I think Learner would be terrible for the club. A lot of Villa's woes has been because after O'Neil he's just not given a crap. I actually feel sorry for Lambert. I think Crowe would be a brilliant owner for the club. For what I understand he's done wonders for the Rugby League club in Australia that he owns.
Thank you kind sir and not a "mate down the pub" told me story either - Lerner lodged funds in the hope that Cellino would get rejected and GFH actually wanted to back out of the deal with Cellino but couldn't
No I totally agree with Mr Wolves - think he would be terrible. Perhaps a little less abrasive and confrontational than Bates & Cellino for example but exactly the same money driven couldn't give a stuff about the meaning of owning a Leeds United or Aston Villa. I raised it as a thought about the type of owner we need. Of course mega rich would be nice but is that actually the most important thing? I think passion is even more important and money really helps - hence my Crowe analogy, a mix of the two would be my choice (or Parkin etc). I think Mr Wolves knew what I meant because of his location and I think Lerners apathy stinks as much as Cellino's ego personally. This was in context of what is really wrong with Leeds United (maybe even more so that 40 year old gypsy curses )
Russell Crowe played a blinder, Got his name thrown around and promoted his film He just about has enough cash to buy us, then what?
Missing my point a bit and can't wait for Chippy to tear me to bits Wasn't advocating Crowe (and you are probably entirely correct) was highlighting the difference between someone like him and some of the other alternatives (which seem to be forever drawn to us!). If we go beyond dreams of mega bucks or the ramifications of a Red Bull, I still think an intelligent, driven owner with the fans on board can take us to at least a Swansea, Southampton, West Ham level and then who knows what can happen? Would love a Leeds United with Taylor, Byram, Coyle, Cook in an FA Cup Final and top ten in the Premier League in my lifetime as much as I loved real football when Aston Villa could win the league and Ipswich finish runners up, or Southampton (not Sunderland) winning an FA Cup!
All the transfer money that disappeared,and the money that didn't disappear was spent on a ground that we don't own, borrowing money on future season ticket sales. GFH were even worse, and Cellino inherited that mess, so it's hardly his fault
The value of season ticket sales that Bates mortgaged was only £2M so how can the £40M debt incurred since he left be blamed on him? As you were losing £1M per month after he left, would it be fair to say that while he was there, he must have been covering those costs as well as employing twice as many staff? He was also paying the high policing costs that have since been returned to Cellino's coffers
Think you might need to get yourself a time machine and head back fifteen or twenty years to see that
You'd have to go back a lot further than that to see a decent England team that actually won something Even when the league was filled with British talent with hardly a foreign player in sight they were still as ****e as they are now
My main gripe with Bates is that most transfer money (apart from funds from the Delph transfer and others which mysteriously disappeared) received from the sale of any decent player we had (who were replaced by second rate journeymen) was wasted by improvements on a ground we don't even own to the detriment of the playing side. Then he ended up borrowing against future season ticket sales to finish the work. All this at a club which at the time had the biggest turnover and highest average home attendance in the division
But once he steadied the ship after administration, every team you had under his stewardship was one challenging for promotion and such was fans expectations. Since he left, you have not finished in the top half and now most of you are happy to be staying up
I think there are some people blinded by the light of money. All I seem to read is rich owner rich owner. All you need is a person who gives a crap, a decent manager and a little investment in the playing squad. MONs most expensive player was Carew at 10 million. You don't have to folk out Chelsea money for success.
Some things never change, might not be journeymen this time around but second rate replacements ring a bell
Because he was selling off our best talent each year to cover the losses, replaced them with inferior players and got out when there was no one left to sell. That's a good policy to see the club go broke and get relegated.