With the club on the verge of completing the capture of Charles N'Zogbia, I can only imagine after agreeing to pay the extra £1,000,000 after someone told someone of the stick Ellis used to get, I thought it time to ask a question.
The reason I'm asking the question is because of a tweet I saw mentioning board approval ratings and it brought me back to a quick question I asked a couple of years ago and I thought I would ask it again as it was at this stage of the summer.
The question back then was 'what level of success do you believe Randy Lerner will bring to the club' and it is the same question I am going to ask again, with pretty much the same answers, with just very slight changes to how they are worded.
Last time out
When I asked in July 2009 the results were, pretty much, as expected on the back of a very specific PR campaign from General PR and on the back of a couple of 6th place finishes - but will they be the same now?
- 42.4% thought we would be consistently playing European football with a season or two of Champion's League while regularly competing for domestic cups
- 42.1% thought we'd play some European football and maybe compete regularly for a domestic cup or two
- 10.4% thought we were aiming for mid-table finishes with the odd cup run and
- 4.9% of the people that voted were still living the dream, thinking we were going to be competing year-in year-out at the top of the domestic and European game with regular honours
This time out
I think I have to be very clear with my views now so you understand why this poll is up. First, I'm not one of these people that think Lerner has to go. Sometimes, not when you are talking about a manager, you have to be grateful for what you have.
If we force Lerner out, we could end up with chicken farmers. Lerner has no reason to search out the right man if he wants to sell, he is only going to search out the man that will pay his asking price. What does it matter to him who he sells to?
He has no real connection to Aston Villa, but he has a connection to sport and he will know that the more successful a team is, the more money it generates. He does want success, but he isn't hands on, which is where this is going.
This poll isn't up to force an anti-Lerner theme. Despite the way he approached the club and how he has acted to date and the huge amount of debt the club is now in, he has given it a go.
So, we have to cut our cloth accordingly for a season or two, at least he gave it a go and maybe, after he has made some money and the debt is reduced, we will give it another go. Appointing a manager that has to prove himself first, is a good way of doing it.
But maybe, some things need to change and maybe I'm asking this question because there does appear to be a growing number of people that don't understand some of his actions.
Again, I'm not an accountant, I don't know Randy Lerner or any of the players, so I can not comment on things I know nothing about, but there are some things happening that are a little strange and maybe change, shall I call it, roots and branch change, is actually needed - because that never really happened but it was one of the things many marched for.