A Letter to mr Faulkner

Detta brev är skrivet av Aston Villa Fan Dave Beeston, och har publicerats på http://avillafan.com. Detta brev är i princip vad större delen av oss Villafans känner för AML och ledningens sätt att inte kommentera eller agera om vissa saker och ting som sker och har skett i Aston Villa FC. Paul Falkner är Chief Executive Officer hos Aston Villa FC och Shannon Barnhurst är Club Secretary i klubben, och de har inte besvarat brevet ännu. Fortsättning följer.........

As many of you already may know. I am not happy with the way the club has not only been performing but also the actions of the board & chairman behind the scenes.

So I have sent not only to Sharon Barnhurst who is the club secretary but also to Paul Faulkner himself. Neither have replied back to my message, but, I thought I would share it with you guys:

Dear Mr Faulkner,

I write to you as a season ticket holder of our great club. I purchased it when the club did the promotion for the North Stand at the cost of £200. I have been a lifelong supporter & they are a big part of my life (Yeah I know, sounds lame but hear me out).

Under Martin, we produced some really good football at home & away. Even before the likes of Ashley Young graced our club, we knew that Martin could take us places. He’s man management skills where next to known & I like many others where honored to have him as our boss. He brought in some good players & the direction of the club was looking great.

The talk of redeveloping the North Stand got fans excited & crowds would roar our players to victory week in-week out.

Sadly, whatever happened in that summer break is between you, Martin O’Neill & Mr Lerner. The news of Martin walking out from the club was a shock to everyone all linked & I feel the slide began from there.

Mr Houllier’s appointment was one that came out of left field. But, we gave him a chance to show what he could do. He produced some great things at Liverpool & many thought the glory days would come back. Sadly, due to his health issues I can understand why the club took action to remove him from the post as manager. We were grateful for what he did for the club.

But, this summer. I am sorry to say, the club & the board have made a terrible mistake in bringing in Mr McLeish. Not only did he take his former employers down twice, we even paid out for him to come to our club! But the connections with Birmingham where not the issue for me. It was the fact that many had seen the football he produced at Birmingham City quoting it as defensive & negative.

I was willing to give Alex a chance to show us what he can do & the first few results showed that Alex could get results out of games. This is sadly where the bubble has burst. Mr McLeish’s tactics & man management skills have produced the most negative, boring football I have witnessed as a fan at the club. There have been a number of games at home this season where we have looked so negative the likes of Halesowen Town could of done a better job.

The results to Wigan & Blackburn were not acceptable in any shape or form. Anyone who says they were good results must be looking at something different. We beat these sides at home this season! Over a number of seasons we have beaten these sides in their own back yards.

Mr McLeish is taking the soul out of our club. Do you honestly think we as supporters & fans are excited about coming out & watching our team? We live in fear of us being relegated from the premier league. Where we have stood tall in the darkest of hours but stood like gods when we have pulled off fantastic results such as the 3-2 win over Everton.

A fan produced a banner which is now world famous. “We ain’t fickle, we just don’t like you” has been shown through the years. This is sadly what a number of Villa fans including myself think & feel about Mr McLeish. Blaming the pitches, & players are not the type of thing we want to see from our manager. Why can’t Mr McLeish just come out & say, “Yeah, I cocked up”.

His attitude to the younger players such as Mark Albrighton has been nothing but disgraceful. The likes of Alan Hutton & Stephen Warnock who have played like pub players for most of the season have either been praised or nothing has been said at all over their poor performances.

Fans do not stop renewing season tickets or stop coming to games for no reason. The club must see this. I blame Mr McLeish for the boring, negative football, which is now being forced upon us.

The blame doesn’t stop with Mr McLeish though. You, the board & the chairman, must also shoulder the blame. Sugar coat it as much as you want. Producing these letters from Mr McLeish & trying to win over fans with them isn’t going to help. Even the one being produced to win fans over this summer is not going to change fans minds. You employed this man to make this club great again, but its come back & bitten you guys on the bum.

Many have called for Alex to step down or to be removed from his post as manager. I have taken part in the survey the club has been doing to see if fans will renew next season. I will be honest with you now Paul, I will not if Mr McLeish is still there as our manager come the start of the new season. I told them this on the day I took the survey back in January & I stand by my choice. I cannot put myself through the pain & hurt again next season. I cannot fork out another £400 or so to watch the dullest football I have ever seen at Villa Park. It is even worse than when Mr O’Leary was in charge. As you can see, I am passionate about the club I have supported from a young age.

But, I also feel it is time for Mr Lerner to look into our means of revenue. If it is this rumoured QIA deal or if it is a takeover or just an investment deal. We do not care. Cutting the wage bill by over £500k per week, removing 17 players during the summer including Young & Downing & shelving the plans for redevelopment are the tips of the iceberg. But, when the club only bring in Robbie Keane on a two-month deal worth £500k in January & say we cannot add to the bill until the summer has caused fans blood to boil.

We do not want anymore PR letters, stunts or anything else from the club. We do not want to hear from you & I do not mean that disrespectfully. We want to hear from Mr Lerner himself. He is quick enough to speak to radio stations in the states with regards to his businesses & the Cleveland Browns. Why can’t he come out & speak to us here. We have a right to know the direction of our club & if Randy is totally happy to commit to us like many of the press & you have stated. But, if it is not the case and Mr Lerner cannot commit to us or is short on cash. Maybe it is time for him to consider his options & let us fans know what the deal is.

I hope you can come back to me with some form of response that can make me proud to be a villa fan once again.

I want to thank you for your time out of your busy schedule for reading this & hope you have a good day.

Yours truly,

Dave Beeston