Llambias Q&A with Chronicle: OP updated with Thursday's articles

[Parky]

Do people seriously think there is a 5 year plan?

 

You run a business right?

 

Do you have any plans for the future of that business?

 

If you do, do you put a time-scale on those plans?

 

If you do and you were to hypothetically put a time-scale of, erm, let's say five years on those plans, how exact would you expect that time-scale to be? Do you think that there's a possibility you might refer to that plan as your "five-year plan"?

 

If a week after it's implementation you had a meeting and you mentioned that plan, would you refer to it as your "four-year 357-day 22-hours 35 minutes 46 and a half seconds plan" or would you have a life and call it your "five-year plan"?

 

Do you think that there's a possibility that due to amongst other things external market conditions, for example a global recession, your plan might change somewhat over time (I'm talking in more than just its name)?

 

Are you going to show up at 10.30am  27 Rue de Helder on 21st May?

 

 

If you are, don't tell me, I haven't got to that bit just yet and I don't want to spoil it.

 

There are a lot of good things about you Indi and we go back a couple of years on these here boards.

 

But in all seriousness they never had a plan and still don't that must surely be clear by now.

 

It's day to day bungling.

[Yorkie]

They had a Plan A, just not a Plan B - and that's where they've fucked up royally and proved how clueless they are when it comes to running a football club. Just to state the obvious.

[indi]

Do people seriously think there is a 5 year plan?

 

You run a business right?

 

Do you have any plans for the future of that business?

 

If you do, do you put a time-scale on those plans?

 

If you do and you were to hypothetically put a time-scale of, erm, let's say five years on those plans, how exact would you expect that time-scale to be? Do you think that there's a possibility you might refer to that plan as your "five-year plan"?

 

If a week after it's implementation you had a meeting and you mentioned that plan, would you refer to it as your "four-year 357-day 22-hours 35 minutes 46 and a half seconds plan" or would you have a life and call it your "five-year plan"?

 

Do you think that there's a possibility that due to amongst other things external market conditions, for example a global recession, your plan might change somewhat over time (I'm talking in more than just its name)?

 

Are you going to show up at 10.30am  27 Rue de Helder on 21st May?

 

 

If you are, don't tell me, I haven't got to that bit just yet and I don't want to spoil it.

 

There are a lot of good things about you Indi and we go back a couple of years on these here boards.

 

But in all seriousness they never had a plan and still don't that must surely be clear by now.

 

It's day to day bungling.

 

Did you think that before Keegan-gate? When things seemed to be going along nicely and we'd made a good start to the season?

 

 

[Mick]

 

Did you think that before Keegan-gate? When things seemed to be going along nicely and we'd made a good start to the season?

 

 

 

He thought we'd finish above Arsenal last season when we had Allardyce.

[bealios]

Do people seriously think there is a 5 year plan?

 

You run a business right?

 

Do you have any plans for the future of that business?

 

If you do, do you put a time-scale on those plans?

 

If you do and you were to hypothetically put a time-scale of, erm, let's say five years on those plans, how exact would you expect that time-scale to be? Do you think that there's a possibility you might refer to that plan as your "five-year plan"?

 

If a week after it's implementation you had a meeting and you mentioned that plan, would you refer to it as your "four-year 357-day 22-hours 35 minutes 46 and a half seconds plan" or would you have a life and call it your "five-year plan"?

 

Do you think that there's a possibility that due to amongst other things external market conditions, for example a global recession, your plan might change somewhat over time (I'm talking in more than just its name)?

 

Are you going to show up at 10.30am  27 Rue de Helder on 21st May?

 

 

If you are, don't tell me, I haven't got to that bit just yet and I don't want to spoil it.

 

There are a lot of good things about you Indi and we go back a couple of years on these here boards.

 

But in all seriousness they never had a plan and still don't that must surely be clear by now.

 

It's day to day bungling.

To be fair Parky, I don't doubt they had a plan. Its just that they were a bit rubbish at implementing it.

 

I'll defend Ashley on here on the financial side of things, but on running the club I think its been a shower of shit. But to think they have no plan whatsoever and react to things on a day to day basis is a little bit naive.

 

I'm  planning to show my girlfriend the time of her life tomorrow night. But at the end of the day she might have a shit night, but not through lack of trying on my part, I might just not be on form tomorrow..

 

[timnufc22]

One of the only things I can't defend Ashley for is offering Kinnear a long contract - I can't explain it for the life of me.

 

Screams 'no ambition'.

 

I think its good to hear from Llambias finally, and its a start for better communication hopefully, so 

 

I think the academy side of things is good, and its refreshing to see young 17/18yr olds bieng snapped up, good for the future  Also you can obviously understand the financial position - the wages are a bit of a killer, and the resession compouds things, so that obviously has to be acknowledged.

 

The negatives for me; Dennis' Wise role - its still not clear  Fair enough if its legal reasons etc (although would that not have been mentioned?). If his job is to 'look for players around the world', is his position not then a scout? If so, why not have the title 'scout'? "but thats not all he does so it wouldnt reflect his position"... so why didnt Llambias explain what else he does in his position!! Why does it have to be so bloody murky?? Its just really an uneasy position to have at the club for me.

 

Joe Kinnear is who they wanted. Ok, if the manager's position is not one that comes with interference, and not a bit of a 'yes-man' job then why would the club not want to prove that and allay any doubts about that (of which there a many) by having the vision & ambition to search & try to appoint a good good manager?

 

With respect the fact they wanted Kinnear does not give much credibility to the position on offer at all, and it is so so worrying that is their standards, and their mindset. That is the level they are working on, and road they are driving down... what other 'solutions' are they going to come with with down this road?

[Parky]

Do people seriously think there is a 5 year plan?

 

You run a business right?

 

Do you have any plans for the future of that business?

 

If you do, do you put a time-scale on those plans?

 

If you do and you were to hypothetically put a time-scale of, erm, let's say five years on those plans, how exact would you expect that time-scale to be? Do you think that there's a possibility you might refer to that plan as your "five-year plan"?

 

If a week after it's implementation you had a meeting and you mentioned that plan, would you refer to it as your "four-year 357-day 22-hours 35 minutes 46 and a half seconds plan" or would you have a life and call it your "five-year plan"?

 

Do you think that there's a possibility that due to amongst other things external market conditions, for example a global recession, your plan might change somewhat over time (I'm talking in more than just its name)?

 

Are you going to show up at 10.30am  27 Rue de Helder on 21st May?

 

 

If you are, don't tell me, I haven't got to that bit just yet and I don't want to spoil it.

 

There are a lot of good things about you Indi and we go back a couple of years on these here boards.

 

But in all seriousness they never had a plan and still don't that must surely be clear by now.

 

It's day to day bungling.

 

Did you think that before Keegan-gate? When things seemed to be going along nicely and we'd made a good start to the season?

 

 

 

Hiring KK was the first sign for me that they had no plan.

 

Cause if this mythical plan is the one we both suspect it is then KK was the clearly the wrong choice. Non?

 

Series 5 of lost has got more of a plan and that's inc time jumps.

[merlin]

Having looked at the first 3 pages of response to Llambias's interview comments on nufc.com(its always good to try to see what other boards are thinking), it is clear that the vast majority of fans there are NOT convinced by the Club's owner/board and their policy - and I have to agree.

 

There are far too many anomalies in his statements ; things like trying to 'become an Aston Villa' are ludicrous because Villa run their club in an entirely different way to this lot ; they have a proven manager & coaches who have made progress with the team since day 1 ; they have an owner who most other fans will have forgotten about because he simply provides MON with a decent budget , allows him to get on with it, and turns up quietly to support the team ; in any event , we have already BEEN where Villa are , and even past that by playing CL Football in recent years, so Llambias is showing lack of ambition by implying that we have to use them as a standard - we KNOW what needs to be done but the Board and owner clearly DON'T ; they believe that appointing someone like Wise as DOF and a complete novice like Llambias as Chairman who then try to operate some supposedly-iconic system like the Continentals is going to be the answer to all the club's problems....this is the charitable version...the less charitable view is that they are cynically using the club as a cash-raising device by selling players with talent and replacing them with journeymen whilst making it up as they go along with such decisions as offering Kinnear an extended contract on the grounds that he is 'what they need'....I'll BET he is - I remember Stan Seymour saying that after the Board went up to Hibs and bought Ralph Callachan back in 1977 after Richard Dinnis and Gordon Lee said they DIDN'T want the player....

They have compounded this mistake by keeping the coaches in charge now that Kinnear is out of action, maybe for good ; instead of decisively going for a new, preferably younger manager(for the long term), or an experienced proven guy until the season's end, they have gambled on the club's future, probably out of parsimony...

 

These guys are a joke and their lack of know-how and penny-pinching will return to haunt them big-style.

I am NOT convinced and the sooner the club is sold to people who may approach Randy Lerner's outlook, the better for all concerned, otherwise we are all in for a few years of misery.

[madras]

Having looked at the first 3 pages of response to Llambias's interview comments on nufc.com(its always good to try to see what other boards are thinking), it is clear that the vast majority of fans there are NOT convinced by the Club's owner/board and their policy - and I have to agree.

 

There are far too many anomalies in his statements ; things like trying to 'become an Aston Villa' are ludicrous because Villa run their club in an entirely different way to this lot ; they have a proven manager & coaches who have made progress with the team since day 1 TRUE; they have an owner who most other fans will have forgotten about because he simply provides MON with a decent budget TRUE but who else was prepared to put ANY money towards the club,let alone transfer budgets ?, allows him to get on with it, and turns up quietly to support the team MORE TO DO WITH THEY ARE DOING WELL AND WE ARN'T. ; in any event , we have already BEEN where Villa are , and even past that by playing CL Football in recent years, so Llambias is showing lack of ambition by implying that we have to use them as a standard THEY CAN ONLY BE JUDGED FROM WHEN THEY TOOK OVER...NOT WHERE NUFC WAS YEARS BEFORE THEY CAME IN- we KNOW what needs to be done but the Board and owner clearly DON'T ; they believe that appointing someone like Wise as DOF and a complete novice like Llambias as Chairman who then try to operate some supposedly-iconic system like the Continentals is going to be the answer to all the club's problems THE FINANCES ARE MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN COMMUNICATION OR SOME FANS HAVING A PROBLEM WITH WISE....this is the charitable version...the less charitable view is that they are cynically using the club as a cash-raising device by selling players with talent and replacing them with journeymen whilst making it up as they go along with such decisions as offering Kinnear an extended contract on the grounds that he is 'what they need'. I DON'T UNDERSTAND OFFERING KINNEAR A CONTRACT BUT THE CASH RAISER IDEA IS BIZZARRE CONSIDERING HOW MUCH HE'LL HAVE TO MAKE TO CLAW BACK WHAT HE'S PUT IN...IS IT A 30 YEAR PLAN ?...I'll BET he is - I remember Stan Seymour saying that after the Board went up to Hibs and bought Ralph Callachan back in 1977 after Richard Dinnis and Gordon Lee said they DIDN'T want the player....

They have compounded this mistake by keeping the coaches in charge now that Kinnear is out of action, maybe for good ; instead of decisively going for a new, preferably younger manager(for the long term), or an experienced proven guy until the season's end, they have gambled on the club's future, probably out of parsimony...

 

These guys are a joke and their lack of know-how and penny-pinching will return to haunt them big-style.

I am NOT convinced and the sooner the club is sold to people who may approach Randy Lerner's outlook, the better for all concerned, otherwise we are all in for a few years of misery. ANY IDEA WHO ?

[Baggio]

According to Doug Ellis Lerner looked at Newcastle and Everton but was put off by the clubs debts, quite clearly Llambias wasn't talking about being an exact copy of Villa though and was talking about being able to push on up the league like they have and try and crack the top 4, I'm sure Ashley would like to be in the position that Lerner is in and any money he puts into the club can go into strengthening the first team rather than helping pay for the day to day running of the club but we will get there soon enough.

 

The clubs annual loses are slowly coming down from £34m in 2007 to £20m in 2008 and a predicted loss of £7m in 2009 so they are turning it around.

[madras]

According to Doug Ellis Lerner looked at Newcastle and Everton but was put off by the clubs debts, quite clearly Llambias wasn't talking about being an exact copy of Villa though and was talking about being able to push on up the league like they have and try and crack the top 4, I'm sure Ashley would like to be in the position that Lerner is in and any money he puts into the club can go into strengthening the first team rather than helping pay for the day to day running of the club but we will get there soon enough.

 

The clubs annual loses are slowly coming down from £34m in 2007 to £20m in 2008 and a predicted loss of £7m in 2009 so they are turning it around.

that projected loss relies on the big gamble of avoiding relegation.

 

 

personally i think ashley would have been better served releasing a bit to help the chances of staying up in order to protect his initial investment.

[cubaricho]

According to Doug Ellis Lerner looked at Newcastle and Everton but was put off by the clubs debts, quite clearly Llambias wasn't talking about being an exact copy of Villa though and was talking about being able to push on up the league like they have and try and crack the top 4, I'm sure Ashley would like to be in the position that Lerner is in and any money he puts into the club can go into strengthening the first team rather than helping pay for the day to day running of the club but we will get there soon enough.

 

The clubs annual loses are slowly coming down from £34m in 2007 to £20m in 2008 and a predicted loss of £7m in 2009 so they are turning it around.

 

The only thing Llambias meant when he was talking about "being an Aston Villa" was that their owner didn't spent very much at all in their first two seasons, helped balance the debt, and then slowly moved forward.  But, if you hate Ashley you're not really willing to look at that anyway.  Ashley won't make money until we are challenging in the league, why can't anyone see that?  The past regime pocketed over 150 millions pounds while Ashley has pocketed ZERO so far.  He's not penny pinching for the sake of lining his own pockets, he's making sure the club is on an even keel before we push forward and make our moves up the table.  It has been almost three years since Lerner bought the Villains and they are just now moving up the league.  Cut Ashley some slack and let him balance the books before we start calling for his head.  In the next year or two we're going to have one of the best academies producing youngsters in the country and we'll be making our way up the table.  That's what their "five year plan" is all about; keep us in the Prem, funnel through very useful youngsters, and slowly invest in the team in a competent and responsible manner.

[dcmk]

According to Doug Ellis Lerner looked at Newcastle and Everton but was put off by the clubs debts, quite clearly Llambias wasn't talking about being an exact copy of Villa though and was talking about being able to push on up the league like they have and try and crack the top 4, I'm sure Ashley would like to be in the position that Lerner is in and any money he puts into the club can go into strengthening the first team rather than helping pay for the day to day running of the club but we will get there soon enough.

 

The clubs annual loses are slowly coming down from £34m in 2007 to £20m in 2008 and a predicted loss of £7m in 2009 so they are turning it around.

 

The only thing Llambias meant when he was talking about "being an Aston Villa" was that their owner didn't spent very much at all in their first two seasons, helped balance the debt, and then slowly moved forward.  But, if you hate Ashley you're not really willing to look at that anyway.  Ashley won't make money until we are challenging in the league, why can't anyone see that?  The past regime pocketed over 150 millions pounds while Ashley has pocketed ZERO so far.  He's not penny pinching for the sake of lining his own pockets, he's making sure the club is on an even keel before we push forward and make our moves up the table.   It has been almost three years since Lerner bought the Villains and they are just now moving up the league.  Cut Ashley some slack and let him balance the books before we start calling for his head.  In the next year or two we're going to have one of the best academies producing youngsters in the country and we'll be making our way up the table.  That's what their "five year plan" is all about; keep us in the Prem, funnel through very useful youngsters, and slowly invest in the team in a competent and responsible manner.

 

I think fans have given him plenty of time, there has been very very few things positive about his rein so far.  Would you disagree with that?

 

Also more recently they completely messed up January.

[Unbelievable]

According to Doug Ellis Lerner looked at Newcastle and Everton but was put off by the clubs debts, quite clearly Llambias wasn't talking about being an exact copy of Villa though and was talking about being able to push on up the league like they have and try and crack the top 4, I'm sure Ashley would like to be in the position that Lerner is in and any money he puts into the club can go into strengthening the first team rather than helping pay for the day to day running of the club but we will get there soon enough.

 

The clubs annual loses are slowly coming down from £34m in 2007 to £20m in 2008 and a predicted loss of £7m in 2009 so they are turning it around.

 

The only thing Llambias meant when he was talking about "being an Aston Villa" was that their owner didn't spent very much at all in their first two seasons, helped balance the debt, and then slowly moved forward.  But, if you hate Ashley you're not really willing to look at that anyway.  Ashley won't make money until we are challenging in the league, why can't anyone see that?  The past regime pocketed over 150 millions pounds while Ashley has pocketed ZERO so far.  He's not penny pinching for the sake of lining his own pockets, he's making sure the club is on an even keel before we push forward and make our moves up the table.   It has been almost three years since Lerner bought the Villains and they are just now moving up the league.  Cut Ashley some slack and let him balance the books before we start calling for his head.  In the next year or two we're going to have one of the best academies producing youngsters in the country and we'll be making our way up the table.  That's what their "five year plan" is all about; keep us in the Prem, funnel through very useful youngsters, and slowly invest in the team in a competent and responsible manner.

 

For real!? We'll undoubtedly be challenging for WORLD DOMINATION in five years time! It's funny how other clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and Man U haven't figured out how easy it is to bring the world's best 17-18 year olds in.. Oh, what's that you're saying? They are? And they actually spend real money on getting the very best ones in as well..? Bugger..

[merlin]

Having looked at the first 3 pages of response to Llambias's interview comments on nufc.com(its always good to try to see what other boards are thinking), it is clear that the vast majority of fans there are NOT convinced by the Club's owner/board and their policy - and I have to agree.

 

There are far too many anomalies in his statements ; things like trying to 'become an Aston Villa' are ludicrous because Villa run their club in an entirely different way to this lot ; they have a proven manager & coaches who have made progress with the team since day 1 TRUE; they have an owner who most other fans will have forgotten about because he simply provides MON with a decent budget TRUE but who else was prepared to put ANY money towards the club,let alone transfer budgets ?, allows him to get on with it, and turns up quietly to support the team MORE TO DO WITH THEY ARE DOING WELL AND WE ARN'T(Nothing at all to do with that - Lerner has been going since Day i). ; in any event , we have already BEEN where Villa are , and even past that by playing CL Football in recent years, so Llambias is showing lack of ambition by implying that we have to use them as a standard THEY CAN ONLY BE JUDGED FROM WHEN THEY TOOK OVER...NOT WHERE NUFC WAS YEARS BEFORE THEY CAME IN[)They should be judged on WHAT ACTIONS THEY HAVE TAKEN TO IMPROVE THE CLUB - apart from Ashley 'covering' the debt, the rest has been dire.../color]- we KNOW what needs to be done but the Board and owner clearly DON'T ; they believe that appointing someone like Wise as DOF and a complete novice like Llambias as Chairman who then try to operate some supposedly-iconic system like the Continentals is going to be the answer to all the club's problems THE FINANCES ARE MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN COMMUNICATION OR SOME FANS HAVING A PROBLEM WITH WISE....this is the charitable version...the less charitable view is that they are cynically using the club as a cash-raising device by selling players with talent and replacing them with journeymen whilst making it up as they go along with such decisions as offering Kinnear an extended contract on the grounds that he is 'what they need'. I DON'T UNDERSTAND OFFERING KINNEAR A CONTRACT BUT THE CASH RAISER IDEA IS BIZZARRE CONSIDERING HOW MUCH HE'LL HAVE TO MAKE TO CLAW BACK WHAT HE'S PUT IN...IS IT A 30 YEAR PLAN ?...I'll BET he is - I remember Stan Seymour saying that after the Board went up to Hibs and bought Ralph Callachan back in 1977 after Richard Dinnis and Gordon Lee said they DIDN'T want the player....

They have compounded this mistake by keeping the coaches in charge now that Kinnear is out of action, maybe for good ; instead of decisively going for a new, preferably younger manager(for the long term), or an experienced proven guy until the season's end, they have gambled on the club's future, probably out of parsimony...

 

These guys are a joke and their lack of know-how and penny-pinching will return to haunt them big-style.

I am NOT convinced and the sooner the club is sold to people who may approach Randy Lerner's outlook, the better for all concerned, otherwise we are all in for a few years of misery. ANY IDEA WHO ?Perhaps there WOULD have been someone had Ashley not been arrogant and rude on his visit to Dubai and failed to keep an appointment with the Arabs....there WILL be someone, but not yet because this lot have left the club in such a mess on the field and in turmoil off it...

[stalker]

I like the idea of bringing in talented youngsters but how can we expect them to develop into top class players when we have to bring them into a senior team which lacks talent and quality and is more suited to battle than to play football?

[TRon]

I do believe they have a 5 year plan, it's clearly based on developing youngsters which they have done from day one and to their credit have continued to do even when it's gone tits up. They invested a fair amount of money in the first window when Allardyce (appointed by Freddie) was manager and now we ars struggling to shift a lot of dead weight from his mistakes in the transfer market. Once these leeches are off the books I expect the money will be re-invested in players who give more value for their wages.

 

The main problem we have with this regime is the apparent lack of football knowledge of those making the major decisions. Not that it was much better under Shepherd. I don't think we've had the right vision at the top since SJH was chairman.

[madras]

Having looked at the first 3 pages of response to Llambias's interview comments on nufc.com(its always good to try to see what other boards are thinking), it is clear that the vast majority of fans there are NOT convinced by the Club's owner/board and their policy - and I have to agree.

 

There are far too many anomalies in his statements ; things like trying to 'become an Aston Villa' are ludicrous because Villa run their club in an entirely different way to this lot ; they have a proven manager & coaches who have made progress with the team since day 1 TRUE; they have an owner who most other fans will have forgotten about because he simply provides MON with a decent budget TRUE but who else was prepared to put ANY money towards the club,let alone transfer budgets ?, allows him to get on with it, and turns up quietly to support the team MORE TO DO WITH THEY ARE DOING WELL AND WE ARN'T(Nothing at all to do with that - Lerner has been going since Day i). ; in any event , we have already BEEN where Villa are , and even past that by playing CL Football in recent years, so Llambias is showing lack of ambition by implying that we have to use them as a standard THEY CAN ONLY BE JUDGED FROM WHEN THEY TOOK OVER...NOT WHERE NUFC WAS YEARS BEFORE THEY CAME IN[)They should be judged on WHAT ACTIONS THEY HAVE TAKEN TO IMPROVE THE CLUB - apart from Ashley 'covering' the debt, the rest has been dire.../color]- we KNOW what needs to be done but the Board and owner clearly DON'T ; they believe that appointing someone like Wise as DOF and a complete novice like Llambias as Chairman who then try to operate some supposedly-iconic system like the Continentals is going to be the answer to all the club's problems THE FINANCES ARE MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN COMMUNICATION OR SOME FANS HAVING A PROBLEM WITH WISE....this is the charitable version...the less charitable view is that they are cynically using the club as a cash-raising device by selling players with talent and replacing them with journeymen whilst making it up as they go along with such decisions as offering Kinnear an extended contract on the grounds that he is 'what they need'. I DON'T UNDERSTAND OFFERING KINNEAR A CONTRACT BUT THE CASH RAISER IDEA IS BIZZARRE CONSIDERING HOW MUCH HE'LL HAVE TO MAKE TO CLAW BACK WHAT HE'S PUT IN...IS IT A 30 YEAR PLAN ?...I'll BET he is - I remember Stan Seymour saying that after the Board went up to Hibs and bought Ralph Callachan back in 1977 after Richard Dinnis and Gordon Lee said they DIDN'T want the player....

They have compounded this mistake by keeping the coaches in charge now that Kinnear is out of action, maybe for good ; instead of decisively going for a new, preferably younger manager(for the long term), or an experienced proven guy until the season's end, they have gambled on the club's future, probably out of parsimony...

 

These guys are a joke and their lack of know-how and penny-pinching will return to haunt them big-style.

I am NOT convinced and the sooner the club is sold to people who may approach Randy Lerner's outlook, the better for all concerned, otherwise we are all in for a few years of misery. ANY IDEA WHO ?Perhaps there WOULD have been someone had Ashley not been arrogant and rude on his visit to Dubai and failed to keep an appointment with the Arabs....there WILL be someone, but not yet because this lot have left the club in such a mess on the field and in turmoil off it...

i wished you'd used a different colour....anyway,here goes.

 

point 1).....ie quietly supporting the team etc....what i meant was if we were top 6 no-one would be complaining about lack of communication etc.

 

2) we know what needs to be done ?----do we ? outside of appointing a better manager than kinnear few will agree will on anything apart from disliking wise and Llambias on a personal level without actually knowing what they do.

 

3) the bit about keeping an appointment with the arabs.................the ashley side of the story is that they already had a meeting and were offered a derisiory price. turned it down and went on the hoy. i have no reason to believe one story or the other..........do you know different ?

[Tooj]

According to Doug Ellis Lerner looked at Newcastle and Everton but was put off by the clubs debts, quite clearly Llambias wasn't talking about being an exact copy of Villa though and was talking about being able to push on up the league like they have and try and crack the top 4, I'm sure Ashley would like to be in the position that Lerner is in and any money he puts into the club can go into strengthening the first team rather than helping pay for the day to day running of the club but we will get there soon enough.

 

The clubs annual loses are slowly coming down from £34m in 2007 to £20m in 2008 and a predicted loss of £7m in 2009 so they are turning it around.

 

The only thing Llambias meant when he was talking about "being an Aston Villa" was that their owner didn't spent very much at all in their first two seasons, helped balance the debt, and then slowly moved forward.  But, if you hate Ashley you're not really willing to look at that anyway.  Ashley won't make money until we are challenging in the league, why can't anyone see that?  The past regime pocketed over 150 millions pounds while Ashley has pocketed ZERO so far.  He's not penny pinching for the sake of lining his own pockets, he's making sure the club is on an even keel before we push forward and make our moves up the table.   It has been almost three years since Lerner bought the Villains and they are just now moving up the league.  Cut Ashley some slack and let him balance the books before we start calling for his head.  In the next year or two we're going to have one of the best academies producing youngsters in the country and we'll be making our way up the table.  That's what their "five year plan" is all about; keep us in the Prem, funnel through very useful youngsters, and slowly invest in the team in a competent and responsible manner.

 

How do you know we're going to have one of the best academies? Especially when local talent is turning us down for our rivals. We don't have a good track record of developing young talent as well, so we may initially sign some of these players, but what has been done to improve coaching methods? Who has been brought in with an amazing track record of developing young talent?

 

I agree that building the foundations through the youth level is a good approach, but that isn't going to matter if we go down as then any of the talented players we bring through will just leave anyway. If we go down the ramifications will be huge, yet they appear to be ready to take the gamble on this, which is what I can't get my head around. All of these other clubs who are investing in youth aren't neglecting the first team as well, which is what we are doing. We need quality in the first team as well.

[Nobody]

Are there new ones coming today as well?

[mrmojorisin75]

Are there new ones coming today as well?

 

more outright bullshit for people to lap up?  hope so

[merlin]

Having looked at the first 3 pages of response to Llambias's interview comments on nufc.com(its always good to try to see what other boards are thinking), it is clear that the vast majority of fans there are NOT convinced by the Club's owner/board and their policy - and I have to agree.

 

There are far too many anomalies in his statements ; things like trying to 'become an Aston Villa' are ludicrous because Villa run their club in an entirely different way to this lot ; they have a proven manager & coaches who have made progress with the team since day 1 TRUE; they have an owner who most other fans will have forgotten about because he simply provides MON with a decent budget TRUE but who else was prepared to put ANY money towards the club,let alone transfer budgets ?, allows him to get on with it, and turns up quietly to support the team MORE TO DO WITH THEY ARE DOING WELL AND WE ARN'T(Nothing at all to do with that - Lerner has been going since Day i). ; in any event , we have already BEEN where Villa are , and even past that by playing CL Football in recent years, so Llambias is showing lack of ambition by implying that we have to use them as a standard THEY CAN ONLY BE JUDGED FROM WHEN THEY TOOK OVER...NOT WHERE NUFC WAS YEARS BEFORE THEY CAME IN[)They should be judged on WHAT ACTIONS THEY HAVE TAKEN TO IMPROVE THE CLUB - apart from Ashley 'covering' the debt, the rest has been dire.../color]- we KNOW what needs to be done but the Board and owner clearly DON'T ; they believe that appointing someone like Wise as DOF and a complete novice like Llambias as Chairman who then try to operate some supposedly-iconic system like the Continentals is going to be the answer to all the club's problems THE FINANCES ARE MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN COMMUNICATION OR SOME FANS HAVING A PROBLEM WITH WISE....this is the charitable version...the less charitable view is that they are cynically using the club as a cash-raising device by selling players with talent and replacing them with journeymen whilst making it up as they go along with such decisions as offering Kinnear an extended contract on the grounds that he is 'what they need'. I DON'T UNDERSTAND OFFERING KINNEAR A CONTRACT BUT THE CASH RAISER IDEA IS BIZZARRE CONSIDERING HOW MUCH HE'LL HAVE TO MAKE TO CLAW BACK WHAT HE'S PUT IN...IS IT A 30 YEAR PLAN ?...I'll BET he is - I remember Stan Seymour saying that after the Board went up to Hibs and bought Ralph Callachan back in 1977 after Richard Dinnis and Gordon Lee said they DIDN'T want the player....

They have compounded this mistake by keeping the coaches in charge now that Kinnear is out of action, maybe for good ; instead of decisively going for a new, preferably younger manager(for the long term), or an experienced proven guy until the season's end, they have gambled on the club's future, probably out of parsimony...

 

These guys are a joke and their lack of know-how and penny-pinching will return to haunt them big-style.

I am NOT convinced and the sooner the club is sold to people who may approach Randy Lerner's outlook, the better for all concerned, otherwise we are all in for a few years of misery. ANY IDEA WHO ?Perhaps there WOULD have been someone had Ashley not been arrogant and rude on his visit to Dubai and failed to keep an appointment with the Arabs....there WILL be someone, but not yet because this lot have left the club in such a mess on the field and in turmoil off it...

i wished you'd used a different colour....anyway,here goes.

 

point 1).....ie quietly supporting the team etc....what i meant was if we were top 6 no-one would be complaining about lack of communication etc.

 

2) we know what needs to be done ?----do we ? outside of appointing a better manager than kinnear few will agree will on anything apart from disliking wise and Llambias on a personal level without actually knowing what they do.

 

3) the bit about keeping an appointment with the arabs.................the ashley side of the story is that they already had a meeting and were offered a derisiory price. turned it down and went on the hoy. i have no reason to believe one story or the other..........do you know different ?

Do you know that its NOT the way things happened - why would they say it if it wasn't true ? If can't mak their chances of getting the club on the cheap any better..?In any case, as someone who has been in business for themselves, I know that I NEVER broke an appointment, nor did I expect others to do so with me.

 

As to point 2, yes, many of us DO know what needs to be done because its hardly rocket science - you appoint a DECENT MANAGER, agree a BUDGET with him, and provide him with a decent SCOUTING NETWORK to find future players...he then vets them and decides if they are HIS kind of player before signing them...you do NOT try to undermine him by appointing some guy who wasn't half the player that the manager was, or has nowhere near the managerial experience, over his head as so-called DOF ; NOR do you appoint someone who ran a Casino previously as your Chairman, esp if he has the charisma of a sideboard....

 

Had ANY of these things been done correctly, we would probably not have been in the dire position in which the club finds itself......and these points are just for starters.

[ToonTastic]

Are there new ones coming today as well?

 

Nope think that was it

[jackyboy]

The reason we are in this present predicament is down to Sam Allardyce. If he had delivered, or even shown signs of delivering all of this wouldn't have happened. There would have been no KK, no major upheavals, no trying to sell the club and we could probably have bought a couple of decent players with what all that has cost.  It is because of his total failure that the reputation of this club has become so tarnished

[ToonTastic]

The reason we are in this present predicament is down to Sam Allardyce. If he had delivered, or even shown signs of delivering all of this wouldn't have happened. There would have been no KK, no major upheavals, no trying to sell the club and we could probably have bought a couple of decent players with what all that has cost.  It is because of his total failure that the reputation of this club has become so tarnished

 

That's actually very true. He was given a few quid to spend, bought badly, we performed badly and things went down hill from there. I'm happy to blame him for everything.