So why do I call him Merv the swerve?
Well, my opinion says he did a very decent job of getting around any serious questions when defending bankers in the crisis, whilst actually achieving very little in the scheme of things, the obvious QE stuff which any mug could have overseen, apart.
And that’s enough of that, because I don’t want things to become political. Hopefully it’s a neutral view.
Whatever, for him to have come out of all that, still fairly well respected, must involve some skill.
Which is basically my problem with this appointment.
While it’s great to have such a high ranking person on board and even better, a lifelong Villa fan to boot, I find myself wondering why he’s been appointed.
It’s great PR for the club and a very decent coup (who else has a former Governor of the BoE involved?), but assuming he’s come in as a None Executive Director, he won’t actually have any shout.
Which means it’s just about tokenism and it’s basically designed as appeasement for those of us who were calling for someone with some football knowledge to come on board.
I’m probably already boring most of you, but let’s get to the point;
I’ve got a mate who was working in London.
He happened to pull up outside the Bank of England and asked a copper for directions.
The copper said “The governor is due here any minute. If you don’t piss off now, I’ll have you arrested”.
I doubt Merv knew anything about it.
Which would indicate he doesn’t have a clue about average people, let alone Villa fans, because he’s so insulated from us.
And as much as I like Merv for being a Villa fan, I’m perplexed about his appointment.
Forget AVFC.
We’ve now become a fully fledged company in everything but name.
I’m seriously wondering if Lerner is about to float us on the market.
Think about it.
We have everything in place now and it’s about the only way we could get investment without Lerner opening his wallet.
Or maybe it’s just another misguided appointment.
It wouldn’t be the first, after all, would it?
Nothing would surprise me any more, but perhaps I’m just deluded in seeing stuff that isn’t there?
I find it quite astonishing that first and foremost we are a football club (I know, you wouldn’t believe it would you) who decide to bring in 2 new board members and an assistant manager in the transfer window ( the deal with Merv was obviously in place before the window shut) yet don’t have the funds to bring in a loan player or 2 to help us maintain our premier league status! I shouldn’t be astonished, It’s the way the club operate now. It’s no longer a football club but a…..a…..a……I don’t know.
Whatever we are/have become I’m sure he’s just what we need and he’ll be a great success.
Lets hope he’s bought his boots with him eh.
I thought the transfer window shut 11pm Monday night…..How much did he cost and are there any video clips were we can see his skills???
I bet Garde doesn’t play him Sat it’s too early, and I hope he doesn’t end up being another bench warmer…We need a goal scorer for the next 14 games let’s hope he’s up to the task
Lets just hope he still has the keys to the Bank of England!
Great post Badger, something is definitely cooking at VP – new Chair – Audit & Advisory. Merv the swerve – Economist.
As you say Badger a possible floatation or a takeover but there is something afoot.
I have a feeling that something is going on. Hopefully Lerner has given up now we are relegated and has sold for cut price to some who wil invest and get us straight back in the prem.
king and Hollis were top men in the business world. if anyone would have the contacts to form a consortium it would be them.
Consortiums are disasters usually a bunch of suits that will take on the powerball model and gave an exit strategy in a few years. It will end even more about the money for these people
Ferdinand Marcos plays it straighter than the bloke presently at the helm.
Well you wanted new owners!
if king feels like I do when we lose then i’m glad he is on board.
I am sure fox and Hollis don’t.
It’s just another F****d up PR stunt to get season ticket holders to think there is something rumbling in the back ground so let get our ticket for next season.
Well I said it earlier this week I will not be one of them, I see this season out and I’m finished, no passion anywhere in the club from top to the playing field.
With you on that VTID, not a penny from me , doing the same wait and see been bitten too many times. I just don’t trust them now.
Sorry guys. I don’t see any sale/consortium/flotation on the horizon. Do you remember Fox coming in and all the speculation it was to oversee a sale? New chinese/american/indian owners etc
Lerner realizes he has royally f****d up and wants the club to get sorted out. Does anyone think these guys are capable of it? I don’t. It’s just the latest in a long line of disastrous decisions.
And guess what? It isn’t the last of them.
Completely agree DS, I think we are in for lots more terrible decisions, taken too late and with terrible arrogance and naivety…. I really fear for our clubs safety !!
DS Maybe it’s a case of Pareidolia – like being able to see Jesus’s face in a slice of toast and perhaps it’s more about hope and expectation than what’s actually there.
We are all wanting to clutch at anything that looks like a straw as this misery is just unrelenting. When will it end? When will we have something positive to regenerate some enthusiasm and passion? I’m just tired of it all. I turned the West Ham match off as soon as Ayew got sent off. I find I am getting numb to the whole thing. It used to ruin my weekend (or even week) when we lost. Now I just expect it, and don’t get so stressed. The passion is disappearing and I often find myself thinking why do I bother at all?
I know this feeling is common amongst fans. The club is being destroyed by these clowns.
That’s exactly my thoughts, but I started to see it happening way before most of you. So not surprised at all really, just numb on all things Villa now.
BBC just now –
‘Libor Kozak has been ruled out for up to a month with a fractured bone in his ankle’
Villa’s good luck just goes on and on 🙁
Worst season ever and it’s not over yet
He’s no loss anyway not like he was going to score a goal a game is it
I know he’s not exactly been free scoring but this could have been his chance to get a run instead of which we now have no strikers (Gabby doesn’t count).
Anyway just an illustration of life kicking us while we’re down and out.
super interesting post by the way .. I like this take on it
kudos
OK it could be spin or rehearsed sound bites but I feel there’s a little more substance when Lord King makes a positive statement about where the club should be and his intent to be part of future success. Why does he need to get involved in Villa if he doesn’t believe there are some positives going forward? I, like everyone else, recognise that Lerner has made one right royal f**k up of running the club to date and frankly I think the board have accepted relegation and are planning from that point. To that extent whilst bitterly disappointed at not having invested in January, I grudgingly have to admit that Holte7500 did make some cogent arguments in support of not ‘throwing good money after bad’ .
In regard to a flotation – very unlikely. Flotations can be dodgy at the best of times but to try and float a business in the position Villa are in would be suicidal. Additionally, I think it’s been proved that football clubs are more financially attractive bring privately rather than publically owned given that they are not exactly prime pension fund investments!
Just to add that following the appointment of Lord King, Hollis should be looking to further restructure the board by getting in a CEO with experience of running a major football (or at least sports business) and offering Fox the marketing director role which he is undeniably good at. Reilly and Amstadt (sp!) should both be shown the door and replaced with directors with the right skill and experience. If Hollis does that I might start to have more faith in his appointment and confidence in the future. UTV
Hitchy good post apart from the 7500 business mate. If some sceptics that have no concept of the tribal and geographic culture of English football and have never seen or been near a football ground let alone VP think they lecture us. Well then they can take a long hard look in the mirror, stand well back and go f##k themselves.
Fair enough BWS. Overall I didn’t like their article at all but it did raise a debatable point over whether or not failing to invest in January was a good or bad decision. From a purely business strategic angle, it probably had merit but where it fell down, in my humble opinion, was failing to understand the need to (a) support Garde on at least the one player who appeared willing to join us and (b) give the fans something to cheer about. If that player was prepared to commit to us long term come what may then, I believe it would have been £8m well spent. It’s that failure to understand that we are a football club first which concerns me about Hollis’ appointment. King, on the other hand, will I believe understand that balance and one hopes will work closely with Hollis as a mentor as well as an effective NED.
But then, what do I know
Apparently Garde hasn’t had time to look at our younger players!! Why the hell not!?? Maybe one or two of them could have provided us with something different…Sometimes I like him other times I think is he being serious?? Subs like Richardson etc. Final chance tomorrow to maybe start something!
https://t.co/y1bZcwSI6R
Striking resemblance…………One day it will all be over.
CHEERS for that stubbs fucking scaringly similar, I’ve said it many times the joke sorry bloke should be banned from the sporting industry full stop he’s a FUCKING cancer.
Do you think his dad would be proud of him? ha ha ha
Great find Stubbs, there are some great lines in that link –
“Lerner’s ownership of the Browns can best be characterized by the image of a man groping his way around a darkened room, searching for the light switch.”
“In every way imaginable he was a square peg in an oblong hole.”
“He clearly had minimal knowledge, interest, or any social or professional acumen for the job. Not surprisingly, it showed. Instantly. Boy, did it show.”
“You could fill the ballroom in one of Roger Goodell’s mansions 10 times over with all the team presidents, vice presidents, general managers, scouts, head coaches and assistant coaches who have come and gone”
And last but not least the RL family motto – “If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again.”
I did have a chuckle to myself at some of the quotes BWS. It’s just scary how similar it is. You’d of thought he’d of learnt his lesson at the Browns, clearly not!
Just a quickie the Irish independent saying REMIs says ayew will be fined by the club for his stupid elbowing GOOD.
sorry for being slow on this i was busy working abroad at the time but all you lads that had shares in the club what happened to them when ellis sold to lerner
I think BB that once Lerner had agreement for the large majority of shares to be sold to him, it triggered a right to buy the rest regardless of whether people wanted to sell or not. That would have been in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. All businesses have one that amongst other things has rules on share ownership.
I hope that sheds some light but I am no expert here so maybe someone will correct me.
As I understand it, Ellis bought them when he delisted the club. I believe, once he had acquired a certain percentage then he had control over all the shares and the holders of those shares (who hadn’t committed to sell) would have a certain period within which they could sell them to Ellis after which any unsold shares would be extinguished.
In essence when Ellis sold he was the only shareholder in the club or controlled all the shareholding through a shareholders agreement.
But again like DSV, I’m not an expert in this area.
Matt Kendrick has done quite an interesting piece where he is also intrigued by the timing of the Hollis / King appointments and that both of them would take on a role now (and risk being tarred with the brush of failure) rather than waiting and coming into the club after relegation. As he says they are both experienced and astute business men who don’t need to take risks with their reputation.
I suppose it’s wait and see ……………… again!
He only writes what he’s told too so no real credibility tbh
Actually OohAh it was a video blog and I thought he was genuinely puzzled by why Hollis and King would unnecessarily expose themselves to criticism.
Hitch, I suspect it’s just piss poor timing mate, as per.
Holis doesn’t even know what day footy is normally played,
And King is just convenient, from a PR pov.
I don’t think it’s about saving the team or the club.
It’s about saving the business.
And there’s a difference.
As for Kendrick, I’ve little respect for him.
He was the ONE that could have seriously changed opinions, in calling things way earlier, when he knew the state we were in.
Just my opinion though and no doubt he was hamstrung in what he could say if he wanted to keep his job as the main Villa reporter.
Interestingly, he lost it anyway and I don’t believe the Mail have any inside links to the club anymore.
Which is about right when you’ve alienated the locals.
As has often been said, we’re only going one way under this bunch of businesmen, sorry, clowns.
Fair comment Badger and I understand why you are making them.
But and this is my point not Kendricks – neither Hollis nor King are fools and neither of them need this position to further their careers (unlike others on the Villa board now and in the last) or for the kudos it brings so why take it? And particulalry now?
I really think they are valid questions notwithstanding my own reservations about whether Hollis is the man for the job in terms of understanding how to lead a football club which is also a business rather than the other way round.
We can all speculate but only time will give us the answer and if it’s the wrong answer then I fear all will be lost.
*and in the past
So after a day of debate on this issue on various Villa forums and blogs Mouse Kendrick plagiarizes them and forms an opinion.
Prick.
BWS my mate, could you use words like steal, borrows, only I’m fed up looking at the dictionary, I went to one of them council schools. plagiarized? I’d give you a smilies but mine don’t work on this.????
Bill between you and me mate it’s not my own work ????
I promise not to quote Kendrick; I promise not to quote Kendrick; I promise not to quote Kendrick ………… am I forgiven? 🙂
Hitch you’ve been a very naughty boy, don’t let me see doing it again.☺
The prick thing was aimed at mouse Kendrick mate.
I think Mervyn King is an excellent appointment. I met him once and heard him speak 3 times, but that was really about economics not football. The role of the BoE is decided by the Chancellor and in Merv’s time he had to cope with 270 degree changes of direction. The BoE is still the most respected Central Bank in the world and its research is the best.
I think he is in, obviously unsalaried, because he wants to help and is a genuine fan, like one of us. Not a company doctor, or company undertaker.
Where he can help is to tell our owner he is an awful businessman when it comes to franchises, and get AVFC tidied up and in the shop window. Genuinely this time not just privately to another American Jew.
Mervyn King’s contacts will be superb he can probably find a buyer and have him vetted behind the scenes – but he would be even more likely to put together a consortium.