Lerner – Villa A Lifetime Thing

Randy Lerner has said he isn’t at Villa for financial gain admitting ‘You can get more out of buying a 30-year bond – I’d be poolside and cordless, but where’s the fun?’

The Villa owner said: ‘If someone could tell me how to make a profit from a football club, I’d like to know. What’s my prime motive? It’s certainly not financial. Who’s ever done well buying a club? It baffles me.’

‘Would I sell Villa to a wealthy Arab if he gave me a ‘Double your money’ deal? No, no, no, no, no!’

‘I see this as a lifetime type of thing. Some people just don’t buy it though. I know they think: ‘What’s the catch?’ and I don’t blame them. In the end actions will allay all those fears. Villa has grown on me since I’ve been here. I have been treated so graciously and with so much support that I literally pinch myself. If you had the chance to sit on the stage and be second guitarist with Bob Dylan at the Royal Albert Hall, would you be talking about what you were going to get paid that night?’

‘My return from Aston Villa is seeing Carew score. I want a life of good sport, good people and the competition that goes with it. I’m not saying you can’t make any profit. I’m saying that it would not motivate you to go and acquire a club.’

He also praises Martin O’Neill highly saying the Villa manager is more like a director.

‘If anybody is looking for a key driver as to why Villa are so different, then I’d be delighted to take the credit. But let’s face facts. If you take Martin O’Neill out of the equation for this year and leave me in it, God knows what we’d be talking about right now. He is almost like a director. There is no decision that we’ve made where I’m not on the phone to Martin asking him if it makes sense. I need to know where he stands on things.’

Adding: ‘I think Martin has somehow been able to retain and package the experience under Brian Clough, the successes of team mates, the games and the glory, without making that his meal ticket or his entrance into the room. Secondarily, he has developed a way of managing that has strategic, tactical and operational designs, combined with the history and experience. The facts sit there and everyone knows about them, but somehow he never beats you with them. You never feel burdened by them. That would be my way of summarising what I have observed with Martin.’