This article was submitted by Casey Moore. He had an internship with Aston Villa and got the chance to go behind the scenes of our football club. Here is his experience and why we, fans should be excited about our clubs future.
Being a kid growing up through the 90’s in the South-Eastern part of the United States you didn’t get to dream of being a superstar footballer. Hell, didn’t even know what a superstar footballer was until 1994 and the US World Cup. So for you to tell me that I would be living in England working, for free, at football clubs in England twenty years later? I most likely would have just given you a quizzical look and a chuckle and went back to playing Contra on my Nintendo. I moved to Sheffield, England in August of 2012 and did a week work experience at Villa the following July.
To tell you how this all came about we have to go back to June when I first met Paul Faulkner, the Chief Executive of the club. This is when I was shooting my documentary, “Get Up, Stand Up: Standing Supporters Past, Present and Future”, and I had lined up an interview with Mr. Faulkner during the 2012 Supporters Summit at St. George’s Park. Before the interview while I waiting for Mr. Faulkner to arrive, palms sweaty and nerves shaken, I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew about the man was that at 33 years old he was now the youngest Chief Executive in the most powerful football league in the world. You would think a man in his position with his accomplishments that he might be someone that could be difficult to deal with. I was so very, very wrong. He greeted me with a smile, a firm handshake and was one of the nicest, most accommodating individual I have ever met. After the interview was over and we just chatted a bit he offered me the chance of a lifetime to come down to Birmingham and work with their marketing department, needless to say, I gladly accepted.
So there I was a month later hopping off a train at Aston station and making the walk like many supporters had done week-in, week-out for years upon years. Seeing that ground in the distance made me well with pride knowing I had a chance to get a look in at a club I had watched on television for years. Not to mention a chance to get a much stick as my Hammers supporting mates back home could fit on facebook.
So you want to know what it is like and why you should be hopeful huh?
Working at a football club is like working at any other business, just with a better view. Just so you know, the best time to walk around the ground or take a tour is right before the season begins. An untouched, recently laid pitch is something of pure beauty. I could have kissed it if it wouldn’t get me thrown out of the club. Walking down those hallowed hallways where the first inklings of creating a league and league table by William McGregor is slightly overwhelming, especially when looking out at the pitch. However the view of the marketing office can be a bit dower on cloudy days considering you are looking at the parking lot.
The guys and girls that make up the marketing department are amazing. They love the club and they were very warm and welcoming. They want nothing more than to see the club progress, even if they support another club… say West Brom. Even if you don’t support the club you work for, which a lot of people don’t, it grows on you. And you never want the place you work to do badly. This marketing department is one of the best in the league. Certainly the best among the clubs I had the chance to learn from. Why? It is a simple idea. Change. They aren’t afraid to evolve and try new things. A lot of clubs in the league are stuck in their ways and never want to change how they do things. The greatest thing about this club is they want to grow but they are willing to risk everything for it like some clubs, I.E. Portsmouth. A great American expression I think that goes with football nowadays is they aren’t “writing checks their ass can’t cash.”
You want a reason to feel good about the future?
It is that willingness to evolve the business. If the business evolves and if it can do it parallel to the evolution of the first team then you put yourself in such an amazing position for the future. The club has an intelligent hard-man in Paul Lambert at the helm. The average age of the squad is only 24.6 and the talent he is bringing in is something special. Not just Benteke but Bacuna and Helenius as well. Right now you have some great results to keep building on after Arsenal and Man City.
At the end of the day you have a great owner in Randy Lerner. He is a true American football fan and Anglophile. Randy studied in England when he was younger and fell in love with the game. He is in constant contact with Paul and he brings his knowledge of the NFL and the American sports world that he can combine to create a successful hybrid business model taking the best of both worlds. This, to me, is what is going to give you an advantage in the years to come.
There are a few photos for you. Let me know what you think.
A great owner in Randy Lerner who is this bloody comedian.Great owner my arse the Cleveland Browns could not wait for him to fuck off nor can we at Villa and as for building for the future in what league certainly not the premiership thats for certain more like the Blue Square North.Casey Moore you know jack shit about Villa or football.
Whilst in my opinion I do agree that we have a decent young manager in charge, he clearly has his hands tied by an owner who is doing excatly the same thing to us as he did to Cleveland Browns, ruining us. Until Lerner fucks off we will always be shit regardless of who our manager is. I personally believe Lambert is the manager who can take us forward but whilst that useless American twat is in charge of the club we will always struggle. If he loves Villa and football as much as the people who matter, the supporters, he’d do the right thing and either A, intergrate with the fans by making an appearance and telling us what his plans are for the club over the next 3 years and where he sees us after those 3 years or B, simply sell up and fuck off. If he came out and intergrated with the fans more and gave interviews then I’m sure the supporters opinion of him would change for the better.
I have been supporting the Villa for over 35 years and Casey Moore spent a week in our bullshit & Spin,,,, sorry Marketing Dept….. He concludes we have a great owner…..FFS Lerner is Awol and rely’s on Fatty Faulkner for all his knowledge. Faulkner who knows as much about football as my pet dog does….what a mad article !!
Casey all this is not your fault, fans now can see the object of the club is to make money and its not coming back into Villa Park, we don’t want to see little clubs winning honours while we see crap football, Villa has a proud history its now a American businessman pocket money, I know now with all that’s going on it will be year’s to see a football team again at the club, you yourself must see withe boxes empty, seat not got bums on that we are not happy, if at anytime you do see that man Lerner as a American tell him we’re angry now.
Not only lambert that has lost the plot but some fans have as well sorry casey your p r bullshit dont wash with me were crap and we have no future this sat will be were fans turn when we fail to beat c city
can we check Caseys email address as I think it will be something on the lines of pfaulkner @avfc.com or fattypieeater@avfc.com
Casey, while I appreciate your writing some words about your experience with Villa, it kinda feels more like an exercise to tell us about your work experience than offer hope to fans of a team who just aren’t cutting it at the moment. I just don’t see the relevance between a marketing department willing to try new things and that translating to the successful running of a football club?
Truth be known, I’m sure absolutely everyone at the club do want to see us do well – but are they prepared to do what it takes for us to DO well?
We spent too much money on average players with MON, we hired a manager with a dodgy ticker only to replace him with what can only be described as one of the worst manager appointments in the history of the game.
We’ve then made what looked like sensible appointment in Paul Lambert, an appointment that many Villa fans wanted to see – but whether or not he hasn’t spent on decent players is through choice or conditions of financial restraints, who knows… it’s not really that important.
Sure, we don’t want to see the club go bankrupt – but the people who run this club have to answer to us the fans for its performance… and if it an option, I’d sack Lerner and Faulkner for the monumental ballsups they’ve made at Villa. Sure Lerner has done some good – he really has, but the bad now are outweighing the good.
I’m hopeful that some good may come from Lambert and his young boys but a lot are really starting to doubt whether it’s possible and I personally think it’s time for Lerner to sell up and move aside for someone who has a better vision for the club and the coffers to make it happen.
Thanks for sharing this with us Casey, really interesting read.
What a right load of bullshit Pro- Lerner / Faulkner propaganda.
Can we please stop this bullshit of learner making some kind of fortune off the villa? Its complete bollox if you think about it for more than 2 seconds! How can he be making a fortune when he spent a fortune for 5 years and now 1 year he didn’t so all of a sudden he must be pulling in 500mill ya? Even though we still have some high earners including benteke now who was given a new contract (not sold already for a massive profit) how do you know lerner didn’t give Lambert a budget of 30 mill but Lamberts targets weren’t available in the summer so he’s waiting til January? Or next summer? Fact of the matter is you don’t know shit, you know less about what goes on at the villa than the poor lad who wrote this article and now only give him abuse! Learner is not the worst owner in the world in fact he is one of the better ones, every part of the club is better since he arrived, he has done everything in his power and financial capabilities to move villa forward but still it will never be good enough for the keyboard warriors, its not learners fault he isn’t an oil billionaire! It will take learner at least another 2 years to possible break even on what he has invested in the team, managers (all his fault and his big weakness) stadium, youth system, facilitys EVERYTHING! Seriously think about it for 5 mins and if still you come up wit learner gettin rich from da villa then do some fuckin research and see how much he has spent and how much money villa make every year! I’ll let u know one thing before you start your research, villa don’t make any money they lose is every single year! Nice try casey but it was the wrong time to write this article, we have been playing crap recently so the marketing department really doesn’t matter;)
Talking about keyboard warriors I’ll get the bunting out down at VP when you make your annual visit (oh and I’ll draw you a map if you need one).
F**king armchair fans I’ve shit em.
Lerner does make oodles of money of sky Kerry which u conveniently forgot to mention. Plus all the big earners are almost gone and there is no way he will invest to get us into top 4 again as like you say he is not rich enough.
Well Kerrvillan its shows what a prat he is, he takes on a English football club not knowing how much it would cost, to me he has no intentions of making a once great club back to what it could be, its people like you that drags teams down to the levels of second rate clubs by excepting it, I want my team to be what it once was not a toy for a yank to play with. Wake up Kerryvillan and smell the coffee, don’t let them play tycoons with British fans money.
He makes far more money from sky and sponsors than he does from “British fans” and again sayin he is a Prat because he didn’t know how much a English football team would cost is ridiculous and another uneducated guess, your tryin to tell me a man worth a million times more than any of us, who has grown up to look after his family’s finances and run many successful business and already had an American football club didn’t know how much a football team? didn’t do research into both the financial state of the club and league? But somehow he is stupid enough to blindly buy a club without knowing anything about this? Really? Because i find that extremely hard to believe! I do agree however that lerner should let fans know where he wants the club to be and the targets as per league position, but at the same time i don’t see any other chairmen comin out and tellin fans this can you name any for me? And i see the logic in not revealing this information, for example if he tells us the plans for the club and lets say this year we don’t hit that target then that would undermine the manager with the fans and the club itself would look to be failing, you might say it looks to be failing now but that is only your opinion you can’t prove it as a fact whereas if we had planned to finish 10th this season then we would be sure we are failing but at the end of da season we might be in that position so honestly if i was a chairman it would be better not to release your plans i think most business are the same.
“run many successful business”
Go on name them. (All Daddies work)
“already had an American football club”
Ermmm well no, all Daddies work again
And last but not least “every part of the club is better since he arrived” Oh do stop it me sides are hurting.
The browns couldn’t wait to get shot of him he was shit managing a sport he does understand ffs.
Kerryvillan, if you take time out to read Lerner’s history as to how he became the owner of our great club you might read between the lines as to how we are where we are today.most of his money came from his father when he died in 2002, he’s sold the Browns, he sold the credit card company, that alone made him a billionaire of 1.1 billion, he’s had built blocks for students at the college he studied in England, the was the second owner as a American to buy a football team in the UK and that alone gives you some idea as to why he was looking to get a company in Europe, he’s only out to make money, again at our cost. Let’s be honest we both want the same thing in our club, but now there is doubt in his motives , I don’t trust that man with my football team. The money he wrote off was interest on what he put into our club, he only gave 20 million to buy, we must have saved more with sales on our youth teams over the last 4 years that are now playing for other clubs.
Agree bill the person that wrote this must be mate or something. I’m sure pf is a nice guy but I don’t give a toss whether he’s nice or not just whether he is good enough to make villa successful. I’m sure he is great at business and marketing and that’s great. But Lerner needs a proper football person overseeing the club and to give lamberk a kick up the arse. Someone like houllier. Lerner is only in it for the money. Initially he wanted CL because that’s where the money is when he realised that would never happen he went for the opposite plan of finishing in the bottom four on a shoe string and making his money from sky instead. Until he makes enough money which will be years we are stuck with him I’m afraid
Oohah your thinking my thoughts, god help me, 🙂 yes he’s deluded in thinking nothings is wrong it bloody we’ll is, I just hope we get a result this week otherwise fireworks will be Saturday night not tonight.
Kerryvillian another delude fan Lerner will make all his money back with interest if Lerner know anything about football he would not have made all the mistakes he made villa are in a worse position now than when he took over fact someone with football knowledge or any business since would not of a signed a goalkeeper at the age of 35 and give him a 5 year contract that is one example they are many more that proves he doesn’t know what he doing
Want some more appointing houiller when he was ill appointing maclish when the fans were against from.day one great business there Lerner then appointing lambert another useless manager thats 3 in a row he doesn’t know a thing about football if he did he would not a point manager from the spl he would go aboard
Plus someone with football knowledge would have sacked lambert the moment he was outwitted by a league two manager and got the worst hamming in the club history plus for the record villa have the worst records in their history snice he took over this is a fact
Paul Faulkner could be the nicest guy in the entire world but that is completely missing the point. It means nothing and neither does a forward thinking marketing department. Nice article but out of place. As BWS says this almost feels like propagand without discrediting the writer.
Us fans are upset, and we have every right to be. We want the pride back in the club. We want the ambition. We want to feel rewarded after spending so much on ST’s, new shirts, new shorts, new socks. We want to be higher in the league, not the stock exchange, I’m a simple football fan who wants to enjoy a saturday at the game and be safe in the knowledge that we have a good owner and good manager (who don’t take risks, like Portsmouth) and that if we lose a game, all is okay because of these reasons. We want change, not drastic or silly, but well-thought change for purely footballing reasons not business reasons. We want an owner who is football through and through. We want our kids, our grandkids and family to support a great club and be part of something exciting and worthy, We want to talk about our hatred for Man United over a pint after a game, not how much money our owner is likely to spend and our impending doom behind the scenes. We want Aston Villa for us and us only, the fans. UTV
Actually, I think this is a fascinating insight into how younger people/americans think the truth is nowadays, it’s all about trying to make money.
Which is what divides the above groups from very long standing supporters.
The fact that the concentration is on marketing and trying to save money says it all.
There is absolutely no mention of any serious investment, which is what is needed, if you seriously want to move upwards.
Why? because there isn’t going to be any, simple.
The plan is to buy cheap and hope for the best.
A plan that is doomed to failure in the long term.
Kerry, if you concede that Lerner might take a couple of years to get his investment back, I’m totally astounded.
Why the hell should he get it all back in a few years?
This should surely be a 10-20 year plan, if he truly believes in the club, imo.
I truly despair that people believe this crap.
The tight bastard should invest in some desperately needed decent players.
Well said badger. Let’s assume Lerner wins £300 million on the euro lottery hypothetically of course then does anyone seriously believe he would then invest say £50-60 m to try and make us decent again! Not a chance. Why? Simply because he dosnt have to he can virtually rely on us not getting relegated on the cheap and coin the sky money in the process. Simples
Badger, Oohah, I know how the American mind works in businesses believe me they are ruthless, my lad been over time and time again to sort out massive problems, the work force are shit scared of thier bosses, its how they are, everyone else are idiots in their eyes, Lerner is no different in my mind, he’s here for the money and a foothold into Europe, he don’t think about us not one iota, If he did he would show his face in the club every game, not leave it to a none proven person like Faulkner, who knows sod all about our game. Lerner has got to start speaking out as to what his plans are, to show he cares, till then he is shite to Aston Villa football club.
We all know Lerner’s taking us for a ride. Let’s stop supporting the team for 10 years or until he fucks of. We all no exactly what another 10 or so years under this fuckwit will bring
Badger and bill, i never said lerner knew anything about football i simply said financially im pretty sure he knew wat he was gettin into but man c obviously disrupted things. And i never said he started any businesses i said he ran them, you obviously believe his father was the intelligent one who built the empire so randy doesn’t deserve any credit but if his father was a great business tycoon then im sure he also knew what he was doin leaving everything to randy, and the sales of his assets for over a billion, i call that good business wouldn’t u?
You seem to think that fans like me are just blind idiots that are happy with everything at the club but that’s far from the truth, I’ve been sayin we have played crap recently and the west ham game was one of the worst performances i have seen, im not happy with tactics, team selection, and even the transfers. I don’t think randy is perfect its not who he hires because i think houllier and Lambert were good choices but its the fact he seems to leave managers a free reign and that causes lots of problems, especially when you let mcdraw sign an ageing goalkeeper on a massive 5 year contract and then let the next manager drop him completely from the squad that just doesn’t make any sense, then theirs Mon, and houllier gettin bent, none of these were his decisions but he sanctioned them and basically let the managers do what they want. So your right as a football man he is terrible in more ways than 1 but as an owner and investor i don’t think with the finances he has that he could give much more, and it will take him a couple years to break even and then we will see if he will reinvest when we are financially stable or he wants out.
So hopefully you see im not just a happy lemming i just believe that we can do better and the points we have so far is a decent start to a season when we had the toughest opposition. And i thought the same last year that would could get better i believe history says i was right and ooh ah and terry were wrong, will the same happen this year? Time will tell. UTV
You’ll often find that you supposedly say things on here that you’ve never actually said so they can make an argument against you, and go as low as call you an idiot, blind, delusional and so on.
What was wrong with the bent signing. And look at how many mercenaries MON signed but still a legend
Nothing is wrong with bent, with the team we had a stricker like him was a perfect fit, but paying 24 mill and an 80 grand contract that is bad bad business for such a limited player when you think that spuds wouldn’t even pay 25 mill for benteke who is 10 times the player at a much younger age.
Debatable. Bent was the perfect signing because we had players that could take on players under Houllier, beat a defender, cross it and he scores. We no longer have that and we need someone like Benteke who can be 35-40 yards from goal, get the ball,hold it up. 2 totally different players in different situations.
Good read.
I haven’t been to this site in ages (I came through a link from another site). After reading the comments on here I remember why I don’t come to this site anymore.
I would just like to let all of you pissers and moaners know that I hate you. You are embarrassing to the club, and should just stop. That is all.
Your obviously happy with a shit a team shit manager and shit chairman. Fair enough but don’t criticise because a lot of people don’t share your views
Well great contribution there you total hypocrite. Piss and moan, contribute nothing and leave! Good one.