MikeMcKenna

Just home after another miserable three + hour trip back from VP. Can it get any worse? I am not going to comment on the result except to say our club is in ruins and that Until Lerner has gone there is no chance it will be rise again from the ashes. But in my opinion there is little hope of him going as I will explain in another post shortly. While the football side of the club is obviously the main focus, I spoke to a couple of people on the staff today. Basically they said the morale is rock bottom at every level 'off the pitch'. Almost all the middle management have either left or been fired since Tom Fox came on board. Many had been with Villa for years, were Villa through and through and despite the mess on the football front worked hard to keep things going commercially with some success. To add insult to injury from what I hear many of them were been treated extremely badly and that the atmosphere currently is toxic with many others fearing for their jobs. This may not effect what happens on the pitch but it is indicative of the state of AVFC behind the scenes and more evidence of the club being rotten to the core! Lerner has basically appointed a hatchet man in Tom Fox and Hollis's brief seems to be more of the same. I don't think they realize that there is a massive backlash coming. I spoke to at least a dozen season ticket holders today in the Trinity and only one said he is definitely renewing - importantly many of these pay well above the average S/Ticket price, buy regular 'extras' and other corporate stuff so AVFC's finances are going to take a further hammering. Many lambasted the directors, for the football but also the way they have treated so many of their loyal employees. Our club bears no resemblance to a "club" anymore. We are now the Aston Villa Football Corporation.

Funnily enough this is the exact conversation I had with an Arsenal friend today. If this happened it would be the biggest game ever.

I am talking about post MON period. Lerner gave MON free reign and he undoubtedly agreed some very generous deals/contracts and arguably paid over the going rate. But from then onwards, with a couple of exceptions, a wage cap was imposed that meant quality signings were almost impossible. Lerner went from one extreme to the other and this led directly to our current demise. The writing was on the wall in the close season when Lambert scoured the lower & foreign leagues signing the likes of Lowton, Bennett, Westwood, Bowery, Ahmadi, Sylla, Holman for the grand total of around £10 million. I doubt any of these were paid significant wages. Yes we signed Benteke but Lambert tried to sign others where we couldn't meet the wage demands. I don't deny that we didn't have the revenue, but that really isn't the point. We needed more experience and quality. It was a a high risk strategy and ultimately a false economy that accellerared the spiral of decline. The so called 'project' of running a club on a shoestring was a Lerner induced pipe dream and unfortunately it is still the case.

It's all a bit like the Gabby argument. He is what we have for now and the talk about who we could have got instead is pointless. If a few years ago I had suggested the likes of Ranieri there would have been plenty of dissenting voices - now he is the dogs bollox! Moyes was a big favorite for several years - now he is viewed as past it. Personally I like Garde, whether we go down or not, if we can keep him IMHO he could make a massive difference eventually - IF he gets the backing - which is far from certain. Why? Mainly gut feeling - he is clearly a deep thinker, in the mound of Mourhino without the personal ego. My sense is that he can build something special rather be a sticking plaster like Allardyce or any of the other journeymen managers. Could be wrong and he may not stay anyway. This time next year, he could be long gone and we could all be moaning about the likes of Nigel Pearson....

Ultimately what does difference does it make to us as fans whether Gabby makes 40,50,60K? As much as we describe AVFC as 'our' club - it is isn't and therefore not our choice what he is paid. It always make me laugh to here fans moaning how much he is paid. If some of the rumours are true the problem in January was that Lerner, Hollis, Fox or whoever the **** is running our club wouldn't pay the wages being demand by some of our targets. If Gabby had left in January they may have given his salary to another new striker but I suspect it still wouldn't have been enough to attract someone better. Not that long ago the likes of Warnock was being 45k - Gabby isn't great but he is more important than the like of Warnock and NZogbia who were all paid similar money. The money paid to Premier League footballers is totally meaningless in the big scheme of things. Not being prepared to pay the going rate is one of the reasons AVFC are in the shit! As I said in a previous post Gabby hasn't been very good for quite a while but he is all we have for now and slagging him off will not make him better - possibly the reverse. His lack of a celebration clearly shows he has taken all the flak to heart. He is never been the brightest button and is more likely to respond to praise. FFS people should stop moaning and support him. If we go down anyway the moaners can spend the summer griping!

Quite shocked the article from the Sun hits so many nails on head! In relatively few words it succinctly sums up what a disaster Lerner has been in the last 6 years. Until three years ago my perception of Lerner was that of a relatively cultured, extremely wealthy but benign absent landlord who had bitten off more than he could chew. Like many I was in some ways sorry for him that everything at Villa had gone tits up. Like others I blamed the managers, the players and the executive but the reality is that he was at the root of everything that went wrong, My perception of him really changed after a conversation I had with a couple of very long term supporters who I have known for several years. They are very well respected and have been big spenders over the years via Corporate etc at VP. They are definitely not the sort of guys that would bullshit. However until now I have always been reticent about telling their story. Anyhow on with the story... I think it was just before Lerner appointed McLeish as manager but can't remember exactly when. The two Villa fans decided to go to a Cleveland Browns game while on holiday in the States, which I think was arranged via Villa corporate hospitality. Whilst at the Stadium, they were invited up to Lerners private suite. After going through multiple checkpoints and being searched twice they eventually arrived at Lerners suite. A flunky announced their arrival but Lerner was stood looking out at the game, f'ing and blinding about something. The two guys stood there like lemons, yet Lerner failed to even acknowledge them and didn't turn round for over ten minutes. When he eventually deigned to speak to the couple of lowly peasant Villa fans, he didn't bother actually greeting them as such or even talk specifically about Villa but immediately went into a massive rant about Levy of Spurs. Something had happened between them; Lerner's line was something along the line Who the **** does Levy think his? He is ******* ****** and is going to ****** learn not to ****** mess with him etc etc His rant when on in a similar vein for some while. The two Villa fans were flabbergasted at the rant but were never actually told why Lerner was so pissed off with Levy or able to ask any questions. Eventually Lerner calmed down, said he hoped that they enjoyed their vacation in the states and the audience was over. I was subsequently told by someone else that much later Lerner and Levy's paths' crossed at a private airport which resulted in a stand up row. So there was obviously bad blood between them long before Spurs attempt to buy Benteke. I can imagine Levy is a nasty bit of work and many Spurs fans don't like him but he knows more about running a football club in his little finger than Lerner ever will - maybe that is why he was so angry? Despite the persona Lerner likes to portray as our concerned and benevolent "Custodian", I think he is totally up himself, paranoid, very weak mentally and a control freak. He was born with a silver spoon is his mouth, has led a charmed life where everything was easy and where he could pass the real work to supposed experts - pity he couldn't even select the right "experts". He was never the super charged businessman that the original PR claimed or ever had a clue about how he was going to run our football club. His PR machine worked like a dream when he first arrived but In reality Lerner was a disaster waiting to happen. The sooner the clearing in the woods goes the sooner AVFC will be on the road back!

First time round he didn't. In fact he was one of the most derided players and only really came good towards the end of his time with us. Given that he had extensive PL experience, I would say overall he was disappointing and eventually Veretout (with very little PL experience) will be seen as a much better player.

I am a big fan and think he has a great future. He gets better every game.

Comparing the points to last season is very misleading. The distance between us and the others is much greater. In 14/15 there was only 7 points difference across the bottom 7 clubs. This season there is 13 points.

At the moment we are not blessed with much choice are we? Gabby has been particularly poor over the last few years but we now need to support him because we have nobody else. I do not see any point in NOT supporting him.

Good game yesterday - definitely better at RB than CB. Not the most skilled going forward, but is deceptiveLY quick and stronger on the ball than Bacuna. However I suspect Hutton will reclaim the position when fit.

Still needs work, but is young. He really worked hard today and will get better.

Like many I have not been his biggest fan in recent years. However today, he seemed to relish leading the line again. As it stands we are not blessed with strikers and it will be interesting to see whether Gabby can rise to the challenge. Our chances of survival are very low but Gabby could become a legend at last after all, if he gets his scoring boots on. I doubt it will happen but.....

Oh dear......

Tinker whether your point is well made or not, you have to always bear in mind that the 'sport" for some on VT (and other forums) is less to do with AVFC/football and more to do with their condescending and baiting nature.

Who gives a **** - he isn't coming!

It is nothing but a sop the fans - a pure PR exercise and for some it appears to have worked. I would not criticise Mervyn King's support, he goes to games and is a undoubtedly loyal fan. Far from a random outburst. If you had read my post I complained about the claim that has a "deep understanding" of the role the club plays in the lives of the fans. His involvement with fans is limited to the rarified atmosphere around his seat in the directors box and the directors dining room. King has been around and close to the directors of the club for years. If he had any influence or contacts worth leveraging he would have done it before now. I love the club like you but also believe that King will do nothing as a director to impact the mess we are in, other than allow Lerner to distant himself from his failed investment. An opinion doesn't require evidence.

"Mervyn is a life-long Villa supporter who has a deep understanding of the Club and the role that it plays in the lives of its many loyal supporters." I do not question Mervyn King's loyalty or support for the club. But frankly his appointment is just another load of bollox. I find the claim that he has a "deep understanding" [...] "that it plays in the lives of it's many loyal supporters" complete tosh and insulting. He knows very little about the lives of vast majority of supporters - if he did he wouldn't join Lerner and the other ******* who run the club in perpetuating this nightmare!! This is exactly the type of appointment I would expect Lerner to make - he hasn't got a ******* clue if he thinks the fans consider Mervyn King to be one of our own. As usual more ****** window dressing! What next Prince William to become an honorary President? Couldn't run a piss up in a brewery! When will this all end!

The last time I posted under a topic of this title was a direct result of one of my family mentioning that I always got predictions of Villa results wrong. So I think to myself if I am so **** at predicting results I should turn it to our advantage. I reckon the next time we will win, will be Man U away on 16th April. :-)

I predict Remi Garde will resign on 14th May, Kevin McDonald will take over as acting manager again and we will beat Arsenal away in our final fixture on 15th May, getting a penalty in the 93rd minute.

Poo, piss, sh*t......

Initially I thought he could be good for us but am no longer convinced Richards has what it takes. He seems to lack the ability to dominate and the awareness that the likes of Vlaar, Laursen and other CBs had in the past.

Yep everyone will want our scalp, but as ridiculous as it sounds midtable might, just might be optimistic. Who would have thought we would have 8 points in the PL after 20 games and be the the lowest point scoring team ever in the PL? If he we lose the few decent players we have and replace them with what we can pick up from the Championship we will start on a less than level playing field. The decline could just continue.,...

And so it begins. Accept it is the mirror, but the strategy sounds like something Lerner has dictated. Anyone that thinks we will come straight back up, should think again if this is true. If we start next year with a bunch of new championship level players I could see the club going into freefall. Said players will have to bed in as a team and we could easily get slaughtered. If we think it's bad now, try to imagine what it will feel like if we are struggling in the championship. The old 'At least we are not Leeds' refrain from the Ellis days could come back to haunt us.

Really can't agree with any of that. 1. 'Frustrated' is massive understatement. I don't give a **** about 'scapegoats' - I want the board and owner gone. 2. I hope the fans really go for Lerner at every home game till the end of the season. He will not be there as usual but he will get the message. It may make no difference but unlike him we turn up week in week out and hopefully will vent our spleens! 3. You say you suspect there will be some 'top brass resignations' - I think you are kidding yourself. 4. Our 'long term problems' have been self inflicted by an incompetent owner who no longer has our 'best interests at heart' who hasn't been to a game in years - he wants out. 5. We have had nearly five seasons of this **** and lessons haven't been learnt, 6. It shouldn't happen to us because we are ASTON VILLA - I don't give a damn if that sounds conceited.