It would be easy to be a little angry at what has happened the past few weeks and if some of you come on here cursing Lerner, that is your right. I mean, if you were to think that if you take away the free scarves, the mountain of debt and the coach travel, that there really isn't much of a difference, I wouldn't blame you. I mean, he isn't even a football man.
But, what can we do about it? We can start another petition and we can call for roots and branch change and we can gather forces and walk on Villa Park - but none of that is going to attract a buyer, it is merely going to attract an opportunist. What we need to do, is hope that Randy Lerner sees the light and remembers why he got involved in Aston Villa in the first place.
Show me the money Lerner
You see, the only way Lerner is going to make money out of this football club is if this football club is successful on the pitch and to do this, more money has to be spent on the playing side of things.
Now, you could spin it that we spent money on Ireland this transfer window but at the end of the day all that has happened is our manager felt compelled to resign because the owner appears to have lost interest. But think back, we knew this last season when the rumour started that O'Neill had handed in his notice, just after the rumours of Lerner looking for fresh investment started.
One appears to have turned out to be true. Maybe the other one is too. Keith Harris, Football's Mr Fixit, was sitting next to Lerner at the weekend and Lerner would have known the cameras would show him laughing and joking with him, so he knew that there would be speculation. Maybe it is his way of saying the rumours are true. If they are, I stand by what I said at the time, it isn't investment, it is to sell.
But, that is all speculation. As of yesterday, the club confirmed that Kevin MacDonald is in the race to be the manager and I for one hope he gets it and I really do think he will. I am also expecting an announcement this week or very early next week.
But like I said yesterday, if he gets the job, he is then in the firing line, but if he takes the job, I'm sure there will be changes and I'm sure things will get better. There can be no sitting around on this either, the club need to be proactive and the club need to be as supportive as they can be, they really do need to almost smother the man so he can start to decide what is helpful and what isn't.
The point Damian, they're falling asleep
The transfer window is closed, it is over, nothing is going to happen. Well, not unless you are Spurs or Arsenal. But you can, if you want to be as lenient as possible, take what the club said in their press release, as absolute truth (if you forget about the sale of James Milner and purchase of Stephen Ireland) and just look upon everything as unfortunate timing.
If you do and you also believe the truth about the owner not changing direction (although we sort of know he has), or that his ambition has not become diluted with something, then you can fully expect the new manager (surely Kevin MacDonald) to get a serious amount of cash to spend in January, when there will be a number of players just dumped out of the Champions League, wanting a fresh challenge.
So, to the final curtain. There is nothing else. We have to hope that things are going to take a change in direction. We have to hope that the players are going to feel refreshed and invigorated with a new manager and that they will start to believe that they have the necessary ability to really move forward as a team.
Time for a break
So now, we just have to hope that it changes and we have four months to see the first stage take shape. In these four months we will beat The Clowns, hopefully a few other teams and if, come January we are in a respectable top eight position, then I'm looking forward to an exciting second half of the season. Until then, we wait, enjoy and support the team.