON have done a bad job. Both have done a good job imo but I still think that they will be unable to take us to the next level. Their conservative approach has done pretty well but in order to really succeed in top level sport you have to have that little bit of extra fire in your belly and I just do not see that. Randy is a nice bloke but that does not equate to real success and he has no track record of success at the Browns. Well done on taking us to three top 6 places but I am realistic and I think it is far more likely that we will now slip back to 8th-9th than go up the table.
The General’s words are very stirring but just because he says we will be playing Champions League football it does not necessarily mean that we will. I remember him telling me at the beginning of last season that winning the title was a realistic ambition while I said that 6th was the best that we would get. Realistically we are not going to get into the top 4 for the forseeable future imo and although we have some promising youngsters, anybody who thinks that 7 or 8 will make a big impression on the first team is living in cloud cuckoo land imo. History tells us that if a couple become regulars in the first team the we are doing well.
Sorry av-jc
I don’t agree with Albrighton playing. Sadly, I don’t think he’s up for the task. I know he’s still young but he’s just not good enough. Love to see a loan deal for him for a season if we bring in McGeady. Have Young, Downing and McGeady switch it up.