On VT the General has replied to some anger from the fans with the following and it shows that they are feeling it like we all are.
1. It is somewhat interesting and, at the same time, disconcerting to come on the site and try as best I can to answer comments and questions only to be told it is “PR” stuff…that somehow I should be laying out who we might be talking to as a Manager, who we might be targeting as a player, etc. etc. Opening the kimono in that manner just doesn’t make sense! I have said it in as many ways as I think I can…we are looking for a Manager. Please think about the issue…our previous Manager left us 5 days before the season. MOST talented managers are already employed…they have jobs…they are not sitting at home waiting for us to call. Yes, there are some out there that have great talent but they are currently doing something for someone else. This means digging deeply into the pool that is available…getting feedback and info from advisors on who and where. This is NOT something that is done in two weeks…yet that is what you expect. I am telling you it doesn’t work that way but most of you will just gaff me off and say it is all PR. KM is not hemming and hawing about the position…like anyone in his position, he is weighing the situation…that doesn’t make him a bad person. Curtis Davis not playing because of a contract issue/clause…what a load of nonsense. This is NOT accurate! Again, I say this but there will be those who don’t believe it. Crazy!! Randy is cheap…Randy won’t spend money…again, nonsense. Simply put, doesn’t the past four years say anything about his willingness to open his checkbook???? Hasn’t he been willing to spend?? To think that there are fans out there who will take “any” Manager just to ensure that we can get a striker before the window closes…is that shortsighted or is that shortsighted!!!!! As an aside, what talented strikers are out there for sale right now? Do you all happen to know them…do you know more than scouts and agents????
I have lost faith in the guys, so many things do not add up that we do fill these with our own theories, some will be wrong, some outlandish but what else can we do if we lose faith ?
and they are hurting like us
3. IKAVFC: I absolutely don’t understand it when fans say that “Randy and the Board won’t be hurting like us supporters” (when talking about the loss or about the Club.) Like the supporters have some God-given claim to have deeper feelings about the Club than the man who bought it and has worked so hard over the past 4 years and put in his own personal effort and capital to make it better….or the Board who have also worked so hard. Like we somehow can’t possible feel a kinship for and with the Club. Like we, because we have not been associated with the Club for as long as many fans, somehow are not “real” fans. What crap! That’s like telling one of my Marine Lance Corporals that he can’t possibly love the Corps as much as I do because he hasn’t been in long enough. That sort of thinking just totally misses the mark with me. Let me try to be clear as I can be….forget about Randy or Paul or anyone else….just me…I love AVFC…I bleed claret and blue….I come on this site and others, NOT as some Club shill, but because I DO CARE about are Club. You can call me any name you want to call me but…get off of this “I don’t hurt like you do” kick…it is NOT true.
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The General is absolutely right. We are ALL hurting about what has happened over the past couple of weeks. The long term future of the club we all love cannot be secured by a random spend of loads of dosh….look at Portsmouth !!
MON was good for Villa he did a grand job, but not everything he did was right…….some of his transfer dealings were bizarre to say the least, and his selection policy was true to form (consistent with the warnings offered by Leicester City fans when he was first appointed)
I think that MON has been very unprofessional and has left us in a grave situation. This is not the fault of RL or GK. Whatever happens over the next few months lets get behind the team, and the Board, we are all in this together!
After what I witnessed on Sunday maybe the general should have gone into the dressing room at half time and put a rocket up them. Of course all the players love big kev – he for certain can’t put the fear of god into them as they more than showed in the 2nd half. what about bringing in a caretaker manager in the interim mr taylor anyone
?
how anyone can doubt Randy at this point in time is beyond me. Judge his actions at the end of the transfer window, judge him on MoNs replacement, but judging him now because all our business isn’t all over the press/what business is over the press doesn’t meet with your approval just marks the lot of us out as a bunch of *****.
Well General, you have said there are no strikers for sale but I thought James Milner wasn’t for sale but he was sold so maybe we need to do the same and unsettle some players and also maybe unsettle a manager we are a big club come on get on and get Hiddink, we can’t wait to long else nobody will want to come!!!!
Frosty- I think you argument is really quite irrelevant because you haven’t shown any awareness of the context within which we achieved 4th. When the prem began 17 odd years ago, villa were on a par, if not bigger than the likes of Chelsea and arsenal. Fast forward to 2005 when Lerner took over, we were nowhere near as big. Ellis’ failure was that he did not acknowledge the need to move with the times. Therefore, Lerner has been playing catch up ever since he took over- and frankly he has made significant progress considering the riches he is now up against when compared to the brian little era you refer to.
Hj- I will come back to you when a manager has been appointed. If we get bob Bradley I will agree with you, but I’d wager some money that we won’t be disappointed.
UTV
When we achieved 4th, we spend alot of money to get there…Doug Ellis santioned the purchases as he did for John Gregory…for people to say he spent nothing is very unfair. Doug Ellis wasn’t the richest chairman in the league at that time but still was willing to play a small gamble. I think Lerner is very much of the same mould. He will take an initial risk of early glory to get fans on his side. NOW…He will sell, sell, sell….mark my words 18months down the line our first 11 will consist of kids from the youth team with the exception of a few older heads like Curtis Davies or maybe if we are lucky Stephen Ireland will still be there.
My faith in Lerner has gone I’m afraid and until someone comes in who can spend considerable time at the club rather than his other sporting concern, who also has a few quid to spend…we will always be a mediocre side like the browns fans expect us to be.
The Villa friends around me know I was always suspicious about him taking over because I always questioned his actual wealth and the fact he had another sporting concern which is more sentimental than the Villa being his Dad’s. If only Gustavo Cinares has taken the reigns he would have had the money and the sponsors to bring to the club.
Jesus, Lerner, even if I have doubts at the mo is 100 times better than Ellis.
Randy has put his OWN money in, Ellis put fuck all in and took out more than Randy will ever do
the differences between now and mid 90′s are light years away
Randy has loaned the club money….which he wants back. Due to the largely inflated pound since the 60′s it makes Ellis look like he made a huge profit….but he didn’t. The price of goods has hugely gone up and when you consider that Shity have just been purchased for more than Villa it says to me that Ellis could have haggled for more. No way are they worth more than Villa. Doug sold because he didn’t have the money to put into the club. Especially in today’s market.
Villa Park alone is worth more than the whole of the Shite. I think Lerner got an amazing deal. If you consider what he has spent away from the playing side….training ground, holte pub, the tiling of the stands….he hasn’t spent that much. Ellis was an ill, tired man when he left. Any new owner will tart things up….before he decides whether to sell on for an almighty profit. Incidently…It makes me smile the way Doug talks Lerner up saying how great he is….probably knowing he will never surpass his Honours at the club.
My biggest gripe with Ellis was selling to this useless moron that spends very little time at the club…only when he has to. Now the chips are down and he has no choice….the real reason we ain’t got a manager is because he and his CEO ain’t got a clue about football. How about getting a non-executive director(former Villa man) in to help them handle footballing affairs for starters.
not going to go down the ellis route route Frosty, been there done it !!
however you are right the total cot of buying villa was £62m plus around £15m to pay off the debts
Man City if I remeber was near £200m which included 380m to pay off the thaskin debts, Man City were in fact within days of going into administration.
why the gusy there went for city and say not everton, Spurs is a mystery. My only reason can be that they wanted to challenge Man U, the ultimate big dick competition !!
Think with that in mind….Man Utd must be suffering from Impotence at the moment with yet another set of useless Yank Owners.
I have to admit…I am a bit jealous of Man City and Chelsea….those clubs have no tradition and we have underachieved for years now. The ultimate thing would be for a rich owner to come in and say Villa will be returned to the dominance they had at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th although I also feel that there must be a hollow feel to winning knowing you have spent far, far more than your opposition taking there players and weakening them in the process.
I am unsure whether to think that the club’s image is to blame for not attracting mega rich owners. Maybe even the area. When Stephen Ireland called us a family club the other day, I couldn’t believe it as I don’t see us like say Everton or Tottenham. Would mega rich owner be attracted to a family club?
I still maintain thou that we need a non-exec director(former Villa man), to help with Footballing issues. Maybe someone in the line of one of the European Cup Winners…like Man Utd have on there board. Wouldn’t like to say Director of Football thou as that system hasn’t worked at any other club.
There are some totally idiotic comments on here. So we’ve got to put this whole scenario in to context.
Firstly, for whatever reason MON decided to do the dirty on us and leave 5 days before the season started. This says to me he had no respect for the club whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, he, together with the Board, totally transformed Villa over the past 4 years, re-built us after 3 poor, poor years under O’Leary and took us to another level, right on the edge of the top 4. However, he could have left at any time from the end of May onwards because HE MUST HAVE KNOWN THE BOARDS TRANSFER POLICY THEN.
This leads me on to the new manager selection. Given the progress we have made as a club (both on and off the field) during the past 4 years, we *should* be looking at a certain standard of manager. Not a national team manager who, if truth be told, didn’t do that greater job at the World Cup (1 win), plus he has NO RELEVANT PREMIERSHIP EXPERIENCE!
We’ve got to appoint a manager with the right credentials. Premiership experience, good man-manager, ideally a manager who has won something, someone who will get the right blend of youth and experience etc. We shouldn’t be looking to take a chance on anyone who is unproven. For me, I can’t see past Martin Jol. He had half a bad season at Spurs so they turfed him out. He got them to 5th, one win from 4th! His brand of football was exciting, he was as honest (as you can be) with the media and I’m sure he’s learnt from his time with Spurs, Hamburg and now Ajax. If the Board are serious about continuing our recent progress, they will present a manager of this standing to us shortly, and for this to happen I’m prepared to wait a little while longer whilst they negotiate.
WE DO NOT WANT SOUTHGATE, ERIKSSON, CURBISHLEY! They will not take us forward.
Finally, with regards to the Board, I think the General has chosen his words wisely. There is only so much he can tell us at this time. HOWEVER, THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT IN THE WASH, IT ALWAYS DOES. We’ll learn in time while MON left, why they waited to get the right manager. However, I think they have been a different class as far a Premiership Boards go, they have operated professionally and the last thing we need to do now is drive them out. Have faith. In Randy we trust.
I’m tempted to say go for Jol too.
But it should be remembered that that when he left Spuds, the word was that he lost/split the dressing room.
Sound familiar?????
come on Badger Jol was forced out after Spurs totally undermined him by going for Ramos
no wonder he lost the dressing room, they knew he was dead man walking
familiar ?
Hey, don’t get me wrong, I really liked MON too.
But why did they call Ramos in, in the first place, when they were doing quite well, if there wasn’t something wrong?
“they knew he was dead man walking
familiar?”
I assume you mean KM here.
You seem to be assuming that players won’t play at all for someone in that position.
Surely if you like someone (it seems the players like KM), you’d give it a go for a few weeks just to see what happens?
Or perhaps you mean MON.
I don’t see how the players thought he was a dead man walking????
Eveyone who has spoken has expressed their surprise haven’t they?
Just remind me how much prmier league experience Wenger had when he joined the Arse? Zilch! No champs league either. A bit with Monaco and then cutting his cloth in Japan of all places!! An intelligent coach can cut it in whatever league he manages. No language issues so with a good No 2, worth a punt in my opinion as there was bad noises coming out of spurs with Jol.
I think this whole article smells of PR rant. Bollocks is what it is. FULL STOP
Couldn’t agree more…overinflated ego’s spring to mind!!!
I agreed with everything that the General said up until…
As an aside, what talented strikers are out there for sale right now? Do you all happen to know them…do you know more than scouts and agents????
This is the sort of arrogance that made me detest Martin O’Neill greatly, as a season ticket holder for 15 years and someone who regularly watches any match that is on tv, whether its in Germany, France, England, Spain, Argentina or Brazil, it is a huge insult to be spoken of that way… As it was aimed at Villa fans as a whole.
We have a right to be worried. We just lost 6-0 to newcastle!!!! 90% of villa fans know that we should have gone up there with more respect first and foremost and reverted to our away style from last season. We didn’t, and we were ripped apart.
Petrov is too slow, Downing is non-existent, Warnock is very rarely in the right positions, Dunne looks overweight and sluggish, Albrighton has the potential to be great but it’s strong enough for those physical battles, and apart from Ashley Young, Stephen Ireland(who deserves a few games to gel before being judged), Gabby, Delfouneso, Friedel and Delph we have a very average squad.
This was O’Neills doing, With the likes of Heskey, Reo-coker, Sidwell, Salifou, Beye, Carew(60%of the time), Davies, Petrov, Warnock, Downing, Osbourne, Guzan in our squad is it any wonder us, THE FANS are worried about this coming season?
I am fully behind the board, but they need to stop making excuses, find some bottle and go out there and get us a manager who is experienced and can attract top players and get rid of the wood that was dead before O’Neill bought them!!
[...] The General’s passionate response On VT the General has replied to some anger from the fans with the following and it shows that they are feeling it like [...] [...]
Gyan’s still for sale. Rumours are Spurs are putting up Keane, that he wasn’t injured, most likely to get Parker but we can still try to get him. After Carew’s showings, I wouldn’t even mind RSC even though I rate him pretty low. With the supply this team has, a player should be getting 20 goals a season. We don’t have good enough strikers at the moment.
I think there is a mismatch between Villa fans and the current owners ambition. Villa fans expected Randy to make Villa into a Chelsea, Manchester CIty. Obviously, Randy is not a Roman or a Sheik.
Maybe its time for Randy to sell the club or sell a stake of the club to someone with more money. Running the club like Randy and his team makes no sense. The club is neither here nor there. The club is too big to get relegated and too small to win anything.
In any sport, winning is everything. Otherwise why bother to continue to ‘invest’ in the club. The club needs to be in the top four in order for Randy to re-coup his investment. FInishing 6th and losing the club’s top player will not help the club move forward nor will it give Randy the necessary Return on Investment.
Here is the bottom line, any club who wants to finish in the top 4 needs to spend more then Chelsea, Man City, Man United and Arsenal. This is the bare minimum. Investing 30-40 million a season on players will not turn the club into a top 4 team.
Randy should just cut his losses and sell some or all his shares in order to inject new capital. Much needed money to to buy and keep the top players. Randy’s initial five year plan is outdated. The plans he had at that time was different. There was no Man. City.
Let’s re-look at what the club needs to do now to make it a Top 4 side. Randy should either do it or leave it to someone more ambitious.
Yes, it’s true Lerner isn’t a Sheik or Roman, but he’s also, unlike the Sheik, a fan of the club he bought and always has been. He’d do absolutely anything for Villa but we have to be reasonable. He’s a businessman and can’t continue to lose money. Right now this and next season will be about stabilizing the club, if that means selling some players like we did with Milner and possible (hopefully not) in Young, then that’s what is going to have to be. We’re too good right now to go down. Problem was is that Lerner has to find a manager he can trust not to spend on crap like the last one did. That could be hard.
If we take the General’s comments at face value we can forget all about Martin Jol….
“digging deeply into the pool that is available”
Well General YOU have to MAKE the manager you want available … not fanny about !!!
Jeez if we stick with McDonald we’re in deep trouble deep deep trouble !!!
Players respect him …. yeah yeah and they’ll still respect him when he’s down the road & they’re still collecting there wages !!!
Meltdown is coming …. and coming fast !!!!
McDonald is just not ready to be Manager of VIlla. To be a manager in the Premier League there are many other attributes required aside from getting your players respect such as Dealing with the Press, Match Day Tactics etc etc etc.
To start Ireland against Newcastle was just silly. This is not the reserve league. You don’t put players in just to give him match fitness!!!!!
i will support the villa evermore as i have done for the past 25 years , but please, please not bradley.thats all i ask