I hold strong opinions and I haven’t been afraid to express them on this site. This means that those who disagree also have the right to be outspoken in return and robust in tone when they do it.
I have no problem with principled opinions even if they run counter to mine. I try to be polite and courteous when running an argument against someone (although I plead guilty to using a caustic humour against Damian from time to time).
So why was I not polite and courteous with Pete and, previously, others? Well, I’m sorry but when you read pure drivel and it’s in a prominent place, there’s no alternative really.
You just gotta call it like it is. Crap is crap.
This site gets way too negative at times and there’s nothing to get negative about. A stranger reading a summary of Pete’s grievances would have thought that the Villa were relegated last season. If O’Neill is so useless, why are we doing so well?
A poster called ‘croni’ set it out well – post no. 223 under the headline ”An alternative view on Martin O’Neill in the transfer market”. Read and digest.
If you can only take pleasure in winning and nothing else, then you’ve become a stunted human being. Before you can win something you have to prepare for it.
First you need a business plan, the foundation of which is a business model/strategy that you believe in. You need to acquire the components of your model and you need to know how to put them together to make them work.
All of these items are some of the necessary things you need to be successful. We’re watching Lerner and O’Neill going through this process at the moment. It’s been going on for three years and it will have to go on for years more before it succeeds.
This process is all part of “success” and we’re privileged at Villa because we can observe it and take immense pleasure in it. Watching O’Neill and his team go to work is a joy because we’re watching a master at his craft.
Stop worrying about the lack of transfer activity. This site obsesses with every day. The players will come, when O’Neill is ready. If he isn’t ready, they won’t come.
O’Neill will do it his way. Do you know why? Because he’s a man is why, and that’s why I trust him. Starting as manager with a team that is outside the top 4, getting into the top 4 and then winning the title is a job so immense and requires character and purpose so heroic that it would crush most men. It won’t crush O’Neill – it will empower him, and we should rejoice.
Instant success is like a house without foundations – it will perish. Stop clambering for Arab money, it’s fool’s gold. Without the master craftsman to make it work it’s useless.
For the record, some of you will best know Jerry as churchill, his user name on this site and yes, this is also his first post.