Randy Lerner has penned a farewell letter to Villa fans, following the confirmation he had sold the club to Dr Tony Xia.
Lerner, who had officially purchased Aston Villa from Doug Ellis in September 2006, had been looking to sell Villa since May 2014, but after two years he finally found a buyer for much less than he was originally asking for.
When he took over the club, Lerner pumped millions in to try and establish Villa as a Champions League club and spent money on finishing the new training ground along with other modifications at Villa Park.
However, after the departure of Martin O’Neill in 2010 after ludicrous spending on average players, Lerner made continous errors which eventually led to Villa suffering relegation to the Championship, after coming close to being relegated for the previous four seasons before that.
In his farewell letter which was posted on the Villa website, Lerner said:
In spite of my personal affection for reading history I have come to trust the future more than the past. And when I refer to the ‘past,’ I do so lightly and lightheartedly. I refer to recent accounts – mostly in the press regarding the sale of the Club, that are so many miles from accuracy or truth that I can only assume that they too were written by people whose tongues were firmly embedded in their respective cheeks. It is football after all.
As I’ve said, it was my hope that ownership and custodianship of the Club would have been transferred some years ago when I knew that personal and professional matters made it impossible for me to contribute the time I did in my first five years with the Club. Time and immersion that is crucial to any formula for success. Still, fates are fickle in football so that we could claw back to safety last season, end up at Wembley at a Cup Final sitting amongst old friends!, and then spend the 2015/16 campaign at Bannockburn!
Finally, being conscious of the popular and dark pastime of wondering aloud how much was spent, or lost, I should like to think that I ‘left behind’ value which will hopefully endure and benefit this beloved old Club. In being sadly more than tone deaf, I’ll not weakly risk trying to sound any positive notes. But what I will say is that if spending to restore and preserve the wonderful Jacobean Holte Hotel at the southern tip of the Ground, or researching and adding the Holte End mosaic as a nostalgic nod to that wonderful Leitch Stand of our past, add to the tally of personal losses then I can offer no counter argument other than to say I would do the same all over!
He also spoke highly of the man he finally decided to sell the club to, stating:
It is here that the agreement I wish to announce with Tony Xia ties into my short narrative: Tony has built his career around infrastructure. He is certainly a hugely successful businessman but importantly for me he is passionate about architecture, site design and planning. His commitment to invest in the squad, and leadership at Bodymoor Heath was expressed early on but as we visited together, and had some unrushed time to discuss his plans, Tony’s excitement to develop Villa Park shone through. I remain convinced that this is a crucial part of the Club’s future as it provides a critical, long-term second source of revenue and therefore sustainability for the Club from which squad-funding can potentially come.
It’s fair to say Lerner had outstayed his welcome at Villa Park, but there will always be a thought of what could have been, had the money he pumped into the club during the early years of his ownership been used more wisely.
