MikeMcKenna

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.

I really don't follow this line. HOW MUCH WORSE CAN IT GET??

Disagree I think they were both equal in the **** prick stakes.

Sorry mate don't agree. I reserve all my ire for Lerner.

More than "a little uncomfortable" for me. I accept your point but this isn't the way. I wish the fans would direct their anger at Lerner at VP on Match days, I am convinced that if he had the stick that Ellis got, he couldn't take it and would ****** sell to be rid of us. Some will say he doesn't go to games but he claimed to watch every game and massive abuse would get back to him.

Like everyone else I am angry, hurt etc but the so called fans slagging the players and Garde getting onto the coach are a disgrace and an embarrassment.

Which bit? Lerner described himself as a Custodian and on a more than a few occasions many individuals have suggested that the alternatives to Lerner may be worse. Whether they used the exact phrase "better the devil you know" is academic, the sentiments expressed amount to same thing.

Randy "Better the Devil You Know" "The Custodian" Lerner Owner of Aston Villa. Soon to be ultimately responsible for: 1. Relegating us from the PL for the first time ever 2. Worst ever league performance Yep "better the devil you know".......

An easy to prove yourself wrong would be to participate. But maybe it is easier to be totally apathetic?

Scott, I can empathise but not sympathise. Some years ago I bought a business, albeit on a smaller scale. I knew nothing about the business, it was very different to our core activities but I thought it would be 'fun' and that I could employ others to run it. Stupidly I didn't get sufficiently involved and employed the wrong people. The losses mounted over the first two years and I employed some new 'experts', but still didn't get as involved as I should have, so failed to turn it round. In the third year it was obvious that I was never going to make it work, so I sold it for a pittance and had to accept my past losses as there was a danger it was going to affect my main business. Unlike Lerner, I learnt my painful & embarrassing lesson relatively quickly. OK I didn't lose 'hundreds of millions', but it is all relative. The money I did lose represented more to me proportionately than Lerner's losses via Aston Villa. Ultimately I was a clearing in the woods for buying it in the first place. I appreciate that RL may 'hopefully' not be leaving us loaded with debt, but I still have my doubts about the much quoted asking price of £150 million - something doesn't stack up and I fear there may be more strings than we realise. One last point; It would be more accurate to say he frittered away 'some of the family fortune' and with the sale of the Browns which was said to be for around $1 billion he is still a very, very rich man. Some you win, some you lose. The scale of his mismanagement and his lack of financial controls was frankly staggering for someone who was lauded from the outset as a super-charged billionaire entrepreneur.

Scott, You are right that "get it all back" was the wrong phrase. I should have said he is trying to get a higher price than others think it is worth. Whether he is down £400 mill or if his asking price his price is £150 mill, Do we really know - if he has to drop another £25-50 mill to find a buyer so be it. For all we know there could be all kinds of riders that involve repayment of his debts overtime or other claw backs. As for your comment about "punishment" and "I don't think we are helping" - I am not interested in punishing him. What is done is done is and I would just like him gone. In my eyes saying and doing nothing isn't an option. I know protests and petitions are little more than minor publicity stunts but for some fans they are a public means of venting their anger.

Like many VT-ers and other Villa fans I spend a fair amount of time online, and given that signing an online petition takes about 2/3 seconds, I cannot understand why so many cannot be bothered and keep playing the apathy card.

a. He really doesn't like bad publicity. He has stayed away from VP because he fears the stick he would get. Unlike Ellis, Lerner is a wimp who was cosseted by his father and is embarrassed by the mess he has made of AVFC after all the b'ollox he spouted about being a "Custodian" b. On the contrary the media love any dissent from the fans. They are probably amazed that Villa fans have been so quiet. c. I don't agree. How do you define trying? If he was so keen to sell he would drop his price. The reality is that AVFC's value has plummeted during his tenure.

So you cannot spare 2 seconds? At least a protest or petition is marginally better that doing sweet FA. If Lerner wants to sell so badly, why are there no takers? The fact that he still owns the club is simply because his price is too high. He has basically spunked his Dad and family's money up the wall and thinks he can recover his losses. He can't and needs to accept the loss.

You are right and I have my doubts about any "Car Park Protest. That said I do think it is time Villa fans stopped being apathetic in the face of what has been a disastrous five seasons. While other clubs fans obviously will not give a toss it will be ****** sad if it looks like Villa fans watching the club go down don't give a toss either.

I am not involved in the Change.org petition and don't think it is particularly well written but as Bully stated above we need to "HUMILIATE THE BASTARD" into selling us! It is nearly up to 1000 and every Villa fan should sign if only to send a message. The problem is that having pissed his Dad's money up the wall he thinks he can get all back - he never will, we are damaged goods and he has to cut his price Lerner Is undoubtedly sensitive to bad publicity and has had very little public criticism. I may be wrong but yesterday was the first time I heard the away fans loudly singing "Lerner Out" and "Randy Lerner is a ****er". For those who fear we may get an even worse owner - what can be worse than our current state? https://www.change.org/p/lerneroutrandy-lerner-and-his-administration-out-of-aston-villa-now

I disagree - anything that sends a message to Lerner is worth it. For too long Villa fans have given the rocket polisher a soft time. Rich Americans have thin skins - especially the ones who were given all their money by Daddy!

And his "opinion" is different to yours.

Yeah I realised that after I posted :-) but thought I would leave it up for effect :-)

Where did I say relegation is going to help our long term future? Like nearly everyone else I have accepted that is a nailed on certainty and see no point in bringing someone in who specialises in saving clubs from relegation. We are basically ****** for now. As for the benefit of hindsight; Its a wonderful thing!

Call it a whim if you like but it wasn't that long ago relatively when the mention of signing either Alardyce or Pulis would have sent VT into meltdown. Then the fans became desperate and many suddenly saw them as some kind of saviours. I will persist with my whimsical beliefs as imho the alternatives are frankly shite and offer nothing for the future.

So an owner never bears any responsibility? That strikes me as 'dumb ass logic'. It really is very simple imho. I own a reasonably sized business. I ultimately hire the directors and define the budgets. If I hire the wrong directors that is my fault and responsibility. If I then allow said directors to spend the companies money without adequate financial controls and make big losses as a result, that is my fault and responsibility. If the next year I then replace the 'wrong directors' and tell their no much better replacements to get us out of the shit by doing it on the cheap and they fail, that is my fault and responsibility.