Paul has posted this in the comments section and yet again another cracking post from those who post on this blog. I understand the point Paul is making but think the big mistake was in May and not parting company with MON then.
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Randy’s mistake is fundamental to everything that causes vitriol in this and every other thread on here; an probably elsewhere if I had the time to look.
That mistake is remaining in the background and keeping silent.
The responsibilities that come with owning any football club are more than caring about the history, they are more than caring about the crumpling edifice that is a dilapidated Stand, they are more than renovating a derelict pub.
Those responsibilities include a dialogue with the supporters. Not a dialogue in the sense of meeting the fans but a dialogue in being prepared to make statements or being interviewed. Think, for example, what Daniel Levy Chairman of Spurs would have said by now. Think of Gary Cook at Man City. Think of Peter Kenyon when he was at Man Utd and Chelsea. Think of Karren Brady at Blues/West Ham. Think of Bill Kenwright at Everton. Owners, Chairman and CEOs who are all prepared to make statements about what is happening at their clubs …. who is prepared to do this at Villa Park? It would appear the answer is …. nobody. If you are not prepared to do it Randy then you need to appoint someone who can/will. Where would we have been if you had owned BP or been its Chairman/CEO? Those guys had to step into the limelight when their business was in turmoil so why are you hiding from us when yours is in turmoil?
The responsibility of ownership is not having a cipher in the form of General Krulak who never says anything about that which is important – he really is a general in both senses of the word.
The dialogue which Randy should be having is through public and open statements. He should be prepared to be interviewed in the media about the state of his recruitment campaign if his Chief Executive is not able/capable/prepared to so do.
I’m a pretty patient and open-minded person but even I’m getting frustrated by the echoing silence from Villa Park. Remember Randy that nature abhors a vacuum so if you create one somebody will fill it with mis-information, rumour and downright lies.
As Shakespear once said … “Piss or get off the pot”.
(That’s my mate Fred Shakespear but I’m sure William Shakespeare would have said it if he’d been a Villa Fan).
Aston Villa News 24/7
Silence is definitely not golden! This has been a problem for me since Randy Lerner took over at our club..I’ve said the same thing on here many times and i’m glad to read a post on here from you lads…UTV..
Upon re-reading this I feel I should clarify one comment.
When I write, “piss or get off the pot” I am in no way suggesting that Randy relinquish his ownership of Aston Villa only that he does something about communications emanating, or not, from Villa Park.
I do understand that Paul from our coversations in the pub !
glad you clarified it as you know what others are like !
Cheer up mate, your comments are complete nonsense, the Arab owners of City don’t ever talk, and neither do the Glazers or Abromovich. Yes its frustrating but if you actually read the news Faulkner (the Cook/Kenyon CEO type) said they were doing interviews and a decision would be made soon. I think its great we have the General as no other club really has that type of dialogue with its fans but I understand why he’s got fed up with dealing with all the negativity coming from all sectors and decided to post less of late. No matter what the clubs do its people like you who will moan and whine unless we win the league and all cup competitions. Randy has pulled the club up from the brink of the Abyss that Ellis was leaving behind and has worked wonders so far, so stop all the gloom, its depressing!!!
If you wish to see Randy’s ownership as a feudal fiefdom where he can hide away then that’s fine but I don’t think it is properly professional with regard to “customer communications”.
You write, “its people like you who will moan and whine unless we win the league and all cup competitions”. I think you’re going to find it very hard to find anywhere that I have said/written anything like that. I’ve been watching the Villa since December 1956 and I’ve supported the team through think and thin, home and away and abroad. I’ve never moaned about Randy as an owner and the only complaints I had about MON I kept to discussions with my mates in the pub (not on here or anywhere else).
read it again … I’m not complaining about Randy or his selection of Manager, or Assistant Manager. I haven’t commented on Thompson as Assistant or even anyone else as assistant (if you really want to know … I’d like to see Sid Cowans being offered a more important role but I’m not forcing it down any one’s throat).
As for the general … he gets some flak and he goes and hides rather than continuing his dialogue – is this a proper dialogue. And to be honest can you imagine any other organisation whose primary route for getting information out is a message board. I see the benefits but it should be in addition to traditional routes of communication not instead of them … fancy getting you next letter from the Taxman via Twitter?
As for gloom – I’m not gloomy. I feel quite positive about Houllier coming but as someone that spent 40 years working with corporate communications and press releases I can assure you this whole debacle could have been avoided from the outset.
Randy is well known with his shy, calm and patient attitude towards public and journos. I do not have a problem with it. His PR towards fans is General Krulak.
It is not true, that Krulak’s statements are anything but important. He was talking about Mr. H a week ago. You have to read between lines to understand what is important in his speech.
PR for a business is not just about fans who frequent a message board.
As for “reading between lines” I’m not sure that works as we don’t all interepret what is supposedly between the lines in the same way. Based upon the vitriol that has been flying around it would appear that differences of interpretation are rife.
If General Krulak wishes to make a public statement as a Non-Executive Director of Aston Villa (which carries with it legal obligations under the Companies Act) he should do it through the Press Office of Aston Villa.
If he wishes to chat about the type of pies or beer on sale at Villa Park and solicit feedback from supporters then the message board approach is fine.
JC +1
not sure that I can comment as I don’t understand what this means.
Just because fans these days spend 24hrs a day trawling for little tidbits of info and ‘behind the scenes’ gossip, it doesn’t mean that the club has to indulge us.
Our club is finally being run professionally, which doesn’t necessarily mean always giving Sky Sports a quote and a headline.
I don’t know guys, take up a hobby or something…
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE not Houllier! I have a feeling it might take a year or two but soon the majority French contingent will start seeping through! Been out of Premier League for a while and seems to be successful only with a) an already good team primed for success (Lyon) or b) if he’s got money! I honestly can’t convey the depth of my despair if this goes through….ruining the club now….
I don´t think there are a lot of good options out there in terms of managers right now. At least Houllier may pull us through till the end of the season and after that who knows…. Randy is basically a well-intentioned guy. Who can blame him for not talking to the media.
I think he is doing ok. But even if MON had stayed, we would not have ben getting into the top 4 this season. So lets have a bit of fun because we will be winning nothing unless we get a good cup run maybe.
I am Villa through and through but i am also a realist. What people have to remember is we have not got the pulling power of a Man Utd,Man City,Chelsea we are never going to be in the position to sign the Worlds best players and are never gonna be having the Worlds best managers apply for the Managerial role either. If we get Houllier i for one will be chuffed i think he’s a great manager but what we have to realise is it’s not the manager who plays on the pitch there’s only so much a manager can do. The squad we have is a very average bunch of players with the exception of Ashley Young and possibly Gabby who i think will only get better. Sometimes i think we set our sights too high as Villa fans and that includes me. We have had years of mediocrity and that includes the MON era because we didn’t actually win anything. Theres one thing for certain if GH comes in and he’s no good he will be sacked and if that happens well there might be some good managers out there who we can approach but i for one will back the guy and his scouse mate 100%
Randy Lerner is what he is.
He speaks rarely But when he speaks he does so quietly, calmly and with dignity. And yet when he speaks people listen.
I for one would rather have him as the owner of Aston Villa’s than a brash loudmouth spouting gobshite every five minutes.
Abramovich never speaks but he ensures that his organisation communicates. It is possible to delegate this kind of thing.
I’ve never heard Randy speak and for all I know he might sound like Kermit the Frog but when he appointed a CEO he was putting someone in place to communicate on his behalf.
DV, I had enough of Ellis to know I want a chairman to keep in the background.
However has anyone heard Faulkner ever speak in public ? Surely we could have heard the statement after the Everton game with his own voice ?
surely we could have had a PR updating us ?
just a little bit more when fans are worried
It’s Randys club and he’ll do what the hell he likes let’s face it if they we’re that bothered about who we wanted they could easily have written five names on a piece of paper sent it to all season ticket holders and people on there database and said here you go here’s the shortlist vote for who you want. But that would be in an ideal world wouldn’t it and unfortunately it isn’t an ideal world. We are in a bad situation in the way Randy does not have to answer to shareholders it is a one man band organisation and he has a hell of a lot of money tied up in AVFC so we have to respect that if he wants GH that’s who we’re gonna get. I think the thing Mr Lerner has going for him is that he isn’t treating AVFC as a plaything like those Arabs at Man City are doing he is running the club as a business and we must respect him for that.
Surely if he is “running it like a business” he should do those things which running a buisness in the 21st Century mandate. Communication is key and it could have been done so much better.
I’m not seeking agreement on who is the manager, I personally know many who were aginst MON from the outset of his tenure whilst I was for him, but I would have liked to see MacDonald receiving better advice from the outset on how he should have handled his “possible application”.
The uncertainty of his application, or not, caused a lot of disquiet amongst supporters. The “press office” or “media relations” should have been helping him through that tough period based upon “briefing” they should have recieved from the CEO.
While it would be nice to receive updates from the front office, I can see why Randy would keep silent during this process. There is rampant speculation everywhere about anybody with a pulse and interest in the job. If they are targeting managers who are currently employed, then they need to tread lightly. I trust in what the General said about silence not meaning they aren’t doing anything. You have to have patience. Too many ‘armchair quarterbacks’ here.
“I trust in what the General said about silence not meaning they aren’t doing anything.I trust in what the General said about silence not meaning they aren’t doing anything.”
I will repeat again … why is “the General” making statement about the club on “bulletin boards”? He is a non-Executive Director of a Company and as such has responsibilities as an Officer of the Company. He should discharge these responsibilities before he “chats to the fans” (I will stress that I have absolutely no problem with him chatting to the fans (in fact I think it’s great)). But, as soon as he felt he needed to “step away” from this unofficial process he created a vacuum which nobody from the club filled. If you want me to point fingers I feel that the CEO has been totally useless in this whole process.
All the club has to do is release a official statements as they go along. Most of the speculation, in the Telegraph, Mail, NOTW etc is not based upon what is said by “the General” but by “the disagreement amongst fans”. If the club release official statements then it removes one of the opportunities for press speculation.
FWIW … I do not subscribe/contribute to any of the “bulletin boards/discussion forums” where the general makes his pronouncements – I don’t have the time or the interest – but I do read several broadsheet newspapers each day. Is the Villa now only for the people who want to talk all of the time about trivia via the Internet?
You’ve not seen me on her until recently and I will disappear again very soon. Firstly I came here because I was disgusted with the lack of professional communication vs. speculation and secondly NEWSNOW seemed to indicate that this is one of the more active fan-sites” (and thirdly, because I know Ian from the pub).
It was not necessary for the Villa to make statements about specific people but rather to make statements about progress of the process(es) over the last few weeks. Again, I will stress that I don’t care who the manager is, I don’t care if it takes us another month or three months to find the right manager, I don’t care if we have a temporary manager for 3 months and a permanent manager in January – what I do care about is that we go about it in a correct manner. I’m not impatient for a name I’m impatient (if you will) for someone in power at Villa Park to “be professional when conducting their business”.
I’ve probably said enough on this matter now but I will leave Randy one final thought from Napoleon;
“Some men have sufficient strength of mind to change their disposition, or at least to yield to imperative circumstances.”
… and yes I realise that this maxim also applies to me
“If the club release official statements then it removes one of the opportunities for press speculation.”
I understand your frustration Paul, but I am not sure that you (or many of the other fans who have been following this process closely) would be satisfied by official statements. What can they honestly say? If they don’t name specific people, then you would have a lot of this:
“We are looking into another candidate.”
“Still interviewing.”
“Three new possible candidates.”
etc…
As for the General, I respect his desire to connect with the Villa fans and (occasionally) keep us abreast of important situations. He has said won’t comment directly on these types of things.