An interesting debate has sprung up over at the AVFC Blog on whether the real Randy Lerner is what the PR has led us to believe (a genuine fan who will spend millions to turn Aston Villa into a top four side) or whether he’s another businessman who saw the riches the Premier League could offer and picked Aston Villa as a good piece of real state.
Like Damian says in the comments – the author’s viewpoints are just opinions and present the situation in an interesting light. Certainly it remains to be seen if Randy Lerner will invest heavily in the squad over the summer to beef up the numbers (having a small squad might have cost Aston Villa a couple of games this season, which could mean the difference between a European adventure next season and staying at home on Thursday nights.
The points Anthony raises definitely need to be backed up with solid facts (he hasn’t provided any sources), but overall the debate seems to have missed the mark entirely.
To assume that someone is going to invest millions in your club and do it without committing to run it as a profitable enterprise is naive to the extreme. Millionaires don’t become millionaires by letting their hearts rule their wallets – they use their heads and every investment they make is measured with long-term profit in mind. And if someone inherits a fortune, they are more often than not schooled from a young age the value of money and the value of profitability.
Randy Lerner hasn’t let anyone down – in fact his presence has so far been a bonus for Aston Villa and if that’s not the case, it needs to be proven with evidence and not mere opinions.
We’ve seen this happen before this season – with Liverpool when the fans finally realised that the PR blitz by Hicks and Gillett talking about the club’s tradition was just that: PR – and if Aston Villa fans are becoming disillusioned, all the better for them.
It’s a business folks, we need to learn to live with it.
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