Hmm, I was going to write a post about how the Villa PR machine seems to have gone into overdrive today, but fair play, you lot have pre-empted me 🙂
I do have a few thoughts though;
1) I’m interested as to how Fox is going to increase our revenue.
We massively missed that boat when Deadly refused to invest in the Villa, in the same way Arsenal did many moons ago. I don’t ever see us catching them now, even though we were very much on an even footing at the time.
In short, I believe that statement about he is going to catch up with the top 4/5 is total rubbish.
2) We’re sticking with Lambert, regardless of what us fans think.
That to me, is a blatant order from Lerner, simple as.
That’s a big gamble.
Was the comment I saw elsewhere a short while ago, that we’ve won two in eighteen really correct?
If so, just wow! I didn’t realise it was quite that bad!
Which takes us back to point 1). Who will want to invest in the Villa, when we’re currently failing?
Only by seriously moving up the table will prospective investors be interested and how do we achieve that if Lerner won’t spend?
3) We’re possibly back in for Sinclair, who has apparently cut his wage demands.
Don’t expect any quality then, in this window at least.
And re-read the previous paragraph.
I believe everything that has come out from Villa/Fox today is just designed to deflect the flak from Lambert and Lerner.
This is the comment that actually made me laugh, though;
“I’ve been at his (Lerner’s) house watching matches together and both of us are standing up pacing around at various points of time – depending on what’s happening – so he know’s what’s happening here.”
That’s strange, as I’ve struggled to keep my eyes open more often than not over the last few months at least.
Total BS, the lot of it, in my opinion.
Badger, if the PR was written in the content of ” Well currently Villa are a bag of shite we can’t score goals and looks very much like we will be relegated by the end of the season, oh yes and due to the Owner wanting to line his pockets we need to keep to the current model for at least five years” this would make everyone happy???
Sorry I don’t get what Villa fans expect, we will never I repeat never be as big as the rich clubs, the best we can ever achieve is a good cup run and finishing in the top 8, anyone who thinks behond this is deluded.
I speak to many football supporters all over the world and its apparent that Villa fans are the most fickle of all, I flush with embaressment when they say some of the things about Villa fans, cause when I read some of the comments on the blogs they are right.
I think a good debate is great but you can see constant slagging even when the tied is turning, it’s terrible, very few fans turn positive when things are reported or said, it’s always a negative approach, to me and my opinion it’s wrong, yes debate but at least put some positivity in the responses.
Oh and by the way I am one of the negative supporters which is why I feel we need to turn the other way.
Hold on a sec if saints and West Ham can push for a top 4-6 place then why can’t we Ffs. Is it really worth bothering to support the club anymore another 5 years at least of lerner and prob lamberk. It’s just pointless now. Also wherever we are in the league why can’t we at least still play good entertaining football. If we lose 3.2 on sat but play good attacking entertaining football not many fans will complain. But we will play boring defensive side to side football and still lose so what’s the point
Ohhahh I’m not saying we can’t push for 4-6 place, and we should try, I’m saying we should not expect for this to be automatic just because we have history, and if we are playing good attacking footy and losing, you would be happy to be in the same position we are now……I don’t think you would, just as I wouldnt. As I said debates are good things, but they need to have positive spins as well as negative and if the CEO is giving negativity then it would reflect everywhere else.
Go be a City or Chelsea fan then…
Yawn
And there is absolutely no way, if we were to play this attacking footy you want, and still be in the same position as we are, you would be happy.
You would find something to complain about. That is guaranteed.
Yawn again go pick on someone else’s comments or are u just obsessed with mine. Your boring me now
Probably because we could sign Ronaldo and messi and lamberk would still carry on losing. It’s more the manager than the players. Yes we havnt much quality in team but a decent manager would get that team into top ten imo
VTID,
No, we aren’t the most fickle at all, imo.
This is rubbish.
I was sat in the Anniversary (?) stand at Anfield when we drew 2-2 after going 2-0 up.
You should have heard the abuse the locals were aiming at the team when they went one down.
And they’re SUPPOSEDLY one of the most loyal, aren’t they?
ALL footy fans are fickle these days, because they pay a lot of money to watch what is basically a load of crap.
The game is far too technical and any contact has been banned.
Why do I say that?
I watched some old FA cup games from the eighties on Sunday morning and it quite simply opened my eyes, because the footy on display was actually entertaining!
As a Villa fan, I know perfectly well what I expect.
We have around the 8th biggest turnover in the Prem.
We have achieved more than any club exect maybe the top 6.
We’re the biggest club in the Midlands, by far.
Anything less than 8th in the Prem should be deemed as failure.
Anywhere around 15th should result in heads rolling.
And to consistently be around there, means something has to change.
It’s as simple as that, for me.
As for the PR bollox, the club needs to come out and actually say how they expect or are going to try to achieve things.
Any CEO of a listed company is expected to do this and if they can’t, well they’ll just be laughed at.
To just come out with a glib hint that we’ll just somehow achieve it, is quite pathetic, imo and Fox would have done better to keep his trap shut.
Just my opinion.
Badger sorry mate I think this is the least objective post you have written which is disappointing as normally you write some good stuff. VTID makes some good points. What do you expect Tom Fox to say?
The reality is that for some fans it doesn’t matter what the club says they are going to diss it. The only ‘message’ they want to hear is that RL has sold the club and we have a new manager – anything else is lies and PR sh**te.
So Tom Fox is a paid lackey and his job is to field all the flack directed at RL and PL by making disingenuous statements. Sorry mate that’s the worst conspiracy theory I’ve ever heard.
Hitchens,
I wonder if you got chance to read my reply above, before you posted that?
Regardless, all I’m seeing is a bland statement that we’ll be challenging the elite for turnover sometime, soon.
Blimey, even I could say that and I don’t have a clue about running a company.football club.
We all know the only way you can possibly compete with the top clubs is to spend.
Or pay loads to the scouts and background team, if indeed that’s how Souhampton, for example, do it.
All I see, is penny pinching, which is 100% the opposite of what Fox is saying.
And this post wasn’t meant to be objective, fwiw.
It’s deliberately slanted to the negative, where the more positive fans can counter what I’ve suggested 😉
But the truth is, it is how I feel at the moment.
Hopefully, I have proven that I can be positive too at times.
Badger I know you are positive a lot of times, but like you sometimes it becomes a frustrating thing when you see some comments which give hope even if it reflects PR b*****x, get a different slant.
I said months ago I think Fox will get the club back on its feet, more so than Fatty because of what he did at Arsenal, and the fans there were disappointed in him leaving. We need him to be slightly more transparent so the fans get back their belief.
Badger – no I didn’t and fair play if you’re trying to ‘provoke’ a response. I’m as frustrated as the next fan and have been waiting a long time for ‘our turn again at the top’.
I do get angry with fans who diss everything and anything that comes out of the club – the latest being some of the inane response on here to Delph’s commitment and his assertion that money is not his prime motivator. The problem with some fans is it destroys their preconceived idea that all footballers are just out for the money so when Delph says the opposite they have to ridicule it.
I have not been the greatest fan of Delph but fair play to the lad he’s demonstrated real loyalty to our club and all fans should get behind home for that alone. Contrast his position with that of Downing.
True that’s what I search Internet for lamberk sacked or lerner sold unless I see that anything else is irrelivent imo.
Badger, I’m not sure just what the club [ or “PR machine”] is supposed to say that wouldn’t get yet another negative reaction form fans – and I’m cynical enough to start with the assumption that all ‘PR’ is bullshit!
I’ve read Fox’s statements on several sites, starting with Pat Murphy’s report on the BBC. It seems to me that he’s come out out to tell it as he sees it [so no, I don’t think he’s just following Lerner’s ‘orders’]; Villa do have potential to be ‘big’ again, but there’s no way that we can catch-up with the Mancs/Chelski/Arseholes/ManU’s in the EPL as far as revenues or regular CL places go. Those have left us behind and FFP will make it almost impossible to catch up whether in 5 or even 10 years, barring the very unlikely sale to the likes of a sports-mad multu-billionaire. In which case ‘big’ really means being like Spurs or Liverpool: top 10 as a bare minimum, 5th or 6th realistically expected at the start of each season, with a decent cup run and maybe the occasional Europa league campaign.
So Fox is talking about trying to grow commercial revenue as intensively as he can – and I do believe that Villa have been poor at that over the years: you only have to look at the sponsors we’ve [not-]managed to attract since [say] 2000; not a household name in the list amongst all the money-lenders/casinos.
As far as the playing side is concerned, he’s made it clear that they won’t sack Lambert – hardly a suprise since they gave him the 4 year deal in September. And yes, I can just about believe that Lerner and/orFox watch games and get wound up by the team’s performances. Just like I do. Only they’ve decided to give Lambert time to prove that he can change it around without having a wide- open cheque-book.
You or I can diasgree with him/Lerner as far as Lambert’s abilities are concerned; but I for one am quite glad that Fox has actually come out and made today’s statement, since I do believe that he actually wants to see the club go forwards – even if those of us getting on in middle-age would like it to happen a bit more quickly!
Ardent – brilliantly argued. A sane and rational view on this blog at last.
Hitch – actually you said it much more concisely than my ramble!
Ardent I think you put it better than I did…….
Ardent, as I’ve suggested, if the club can’t say anything plausible, they should keep it shut.
I just keep going back to that 2 wins in 18, which I’d like someone to confirm or deny (I really don’t want to look).
If it’s true, that’s just incredible and we’re still supposed to support what’s going on????
Badger – I don’t know what the stats say, but I do know that I’m as pissed-off and frustrated by our record/performances as anyone else on here. I also find Labert’s attempted explanations almost incomprehensible, which winds me up even further.
But to me, ‘support’ is pretty deep-seated, and long-term. Either I ‘support’ Villa or I give up wanting to see or know anything to do with professional football in this country.
That doesn’t mean I like what’s going on at the moment, any more than I liked some of the things that happened during Deadly’s years running the place, but much as I’ll curse the next poor performance, I’ll still have a supporter’s blind faith that somehow, sometime [preferably before I’m pushing up daisies] it’ll actually improve…
badger
we had 10 points after 4 matches
we now have 22points think after23 matches
think that is GRAND TOTAL OF 12 POINTS OUT OF 57 SHOCKING
fox has nerve to say it would be like tossing a coin to sack lambert
we have had 2 runs of of think it was 5 games no goals
bournmouth have scored as many goals as villa in birmingham this season bournmouth 2 games villa 14/15 games
cleverly 20 games no goals no assists yet first choice
gabby 1goal in 20
wiemen up to sunday 1 goal in 20
we have lost average of 10 thousand fans per home game sell that mr fox
season ticket holders dont bother coming but are still counted
MR FOX I DON T SEE HOW YOU ARE GOING TO RAISE REVENUE WITH ALL THE DATA ABOUT VILLA
JVillan that’s a fair point. However, I believe that Villa have failed to maximise the revenue potential of the club IRRESPECTIVE of results on the field; that is why Fox was appointed. Of course a successful side makes this easier. However, as an example I would cite Newcastle as a club that maximises revenue despite the lack of real success over the last few seasons. We are as big as Newcastle so why aren’t we as succesful in terms of income and don’t just point to results or playing style. Pardew was an unpopular manager – Newcastle fans may just regret hounding him out.
Pat Murphy should be making all these points to fox.
For all we know he may have done, but in the end all journo’s work to a 200/400/whatever -word limit for any piece, and much of the detail is left out by the time the editor has gone through it.
JVillan,
This is what I’m trying to say, without trying to seem overly negative.
The stats, however you look at them are simply shocking.
Yet still we’re told that things are going to improve and we’ll be challenging soon.
It’s just totally unbelievable and I have to wonder how thick the hierarchy think us fans really are?
Quite frankly, it’s bloody insulting.
Problem is our attendances mean nothing to Fox the real money is Sky and sponsorship. Having said that sponsers won’t pay loads for a team with an empty stadium
Then Villa fans have a decision to make don’t they? They can either protest like Milan fans did against Lazio in the Coppa Italia and possibly hurt Villa’s chances at better sponsorships and so on or Villa fans can try to help Villa’s current financial burden by nearly filling/filling the stadium and getting sponsors to be more interested, getting more tv time and gaining Villa more money.
Why is whatever happens at this club, everything always comes back to the fans?
Just for a change, how about the club give us something back.
According to the famous ‘Sky Sources’, Scott Sinclair has passed his medical and is expected to join on loan until the end of the season with a view to that becoming permanent.
Great another shit Loan deal
Yes but if there was more money do you seriously think lamberk would get it. It would all go into Lerners back pocket. That’s his 5 year plan btw
Fair play Ardent.
I’ll never support another team, as Villa is in the blood for me, with me having about 45 years as a Villa fan under my belt.
Owners don’t feel the same at all, imo.
But we should always question and not just accept what we’re being told, imo.
Hence the post.
The telling point for me, is was this a one off post by the club on the OS (which I very rarely/never read), or was it split all over the place (which is how it seems)?
If it’s the latter, it’s a blatant PR stunt, which is worthless, imo.
In other words, I support the club, but not the shite that are running it.
And I’d suspect that’s how most fans see it.
Any suggestion that you only support the club if you support the people that are running it is quite disingenious, imo and should be frowned upon, big time.
And indeed, will be by me.
Certainly question everything.
{ But we should also be prepared to listen to answers that aren’t necessarily what we want to hear!}
I signed the petition and shouted ‘Lambert out’ in the blogs and everywhere else in the hope that Lerner might take heed and switch on the light at the end of the tunnel.
However Tom Fox has spoken, PL is staying and that’s that.
Only thing we can do now is get behind our team and hope for the best, so I’m going to be positive, I’m going to stop stop baying for Lambert’s blood and do just that…
…COME ON YOU LIONS!!!!
The regular bloggers on here are old enough to remember: when Leeds won everything; to be succeeded by Liverpool. At the time Ken Bates was fending of a personal bankruptcy investigation and had lined up a complete sale of Stamford Bridge for a Hotel and housing development, with a new stadium for CFC at White City. Later, when Ferguson was king, Old Trafford carried a banner stating how many years it had been since City had won anything.
The lesson from the Chelsea and City resurgence is that it did not happened by gradual and sustained improvement, of the type Fox is touting. It happened when a Sugar Daddy took over like a bolt from the blue. Even in the case of Arsenal, there was a boardroom revolution, director by director, and massive Arab investment short of a take-over, to fund their new and enlarged stadium.
So what do we see now? Liverpool falling just short of the big four, but a slim chance they can grow their ground to increase revenue. Pretenders in the next 3 or 4 places. Southampton, brilliantly managed on the footballing front trying to build a solid top 10 platform, something Everton have just given up. Spurs with just enough money to maintain a slot by consistently out-spending their 6 to 10 slot rivals. This season’s surprise package West Ham follow Swansea in assembling a good team which the big boys have overlooked to plunder, but a second good season will attract the vultures. Can Villa join in this group? Sure by improving to football side only. Can they rival Liverpool and Spurs? No not even in five years of gradual improvement ,if we have a star player they covet – they will bid for him, the reverse will not be true.
Villa could springboard up into the Champions League slots, but only after a sugar daddy take-over. It is just possible that an American interested in technology might want Villa, but it is very doubtful. More likely places from which a saviour might emerge are Hong Kong, Thailand or Singapore.
OLL – I’d question the Chelsea and Arsenal comparisons: if memory serves right,wasn’t it the late Matthew Harding [who was not exactly short of a few bob…] who really brought Chelsea back into the big-time, gradually, while Bates was still token chairman; well before Abramovich started putting the megabucks into the club?
And again, weren’t Arsenal already one of the wealthiest clubs in the league under the Hill-Wood old guard, and then took another step up the finance table with Kroenke and Usamov?
My point is that to get to the very top yes, it takes a billionaire or two [& weren’t we supposed to have one of our own already??] for the final step, but at least as far as these two clubs were concerned, they had a long period of relative wealth even before the billionaire benefactors came in.
Harding stepped in when Bates ran out of both money and time. But Harding refused the further total sell out to Ambramovich, so it looked like that would not happen. However Harding very conveniently turned the fan off in his chopper.
Arsenal were wealthy but stuck with a preservation order on the stands at Highbury which meant development would not generate nearly as much as they hoped, not enough for an enlarged stadium. They needed the outside cash to progress.
Jed Steer wants to stay on loan at Yeovil, his loan ends and Yeovil claims it’s due to injury. Unless Given is injured, that makes little sense.
Interesting news today, sounds like Sinclair is all but pictured in a Villa shirt and news on a potential Demba Ba move. Well if Ba came in everyone would have to agree it would be a successful transfer period but clearly this is most likely media talk and there isn’t a lot to it, we can only hope though.. imagine the villa line up
Guzan
Hutton, Vlaar, Okore, Cissohko
Sinclair, Delph, Sanchez, Gil
Ba, Benteke
Or any one of our CB pairings
Weimann, Gaby, Westwood, Bacuna, Kozak all good back up players
be careful your treading dangerous waters of positivity, i have seen ppl lynched for less lmao
this ba interest confuses me somewhat, hes on massive wages and lerners running a tight as fook submarine, so can someone explain. how we can be supposedly interested in him
Would make sense that we wouldn’t spend money on high wages elsewhere, Sinclair, if Lambert has had funds tied in his eyes because he is after a striker. With Bent’s wages basically finished and Nzog… more wages will be freed up.
yeah put like that does seem doable, but bent and nzog are still here. i really doubt that derby will be paying bents pie wages. i heard martinez say no way would they be recruiting this window. even if they lose that former chelsea striker. don’t get me wrong iam all for premiership wages its about time, just this change in tactic thrown me
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bent’s contract is finished at the end of this season?
yeah that’s spot on ,but not nzog his contracts got another 12 months