Reprobate Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 hello my american brethren! *grits teeth* happy belated 4th of July! *ungrits teeth* i'm an Aston Villa fan, and as you may or may not know, we're owned by your previous owner Randy Lerner. After a promising start throwing money around and some very good seasons under his ownership the money seemed to vanish, which in football is a death sentence. I understand his unwillingness to continue high spending as we couldn't seem to break through into the elite top 4 under Martin O'Neil, our manager at the time. we then spent the next 3 seasons on a shoestring, buying unproven youngsters and flirting with relegation to the second tier despite very good money coming in to the club. Everybody assumed Lerner was getting ready to sell but it took until this year for him to officially put us up for sale. We now find ourselves in a very rough position, we have a manager we don't like, a team that for the large part isn't good enough, and seemingly no investment from Lerner to help in the forthcoming season due to his public declaration that he's had enough. I see some similarities between us and yourselves, such as he released a statement through his PR guy that he wasn't selling and that he was fully dedicated to the club, only for a complete 180 a couple of months later, apparently he did that with you too. As you have been through a very similar situation with the same man i am basically looking for any help with what we can expect from him, i'll list them as questions, any information would be incredibly helpful. 1. How much financial support should we expect after his statement that he is selling up? 2. Do you feel he sold you to the right person? was he thinking of his own bottom line or the teams future? 3. Did he leave you in a good position to move forward? as he seems to be asset stripping at Villa. I apologize for my ignorance on NFL matters, and appreciate any help. P.S. amazing watching your country in the World Cup, you should be proud, which is more than i can say for Englands "performance". Plus my missus is an Everton fan so Tim Howard has always held god status in my home... thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utzie Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 hello my american brethren! *grits teeth* happy belated 4th of July! *ungrits teeth* i'm an Aston Villa fan, and as you may or may not know, we're owned by your previous owner Randy Lerner. After a promising start throwing money around and some very good seasons under his ownership the money seemed to vanish, which in football is a death sentence. I understand his unwillingness to continue high spending as we couldn't seem to break through into the elite top 4 under Martin O'Neil, our manager at the time. we then spent the next 3 seasons on a shoestring, buying unproven youngsters and flirting with relegation to the second tier despite very good money coming in to the club. Everybody assumed Lerner was getting ready to sell but it took until this year for him to officially put us up for sale. We now find ourselves in a very rough position, we have a manager we don't like, a team that for the large part isn't good enough, and seemingly no investment from Lerner to help in the forthcoming season due to his public declaration that he's had enough. I see some similarities between us and yourselves, such as he released a statement through his PR guy that he wasn't selling and that he was fully dedicated to the club, only for a complete 180 a couple of months later, apparently he did that with you too. As you have been through a very similar situation with the same man i am basically looking for any help with what we can expect from him, i'll list them as questions, any information would be incredibly helpful. 1. How much financial support should we expect after his statement that he is selling up? 2. Do you feel he sold you to the right person? was he thinking of his own bottom line or the teams future? 3. Did he leave you in a good position to move forward? as he seems to be asset stripping at Villa. I apologize for my ignorance on NFL matters, and appreciate any help. P.S. amazing watching your country in the World Cup, you should be proud, which is more than i can say for Englands "performance". Plus my missus is an Everton fan so Tim Howard has always held god status in my home... thanks again! 1) Support from him? Very little. 2) Yes. Haslam seems much more committed to actually winning than Lerner was. Lerner definitely only really cared about his own money committment. 3) I'm going to say yes here, simply because he was no longer the owner and finally left (whether his intentions were good or not). Regarding the P.S., fuck yeah, Tim "Brick Wall" Howard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Firstly, UTV. RL brought me to the Browns as well - it's a good time to get on board, things are just about looking up! At the risk of turning this in to a soccer thread (I've been here long enough I keep calling it soccer automatically), I'm not sold on either Senderos or Cole, but waiting to see. Hopefully Benteke comes back as strong as before, and Okore can form a solid partnership with Vlaar. Saw also that N'Zogbia and Kozak are back in training too, and the 'bomb squad' are back in - Hutton surely won't get a game though? Now, on to the matter at hand, I see similarities like yourself between the two teams, or at least I did until last season. Randy sold up to Jimmy Haslam, a guy who seems to want only the best things for the club, isn't getting too involved iin the day to day running of the team, but can be ruthless when needed. He seems to generally be a decent guy, apart from the obligatory federal investigation... Once Randy had made up his mind to sell the Browns, which some people would argue happened years ago, he seemed to lose interest, although it's debatable how much interest he had in the first place - he inherited the Browns, he bought the villa. It's difficult to asset strip an NFL club. You can't sell players, you can only release them or trade them for other players/draft picks, so it's not like he could sell the top stars and pocket the cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reprobate Posted July 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 1) Support from him? Very little. 2) Yes. Haslam seems much more committed to actually winning than Lerner was. Lerner definitely only really cared about his own money committment. 3) I'm going to say yes here, simply because he was no longer the owner and finally left (whether his intentions were good or not). Regarding the P.S., fuck yeah, Tim "Brick Wall" Howard. to the point, cheers! Firstly, UTV. RL brought me to the Browns as well - it's a good time to get on board, things are just about looking up! At the risk of turning this in to a soccer thread (I've been here long enough I keep calling it soccer automatically), I'm not sold on either Senderos or Cole, but waiting to see. Hopefully Benteke comes back as strong as before, and Okore can form a solid partnership with Vlaar. Saw also that N'Zogbia and Kozak are back in training too, and the 'bomb squad' are back in - Hutton surely won't get a game though? Now, on to the matter at hand, I see similarities like yourself between the two teams, or at least I did until last season. Randy sold up to Jimmy Haslam, a guy who seems to want only the best things for the club, isn't getting too involved iin the day to day running of the team, but can be ruthless when needed. He seems to generally be a decent guy, apart from the obligatory federal investigation... Once Randy had made up his mind to sell the Browns, which some people would argue happened years ago, he seemed to lose interest, although it's debatable how much interest he had in the first place - he inherited the Browns, he bought the villa. It's difficult to asset strip an NFL club. You can't sell players, you can only release them or trade them for other players/draft picks, so it's not like he could sell the top stars and pocket the cash. another Villan.. did.. did we just take over the world?... haha nice one mate, and as for the new signings i'm dumbfounded.. Senderos is a complete fucking mystery, Cole i HOPE can help Deph and Westy and his experience could come in handy, plus after hearing that he turned down more money elsewhere to come to VP i kind of love him a little bit.. thanks for the info on Lerner boys, by the sounds of it it's cross our fingers and hope for the best.. so exactly the same as the past few seasons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Lerner sold the Browns, I believe, as soon as his 10 year committment to hid dad/family was up. He/his family made about a 500 million dollar profit on the deal (before taxes) Our thought was that he was going to invest that money into Aston Villa, but that apparently was not the case. He did buy AV rather than inherit them. How much did he pay for AV, and how much is he selling them for? The speculation is "what is he going to do with his money from the sale of both teams"? Is he going to get out of sports altogether and just invest him money in pork bellies or the stock market? Or, may he pursue an interest in the MLS? It is probably a far less expensive proposition for him to own a team in that league than in the English Premier League, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 He bought the team for £62m about 8 years ago, pumped a load of money in to renovating the team and facilities (about £200m seems to be the going number), and now he's apparently looking for £200m, although I've heard reports that it's down to £150m. I doubt he's interested in buying another team as it seems like he lost his passion for the sport when he realised he couldn't just buy the title. He's probably going to stick to the businesses he's involved in and have a very nice life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombo Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombo Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Cleveland was to have gotten an expansion MLS team before Bart Wolstein died. See this article on overall MLS expansion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_of_Major_League_Soccer Sure, it seems like Cleveland may be dead in the water there....but as noted, the prime factor in getting expansion is having an interested, viable owner, and a stadium plan. Lerner would be the ticket there....if he still really wants to be involved. Finding a spot for a stadium would be no problem, and FYI, the Browns stadium proved entirely adequate to host soccer when an exhibition match was held here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieDawg Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Wow, Zombo was gentle on this guy, I think is is getting soft in his old age. I bet Horseballs would not be so kind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Wow, Zombo was gentle on this guy, I think is is getting soft in his old age. I bet Horseballs would not be so kind. When it comes to Randy Lerner bashing, yes, Zombo is the post Christmas Grinch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowe Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Firstly, UTV. RL brought me to the Browns as well - it's a good time to get on board, things are just about looking up! At the risk of turning this in to a soccer thread (I've been here long enough I keep calling it soccer automatically), I'm not sold on either Senderos or Cole, but waiting to see. Hopefully Benteke comes back as strong as before, and Okore can form a solid partnership with Vlaar. Saw also that N'Zogbia and Kozak are back in training too, and the 'bomb squad' are back in - Hutton surely won't get a game though? You can call it football again when your country wins more world cup games than the United States! haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 You can call it football again when your country wins more world cup games than the United States! haha That obligates him for the next 4 years at least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoorta Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Wow, Zombo was gentle on this guy, I think is is getting soft in his old age. I bet Horseballs would not be so kind. I think he's mellowed after the World Cup. At least the USA didn't get humiliated by the Germans like Brazil did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miktoxic Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 I think he's mellowed after the World Cup. At least the USA didn't get humiliated by the Germans like Brazil did. suicide hotlines were ring off the hook. i guess when you're whole country's athletic hopes and dreams go out the window in one 45 minute period people start considering teetering on the edge of a building top. brazil needs to learn how to embrace other sports besides 'kick the ball' and 'dress like woman'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBrown Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Any chance of Vassell coming in as punt returner.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Any chance of Vassell coming in as punt returner.... With Ugo Ehiogu and John Carew at DEs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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