My head is spinning.
After Saturday’s game, our confirmed relegation just left me even number than I’ve been for the last few weeks.
There was no real emotion, as along with anyone with half a brain, I knew we were already down, so there was no surprise.
The fact that we were actually relegated though started to raise loads of questions about our future and I’d been saving them up, ready to post at this moment.
But the bombshell news that Bernstein and King have resigned makes all of my previous questions pale into insignificance and I’m now genuinely scared for our future.
As if the serious threat of another relegation wasn’t already enough to worry about.
So I’d got my theory worked out and it was based on the assumption that even though the official stance is that Holis is working hard in negotiations regarding a sale, I frankly didn’t believe it to be true.
With the reality being more like the board as it was, had set up a blueprint which required a major clear out and a serious wedge of investment.
Something that Randy Lerner flatly refused to go along with.
This is the part that just seemed to be to be “fundamental” and what has made the ex-directors’ positions “untenable”.
All completely logical. Or so I thought.
And then, just like buses, along come another two stories that have totally thrown me.
First there’s Pat Murphy’s story that the club is up for sale and Lerner is willing to sell for £75 million.
It’s come from “Andrew” on here and while I can’t confirm it myself, I’ve no reason to doubt that what “Andrew” says is true (and it’s now backed up by the Telegraph)
And it also makes sense to me, as Lerner could afford to sell at this price and still won’t be losing anywhere near the amounts of money that have been suggested by the accounts (I’m sure you all know my thoughts about those).
But it blows my original theory out of the water and would mean that it’s not about Lerner not accepting the plan.
And then there’s the news of Gabby Agbonlahor living it up and partying on the very night our relegation was confirmed.
Now, if you agree with my previous thoughts that the Gabby “fat camp” story was just that and it’s a cover to explain why he’s been totally kicked out of the first team, you have to also agree that what he’s done here is basically display utter contempt for us fans and the club.
Ok, I can understand why you want to let your hair down after a crap day at the office.
So go and have a few quiet drinks with friends.
But keep it discreet as possible and don’t find yourself in a room with laughing gas bottles strewn all over the floor. Especially after having been caught smoking cigars and having a Hookah pipe in your mouth so recently.
The girls part of it all, I can live with.
There’s nothing better for keeping your pecker up (see what I did there?) and it doesn’t affect your fitness, as long as you get enough kip, does it?
We all know footballers have a reputation for being thick, but it seems we have a much bigger share than average and you would expect that they’ve been told to stay out of the limelight by the hierarchy, especially after some of the foot in mouth comments/antics lately.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if Bernstein and King have finally had enough with Gabby and wanted to sack him for something like bringing the club into disrepute or gross misconduct.
Certainly the timing of the resignations suggests that there’s some sort of link anyway.
But I don’t believe it’s the sole reason they’ve resigned.
Now that I’ve thought about things, so I think that the board wanted Gabby gone as part of the blueprint.
And the player’s latest antics were the perfect excuse to get rid.
Think about it and it explains the “fundamental” and “radical” words perfectly.
We’d be getting rid of “Mr Aston Villa”, the one man who ought to be crying himself to sleep at night at our plight, but in reality doesn’t give a toss.
I’ve suggested previously that Lerner has protected Gabby and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s still the case.
Which would explain why he can seemingly get away with anything, given that many of us think he’s a major instigator of many of the club’s problems. Which means he has to go, at any cost.
But Lerner doesn’t see it that way and blocks the move totally, because he’s so out of touch with what’s really going on.
So basically, it’s a combination of things that have led to the resignations.
Pie in the sky?
Maybe, but we’ll never find out from the directors. They’ll never come out with the truth, because it’s not the done thing to spill the beans after the fact.
Yet at the same time, I still don’t think Lerner’s going to sell the club imminently either.
Look at Merv’s comment in his resignation letter;
“New leadership is desperately needed to change the culture and the capability of the Club at all levels. When you, David Bernstein and I were asked join the board, we were able to make a start. But progress has stalled. It is clear that a sale of the Club to a new owner must be brought about as soon as possible, and I wish you every success in that effort.”
Now perhaps I’m seeing something that isn’t there, but the wording isn’t quite right if Lerner is in the middle of a deal.
That’s as close as a man in his position can get to saying that Lerner just has to go, because he’s an idiot, in my book.
And not a point you’d make if a deal was about to be sealed, as there would be no need.
Regardless, I suspect this will prove a very dark day for the club; even more so than the day we were relegated.
Perhaps I am reading things wrong.
But one thing is for sure.
We’re lurching from crisis to crisis and whoever you blame for our demise, the buck stops at Lerner as he’s been the only constant in all of this.
I can maybe forgive him for making the team a laughing stock.
But I’ll never forgive him for how he’s made our whole club a laughing stock where other fans, including noses, have our sympathy.
What is clear from yesterdays resignations, is that it is impossible to work with Randy Lerner, he is dishonest and has no interest in our football club….
I think there is worse to come as he is going to asset strip the club to its knees, then sell to anyone who makes the biggest offer.
Very sad times !
Badger, having given it some thought, I’m in your camp – well at least half way in. I’m not convinced Shabby’s latest escapades are a primary reason for Directors resigning and I think any action in that direction would wait for a new manager – assuming any sane person would actually want to join us.
Where I’m in total agreement is that Lerner has pulled the rug from under the new board in terms of financial support – this seems a reoccurring feature of his tenure and I sometimes wonder if it’s just his complete lack of integrity or a third party influence – Krulak or Riley springs to mind. Further I agree there is no buyer at this time. If you read the club’s statement carefully nowhere does it say that – rather it implies that Hollis is desperately trying to find a buyer to rescue the club.
Hollis said (when appointed) that he was nobody’s poodle and my suggestion is that he gave Lerner an ultimatum – ‘you agree to a lower sale price and give me authority to find a buyer or I will also tender my resignation’.
OK it’s just a hypothesis but it does fit all the ‘facts’ as we know them.
Either Hollis will be successful or he will resign – he has to following the resignation of Bernstein and King which being his appointments equally leave him in an untenable position.
My final observation – if a failure to remove someone from the club has also influenced the Director’s decision, I feel that’s more likely to be Riley (who according to reports is ‘close to Lerner’) than Shabby.
All in all a sorry mess.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/alarming-questions-raised-david-bernstein-11205549
Here’s a piece from the Brum mail which I read after writing my post but it does sort of support what I was saying.
H60 – Agree with you completely; as per my posts on the earlier thread last night, I think that for whatever reason, Riley has Lerner’s ear – and that was the stumbling block for Bernstein and King – no matter what root and branch re-structuring they came up with, they couldn’t get Lerner to agree to remove Riley.
Until we see some evidence that there’s actually a sale happening, then I’m assuming that Hollis is now in a very difficult place: he’ll know that the departure of the others was the ‘right thing’ if they couldn’t implement the re-structuring that had been apparently ‘agreed’ earlier, but if he were resign as well without a sale happening, I can imagine Lerner finally calling-in his loans [etc.] and appointing Administrators to run the club while they try to find another buyer.
Ardent – hard to know what Lerner will do if he’s protecting people like Riley. Like you, if he doesn’t quickly find a buyer I can only see one outcome – and it’s not good
gabby needs to be got rid off. hes part of the problem with all that’s stinks at villa. he must be breaking some sort of rules. hes unfit for a professional, hes failed to score goals which is his profession. pictured on the front pages of daily national papers in comprising situations. this isn’t a supposedly foreign mercenary. but a boy that is meant to be villa through and through
a day of piss taking lmao
Hollis brought in King and Bernstein with a directive to run footballing matters.
They have been undermined and have walked.
So has Hollis. His strategy and club statement after relegation are meaningless.
It wouldn’t surprise if he walks today as well.
Villa are massive and one day, may be in the distant future, we will rise again and Lerner will be remembered as the worst thing that ever happened to our club and Gabby will not be remembered at all.
UP THE VILLA
I’ll go with Badger on this, Bernstein and King walked over Abonglahor, they wanted him gone on club rule, Lerner saying no I want to sell him for what I can get, principle has been taken by both directors to resign. To mee that sounds about right, I could be wrong and have to see, Little probably sticking with the footballing side of the argument. Imo.
My opinion this morning is that Lerners looking for a quick sale hence the price as he has absolutely no intention on spending another single penny on the club not even sell to buy on players.the longer now Lerner stays the deeper in the SHITE we get.King said we need a new owner asap how right he is
Don’t think there’s much chance of a quick sale, look how many years it took Everton, a far more stable club to get investment. The days of the mega rich takeovers are now a distant memory.
The worry is though that it could take more years to find a decent buyer and as you say if Lerner puts a freeze on spending during that time, we’re looking at the 3rd tier IMO
Board members of the stature of King and Bernstein do not normally write such strong resignation letters and leak them unless they were trying to prove a point and they were extremely pissed off, as is the case here. There’s no way they would of left in such a manner over Gabby or any of the other twats in our squad – this has got to be about investment.
Lerner probably wants to carry on cost cutting at a time when we need to pay Gabby, Lescott, etc off and get fresh blood in, in terms of management, coaches and players. And unless that happens any rebuilding process is a waste of time. You cannot expect to do well in the championship without funding either.
I’m seriously concerned because by the end of the week we’ll probably only be left with Hollis, Lerner, Reilly and that muppet the General, and that to me looks like the recipe for League 1 if ever I saw one
That’s my take as well Villain1. I said before I can’t see why Lerner will start throwing money at the club when it has been relegated if he wasn’t prepared to throw money at staying in the Prem. Hollis is there to cut costs and King and Bernstein resigned because there was no point pushing forwards a plan that Lerner was openly refusing to finance.
What we are left with is a complete shambles and will get worse very quickly. Lerner has already taken the hit so at this point he probably wants out at any price. That means he will sell to anyone, so we could be even deeper in it.
Article in Times is unequivocal in blaming Lerner for interfering and directly leading to resignations.
They also raise question of which sane minded manager would take the job. Even a sale might mean missing out as other clubs will already have acted.
He CAN’T appoint two very senior directors, who have far-more ‘football’ and ‘administration’ experience than anyone else on the board, give them a brief to put in far-reaching changes, and then expect them to report via some intermediary where their recommendations are ignored or modified by someone less-qualified or with a different agenda!!
Lerner has proven himself a total amateur as far as ‘business’ is concerned, and the club a joke; how would any ambitious or self-respecting manager ever contemplate working in that set-up?
I think that is spot on Ardent. Lerner changes strategy with the wind. He just has no idea how to run the club. That’s both from a football and business perspective
Gabby suspended, for yet another internal investigation – boring – sack him on the spot
Is there anyone left internally?????
Good point Giddy, thats probably why its taken so long to sack the useless tw4t.
simon grayson odds decreasing all morning. pearson is drifting out
I can’t believe your all even commenting, I’m working out what I’m doing this year with the money I set aside every year for season tickets and merchandise. I’m thinking holiday or home improvements this year, I suggest you all do the same as I have done now for the last 4 years. Don’t renew you’re tickets and make sure VP is empty for the rest of this season, but I suspect not too many of you are brave enough to follow my plan. This is the only way to force the american cnut to sell.
I have nothing against Grayson. He tried his heart out for the club as a player and is doing quite well in the lower leagues as a manager.
However if Villa are going for him there is no sale of the club on the horizon.
Also if the club is in the process of being sold why say they are shutting the upper trinity. Surely a sale would possibly generate season ticket sales even in the championship.
Hollis – extensive talks means he is phoning around – Ebay next week.
The nightmare just goes on and on and on
ps links to a chinese billionairre is bollocks.
Links to Chinese birrionaire is borrocks
if lerner wants £75,000,000 to do one
We need 150,000 fans to pay an average of £500 each to acquire shares and somebody with the know how to make it happen.
Anyone out there.
I’m in!
This is a shambles, what I am taking from these letter’s is that the two board members could not do their jobs because of that prick Lerner. As for a sell its all bollox, feed us information to keep us quite. Fatty what a waste of space.
You’ll never get a Yank to say hes wrong, if you say that’s black they will say its not. Trust me lads I know a few like Lerner. As long as he has Villa fans going to the game and buying merchandise he will hang on to Aston Villa, they don’t give a shit how much he will lose.the worst thing Ellis ever done was a sale to a Yank.
How strange a comment I made not getting through moderation when it didn’t contain profanities or insults. This site is choosing how to run discussion and in so doing is not a democratic means of voicing concerns.
Could be your IP is similar to someone who’s banned happened to me.
MiffedVillain,
If you think we’ve got time to watch comments coming in and moderate them on the fly, trust me you’re wrong.
That said you were moderated and apologies; it just happens randomly that the spam filter will pick you up, as many will attest. It’s either that or we get hit with tons of spam and trust me, you won’t want to read that.
I’ve now approved the post, fwiw.
Thanks, thought this site had gone over to the darkside for a bit then.
Keep a-knockin’ but you can’t come in
Come back tomorrow night and try it again
LOL
do we still have a club, no further kicks in the jewels and we still got gabby. we should have a vote. will he be here next year, he shouldn’t but i bet he will, the clubs full of limpets
Interesting – it would appear that most on here dislike the truth! I trust that is not because they don’t believe it!
Hitch, its called a none believer, I’ve noticed how they come on click dislikes and clear off. Brilliant.
truth hurts, maybe its a bluenose disliking the comments. for a odd few everyone has dislikes. most of them seem good posts.
Maybe it’s a braindead nose it’s not as if these posts are complimenting the club in anyway
i got two dislikes just by posting odds moves on next manager lmao i dont take it personal, i take it 2 ppl don’t want grayson as manager lol
Larry?
I actually thought of that when he was mentioned, who the fuck is grayson,? Everard,
shut that door lmao yeah larry