The first thing I read this morning was Matt Slater’s blog chronicling his experience attending Randy Lerner’s press conference at Villa Park last week. The details of what Randy had to say during the event have filtered out through the usual sources in the days that followed, but I was particularly interested to read Matt’s account for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it was from one of the Tweets that Matt made during the actual press conference that I picked up the little nugget about the North Stand work starting soon and the plans for the longer term.  In fact, just today the OS announced some cosmetic work near R-Block, which the artist’s impression on the left shows is mostly just cladding and awnings in line with the architecture elsewhere, but it’s a nice start.

The other reason was that Slater had been asked to give an explanation about why Randy is held in such high regard by Villa fans by a Cleveland website.  The details may have been slightly off, but he gave a reasonable account.  The same can’t be said of the blogger who was also asked to contribute, I particularly liked the rationale behind renovating the Holte Hotel – “It was just good business and he now has a new revenue stream.”

As a quick side note; Wetherspoons made an operating profit of just £25m on turnover of £955m in 2009, so if anyone wants to interpolate those numbers down to the level of one little pub at the foot of the car park and let me know why the “revenue stream” is such a big deal to a billionaire I’d be happy to learn about it.

I’m so tired of reading this nonsense repeated over and over. The reality is that the Holte was a derelict part of the Villa Park property, so renovating it simply tidied the place up and gave a new facility for fans at Villa Park.  Two birds, one stone.

It undoubtedly will add a small percentage to the value of the real estate at Villa Park in the event of the club being sold on, it may even pay for itself and repay the renovation costs in the mean time, but the revenue it provides is highly unlikely to have been a determining factor.

If it was, don’t you think Ellis would have done it? I’m not even sure it actually makes a profit to be honest, but even if it does, it’s small potatoes.

In His Own Words

I was recently delighted to rediscover some lengthy quotes from Randy dating back to 2007 and decided to republish them in full to counter some tabloid nonsense or other going around at the time. Given the current controversy surrounding the scandalous “reporting” about Lord Triesman, I’ve no intention of linking to the Daily Mail, but there are some fine quotes from RL in a recent article and I wanted to re-quote them in full here, so that’s where this is coming from, but you’ll have to seek them out yourself if you wish.

Randy Lerner
When I walk around Bodymoor Heath in the middle of the afternoon in the pouring rain and see Gordon Cowans out there with all that he stands for, and all that he has accomplished, with his hood over his head, talking to Gary Gardner or Ciaran Clark, it’s a hidden moment.

It’s hidden moments like these that I think are worth mentioning because they are part of the experience that I’m having. It’s one of the signs of growth and development of the club that I value. It will become more visible over time.

It’s growing, that experience. Winning at Old Trafford was a big deal. Going to the Carling Cup final was beyond great, going to Wembley with my kids, driving up and seeing tens of thousands of Villa fans in their colours. I’d never been there before. It was all pretty impactful for me.

I remain very excited and privileged to be involved.

As much as it pains me, it was a well written article – and surprisingly honest about how journalists have to report the news – so here’s how the author, Neil Moxley, wrapped the quotes with his own impression:-

Neil Moxley
The headlines don’t really do Randy Lerner justice. That’s sometimes the problem with this job. Journalists are trained (difficult to believe, I know) to cherry-pick the juiciest tit-bits and spin them into reports of interest.

So the story that needed reporting, given the general air of mis-trust and confusion that has reigned at Villa Park for the past couple of months, was Martin O’Neill.

Randy says that Martin stays. Good. (For the record, I think – but have no confimation – that the manager’s future might have been sorted out on the Thursday prior to the Blackburn game. And that it was Mr Lerner holding the ace cards, not Mr O’Neill).

But the point about Lerner’s annual press conference was not just the important message that needed to be conveyed, but the manner of it. The American took on all-comers for 50 minutes. The friendly, inquisitive and intrusive questions about his leadership.

Fortunately, through the medium of an internet column, we can try to enlighten people as to what the man is all about. First, he is utterly, utterly devoted to Aston Villa.

Unlike Hicks and Gillett at Liverpool, or the Glazer family at Manchester United, there is no disguising his intentions. It is not to use Aston Villa as a giant cash-cow, to be milked whenever he fancies it. His investment stands at £180m and is growing.

He has bought a former farm close to Bodymoor Heath and is fully immersed in the area. Oh, and he has the club crest tattooed on his ankle. Clearly, this is a man prepared to make Aston Villa his life.

But that’s not what I like about him. True, he’s very personable, polite and very, very protective of his family. But what I admired was the following – and I’m just going to re-produce a few words from his press conference that weren’t newsworthy, because I think this gives the best flavour of the man.

A former colleague of mine warned me when I entered the business of football reporting that 95 per cent of those involved in football club ownership are either cheats, crooks, blaggards or conmen. That there were very few involved for the same emotional reasons as the average fan.

I think Randy Lerner makes up some of that five per cent.

Aston Villa fans, you are lucky people. This man is one of you. He should be cherished.

How refreshing. This is also the impression that we hear over and over from those who are fortunate enough to spend some time with Mr Lerner and have the outlet to pass that information on in an honest and open manner. Some people seemingly resent the American for not treating Aston Villa in the same way as the oil men treat Man City and Chelsea, but I’m not only happy about that, but extremely proud.

My suggestion to those who feel that Randy is letting us down by not pumping endless millions into the club for your own personal enjoyment is to consider “supporting” City or Chelsea. I really can’t fathom where this idea that clubs shouldn’t be self sufficient has come from – especially since it frequently seems to emanate from the same group of people who bemoan the level of money in the modern game – but we absolutely must live within our means and any “investment” must mean just that – it gets paid back.

I feel extremely fortunate that we have such a fantastic owner at the helm, but look forward to that remaining the case for many years to come.

[Photo: AVFC Official Site]