On the eve of a positive new era in which the club and manager are about to embark I am not too keen on going over the past. But I feel as though I need to point something out. For those of you who have been reading for some time, you might remember a few of my pieces last season when I talked of a conspiracy. Now I didn’t really explain at the time what I meant but I think now is the time to do so.
Now before I go on, as most of you know I am the Positive Consultant for the blog, and will forever try to be as positive as I possibly can. The next part of this is by no means an attack on the club or the board, in fact, quite the opposite; you see, the board have managed to do something that hasn’t been done before to my knowledge.
What am I going on about?
McLeish served a purpose. He was something we had to have and something the club had to go through, and hopefully most realise that now. The purpose he served and the conspiracy—have we all noticed how the level of expectation has been reined in? I think it is an excellent thing for the club and it is a very clever bit of management and business planning from the board. Yes it nearly went wrong, but in the end it didn’t.
Not so long ago as fans we were demanding transfer market spends way beyond our means. We have been expecting players who match our ambition with price tags to match—on the assumption price means quality. What the board has managed to do is a masterstroke. As fans we are now accepting of signings we would never have been happy with in the past.
After all, who was the last £2 million player we signed and took to? No disrespect to the guy we have just signed but already we can’t wait to see him play, there have been minimal grumbles, and hardly any moans. Now ask yourself would that have happened last year? The year before? Or even the year before that? This is why the board need praise: In the past the expectation has burdened our great club and played like a weight round the neck of every manager who walked through the doors at B6. What the board have managed to do is find the right manager, and one the fans can trust, and because of that we are accepting of his targets and signings and our expectation level is about level with where we are as a team now.
Times change
Lots of things have changed since Randy Lerner first came in, but what he has managed to do is make mistake genius. Randy trusted the wrong guy with his VISA, employed the village idiot to do the dirty job no one wanted, and then employed the young up-and-coming manager with a style the fans crave and whose spend, in comparison to many, is minimal.
Say all you want about Lerner, Faulkner, their motives and who you perceive them to be, but I for one am quite glad we have a pair of people at the helm that can manage to do all they have done. At the time some of the decisions never looked like benefitting the club and had the fans at war, but looking back, everything we have gone through has served a purpose, and as a club and a fan base we are stronger for it.
Don’t believe me? Look how together most are over anything to do with Villa. Everything is looking up. Everything. And for that, like it or not, we have Lerner to thank.
When I was young I had a dream: to support the greatest football team. Now we are here, the dream is real with Randy Lerner and Paul Lambert! Forever Villa!
The Author
