Villa Blog: No change at top is worrying
With a takeover a seemingly distant possibility, Aston Villa blogger Matt Turvey looks at the impact of no change at the top.
It's the end of the world as we know it. Or to put in more tangible terms, the proposed takeover of Aston Villa is no longer happening - at least not for now.
Given the varying degrees of anger demonstrated on social media by some fans, you'd be forgiven for thinking Randy Lerner's continued presence at the club was cause for rioting, as though Villa's chairman has been nothing but a problem since arriving in 2006.
Despite Lerner's popularity plummeting in recent years, history is unlikely to see Lerner as an evil calculating figure, intent on destroying his own investment, despite rhetoric to suggest otherwise.
Instead, Lerner's legacy is likely to be that of a rather misguided and perhaps naive investor who paid the price for backing the wrong horse in the Martin O'Neill era, and who has been forced to scrimp and save to avoid severe penalties for breaking Financial Fair Play legislation.
For the most part, Villa are out of that rut - the major financial one which naivete led Lerner to fall into. From now, there's a more solid base for Tim Sherwood to build upon, even if fans are understandably reticent to believe that Lerner will fund him.
In fact, many fans are of the opinion that it is the sale of Christian Benteke that will need to occur to generate any form of transfer kitty for Sherwood to utilise. Villa have bought Scott Sinclair, Micah Richards and Idrissa Gueye so far, but the likes of Jordan Amavi and Javier Hernandez have been touted - neither of which are going to come particularly cheap.
With that in mind, Sherwood likely needs to find a way of funding such a spree. The manager has made no attempt to hide the fact that he wanted a major clear out of players - arguably a fair stance given Villa's poor league form in recent years - and he has already let the likes of Antonio Luna, Andreas Weimann, Darren Bent, Matthew Lowton, and Yacouba Sylla leave. Given chance, Sherwood will probably like to get rid of at least another handful as he tries to turn Villa from their status as lowly losers to something a little more befitting of the proud lion which sits on the club's crest.
How Lerner will help him whilst he remains as owner is hard to say. Villa's American owner has been reticscent to splash the cash in any meaningful way since the capture of Darren Bent under Gerard Houllier, although many fans will be asking how - if at all possible - the club can progress by spending meagre amounts in the face of record TV revenue.
If Lerner can loosen his grip on the purse strings, the fans may well come to like him again, although many will - understandably - have lingering doubts of a man who has made many mistakes.
To the chairman's credit, his appointment of Tom Fox as CEO has been a source of optimism. In replacing Paul Faulkner, Lerner has a CEO who has significant experience in developing brands - both inside and outside of football, and a man who is a strong individual with no past ties to the club's chairman, unlike his predecessor.
What comes next for Villa are a series of tough decisions. Firstly, whether they are willing to cash in Christian Benteke in order to fund a rebuild of the squad. Secondly, there comes the question of who stays and who goes in order to turn around a group who have underperformed.
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Most importantly, however, Lerner needs to understand what the vision is for the club. Putting Fox in charge is a suitable first step, but in order for the club to be sold, there must be some clear view of where the club is going - indeed, who the club is.
History can only tell so much, and whilst quotes from William McGregor may well line the prospectus handed to prospective buyers, the truth is that Villa - as a club - have to demonstrate to those not blinded by love just what they are about and how they can be a success.
If they can do that, the future is bright. Lerner, to his credit, has the club's best interests at heart, refusing to sell to the first person who turned up. If he can manage to finally find a person who he can entrust the club to - as a chairman - then the future could be bright under Sherwood, Fox and a new owner.
You can follow Matt Turvey's regular opinions at his own site, Aston Villa Life at http://www.astonvillalife.com, via the site's Twitter account @astonvillalife, or via his own Twitter account @mturvey_star.
