Well, that’s just sod’s law isn’t it?
I’ve hardly missed watching any games this season, but tonight I was so busy at work that I didn’t get to see a minute of it.
So what do the Villa go and do?
Well, after waiting since the Blues game, they only go and actually win don’t they?
Which had me kicking myself, as I suspect the feeling of elation would have been much higher when the final whistle went, compared to just reading the result on Yahoo.
As for my prediction in the preview, where I was all doom and gloom, I’m extremely happy to say I got that totally wrong. But I’d be happy to be wrong every game if it meant a Villa win.
Moving quickly on (ahem), it was interesting to see that Garde made a couple of changes, the biggest surprise perhaps being Libor Kozak getting a start ahead of Gestede. Well, perhaps not a surprise as such, as many fans have been calling for him to at least be given a chance.
But the better news is that from what I’ve read, he put in a very decent display.
Now I know nothing about how we set up tonight, but it’s struck me that Gestede is impotent if you don’t put the ball on his head and Kozak, with his better all-round game has to better suited to the way we play.
I look forward to seeing him play a full game myself.
Another surprise to me was Richards not starting.
I was under the impression that he was fit after his knock and I wonder if this was more about taking him out of the line of fire, as surely he’s a better bet than Bacuna at RB, generally speaking?
Good management perhaps, as long as the player and manager haven’t had any contretemps.
Guzan being rested for Bunn, however, was not a surprise.
An interesting point was Gil getting practically a full game. That doesn’t quite make sense to me after suggestions that he needed to be pulled off early against Wycombe, because he was fading.
I’d have thought a player can either play a full game or he can’t.
So what’s changed in a couple of days?
No doubt it comes down to what the manager thinks and perhaps it was merely a case that he thought Gil might struggle to complete two full games in such a short time, which I suppose is fair enough. Today’s game was far more important, after all.
Whatever, I’m not knocking anything. I don’t care who gets hauled off when, as long as it brings the right result.
And either way, it’s a sign that Gil’s fitness is improving.
Although why I should even be talking about that halfway through the season, begs other questions, that have often been asked already.
You’d have to suspect that Kozak and Bunn (if he did nothing wrong) will probably feature in the next few games.
And rightly so, as if anyone looks better than the player he’s replacing, he has to stay in the team because we can’t afford any favourites.
Again from what I’ve read, it seems we played a 4-3-3 and Garde’s after match comments were that he was happy because we didn’t sit back and actually went for the second goal.
Which hints that he’s been trying to get the team to go forward more and it’s actually the players themselves who have been too negative (remember Garde’s “they’re not doing as they’re told” comment?).
If that’s the case, I may owe him an apology, as I’ve criticised him as the cause of our overly cautious way of playing.
And if that’s the case, maybe today’s result might actually inspire the lads to actually believe we can beat teams?
If so, that’d be superb.
Yes, it’s only one win, but doesn’t it suddenly make things look a lot brighter?
And ok, it was apparently a lucky goal. But how much bad luck have we had?
We’re still in serious trouble of course, but for the first time in ages, we’ve actually closed the gap on teams and that has to be a good thing.
The best news of all though tonight was Glenn Alan Pardew’s (yes, I realised after I wrote the preview that I got his name wrong) words about the Villa;
“Villa really deserved their victory – they worked so, so hard.”
After the criticism we’ve all been dishing out about the players not wanting it enough, this was just music to my ears. Or should that be my eyes, given that I read it?
Well, you know what I mean, I’m sure.
Happy days, for once.
We’re hoping that we can get a run of wins/draws whatever together & say the 3/4 teams above us pick up sod all points for the next God dam amount of games that’s a huge ask & more than likely won’t happen.
Steve Who? Yet another poor appointment and just read the last paragraph of his statement on the OS. What planet is this guy on? Another ‘Randy is my hero’ – heaven help us.
And if you’re confused he’s our new yesman – sorry that should have read Chairman!
My final say – where is there any mention of football – we are not an ’embattled business’ we’re a football club with a bl**dy poor squad because of a lack of appropriate investment. See if you can find Amy of that in the statement – he isn’t even a football man. ARRGH
What a fantastic appointment, another board member with no footballing experience….. Is this for real or are we all in a bad dream… This has to be the most naive appointment of the lot…. He’s a commercial yes man…. god help us… We don’t deserve to a premiership club !!!
“As we have witnessed in the Premier League this year with other clubs – money no longer buys success”
So he’s another Lerner puppet
you could not make this sh1t up….its laughable !
We have a CEO that has never been a CEO before, a director of recruitment and a director of football never been a either before and now appointed a chairman who looks like a photocopier salesman with no clue about football and looks like he enjoys more than a tipple or two….. Have to say we deserve everything we get, this club is so arrogant and naive I cannot see us being around in 10 years time.
The top 6 clubs net spend on transfers over the last 5 years are:
Man City
Man U
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
West Ham
And we have a new Chairman who says “money does not buy success”
On top of this, he is a scouser, who supports Man City
RIP Aston Villa
But lack of it buys failure.
Looking forward to see this individual FUCK the club up even more than it already is,absolutely no sporting industry experience.been a deputy chairman of the brum & Solihull enterprise panel FUCKING WOW so he knows the area well whoopee fucking doo.it’s beyond laffable
This appointment is madness in a club where no one at the top understands football we have another man who by his own admission knows very little about football, he also says money doesn’t buy success in football anymore what a joke this squad needs huge investment but there is no doubt now that’s not coming. Randy really is a terrible owner of this great club and the people around him are just on a gravy train
Lerner admits the club is unstable……I wonder how that has happened. Nothing to do with bleeding the club of it’s assets, penny pinching or pocketing the Sky TV money is it? Even more remarkable given the situation we are currently in due to the mentioned above we are expected to be “self sufficient”.
It will take this club at least 10 years to get back into the prem once we go down. Thank the lord shirt sales are on the increase. Great job Tom.
Is it just me that thinks accepting a job when the business is up for sale is somewhat stupid. I mean job security isn’t exactly assured is it? To me that is something that only a fool would do, which pretty much sums up our board I guess.
He has a little bit , he’s a Man City supporter, Jesus wept.
Bill ….. A Scouse man city supporter
I would prefer Mccleish re-instated than this appt, its so bad its unreal…. he is an accounting asset stripper…. !
Mclueless as chairman???? For real??
Giddy this is that bad, seriously I am rocking back and forth sucking my thumb… This man has no idea of football, thinks the game comes second after merchandise and comes from an accounting background…. He is also a scouser who supports Man city….
And I meant McClueless bing reinstated, flipping burgers not really having any input to football….. Just like our new frickin Chairman
MATE nothing surprises me now they could of installed coco the clown as chairman & Randy would of given him his full backing.a man city fan & money doesn’t buy success what utter bollox he’s possibly remarking on Leicester city.
Lerner has said that he wants the Chairman to continue the good work started in the summer of 2014 ……. what good work, we are bottom of the bloody league, we are a football club not a department store !
That’s a good one Saddened, top floor is men’s clothes, second floor ladies lingerie, bottom floor Aston Villa. Nice store that.
where av all the quality players gone. it is now half way through the transfer window. where are the players. u r tellin the manager that u r not prepared 2 help and we need players now, remember martin oneil randy. got us 2 6th place and wanted 2 push us on. wot did u do. made him leave i wud say cause u wanna drag team down wen u can do somethin abt it. if u cant get 6th back next season and get us out of relegation that u put us into with players u released and bought no real quality. u need 2 step it up 4 the fans and the club. u cant take out of the club and say u want 2 sell it wen fans help and revenue plus fa cup and sponsors. so dont tell me and fans no money wen u av decreased wage budget of the club which means squad will b weaker as well. doug ellis has seen 2 av done more. doug did not sell villa 2 u and villa fans 2 let us down.
Oh and one of his biggest ‘heroes’ is Alex Ferguson…. Im going to the pub !!
Can I join yer?? Mines a treble.
Quote from our new chairman –
‘…underpinned by a commitment to continuous improvement both on and off the pitch. The business of football is no different to any other business in this respect.’
I’ve worked with ‘continuous improvement’ strategies in automotive for years and now do it in a completely different field – media. However it’s taken me six years to understand the business well enough to apply this successfully.
Football is totally different to any other business so I hope that Mr. Hollis is a very quick learner.
In reality he’s just another amateur to add to all the others we’ve got (big sigh)
I’m still hoping I’ll wake up and find it’s all been a nightmare – bit like Bobby Ewing – and I’d be 8 years younger. Ah well dream on.
We get our first win in 157 days we’re feeling a little bit more upbeat then our Glorious Leader goes and takes the legs from under us with yet another underwhelming appointment.
30 years at KPMG and private banker (SORBUS) and you have to ask what is this appointment all about?
KPMG are auditors so he’s been brought in to do what exactly?
Seeing as our Glorious leader can’t get his money back by selling the club and now it looks more than likely he’s going to lose the SKY money due to relegation, well perhaps he’s now looking at employing shall we say ‘less scrupulous ways’ to in order to recover his losses?
That BWS is a very good question. Lerner’s ineptitude in making management and investment decisions relevant to running a sports club is staggering. The guy still thinks he owns a bank or perhaps that’s his overriding strategy. Create a load of cash and liquidate the investment whilst fleecing the punters aka Villa’s long suffering fans.
Steven Hollis aka ‘The Liquidator’?
I’m just thinking if cuts are coming will he scrap the academy????
Would it make difference Giddy, any that are any good they flog or let go Cayhill – Gardener – Davis- Dehney – Johnson (this list is not exhaustive).
That’s what I thought do we really use it anyway?
This is all very Blackpool.
If football is like any other business then why don’t other “businesses” have 30,000+ people turning up every week to support them?
Football without fans is like Nothing.
Just laughed out loud when I read the news. It is April 1st isn’t it? Another bean counter who knows nothing about the game of football.
Can we swap Randy Lerner and have David Bowie back please?
Yeah, because chairmen of most clubs know how to run football clubs when they arrive. Oh wait, no they don’t, they know how to run businesses. Hasn’t even started the job and we already have a bunch of people whining.
To be fair most clubs have football knowledgeable people on the board. We don’t and that is the point fans are making.
I do remember they also said they were looking to find another “board member” once we got the chairman, so I’ll wait to complain if 1 that doesn’t happen or 2 that guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.
I remember Lerner saying if he could never move this club forward he’d sell it, although I don’t recall him saying only if he got an over inflated price for it. I also remember Lerner saying he was a fan, no fan would treat any club the way he has treated us. I remember him saying he is totally committed to Aston Villa. Although he never attends games, unless it’s the cup final.
My point? He’s said a lot of things but hasn’t delivered yet your naive enough to still believe him?
Of course not, although I have no doubt he’s tried to sell us. Hollis has dealt with takeovers himself in big businesses, so maybe that’s a reason why he was appointed as well? Very well maybe that he is all those things, maybe not, all we can do is speculate. However I don’t see why we can’t give the new guy a chance to do what he’s been hired to do without moaning about it? At least Lerner kept his word on this, and the fact he put us up for sale shows he wants out like he said he would if he can’t keep us going. Only Fox I remember claimed he’s still “motivated” as an owner.
But I stand by this isn’t surprising that a Chairman is appointed who’s a high class businessman. Who runs the entirety of the football club. Can’t have people who only know about football run clubs, you need businessmen with people around him who know about football.
No you need a large injection of money
No, no you don’t, you need a smart injection of money.
What on merchandising??
No… On transfers. Smart transfers. like… Scouting, you know, searching for players who won’t cost you 50m and 350k wages? Or even 30m and 250k wages. But players like Okazaki, Mahrez, Sako, Firmino, etc.
Only time will tell & one thing I can guarantee is one of us will be eating our words in months to come.let’s have a poll who likes/dislikes the appointment.
I agree you can’t only have football people running a football club but we don’t have anyone on the board from the footballing side of things and that is why people are not happy with this appointment.
There is absolutely no knowledge of football from the powers that be at the club. That’s 4 people, Hollis, Fox, Almstadt and Riley who have no experience of running a football club. The only person who has experience is Garde and even his is somewhat limited.
For a club this size that is shocking.
Can’t disagree with that whatsoever, we should have someone within the board knowing about football instead of statistics, and hopefully they’ll appoint someone who does.
Most companies don’t engage a ‘”Chairman” to run the sharp end of the business – that’s for a CEO and management team.
Most football clubs don’t engage a “Chairman” who’s a football expert either.
Villa need a powerful voice on the Board who does understand ‘football’ – English football – and we’re still waiting to see if they appoint one; but there’s no reason to damn this particular individual before he’s even sat in the chair for a couple of days!
Chairman leads the Board who have three main responsibilities – strategy, ensure sufficient resources are available to deliver the strategy and governance.
Reading the guys statement it appears he considers Villa’s strategy needs revisiting but that sufficient resources (investment) has been made available to date! So maybe he disagrees with moneyball but he doesn’t apparently see the need to change the levels of investment – well not upwards anyway.
This is about making Lerner as much money as he can but they all seem to forget we need a decent team to start with. So we’ll have a brilliant strategy with a clever lie investment solution and no product – brilliant!
So Andrew this chap will bring the glory days back without spending a penny I wait with baited breath.he’s been watching man city too closely I mean they’ve done pretty well without the wedge.
Truly not surprised you of all people would make such a ridiculous reply.
No one said he’s bringing back the glory days without spending, but I don’t remember him claiming we’re not spending either. He said, that looking at the Premier League, you don’t need to do well by spending a lot, or something to that effect I don’t remember exactly which pretty much goes with how bad Chelsea and United are doing, who consistently spend hundred’s of millions on players, compared to how well Leicester, West Ham, Stoke and Palace are doing.
When was the last time Leicester, West Ham, Stoke or Palace won the premier league? When was the last time Leicester, West Ham, Stoke or Palace got relegated from the premier league? When was the last time Man Utd or Chelsea won the premier league? When was the last time Man Utd or Chelsea got relegated from the premier league?
You do argue from a ridiculous position at times. Send your answers to the above questions on a postcard for us so we can understand the facts…
You’re right, then again never did I claim we’d win the league with a small investment. However we’re not in a position to invest large. We have to invest smart. And the fact the table backs that up so far with Leicester in 2nd on GD, West Ham above United with Stoke and Palace just a couple points off United ahead of Liverpool, I’d argue he has a point. Believe me, I’d love for Villa to be able to spend 30m on a player and think nothing of it, we can’t, but neither can the clubs I mentioned and look where they are?
The top 6 clubs net spend on transfers over the last 5 years are:
Man City
Man U
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
West Ham
None of them are in the bottom 3 – But we are !
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-chairman-steve-hollis-10734891
Sounds like his best MATE is canvassing him.