PaulC

Yes loved him at the end of last season but I'm starting to agree that it doesn't perform at that high level consistently enough. He needs to get that passion back in his game or put him on the bench. One thing i dont understand with Lambert. He played Agbonlahor down the middle saturday yet he always drifts left anyway. Why does he not play Weimann in his best position. He did against City and he contributed with 2nd goal freekick and the winner.

VMWARE is pretty easy actually, but i haven't used virtualbox so don't know and if its free then that fair enough.

Yes I agree unfortunately being a goal down leaves us more vunerable.

That was the 2012/13 tax year so maybe things are better now.

Maybe playing only 2 in midfield against Everton was the problem

Never listen to talksport anymore

We still have the 7th highest wage bill, Our turnover is only the 9th highest. net debt is 122 mil. 18 mil loss last tax year compared to 54 mil the previous year. Should Lerner just keep spending until we are bankrupt. Obviously its going to take time for Lambert to get our club back on a level footing and maybe start challenging for eufa league places.

and I think we'll finish somewhere between those positions this season.

Very influential singer songwriter. Thanks for the memories, RIP

Slightly odd selection of statistics there. You don't say which war you are talking about, but we have finished in the top 5 six times since 1975/6, when we re-emerged from 8 seasons of lower league football and when Villa's modern era arguably started. If you count the times since 75/6 that we have finished in the top 7 - which is what Mark's post was talking about - it is fifteen times out of 38 seasons, so the expectation that we should aim for 6/7th starts to look less absurd. We've also taken part in European competitions (excluding Intertoto) 16 times during that period and that is another of my expectations - that we will see European games at VP at least once every 3 seasons. Based on our history since the modern club was born, that doesn't seem too outlandish either. Haha well said, it's ridiculous the shit some post. Before Lerner took over we'd had 14 premiership seasons. We finished in the top 7 in 50% of them. We also narrowly missed out, finishing 8th in two of them. So in our premiership history we finished outside the top 8 5 times before Lerner. We've now finished outside the top 8 the last 3 seasons in a row and this year will probably make it 4. Maybe these fans should look into the club they support rather than thinking of ways to defend the owner. I mean you actually have Stefan in off topic admitting it pisses him off over the sense of entitlement our fan base have. Maybe have a look at the club you've chosen to support. We have that sense of entitlement because that's what our club was. That's what we've experienced the majority of the time before Lerner came in. i guess anyone that doesn't agree with you talks shit. Villa have a great history but most of that is ancient history now. We haven't won the FA Cup since 57. The last time we won the league before 81 was 1910. Yes we won the European cup and and a few league cups. Winning the league in 81 and the European cup in 82 should have been the prelude to something great but Doug **** that up. The way I see it is the top 4 is everything and as all hope of us achieving that without a huge influx of cash like City then its hard to get excited about a mid table or top 8 finish. . Last season was more exciting than most because we were in a relegation battle. But anyway I'm talking shit so I'll leave this thread to all the Lerner haters.

I like his honesty but it may come back to haunt him. More interesting than Lambert's post match interviews though. I'm sure he has the same lines each time.

Yes you expect goalkeepers to move but amount he moved before Benteke took his kick was rediculous. Mind you Benteke should have been able to react to that.

Does he have to be wealthy ? - Randy is very rich guy - but not much of that has come Aston Villa's way since MON left - So we have a billionaire owner in name alone. Ive said before a good owner either brings money or expertise. At present Randy brings neither. Surley we shouldn't be struggling at the bottom of the prem on home crowds of 37,000 ?. As well as Randy's lack of cash - the fact that he is no longer interested is equally damaging. Very true and i agree its a worry that he has lost interest. I don't think we can blame all our woes on him though.

It seems that way. He was very good towards the end of last season and although he was brilliant at Arsenal, he hasn't looked as sharp since the injury and you dont fancy him to put a chance away either.

I didn't say they were perfect. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of his corners. I prefer them whipped into the near post as the percentage wise most successful corner. I know you don't like him, Isa, but let's not pretend that our other midfielders are world beaters with their through balls and assists. Without Zoggy, Westwood is the next most likely midfielder to produce an assist or a key pass. That might say more about the state of the AVFC midfield than about Westwood, but it's incredibly disingenuous for people to come on here and say that he just does a Bannan. Bannan's not fit to tie Westwood's shoe laces. He can be upgraded upon, but like I said, I think he will do very well against teams we are obviously superior to like this upcoming run. I expect him to put his stamp on the game since the next few games are against weaker teams. I like him but think he is only suited for one style of play. Even if we assume I do 'hate him' as his reactionaries on here keep telling me I do, that wouldn't really take away from any point I make. Secondly, I don't recall ever claiming that we have other midfielders any better in possession then Westwood. Thus why I believe our midfield is so poor. I don't really agree with the Bannan comment either. I don't think they are leagues apart but then I never thought Bannan was as bad as made out in the same way I don't think Westwood is as good as made out. Other then that, I agree with the rest. I've been very supportive of Westwood but pound for pound i believe Bannan is more talented but size and atitude may have let him down.

Another stupid argument. Did you ask everyone who held a £ sign to Doug if they had a list of potential buyers for the club. No but he's not psychic either.

Yes and we were slightly unfortunate to loose against Liverpool i thought.

Yes but its all very easy to state these facts but do any of you have a solution? Where's the wealthy buyer? I don't think we will be in a relegation battle this season either.

You could install several os's on your computer instead of just relying on windows or use VMware workstation. That way you could use windows if you want to install Office and another os for the internet. Just a suggestion!

Yes memories of our winner against them. Slightly different i know.

I'm not sure where you are getting these figures from but if he has waived 100 million in interest on 130 mill in loans then f*ck me that was wonga levels of interest rates. I really don't get this crap about him waiving interest on money he has invested into the club anyway. At the end of the day the club is his. I don't think for a second he should be charging any interest. He underpaid for the club and despite the incompetent and reckless way he has run it I am certain that when he does eventually sell up he will recoup what he paid and what he has invested and won't have lost a dollar. In fact if he can keep us in the top flight he may still make a few quid. The sad thing is though that despite the early promises he will leave the club in no better shape than he found it and in fact having overseen our worst run of sustained poor league form in almost 30 years. He should be hanging his head in shame. Its on wikepedia "He invested about £20m into the club on March 2013 and waived off the £100m interest owed to him by Aston Villa due to the fact Villa were struggling financially".

Paul Before RL bought the club there were more than a few who were "nuts enough" However RL looked like the perfect owner, the fans loved the idea of him after all the years of Ellis treating us like shit. RL (or his advisors) did the research, made all the right noises and he was eulogised as the perfect owner by the fans and the media. He put his money where his mouth was but ultimately the gamble didn't pay off. Now he has bitten off more than can chew and clearly wants out. I quite admire him in some ways, think he was genuinely passionate about AVFC BUT when it was apparent that the master plan wasn't working I believe he lost interest and started to seek ways out. Yes i totally agree with you but i just disagree with people slagging him off. He has invested a lot of money in our football club and whilst he's weatlhy he's not in the same league as the oil sheiks.

Yes no doubt that is very true. Do the club not owe him 130 million in loans of which he has waived 100 million in interest.

I meant not many people complained when we hired Oneill. Just tell me someone who wants to buy the club. Its alright moaning about Lerner but who else is nuts enough to buy our club and run it at a loss.

Yes totally agree, I think we supporters have unrealistic expectations and its not our personal wealth we are pissing away. I believe football clubs should manage within their means and the way were under Oneill with a higher wage bill than clubs like Tottenham was unsustainable. I still can't believe the shit I read on here at times. We've had 3 consecutive relegation battles and you're happy with the owner and complaining fans have unrealistic expectations. Did you feel this way when people wanted Doug gone? That's bollocks. He's not the manager. He didn't tell Oneill to to spend money on crap and escalate the wage bill so its out of control. Poor management is the reason we have been fighting relegation. Everton during that period were spending a lot less and they continue to challenge the top 6. Haha you've just said poor management. Who hired them? And as for wages spiralling out of control of course it's the owners responsibility. The issue became wages in relation to income, now you tell me who should be on the ball over that, the manager or the owner? Honestly what has this guy done for some to defend him so much? Like I said this could well be our 4th consecutive year of worrying about relegation. Oneill was hired by Doug wasn't he? Nobody complained when we hired him. Nobody complained when we were challenging top 4 but unfortunately i think we are paying for that now in cutting the wage bill. I agree subsequent choices of mangers up until Lambert have been poor. But Martinez was our first choice before Mcleish. Perhaps Lerner gave Oneill too much of a free reign for too long. Perhaps since the City raised the financial stakes Lerner realised hes not in that financial league, Perhap sthe credit crcnch, expensive divorce. All these things have contributed to a loss of interest, but until we get such ultra rich benefactor who can buy Lerner out then what can we do. It wasn't all good with Doug. He took over after we won the league in 81 and was the reason Saunders left and then we had a decline before Graham Taylor sorted the club out. But Doug would not have competed in the current financial stakes. My guess is he made quite a lot of money out of the club as well.