English Premier League: Randy must realize that time is now money for Aston Villa
Football clubs are like children sometimes. They need someone in-charge and they need consistency in that matter. Randy Lerner is the man to contact at Aston Villa. He is the owner, he is the boss, he is the man to make crucial decisions at Aston Villa.
After the recently concluded season, in the summer Lerner had disagreements with the club’s long standing manager, Martin O’Neill. Their conflict was not because the team was performing badly or the club was not going in the proper direction but because of expenses. Randy wanted to make the club a much more financially stable outfit, while Martin wanted to take the club to silverware glory. Apparently, both of these things were mutually exclusive in O’Neill’s eyes so, he parted ways with the Birmingham club.
Lerner has now had around three weeks to appoint a replacement but the U.S business man has not shown any urgency so far in making that decision. Up till today, everything was hunky dory. Aston Villa opened their league season under their caretaker manager, Kevin McDonald with a three nil win over West Ham. Then they travelled to Austria to play Rapid Wien with a totally changed side but still managed to scrape a draw in the first leg of their Europa League qualification play-off encounter.
The weak team that Kevin took to Villa’s European adventures suggested that Aston Villa will come to their weekend’s match against Newcastle United with a proper full strength team and this is exactly what happened. But Villa’s team was full on strength as far as numbers and players are concerned, what they lacked at their six nil beating at the Saint. James’s Park was mental strength.
It has been six weeks now that Villa are under temporary management with Kevin McDonald. Kevin previously managed Aston Villa’s reserve side and when he was asked about his ambitions to coach the club’s first team, he replied that he is not “thinking about that right now”. Was it Lerner’s reluctance to make his appointment permanent that compelled the Scotsman to say that or was it his own lack of ambition?
One thing is for sure that such uncertainty is hurting Aston Villa. Going from three nil winners against West Ham, to six goals to nil losers against Newcastle United, is a huge shift in results. Something that is just not attributable to the players and their form. Such a big defeat might not only be a sign of things to come for Villa, it is also a massive warning sign for the likes of Randy Lerner. Managers, Business men and leaders are respected and admired because of their ability to make quick calls, correct decisions and due to their belief that time is money.
For Aston Villa, that might be the case come their next match. For time might actually be money, a period of three weeks has not been sufficient so far for Villa, who need to rediscover their old touch and consistency under a new manager. Something that is now in Randy Lerner’s hands, his beloved club’s demolition at the hands of Newcastle United is a tragedy for Villa, who have finished three of their last English Premier League season’s at the sixth placed spot in the English league.
This is what Lerner has to do; appoint a manager quickly. There are enough candidates to pick from out there (read Sven and Bradley) and then give him a considerable budget to bring in players which might be suited to the club’s style of play. Villa’s over reliance on their big guns, namely Petrov, Ashley Young and Dunne might be their undoing, if anyone of the above listed footballers sustains a long term injury, such a reality must be kept in mind by the American owner before making administrative as well as financial decisions.
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