Howard Hodgson - An Introduction

Farrell_10 wrote:

HH 8166 wrote:

Farrell_10 wrote:

HH 8166 wrote:Neither could work with O Neill who was a monster to deal with.. I still have nightmares about the deal he approved for Beye.. £45K a week for 3 years and then barely talked to him, let alone played him.. (£7M blown on wages). Villa didn't learn though and blew similar amount on Hutton wages wise plus £4M transfer fee

That is absolutely criminal. But they got away with blaming MON for everything for too long. MON was long gone when deals for Hutton, Makoun, N'Zogbia, Jenas were completed and I am sure these all had a pretty big impact on a deteriorating financial outlook. At least with some of MON's signings, Young, Milner and Downing, there were huge profits for the club. These were invested very badly.

I agree. You can only blame MON for so long and he has been gone since 2010. Many mistakes have been made since. Bent will cost the club over £40M in transfer fee and wages alone!

Bloody hell. Unreal. DO you agree with me that Bent was sanctioned because of the Milner money and the fact that they planned to cash in on Young the following summer?

At the time he was paraded as a 'marquee' signing but I see him more as panic when relegation looked a distinct possibility and there were assets and funds to back it.

100% correct.

I was chuffed to bits when we signed Bent, and to a large extent he kept us up.

Ian wrote:I was chuffed to bits when we signed Bent, and to a large extent he kept us up.

Bent did keep us up and with the right service is a proven goalscorer but he doesn't do much else. Since we sold Young and Downing he lost his supply. Our mismanagement of him is the issue here and has meant a player that we paid £24M for and gave a long contract worth £70K a week will leave in a year's time for zero. In the meantime he is due back here for another season so with a new manager you never know.. He may rekindle him.

HH 8166 wrote:

Ian wrote:I was chuffed to bits when we signed Bent, and to a large extent he kept us up.

Bent did keep us up and with the right service is a proven goalscorer but he doesn't do much else. Since we sold Young and Downing he lost his supply. Our mismanagement of him is the issue here and has meant a player that we paid £24M for and gave a long contract worth £70K a week will leave in a year's time for zero. In the meantime he is due back here for another season so with a new manager you never know.. He may rekindle him.

Do you think, since Leeds, there has been a worse run English club than Villa?

Do you think, since Leeds, there has been a worse run English club than Villa?

.......Small Heath Alliance :)

Farrell_10 wrote:

HH 8166 wrote:

Ian wrote:I was chuffed to bits when we signed Bent, and to a large extent he kept us up.

Bent did keep us up and with the right service is a proven goalscorer but he doesn't do much else. Since we sold Young and Downing he lost his supply. Our mismanagement of him is the issue here and has meant a player that we paid £24M for and gave a long contract worth £70K a week will leave in a year's time for zero. In the meantime he is due back here for another season so with a new manager you never know.. He may rekindle him.

Do you think, since Leeds, there has been a worse run English club than Villa?

Blackburn, Portsmouth, Birmingham... But certainly we are poorly run and are put to shame by likes of Everton, Southampton, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs

When you look at the money put in for where we are now whoever has been running this club should be ashamed of themselves.

Fergal wrote:When you look at the money put in for where we are now whoever has been running this club should be ashamed of themselves.

That's what I mean. Vila has been like a black hole. So much money to end up at square one. Just bizarre.

Not quite as bad as the years immediately before Deadly took the reigns and brought Tommy Docherty in...but getting there, I fear.

New revolution needed urgently.

He was a Villa supporter too....

By the way, well done Trotters and Howard on this part of the website. Absolutely brilliant material here.  

Farrell_10 wrote:

Fergal wrote:When you look at the money put in for where we are now whoever has been running this club should be ashamed of themselves.

That's what I mean. Vila has been like a black hole. So much money to end up at square one. Just bizarre.

The guy that has been at the forefront of this first as CFO and then as CEO is Faulkner yet Lerner sticks to him like glue??

Perhaps he is doing a cracking job with the books.

HH 8166 wrote:

Farrell_10 wrote:

Fergal wrote:When you look at the money put in for where we are now whoever has been running this club should be ashamed of themselves.

That's what I mean. Vila has been like a black hole. So much money to end up at square one. Just bizarre.

The guy that has been at the forefront of this first as CFO and then as CEO is Faulkner yet Lerner sticks to him like glue??

I know, I can't understand that. Faulkner is the common denominator to an awful lot of crap that has gone on at Villa Park these last few years. It's like a closed shop there at the minute.

HH you are a great addition to this site - top quality articles as always!

I must say that it is a privilege to read these posts

PDC Lion wrote:I must say that it is a privilege to read these posts

I second the proposal.

The posts must be good or you lot need to get a room :)

Thanks very much guys.. Have to say the site is refreshing with less cynics than on most Villa websites.

Thanks Howard, we just want to talk about Villa and try to debate ways of lifting the club from the current malaise that gripped it.

Indeed mate which is my main goal as well. Just written my latest piece and it really does boil down to people in power there simply not caring enough about the good of the club.. As Jamie Carragher said we are drifting like a rudderless ship.

Read your piece, nailed it again. There was been a sense that Nero has been fiddling while Rome burned... when relegation threatens a club like Villa you take note and try to ensure it doesn't happen again. We have been living very dangerously.

Farrell_10 wrote:Read your piece, nailed it again. There was been a sense that Nero has been fiddling while Rome burned... when relegation threatens a club like Villa you take note and try to ensure it doesn't happen again. We have been living very dangerously.

Very true.. Instead we have ignored the warnings and continue to keep the ship on the same course despite the warnings of "Iceburg dead ahead!"

The annoying thing is most fans could see what was coming.