Re: The Tom Fox Thread

[KMitch]

Got admire Tom Foxs timing here - He missed out on Allardyce by giving Sherwood 2 more games - Then he misses out on Moyes as he becomes available approximately 1 Week after we appoint Garde.

I reckon if there were 9 good managers in the room and 1 Duffer - Fox would get the duffer !

Should Moyes go to Newcastle and save them, along with Allardyce saving Sunderland - Fox would surley have to resign.

Or he gets praised for pulling off a coup by bringing in Garde.

He'll never praise him. He's convinced himself he's the devil incarnate and is too stubbornly moronic to accept Garde could be a better option that either Sam or Moyes

Not true - Ive praised Garde for how he set the team up v Man City - and got a point where none was expected.

I have to say Id be more hopeful for survival this season with Moyes or Allardyce at the helm - does that really justify me being called stubbornly moronic ?  

Neither Moyes nor Allardyce would guarantee survival, just like Garde doesn't guarantee relegation.

[Villa_Dan]

No. One sentence doesn't justify calling you that. 

But all the others added together do. I really do think you're a miserable twat.

[smetro]

No. One sentence doesn't justify calling you that. 

But all the others added together do. I really do think you're a miserable twat.

Well that's half an apology I suppose.

Have to say I think the amount of venom in your last couple of posts is totally uncalled for.

But I guess your posting style is you're choice

I'm done here....goodbye all

[Villa_Dan]

Well I made a point and an effort to not respond to you at all for a long time and after this post I'll go back to that, but I'll end saying that last night it just got too tiresome. You don't just seem to see the negative in everything, you go out of your way to look for it. 

Garde picked the perfect line up and got a great point last match, but you come on here to attack Fox for not waiting another week to MAYBE get Moyes. It's fucking farcical.

[gdav]

No. One sentence doesn't justify calling you that. 

But all the others added together do. I really do think you're a miserable twat.

Well that's half an apology I suppose.

Have to say I think the amount of venom in your last couple of posts is totally uncalled for.

But I guess your posting style is you're choice

I'm done here....goodbye all

Been a busy few days but now I come on to see that paul faulkner has quit tbar??

What the hell has been going on??

[Villa_Dan]

No. One sentence doesn't justify calling you that. 

But all the others added together do. I really do think you're a miserable twat.

Well that's half an apology I suppose.

Have to say I think the amount of venom in your last couple of posts is totally uncalled for.

But I guess your posting style is you're choice

I'm done here....goodbye all

Been a busy few days but now I come on to see that paul faulkner has quit tbar??

What the hell has been going on??

Just want to say this genuinely made me chuckle. Kudos.

[DelboyVilla]

Got admire Tom Foxs timing here - He missed out on Allardyce by giving Sherwood 2 more games - Then he misses out on Moyes as he becomes available approximately 1 Week after we appoint Garde.

I reckon if there were 9 good managers in the room and 1 Duffer - Fox would get the duffer !

Should Moyes go to Newcastle and save them, along with Allardyce saving Sunderland - Fox would surley have to resign.

Fat Sam is hardly pulling up trees at Blunnderland and has a below average squad and Moyes is damaged goods and also is not an immediate results man more a plodder. There is no evidence to suggest Garde is a 'duffer' quite the contrary (where as FS and DM have records of Duffing which we can prove).

[Terry Derry]

Fox and Reilly got plenty of abuse last night on various radio programmes and forums. Took the limelight of the useless LerNer for a bit. Some people still supporting Lerner, mostly would-be fans reps on the board.

[EbeneezerGoode]

We don't get the phone-ins over here so I use the boards as a way of guaging feeling. It boggles my mind why some still defend these clowns so I am glad that they are finally getting some stick. People were excited by Fox to begin with as he came with a good reputation from a big club and wasn't Paul Faulkner but everything he has done has ended up a disaster. Would we be in the situation we are now if we did not have Fox, Almstadt and Reilly? The way I see it these guys have taken Lerner's shit sandwich and made it even worse. Fuck them all off.

[Trotters]

It boggles my mind why some still defend these clowns so I am glad that they are finally getting some stick

There is some mutual back-scratching going on between the club and various people so don't expect what should be a natural reaction to the current goings on.

I'm pretty sure that everyone is aware of the root cause of the club's issues; it's just that some won't/can't admit it and will actively quell any comment that highlights the utter incompetency of our board.

In my opinion, Lerner's biggest mistake was getting rid of the initial board he had set up and never appointing a real football man to advise him. The fact that the best man we have between the manager and chairman is a guy who primarily looks at stats tells you all you need to know.

The club is set up to fail and has been for a long time. So it should come as no surprise that we are where we are.

Having said that, somewhere in that squad of 25 is a half-decent side. Sherwood never even started to have a clue what that side was and, as a result, we've confidence, any semblance of footballing nous and, most importantly, points.

It seems on the surface that Fox, like Faulkner before him, cannot see where the club is failing. Either that, or he's telling Randy in no uncertain terms where it's failing but isn't being listened to. But I suspect if that was the case, he'd walk into another job. So for my money, he's just clueless.

[EbeneezerGoode]

It boggles my mind why some still defend these clowns so I am glad that they are finally getting some stick

There is some mutual back-scratching going on between the club and various people so don't expect what should be a natural reaction to the current goings on.

I'm pretty sure that everyone is aware of the root cause of the club's issues; it's just that some won't/can't admit it and will actively quell any comment that highlights the utter incompetency of our board.

Scales have fallen from some people's eyes recently and the guys who have stuck up for Lerner against all evidence are starting to get it in the neck as their credibility has gone.

In my opinion, Lerner's biggest mistake was getting rid of the initial board he had set up and never appointing a real football man to advise him. The fact that the best man we have between the manager and chairman is a guy who primarily looks at stats tells you all you need to know.

A few months ago Howard Hodgson was saying on here Fox told him we were trying to emulate Southampton. They have a sporting director like we do but theirs is Les Reed. Now I only know him from his time managing Charlton about ten years ago when he was a disaster but there is so much more to his CV than that. He's done technical roles at other clubs and the FA with nearly 20 years of experience so I guess he is exactly the type of guy you want for that role. Our sporting director is Hendrik Almstadt. I can't find exactly what he did at Arsenal. Some say he was a stats guy others say he worked in business development (not football related???). And then we have Paddy Reilly who was with us as a performance analyst and comes back to play a major role in our recruitment! What qualifies these people to have such senior positions at our club?? As you say Trotters these are the guys who Lerner and Fox are listening to on footballing matters!

[Army villain]

We were in a position that we could have installed Houllier as sporting director, he then would have found us a decent manager. And between them would have picked a decent team.
No Lamberts bomb squad, all our hopes are with Garde, we were on top until the delay in the match, then the mess up with the own goal, then it was catch up.
I think fitness is a issue went to sleep in the second half, we have some good players, it's the defence that is letting us down and Garde will try and sort it out.
The other plus is the 35,000 fans that went on Saturday. UTV.

[De Kuip]

Having said that, somewhere in that squad of 25 is a half-decent side.

Almost right Trotters - problem is I think the accurate phrase is: "Somewhere in that squad is half a decent side" and that me old China is the problem - only half of what we need to be a Premiership-standard team.

[EbeneezerGoode]

Heard theres was a meeting between Fox and people from fan groups and forums yesterday. Was anyone from here there or know if anything of note was said?

[Thinman]

One or two grudging snippets emerging on H&V. Apparently there will be a new chairman and board member in January.

Also a mentioned that Garde may have £25m or £30m to spend in January if he wants it.

This all may be total bollox so don't shoot the messenger.

[KMitch]

One or two grudging snippets emerging on H&V. Apparently there will be a new chairman and board member in January.

Also a mentioned that Garde may have £25m or £30m to spend in January if he wants it.

What is a new chairman going to do other than give us an illusion that things are changing behind the scenes?

25-30 million isn't going to cut it, unless we get some loans too.

[Villa_Dan]

A new chairman means Lerner becomes almost powerless and no longer sets the spending limits. All he can do is hire and fire the chairman, but if there is another board member added he couldn't just fire him on a whim as he'd need approval.

[Synopsis]

The Illusion you speak of Kmitch is exactly what the new chairman is intend to do, nothing else. Lerners finally washing his hand with the club, and taking nothing else to do with it at all. He will write it off as an expensive mistake that he is trying to forget until a mug can be found to pay him what he wants for the club, that is all.

Also I believe there's no way he is handing over 30m in January, he is stupid, not retarded. He will know that doing so would be in vain as the side needs at least two or three times that amount spent on it

[ViewFromT2]

"..the side needs at least two or three times that amount spent on it"

Rubbish in my opinion!

As Bournemouth and Watford are proving week in, week out.....it doesn't take bucket loads of money to be competitive. You need the right people in key roles and a manager that can inspire his team to at least try and look interested/break sweat!

Unfortunately we have non of the above, which is why we will go down.

Tell me this, if Paddy 'Fuckwit' Reilly spent £150m in January, and Remi Garde was manager.....do you think results/performances would be any better?

[Synopsis]

You say it doesn't need money, your right if you have a squad that believe in each other and their manager and fans that believe in them all you dont need to spend a lot, average players can and often do put in above average performances when this is the case, we have none of that.

Villa haven't bought average players, they have risked it and bought average prospects in the hope one of them will turn good and allow them to cash in for £30m again. This though hasn't been the case, and instead there is now a large number of players constantly under performing, that have had almost every shred of confidence and belief ground out of them, and that budget of 30m thats being whispered about will not be enough to get the right players, with the right motivation in my opinion. Anyone worth their salt is going to demand a decent financial package, and any selling club knows they have us over a barrel. I simply do not see the budget stretching enough for us to get the players that will enable the side to recover. No I don't trust Reilly to spend 150m, but likewise I dont expect Garde to say yes to more pointless unknown entities or fragile youth either.

[EbeneezerGoode]

One or two grudging snippets emerging on H&V. Apparently there will be a new chairman and board member in January.

Also a mentioned that Garde may have £25m or £30m to spend in January if he wants it.

This all may be total bollox so don't shoot the messenger.

Thanks. Caught up over there and its from some guys named everlast1910 and Joe C so not the usual suspects so might be something in it. I am surprised they let it be posted in public.

[Terry Derry]

Looks like Fox is trying to get fans onside, reading between the lines.
He'll be lucky. We all knew that Sherwood was a poor manager. The spotlight is on the board now as we prepare for the drop.

[Terry Derry]

From another forum:
As most of you are aware, there was a meeting pre match on Sunday between Tom Fox and about eight supporter representatives from various fan groups, including two from the AVST. I say meeting - it was more of a thirty minute Q and A session. Obviously, there wasn't time to cover all of our issues as supporters but here is a synopsis of what was discussed....

1) The sale of Fabian Delph – the buy out clause was put into the new contract at Delph's insistence. The club were in an impossible negotiating position due to the complete inactivity on improving his contract twelve months earlier. No comment on the circus surrounding the eventual sale.

2) The so-called Transfer Committee - Sherwood/Fox/Reilly got together in the summer to look at what we could do on the transfer side of things. They initially identified players who the manager did not want to remain in the squad (which included Gil by all accounts). Then they looked at the holes in the squad and asked the manager's view on replacements. The steer was that Sherwood basically wanted a bunch of players from Spurs. Reilly’s job was to offer other possibilities that we had scouted. Crucially, Tom Fox repeatedly made it clear that the manager got the final call on whether a player should be brought in. He was also at pains to point out that this is exactly how every other club operates. On Almstadt, he also gave an overview of what he does. He apparently has no involvement in player acquisitions whatsoever. His job is basically to take up the slack for running the logistical side of the team, leaving the manager to worry about working with the players. A fixer if you will. By way of example, he gave our medical team. Sherwood identifies a problem, Almstadt is there to fix it. He sits alongside the manager rather than the manager reporting to him and, unlike the Spurs model where Baldini buys the players, that is not in his remit here.

3) The appointment of a new Chairman and Board Member will be announced imminently. No further details on this.

Other off-the-record conversations took place during this meeting which are to remain "within the room" at Mr. Fox's insistence, so it's only right and proper to respect this. However, suffice it to say that all was not rosy in the garden when Sherwood was manager and it would appear that Sherwood was at best a very divisive character around the club, both with players and staff. Also, Fox is insistent that the club is now on the right track in terms of structure behind the scenes and that this structure/strategy will remain regardless of future events. So, my interpretation of that is that Garde is here for the long term, even if we get relegated, but that is my personal opinion.

From Aston villa loyal fan forum

[Terry Derry]

I was pleasantly surprised to see H&V posting details of the meeting. They wanted to keep it to their secret, member-slagging, GM forum but it was thwarted by their own members.

[EbeneezerGoode]

Other off-the-record conversations took place during this meeting which are to remain "within the room" at Mr. Fox's insistence, so it's only right and proper to respect this. However, suffice it to say that all was not rosy in the garden when Sherwood was manager and it would appear that Sherwood was at best a very divisive character around the club, both with players and staff.

Off the record but reading between the lines its clear to see that he must have told them Sherwood was a useless sugarbag and charlatan.

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