Following on from interviews with Sir Dennis of Mortimer (Click Here) and General Charles Krulak (Click Here), Vital Villa has been able to get an interview with Villa’s Operations Director, Steve Stride.
How is life different for you under the new regime? What do the new board changes mean for you? Will you be heading the transfer dealings in January? Are you still in touch with David O’Leary? (Whoever he is!) Gordonsleftboot
In the past both yourself and HDE have come in for a lot of stick, have there been times where you have been tempted to walk away and did you feel the criticism was fair? Aronno7
What would you see as your biggest achievement at the Club since 1972. col8
Steve you have obviously been at Villa for a long time, during that period which players have you enjoyed watching the most? Aronno7
Was renaming The Witton Lane stand after Doug really decided by the board, as a surprise for Doug? Or was the only surprise yours? How fast can you rename the stand? Are you glad Ellis no longer runs the club? How do you feel now that the long overdue change in ownership has occurred? The Usual Suspect
Steve, what are the biggest differences between the way the Americans conduct business to the way us Brits do. What are the biggest lessons you have learnt in your short time working for Randy? DeanoVilla
Steve, there is a common opinion amongst the fans that Bruce Langham was doing a good job, and had some very positive ideas. Is this true and was his dismissal extremely unfair? Or was he really just bad at his job? DeanoVilla
What are your views on Martin O’Neill? Who really appointed him- was it Ellis or did the new board pick him? Did he have assurances that Ellis would be selling before he agreed to become our manager? Geordie_Villa + similar from Newman.
Martin was appointed by the former Board but was obviously aware that a takeover was imminent.
Do you feel with your experience of UK soccer and Aston Villa, you can still offer the new management something worthwhile to the Villa cause? avfc48
On a scale of 1 to 10…..1 being free transfers and 10 is signing ronaldinho, what will be our ambition in the transfer market in January? Tylervilla
What is your role of operations manager entail? what do you actually do? day to day? Meakers
Forget about Steve’s association with Ellis, we can’t all choose who we work for. Steve has my greatest respect. I can remember how he helped and supported Alan Instone at B’ham City, whilst Alan was recovering from a serious illness. He has been a loyal servant at VP for many years and long may it continue. Two questions I would like to ask is – what does Steve believe made Ron Saunders such a successful manager and does he know why Ron Saunders and Ellis did not ‘get-on’? Villacross
What was the REAL reasons behind the resignations of Brian Little and John Gregory? The Q
John Gregory said he wanted to get away from football………….and so joined Derby County.
Who was the worst manager you have worked with and why? The Q
And who was the best manager and why? JP Fear
Would you say Doug’s single biggest failing, apart from keeping fans at arms length, was either not picking the right manager or not sticking with the right manager when he was picked? Do you also think he made a big mistake in not bringing Brian Clough to the club when he wanted to manage us? JP Fear
Despite the fact the protests were directed mostly at Doug, how did you and the rest of the board feel when they were being staged and did you have any sympathy with us? JP Fear
As most Villa fans seem to have a very poor opinion of our last chairman is there anything you can say, having worked with Mr Ellis for many years, that will shed some light on Doug Ellis and his commitment to Aston Villa over the years was bfr jnr
‘Where were you sitting the night we won the European Cup?’ Denis B
Why has it taken you 30 years to get round to talking to the fans? Villa Moose
Steve, from my perspective the club has had an enormous turnaround in fortunes as this interview show. what is the ONE thing you would say has changed with Randy coming in that is something the previous regime never thought of ? IanRobo
Was it true UEFA were going to throw Villa out of the European Cup in 82 after the Anderlect pitch invasion, and how did you talk them round?? Astonvilla
I then lumped the three following questions together as they all ask, in different tones, basically the same:
I am not a fan Steve. On the contrary I believe you should have walked by now, if only out of respect to the supporters of AVFC. I suppose I can understand Mr Lerners decision to keep you at Villa Park to assist in the transition from the old regime to the new, but now that the ball is rolling and new top quality professional people are being installed in key positions, I wonder how you yourself see your future role at Villa Park, or will you indeed decide that your time is up, and its now time to go? I personally have a very hard time in believing other than that you solely looked out for number one during the Ellis years, putting your self interest and loyalty to Ellis above any real concern for the future of AVFC. How do you respond to my accusation? I don’t wish to be disrespectful, nor do I intend to make any unwarranted personal attacks, but I simply cannot understand how you failed to see, like all other supporters clearly did, the damage and decline being suffered by our great club. Yet you chose for whatever reason to remain quiet, abusing your position by failing to challenge or speak out against the policies and stipulations laid down by Ellis. Why Steve? Do you really believe Steve that you have a role to play in the future of AVFC, that you indeed deserve to have a role to play in the future of AVFC? If so, please explain why. glensider
Fans seem to have vented some of their frustrations over the Ellis era on you. Guilty by association is probably the phrase that best sums it up. It is apparent that the new owners are bringing in the ideas that fans have been crying out for. However you never once stood up to be counted and have the balls to say the club was going backwards. Is your long term position untenable? You are a fan, but you were more concerned about your relationship with Ellis than the views of the fans ….. are you ashamed of your lack of bottle? Do you look back at your input to the shareholders meetings and realise how much you offended the shareholders? Ellis ‘awarded’ you many shares over his tenure to keep you onside, this is a ploy that worked as you turned your back on the fans. Do you feel no sense of shame in collecting the money from them? Or have you surprised us all by donating the ill gotten gains to a good cause? How many others that are included in those that had ‘jobs for the boys’ should now be moved out of Villa Park? As fans view success in silverware, do you think the last 24 years have been a success? UTV voiceoftheholte
I have one for Steve. Why are you still here? crosswesleyanchapel
If you should ask any one of the Managers I have worked with during my 34 years with the Club that will all agree that we had a good constructive relationship and I was very supportive to them
(Reproduction only with www.astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk quoted as the source)
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