Lerner – Disrespect – Shambles

I’ve not done this before, but this statement has to be repeated and you have to think of the implications of what is going on.

Doug Ellis is Chairman of Aston Villa plc. That means he has a duty to all shareholders. He is trying to sell the club and will make a personal fortune BUT STILL he wants to stay in power and expects a billionaire to report to him.

HE HAS TO LOOK AFTER THE SHAREHOLDERS INTERESTS – IT IS A LEGAL OBLIGATION.

Joint statement from Aston Villa Shareholders Association and Villa Fans Combined.

The never ending saga of Mr Ellis seems to know no bounds, unless groups interested are willing to bow and scrape to our so called ‘Mr Aston Villa` no matter how much money they have got or how good they would be for the club, they will have no chance of wrestling power away from one very destructive and sad individual.

Today`s events only go to illustrate just how farcical the situation is, not only has Mr Ellis let Aston Villa down but also the board of AVFC plc have let us down to a man for not controlling the ‘chairman`.

Randy Lerner came to England with the intention of bidding for Aston Villa. His advisors and himself had been in contact with VFC and the Shareholders Association in order to gauge the fans feelings and they showed a great willingness to listen. There can`t be many billionaires in the world that would treat ‘simple fans` with that level of respect.

Our information is that Mr Lerner had a meeting with Mr Ellis today that was described as ‘farcical` because Mr Ellis tried to jostle for position and play one group off against another.

Mr Lerner had the funds in place and was willing to offer the full asking price. What he was not prepared for was the level of disrespect that Mr Ellis showed and was stunned to the point of walking out when Ellis said to Mr Lerner:

‘Once you have bought the club, you will report to me.`

So not only does Mr Ellis want a kings ransom for his shares, he also wants to remain king.

Mr Ellis, by the time this is all finished, I think you will find out that you will be reporting to the fans, I think you should be prepared for a massive backlash as you have reduced our club to a farce for your own selfish ends.

You are not Mr Aston Villa, you are the Menace of B6 and I suggest you step aside before the start of the season or see what a Villa Park scorned really looks like.

(Please note, we haven`t and won`t endorse any bids or approaches, our fear is that if Mr Ellis treats one group with so much obvious potential and funding in this way, then he will treat them all the same. Instead of new owners and a top new manager, we could face a new season with an ailing ‘chairman` and the 14th managerial victim).

Jonathan Fear, Chairman of The Aston Villa Shareholders Association.