Re: 'The Sale of Aston Villa FC' Countdown Thread: Now Sold!

[villabromsgrove]

Ray Wilkins on talksport breakfast show tomorrow

What's the betting he enthuses about our "lovely lads'.

[GadgetMan]

I think it spoke volumes that it was claimed they brought him in as they had liked him when they met him.

It wasn't just from a footballing perspective that it was impossible to understand. Lerner and Faulkner were supposed to be businessmen. However, if you were running a successful company would you appoint someone as a manager solely on the grounds of their likeability even with a dubious track record in previous roles? It wasn't just the Blues thing - If he'd been a successful manager for them then we'd be delighted to poach him. Whilst he won the league cup, he also managed to relegate them. Think it was just under a month between us celebrating him taking them down to his appointment as our boss. Like watching a car crash unfold over four weeks.

See the really dumb thing Sandie, is that smart businessman, would never of arranged to meet him in the first place and would have A looked at his CV and thought he wasn't good enough for Villa and B should of instantly realised it just wouldn't work. I'll never ever get that appointment and have wanted RL gone since that day. For all your tattoos and mosaics, you still haven't got a clue about the heart of this grand old club Randolph.

Not only that, he then kept Lambert way too long and to my knowledge has personally messed up at least two solid offers to buy the club by shifting the goalposts, being erratic, unavailable etc! One might say he doesn't really want to sell, but is being forced to buy mummy and the Lerner trust (just an opinion)

Ooh he makes me mad whenever I think about him.

[villabromsgrove]

I think it spoke volumes that it was claimed they brought him in as they had liked him when they met him.

It wasn't just from a footballing perspective that it was impossible to understand. Lerner and Faulkner were supposed to be businessmen. However, if you were running a successful company would you appoint someone as a manager solely on the grounds of their likeability even with a dubious track record in previous roles? It wasn't just the Blues thing - If he'd been a successful manager for them then we'd be delighted to poach him. Whilst he won the league cup, he also managed to relegate them. Think it was just under a month between us celebrating him taking them down to his appointment as our boss. Like watching a car crash unfold over four weeks.

See the really dumb thing Sandie, is that smart businessman, would never of arranged to meet him in the first place and would have A looked at his CV and thought he wasn't good enough for Villa and B should of instantly realised it just wouldn't work. I'll never ever get that appointment and have wanted RL gone since that day. For all your tattoos and mosaics, you still haven't got a clue about the heart of this grand old club Randolph.

Not only that, he then kept Lambert way too long and to my knowledge has personally messed up at least two solid offers to buy the club by shifting the goalposts, being erratic, unavailable etc! One might say he doesn't really want to sell, but is being forced to buy mummy and the Lerner trust (just an opinion)

Ooh he makes me mad whenever I think about him.

Tell us what you really think GM!

[GadgetMan]

I think it spoke volumes that it was claimed they brought him in as they had liked him when they met him.

It wasn't just from a footballing perspective that it was impossible to understand. Lerner and Faulkner were supposed to be businessmen. However, if you were running a successful company would you appoint someone as a manager solely on the grounds of their likeability even with a dubious track record in previous roles? It wasn't just the Blues thing - If he'd been a successful manager for them then we'd be delighted to poach him. Whilst he won the league cup, he also managed to relegate them. Think it was just under a month between us celebrating him taking them down to his appointment as our boss. Like watching a car crash unfold over four weeks.

See the really dumb thing Sandie, is that smart businessman, would never of arranged to meet him in the first place and would have A looked at his CV and thought he wasn't good enough for Villa and B should of instantly realised it just wouldn't work. I'll never ever get that appointment and have wanted RL gone since that day. For all your tattoos and mosaics, you still haven't got a clue about the heart of this grand old club Randolph.

Not only that, he then kept Lambert way too long and to my knowledge has personally messed up at least two solid offers to buy the club by shifting the goalposts, being erratic, unavailable etc! One might say he doesn't really want to sell, but is being forced to buy mummy and the Lerner trust (just an opinion)

Ooh he makes me mad whenever I think about him.

Tell us what you really think GM!

It was that bang to the head, honest haha!

[Sandie]

I know that a few of us are having a go at the manager, and rightly so, but he's not the biggest problem at Villa.

Lerner is running the club in absentia only bothering to pitch up to have a laugh with Prince William as we meekly surrendered in the FA Cup final. We know he's no longer interested in the club (for whatever reason) and we know he's not been able to sell the club (for whatever reason). Under Lerner we are stuck in limbo, he's not interested, he can't/won't sell. Just about the only thing he's done well recently is allow Sherwood to re-invest the money from player sales. He didn't exactly give him huge backing beyond that but at least he didn't pocket all the cash! That that's the best thing I can say about him says a lot. The club will never be fully firing on all cylinders whilst Lerner is still the owner but he's obviously something we can't really change. We can't make a great owner buy us and we can't simply sack Lerner (he wants out as much as we want rid of him) so there's nothing we can do.

But the main reason I'm coming to this thread is that I have a rant I'd like to get off my chest. Why do people go on about Fox like he's somehow more talented than the owner or manager? I just don't get it? So far in his time at the club he has taken too long to get rid of Lambert (coming out with that crap about sacking managers being a false narrative in the process) and replaced him with Sherwood. Sherwood was a flavour of the month appointment of a guy who had a good media profile. There were enough question marks about him before we took him on that might make it seem like a bad idea (Sherwood may yet prove everything wrong) but Fox took him on in spite of that. There's an unshiftable malaise around this football club (I've said so for years) that for me is down to years of poor management from Lerner and Fox thrust a young, inexperienced manager with a questionable record into that.  For me his own track record will stand or fall on Sherwood's eventual record, how he reacts to the current situation and the eventual outcomes. If Sherwood suddenly comes good then it will be absolutely tremendous. If Sherwood continues to flounder and Fox ends up umming and ahhing over his position like he did with Lambert then I won't be impressed.  

I was never one to indulge in bashing Paul Faulkner, I always thought he was at worst a yes man who got something of a bad press. I struggle to see where Fox is noticably better than him yet.

[villabromsgrove]

All I would say about Fox is he's on a one million pound plus salary, so he has a vested interest in keeping Villa in the Premier, and he now has a right hand man in Hendrik Almstadt who actually knows about football. I would assume that a bit more thought will go into the quantifiable qualifications of whoever is offered the job when Sherwood is sacked.

Apart from that I agree with you Sandie. Both Lerner and Fox have shown a distinct lack of football related knowledge in their respective time at the club.

[Sandie]

I forget about us also having Almstadt there. You would hope that he'll be able to point out all the ways that Sherwood is or isn't working and take a thoughtful approach to sourcing any eventual potential successor.

[villabromsgrove]

I hope that Almstadt has been acting as a Performance Analyst over the last few games. As long as he's not been locked away in an office he has to be able to tell Tom Fox that Tim must be replaced asap.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but there has to be a couple of sensible professional people employed by AVFC who can make the correct decisions, and make them now.

[GadgetMan]

I hope that Almstadt has been acting as a Performance Analyst over the last few games. As long as he's not been locked away in an office he has to be able to tell Tom Fox that Tim must be replaced asap.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but there has to be a couple of sensible professional people employed by AVFC who can make the correct decisions, and make them now.

I think we're about to find out just how sensible and professional those people are VB. Interesting 6 weeks ahead for this club I feel.

[Sandie]

Collymore: Villa board 'not fit for purpose'

Stan Collymore has blasted Aston Villa's board as ‘not fit for purpose’ and suggested they should ‘all go now’ after his six-year long programme column was pulled this week.

The former Villa striker and talkSPORT presenter was today notified that he would no longer be required to produce a page of his views for the matchday programme due to what he describes as ‘fierce criticism of the ownership and club structure.’

Collymore has expressed his views on the current struggles at Villa Park both on air and in his national newspaper column.

And in an extended message on his personal Twitter account, Collymore branded the club a ‘laughing stock’, admitted he felt sorry for Tim Sherwood because of the 'mess he's having to deal with’ and explained how he was told his programme piece was coming to an end. He also criticised owner Randy Lerner and chief executive Tom Fox .

“After 6 years of doing an official Aston Villa programme column, today I’ve been notified by the club that they no longer wish me to continue due to my support of Tim Sherwood and fierce criticism of the ownership and club structure,” the message reads.

“The club felt in essence that it would be inappropriate for me to write positively in a column whilst being critical on air or in a newspaper.

“...I am firstly a broadcaster, and a broadcaster who treats every club in the country the same. So if ownership is letting fans down, as proven last night on perhaps the only football show in the country which actually addresses issues rather than ignore them or pretend they don’t exist, we debate them and criticise or praise where necessary.

“On the watch of Mr Lerner, and laterly Tom Fox as Chief Executive, and Paul Faulkner before him, the club I have supported since childhood have become the laughing stock of the Premier League. This, Englands 4th most successful football club.

“So do I pretend on air everything is great? Or do I broadcast justifiable criticism alongside one of the best in the business, Mark Saggers, echoing the concerns of a huge fanbase, as they come to terms with a 6th year of complete and utter dross on the pitch, and ineptitude of the highest order off it?”

Collymore continues: “I met Tom Fox in the summer and said to his face that I wanted to do anything, anything to help my club moving forward. Get on a plane, train, in a car, watch players, report back, anything to help my club.

“A smile, a coffee and a patronising “ we’ll call you” cane and went. At the same time Aston Villa were employing a marketing man, that’s a marketing man as Director of Football. “And we wonder why we are in the mess we are in. Industry professionals ignored when offering help, a man who can put a glossy Arsenal pitch together made Director of Football at my club.

“The line is drawn now for me. It took an embarrassed Rob Bishop, programme editor and friend for over 18 years to tell me over the phone that my column had ended “for now”, but in reality for good.

“I will now join fan groups and individuals actively looking to other potential owners to come in swiftly and hasten change at Aston Villa Football Club. Mr Lerner, Tom a Fox, the current Director of Football and technical staff are not fit for purpose. They all should go, now.”

Collymore showed his support to the manager by adding: “As for Tim Sherwood, he gets my unequivocal support and should get the same from every Villa fan.

“He really could have had no idea what mess he was coming into or some of the major decisions that he would have no hand in. An incredibly tough job.

“I’ll walk into Villa Park soon with chest puffed out as a fan or broadcaster. It’s my club and I was here before this current ownership, firstly in the Doug Ellis stand aged 6, then on the pitch aged 27, then in the broadcast booth aged 35. I’m going nowhere.

“Our great club will be back, but only with new ownership. So please Mr Lerner, instead of petty sackings of columnists who tell the truth about our club, please sell up and go.”

Who's the marketing man? Almstadt? I thought he was mostly a performance analyst/stats man?

[GadgetMan]

That confused me too Sandie. At the time of Collymore meeting Fox and tweeting, "next few months look exciting at avfc, big changes ahead" we'd not long appointed Charlie W as COO, so I think he may be confusing him?

[GadgetMan]

That confused me too Sandie. At the time of Collymore meeting Fox and tweeting, "next few months look exciting at avfc, big changes ahead" we'd not long appointed Charlie W as COO, so I think he may be confusing him?

I've added the Villatrust statement in here too as it directly refers to the board. We've done a lot of chatting about Sherwood. Feel free to chip in with your thoughts on the board and owner. They are far from blameless.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The AVST feels it is important to comment on some of the recent goings on at Villa Park. A dreadful start to the season sees us yet again faced with a relegation battle and the club starting to be cut adrift in the relegation places.

Regardless of our individual views on who should be held accountable for the position we find ourselves in, the AVST wishes to remind those involved at all levels of the club that their first duty is to our loyal supporters. To provide them with a team they can be proud of and to show the ambition that a club of our stature deserves.

For two weeks now there have been stories leaking out of Villa Park, seemingly from both the manager and the club, and the AVST demand that this is brought to an end. Pantomime season does not start for another two months.

It seems there is a clear decision to be made and this should be at the forefront of the minds of our board. Do they believe Tim Sherwood is the man to take us forwards and do they believe it is appropriate for him to do so? If the answer is yes to both, then they need to publicly back their man and ensure that everyone starts pulling in the same direction to get us out of the mess we find ourselves in again.

If not, then this cannot be allowed to fester. An immediate change needs to be made in order that a replacement manager can have the maximum amount of time to arrest our slump.

We have had enough of the infighting. It is time for the club to take decisive action, one way or another.

[GadgetMan]

We're a shambles from top to bottom and they all need to be accountable. Lerner needs to speak up, not just Fox. He said in a rare interview in May, he has no intention of being involved with villa day to day anymore and if he didn't sell, he would appoint a chairman. Well we're still waiting Mr Lerner. You can't magically whip up a buyer, however you can keep to your word and appoint a man who will act as the 'custodian' of this club and work with vigour and enthusiasm to ensure we make the right decisions to get this grand old club back on the rails. So bring in a respected figurehead for this great club. Graham Taylor? David Dein? Mervyn King? I don't know who, but someone who will stop this disconnect with the fans and club/board and make the right decisions and fast to ensure we're not at risk (again) of relegation.

Over to you Mr Lerner.

[villabromsgrove]

You use the word "disconnect" GM, and that is spot on. There is an arrogant disconnection from Villa supporters by Lerner/Fox that is insulting and unforgivable.

[GadgetMan]

You use the word "disconnect" GM, and that is spot on. There is an arrogant disconnection from Villa supporters by Lerner/Fox that is insulting and unforgivable.

Yep, very arrogant. Some custodian he has turned out to be huh?! No not the worst kind, but it's harder to stomach as he supposedly 'got us' the fabric of the club and it's fans, hell he even had a tattoo, he sold the notion, he was one of US! Yet it was all a lie, so it hurts more than just some ruthless businessman that's lost interest. I bought into all his bluster in the early days, so this slow painful separation is killing all of us.

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