Ian has offered the following;
Yes it has been a while since I wrote an article, what about 14 months ?
Well I went away for these reasons
1) Work – and that has changed recently
2) Modern football and the utter rubbish served up
3) Randy Lerner
Well this is to address point 3.
After the surrender of the last two games more and more people are questioning Lambert, sorry guys but wrong there ! Don’t misunderstand me, remember I wanted Martinez as manager once the OGS thing blew over and his rejection of us said many things. Lambert is a very average manager but he is perfect for the owner.
The day that Lerner appointed McLeish showed his utter contempt for Villa fans. I applaud of course, his Acorns donation but did he bother to turn up today ? How many times has he bothered in the last three years? This is the kind of absentee owner I hate and he has to go. However he has good PR, he leaks stuff through the lapdog Faulkner to selected fans and we have become totally docile.
So into this mix came Lambert.
The perfect manager for Lerner, his mumbling PR hides his averageness as a manager and of course he is a total lapdog to Lerner’s policy of running down the club. With all the extra TV money there is no reason at all for the wage cuts and yet still they come and the fans go, OK Lambert can manage lower paid players. Guess what? those players are average as we can see, no diamonds there at all.
But as he moves the dugout, as he buys cheap foreign rubbish and as he plays ‘attacking football’ (don’t laugh !!) then Lerner sits there back at home in the States and counts the money rolling in from the gullible fans. If you want Lambert out then call for Lerner because the absentee owner would only appoint another rubbish manager and he just wants the debt cleared before he can sell.
Great, give money to Acorns, that is no impact on Villa is it ?
That is all that should matter.
Ps. Terry was right about Lerner, I apologise mate !
Comments
73 responses to “Absentee Owner danger”
Much nearer to the truth, imo.
Nice to see you back mate.
I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist for long and you still have rights to not have to bother with submitting posts mate.
Contact me if you can’t see how.
cheers but I do not want to have the access at this stage …
it has been interesting following comments today … Now if that had been Mcleish in charge …
That is a fair point re he who cannot be named and indeed Oohah has mentioned this many times.
I personally think Lambert is a bit better, but still not good enough.
That said, when you have pennies to play with, we’re always going to struggle.
but as per my piece then Lambert is happy to have pennies, that is why he fits in beautifully with Lerner. HE can not manager ‘big name’ players and is more than happy to shop in Asda Smart price rather than Sainsburys.
So true Ian. I think carragher on sky summed it up when he said we were a young team with no quality. Sums it up brilliantly IMO
No idea what
But as he moves the dugout
means ha ha
thinks a spellchecker error !!
Yes stay away fuck off we don’t want you,spend daddies money elsewhere & be a huge failure.im well fucked off.
you maybe Giddy but not sure many fans think that and I ask why and can not think of an answer.
Ian mate for ages ive never seen your angle on things but now its crystal can you ride tandem?spot on ian you’ve been saying what i feel presently for ages my mistake for not listening so a big SORRY from me mate.
no need for that !!
I am neither right or wrong just that I think Lerner is only in this until he can make the cash he wants to …
No one should let his donation to Acorns over ride what he is doing to the club.
What annoys me about his donation is that it dosnt receive national exposure which would be good for the charity. When Beckham donated his wages the media licked his arse for doing it. Not Lerners fault I no but annoying anyway.
Thought you were talking about Ian then Giddy lol. 🙂
Fuck off with your comment ‘giving money to Acorns is great, but has no impact on Villa’…..what a fucking heartless, indefensible statement. I take it that you are aware that the children in Acorns are ‘life limited’ children?
It certainly has had an impact on me. It has made me so proud to support a club that ‘really cares’ for such worthwhile causes.
Say what you want about Lerner, but dont ever try telling me that this as not had a major impact on Villa!……and importantly, on the affected children and their families!
Be grateful if you could retract that sentence from your article as I find it totally offensive and totally out of order. Supporting Acorns as been a great innovation and as a Villan, I am proud to support and be associated with it!
His donation has no impact on Villa, this is a Villa forum not a charity discussion.
How does he giving cash to Acorns affect the club ? It does not.
I give cash to Acorns but that does affect how I run my life or my work does it ?
So why put the comment on a villa forum. Fucking disgraceful and offensive. Your a sad excuse for a human being. And I repeat, i am a villan and it HAS impacted on me. Fucking despiceable!
Not to mention the worldwide recognition that has no doubt been beneficial to Villa in commercial terms. So no impact? How about the commercial value and the feelgood factor interms of being proud to be part of a club that supports local community ‘life limited’ kids. I would say that every iniative and donation to Acorns has a major impact on our great club. Try thinking outside of the box before posting offensive articles!
Don’t see the point in going on about Lerner as it won’t do anygood.The man will never give anymore real money ever again.As for Lambert he’s trying to do the best he can with what he’s got.This Lerner thing keeps popping up and is quite a regular moan.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….UTV…Let’s see where we finish and if the building is improving on last season before we commit our selves to more grumpy stuff…Say we finish between 10-12 then that will be an obvious improvement on last seasons 16th.I would like to see some better spending in the transfer market but as for Lerner the revolution is never going to happen….UTV
I remember the 1st time we had Acorns as a sponsor a wavered the fee.Acorns does have an impact on the club but Lerners donation does not have an impact as it is purely out of his own pocket.Look it will always be this way until Lerner spends money the club can’t afford or he spends big and we still win nothing because spending 100million will only get us level with Spurs.AVFC is what it is at the moment so forget Lerner or the dodgy critique and support the club your supposed to love UTV
Us spending 100 mill will not get us level with Spurs JD.
They were probably already £75 mill in front of us.
Point taken though.
The difference is Spurs have players who will probably come right more often than not.
Whereas we have a load of shit and are clutching at straws, hoping some may come right, so we can sell them on for a profit, to line Lerner’s pockets.
With the odd £8-10 bone thrown in, to keep us happy.
The underlying theme over the last couple of years or more, is that we don’t need quality players.
We have another way, that will prove the rest of the clubs wrong.
It’s total bullshit mate and if we want to play that game, we should at least spending like the top 6 club, that our turnover says we are.
We’re being had over mate and as much as I like your enthusiasm, I really hope you see it soon.
We need the poso’s such as yourself to realise what’s really going on down the Villa, before we can really move on, imo.
The end of the world is nigh.im at my lowest point not even enjoying the booze how fucking depressing.
Not much to say about Lerner’s donation, save to say it’s equivalent to about a 2 thousandth of his wealth.
And tax deductable.
And it’s over 4 years, for clarity.
I give more as a % of my wealth to my chosen charity, by a long shot.
But no doubt Lerner contributes to more than one.
And while his donations are admirable, they really aren’t very relative to the Villa, as much as I like our link with Acorns.
Sorry Langford, but it’s the least he should be doing, imo and is no big deal.
This article is offending me…plese remove.the offending sentence that i referred to above.
Thank you
I cannot beleave there are still people sticking up for Learner and Lambert people saying rubbish like “lets see where we finish” why the hell should we wait to see where we finish we are one of the worst teams in the league mostly bought by this manager and we are certain to finish in the bottom 5 or 6. Even West Brom have more ambition than us, And before anyone says anything NO WE ARE NOT BETTER THAN Sunderland or Fulham or Crystal Palace or anyone else down there at best we are equal to them at worst i think they have more premier league quality players. It is partially the fans fault being happy to put up with such rubbish for years while putting up with the horrible excuses that are trotted out year after year, The club is dying and “Waiting to see where we finish” could very much mean waiting for the day we are relegated and with this owner not being able to make a profit by selling a championship club who really knows where we will end up Sheffield Wednesday springs to mind. A once great club is now a joke and so called fans are standing by and letting it happen.
Bollox pal utter bollox
If it wasnt for a few jammy wins we would be bottom now. Lamberts luck has run out and this is a hammering that’s been coming for a long time
I was gonna watch a comedy with the wife / but reading LJ post I don’t think I can laugh anymore ~ some of u need 2 wake up yes we lost yes we are bad if u are comparing us 2 top 8 but LJ ur just doom merchant ~ ur gunning 4 oohahapaulgcgrath jobs as towns jester
Problem is lj is nothing fans can do about it other than hope we get new owners that will invest in us.
Your a minority mate only on news and views are you a majority
We are shit, the football has been awful and Luna is useless. Lerner is a joke and Carragher was spot on we are totally void of talent and experience
I was under the impression the whole acorns link was more to do with MON as I am sure when he arrived at Sunderland they got behind a charity as well. Regardless the acorns thing is great and I hope other clubs are as involved as we are.
No Morgan, it’s a Villa thing, started by Lerner, or at least his PR crew.
That’s why we link to it at the top of the page mate.
It’s a very good cause.
Yeah I know its a villa thing but I thought it came about because MON wanted it to. I am sure he got Sunderland to do something similar with there sponsorship as well. Its a good thing for us to be involved with. However I digress from the debate and I think it is obvious Lerners private life has taken over Villa in his list of priorities. I rthought after the browns sale he would be more interested but his lack of appearances tell me he is selling up sometime soon
Would love him to sell but why would he he is making a fortune now with huge savings on wages and sky money. Then hyperthetically who would he sell to. Red bulls have been rumoured but is that a good thing. I’m not sure
If he has lost interest which he has then its in everyones best interest if he goes
Perhaps it was MON, Morgan.
Truth is, I don’t know who instigated it, but thought it was the PR thing.
I don’t see Lerner leaving.
Why would he?
He has way too much of a nice earner, thanks.
Expectations are lowered so much, that none of us expect any money spent in the winter window, let alone a loosening of the purse strings, after all.
Phil Jones cost 16-17 million. Now, I’ve never been much of a fan but he had our 7 million pound (now 30 million pound, don’t make me laugh) player in his pocket the entire game. My rather rambling point is that you could buy the entire defence that Lambert signed (minus Guzan) for that. Luna, Bennett, Lowton, Bacuna (we all know he’s not a right back but..), Vlaar and Okore and still have change!
You get what you pay for and, personally, I think we are punching above our weight with the lower league and continental ‘talent’ at our disposal. What’s the solution? F@cked if I know, but we’re the new Bolton / Wigan etc. and we’re heading the same way they did with this ‘new way forward’. I give it two seasons for the big ‘R’.
I agree we are shit and this young and hungry philosophy is not working.
Where’s the men? Too many fucking mice imo.totally shite im still well fucked off by the way.
but for that to work you are missing one thing
You need experienced quality players alongside them. The thing people miss with Fergie is the players he had to play alongside the Scholes , Giggs etc .. Schemical, Pallister, Bruce, Keane etc.
Massive difference when our most experienced player is a non scoring CF who now has a cushy life at the club.
Spend money wisely, on established experienced and good players, and you’ll finish top 10 while playing good football along the way. Spend on cheap children from low leagues only gets you a relegation battle and terrible football…..They were playing at these clubs for a reason!!!
Lerner dig deep and cough up or sell up – Lambert, take a tactics course, a charisma course and get some scouting in the higher leagues or get out!!!
but see the point is that this is what LErner wants. He does not want quality proven players as they want the wages, Lambert is perfect for him.
Wasn’t the whole purpose of the cutbacks to recoup losses from the MON era.Make our club financially viable and sustainable for many years to come.Get rid of players who just weren’t at it or up for it on large sums of money.Strip the club back,start all over again with a different vision with a manager who would want to take on the job of rebuilding a club with the traditions of AVFC but with viable restrictions.This will take more time than a couple of seasons.Your ideals of past grandeur should remain in the past with the ancient trophies.This is here and now…..UTV
A lot of the losses were recouped by the sales, of course the highest earners like Given, Irelands and BEnt were not from MON time were they ?
Besides with the new TV money is there any need for wage cuts now ?
Looks like Jay Dee is happy to see us in the Championship, because that’s where we will end up and with the side we have / loss of revenue from relegation, we would still only be a mid table club in that league
Do you really think the club is still in financial crisis – That’s if they ever were. You make it sound like Lerner is skint.
You know what I mean though Ian mate.The rebuild had to come sometime.Lerner isn’t a Sheik.Yes he has money but he’s working his business how he thinks fit.The sky money is not just for players.VP has massive overheads to.Look it’s time to be in the here and now as we are not the trophy winning sides of yesteryear.Lambert and Lerner want success and the fact they arnt spending multi millions pisses you off because you want what we havnt earned recently.The constant moaning isn’t worth it really.I want what every Villa supporter wants Victory consistently,trophies or challenging for some,European football and good football is also thinks Lambert wants it to.Do you see his celebrations when we score he loves it.Here and now rebuilding with a vision whether you like it or not is happening.So you can either jump aboard the here and now or moan your life away…..I’m down VP on the 28 the to sing my heart out for the lads….UTV
Lower Holte end
Noticeably absent from Ian’s analysis was any mention of his hero who pissed tens upon tens of millions of Lerner’s pounds up the wall. More fool him, you might say, giving money to the self-promoting dwarf to waste before he pissed off six days before the season began. Just look at the, Dunne, Warnock, Heskey, Beye, Harewood, Coker, Shorey, Collins, Sidwell, Davies, Cuellar, Luke Young and Salifou…all on massive, massive pay packets. And yes, we got Milner and the little diver and Hopalong Downing that gave us some return, but it no-where makes up a fraction of the money wasted on that lot. Then to try to bail us out of the mess O’Neil left us in, he gave even more millions to the Frenchman and the Ginger idiot and they gave us Bent, Makoun, Given, Hutton, Ireland and N’Zogbia. The annual wage bill for that dross (excluding Milner, Young and Downing is well in excess of £50m a year)
Lambert is having to ship out that shit, and rebuild with scraps. It takes time, he makes mistakes and buys some poor players (but give me Lowton, Westwood, Benteke, and you keep Warnock, Coker and Harewood). And if you want to know about making mistakes on a budget, ask Wigan fans about the shite Martinez got them relegated with.
So yes, Lerner made mistakes, big mistakes…but Lambert is the least of them!
Well said Geoff.
So did MON buy Given, Bent, Hutton, Ireland etc ?
All OK’ed by Lerner and his puppet after MON left and all after we were supposed to reduce the wages ?
See you don;t answer the point at all, the owner is responsible for all that happens on and off the field, he appoints the manager, he puts the overall policy in place.
Just because he gives £1M to Acorns it seems to let him off in some people’s eyes. Whereas the proof is to be seen at the Browns and the same thing happening there as at Villa.
BTW it appears he was not there again yesterday …
“So did MON buy Given, Bent, Hutton, Ireland etc ?”
No, MON bought the other 29 players that managed to cripple the wage bill, whilst blowing the one chance we had of qualifying for CL football when he signed Heskey instead of Falcao.
Don’t get me wrong, i think Lerner should look to find a buyer that can compete with the likes of Man City and Chelsea for us ever to have a hope of finishing in the top 4 as i don’t think he will make the same funding available that MON got ever again, but that’s not to say i think he’s a bad guy or that he’s done a particularly bad job, it’s not like we haven’t been through tough times at the club before and we’ll see better days again, he’s still pumped in over £200m into the club.
I rate lowton and westwood but this season we are playing worse than last. When we won our games last season I felt we deserved victory and also felt some of our losses were a bit harsh. This season most of our points I have felt we have been lucky to get, none of this seasons signings have done it for me. After last seasons excitment this season has been a big fat let down, mainly on. Performances. We look flat, lacking and predicatble none of those players look up for it bar the odd one. Lerner has lost interest that is plain from the cash spent. Mon was a fraud but his era is well and truly gone, no more excuses for manager, chairman and ceo the wage bill is down and we need some flare players who are ready now not in thrEe years
http://www.myoldmansaid.com/randy-lerner-transfer-facts-year-club-comparison-villa-managers-prepost-lerner-buyout/
I was reading this earlier and don’t understand why we are one of 5 big spenders and wages when most of u agree we never spend or don’t offer good wages
Geoff bird well said ~ its my opinion money will be spent again but not on players like Geoff mentioned ~ no quick fix we are villa supporters get behind um or go away and find sumat else 2 moan about ~ its down 2 the management 2 improve the quality that’s a creditable moan like match of the day 2 was saying our defending can be sorted in one day its basic errors
AVB anyone been sacked by spurs. Hopefully Lerner will take a leaf out of levys book and get rid
yeah we spent a bit all on low wage players, no proven quality and we have ended up with a squad full of mediocre players like Lowton, Luna, Clark, BAker, KEA, Westwood, Sylla,Kozak etc.
Only Benteke is a risk that paid off but like Bent in his first season he may have found out the limitations of our ambitions does not match his own.
Some fans believe that the list above is good enough to build one, that is how deluded some have become.
We will finish this season top end not bottom and all this pointless snivelling will be proven to be just what it is unrealistic bollox.Top end improvement
talk about deluded ppl posting ianrobo ~ the path which villa are going down is not throwing money at it like b4 ~ spurs threw 100 mill this pre season if they don’t reach top 4 that’s not success
easy also when its not ur money ~ Martinez and other candidates b4 lambert didn’t want the JOB ~ lambert bought in2 the plan and needs time 2 finish the task he started.the squad is still not even half way being assembled ~ the idea was 2 improve players which doesn’t happen overnite
benteke is unhappy and will be sold more likely.but for more than we paid but bent will av cost us 20 million and how much more with the wages and no sell on fees this is not deluded I am lost
get this straight THE MONEY is there, we are getting an extra £20M from TV and the wages are well below the required standard. Fine have your ambition so low you see finishing 10th as good, that is exactly the type of thinking Lerner wants from the compliant fans.
Oh sorry you think we can do a Dortmund ha ha ha
You know absolutely nothing about the finances or how much money is there or where it’s owed.
You never read the annual report then ?
All laid out there, about 18 months behind but the information is there that can tell you what will happen,
For example we know every PL club will get in excess of £20M from TV this season is that in doubt ?
Surely that would be used for the loans against the club given by Randy?
It’s the net profit column that is the most important and the last time i looked it was in the red, by someway too, so where is this money?
of course because Randy has not GAVE money they are loans from the trust and he wants the money back regardless of the impact on the club.
Other owners wrote of the money they were owed but he wants it back. Now I have no problem with that but he is not telling anyone that.
Because he is too chicken to and uses words (well his puppets do) of making the club sustainable …
As if many clubs have been that throughout modern football and maybe beyond that.
If you are going to use capitals Ian then at least use the correct grammar.
Right, so basically, what you are saying is, you have no problem with Lerner trying to recuperate his investment as long as he comes out and says that is what he is doing?
Because for a minute there i thought your argument was that there was money there to be spent?
Yet when i look at said annual report i just see us in the red, so where is this money we are famously sat on?
that is my exact argument, I only ever call for honesty then we can debate the right or wrong of it,
We have more cash than is being spent now if you look at it, The problem is if the owner wants the debts repaid (he could waive it or issue more shares etc or find a buyer) then the only option is to a small wage bill.
That’s not your argument at all Ian, you were claiming there was money there to spend, and i pointed out if you look at the annual report, we are in the red, we made huge losses a couple of seasons back and are still in the recovery process, any business owner will tell you the same thing, this club can not be allowed to become a white elephant and Lerner is doing the right thing by balancing the books, i’d take mid-table mediocrity over administration any day, our best hope is a buyout sooner rather than later, but please stop wildly speculating as to what our finances are.
Guest how about protecting your investment?
If Lerner continues to starve the club to death financially and that leads to relegation (we’ve been flirting for 3 seasons now) that results in the loss of the SKY/BT money and renders the club virtually worthless, not the best plan in the world is it?
That’s the thing, i don’t think he sees it as an investment anymore, quite the opposite in fact, hence the tightening of the belt.
My point to Ian was that just because we got an extra £20m from Sky, doesn’t mean we are in a position to spend it on new players, covering our losses will be the first priority, we are in the red so any substantial money coming in will cover some of those losses.
Sad state of affairs we are in and i’m not happy about it but there it is.
It could be argued that Lerner is protecting his investment. The alternative seems to be putting the club into more debt to buy a few costly(ish) players in order to finish a few places higher. That’s a never ending spiral if you want to compete at the top table. Lerner doesn’t really have the cash to do that or the appetite. I can’t blame him for that really. I wouldn’t blame him if he wishes he had never got involved in the first place. The only way this is going to change is if a new, very rich owner comes along who has ridiculous amounts of money to waste and the ego to want such a vanity project. Looks pretty unlikely to me. I’m not even sure if I would welcome that, dire though things are.
Fuck off. Your an evil, heartless gobshite who says acorns does not make an impact on villa. Then you say talking about charity should not happen on a Villa forum…and you wrote the fucking article….no one takes you seious. Your just a poor excuse for a man (?)….nos fuck off back to Boldmere, you gloryhunting, heartless excuse for a human being. I just hope that you are never involved with a life limited kid…fucking despiceable!
nobody said there’s no money but I believe the days of buying bangers and paying top wages 2 them while they sit on bench and using our wage buget up.
if u don’t agree some of the players Geoff bird mentioned were on higher wages, than they deserved look at were they are now only 2 are probably on better wages others av dropped down 2 get a club or some are stubborn and still won’t leave us until the contract has ended
how much is given Ireland mutton nzogbia and bent these lot most be on some ~ other teams must av looked at villas trash and tried 2 get them 2 reduce the prices but greed and lack of ambition and knowing they can’t cut the mustard anymore av kept them ere
Ian can you at least try to distinguish fact from opinion? You say Lerner wants to “run down the club”, and is counting the “money rolling in” and just”wants the debt cleared before he sells”. That’s your opinion, and you attempt to justify this as facts based on historic accounts that show no such thing. All the behaviours I see look like the actions of a sensible business man. Lerner, in my opinion, is not being dishonest. Whether he wants to sell or not I haven’t the faintest idea, but it’s pretty irrelevant anyway unless someone with a lot of money wants to buy.
One other point. Didn’t Lerner write off about £20m in interest due on his loans a year or so ago? What a money grabbing Yank bleeding the club dry.