It’s brief, it doesn’t reveal much, but the General’s words, which I’ll add below shortly, don’t paint a rosy picture of the scenes behind closed doors at Villa Park.

On the basis of what’s been emerging in the last few days, why Martin O’Neill signed another 12 month contract not two months ago is a mystery to me. I’m sure he’ll give his own version in due course.

Randy Lerner
Having had some time to reflect on Martin leaving, I can say that our most immediate resolution is supporting Kevin MacDonald and resolving the situation with Manchester City and James Milner.

As far as explaining why Martin left, I can say only that we no longer shared a common view as to how to move forward.

To deal in greater detail would do little but cause additional distraction for the club as it faces imminent games and the clear priority of hiring a permanent manager.

Finally, there have been no changes in our approach to building the club aiming always to be as competitive as possible given our size and resources.

Video Ahead Of Holte Hotel Meeting

[Video courtesy of Birmingham Mail]

I read what the General had to say yesterday and suggested that things could get messy, let’s just say that he was significantly less diplomatic than Randy. I started pulling these together for a post last night, but for one reason or another I decided not to run the post. I’ll just drop them here without the narrative, it’s difficult not to speculate between the lines and that’s not an area I really want to go into.

The picture being painted is one of stubbornness from MON, which won’t surprise too many people. I repeat my amazement at why the two parties agreed to go another year so recently.

General Krulak
Martin’s decision was a surprise to the Club. Randy had spoken to Martin last week and on the weekend and then flown back to the US. This morning, Randy was informed that Martin had quit and so Randy is now on a plane flying back to the UK. Martin was fully involved in the Milner deal…every step of the way…from the very beginning.

General Krulak
At the same time, I can promise everyone that he knew and understood the long range plans for the Club and bought into them. He knew full well about the need to bring wages in line with revenue…the same as every Premiership Club. He was absolutely supported by the owner during his time with the Club…all one needs to do is look at the money spent. The reality is that the wage to revenue issue was not addressed and Martin apparently was unwilling to help address it. He quit.

General Krulak
As an aside, no one person is bigger than our Club…not me, not Randy, not Paul, not Martin. What is interesting is that, apparently, only three of those named understand that fact.