Steve Stride and Randy Lerner

Randy Lerner's Aston Villa intentions were good - but some decisions made no sense at all

17 Nov 2024, 11:00 by Steve Stride · Birmingham Live

The Holte Hotel was such an iconic landmark. It even inspired a song by Villa-supporting singer Stephen Duffy, and it’s good to see the Holte pub being used by Villa supporters on match days.

But I still can’t get my head around the fact that Randy Lerner invested around £8million in getting it refurbished. That was typical of the American entrepreneur – his intentions were good but there were times when his business decisions made no sense at all.

True, the Holte was an embarrassing eyesore when Randy took over in 2006. It had been derelict for years. But the club had always been reluctant to spend money on it because it would have meant less funds available for new players. Randy, though, was intent on restoring the iconic building to its former glory.

Not long after buying the club, Randy asked me to join him on a visit to a firm of architects in London to talk about their plans for the Holte. The idea was that on a matchday supporters could gather on what was then the car park, where there would be pop-up stalls and other attractions.

My first impression was that a large percentage of our season takes place in the winter, when it’s either wet or cold, and fans don’t want to stand outside to have a drink.

Randy’s idea was that the Holte would be transformed into a restaurant which would be open every day of the week. My view was that it wouldn’t take off; that you wouldn’t get people wanting to go to Aston for a meal during the week.

The reaction was that I was being negative, and putting a damper on Randy’s vision, so the new board went ahead and spent a fortune on the project. To nobody’s real surprise, the place was almost empty most of the time and within a couple of years the decision was taken for it to be open only when there was a game on.

The Holte development was typical of Lerner’s reign. It started well but it turned into a bit of a disaster. Huge amounts of money were thrown around, but nobody seemed to have much idea how to run a football club, particularly once Martin O’Neill had walked out.

They gave Gabby Agbonlahor a four-year contract when nobody else seemed interested in signing him; they had to pay compensation to three managers – Paul Lambert, Tim Sherwood and Remi Garde. They also handed over millions to O’Neill in an out-of-court settlement after he launched a constructive dismissal claim.

To be fair, at least Randy & Co were more reliable than those who succeeded them. Tony Xia promised to make Villa bigger than Real Madrid but took the club to the brink of extinction.

During their time in charge, I attended a Wolves v Villa match and was invited into the boardroom at Molineux. I was introduced to Xia’s assistant, a lifelong Villa fan, who asked me if I supported Wolves or Villa! Thankfully, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens rescued the situation when they took over in 2018 and put the club back on the right track.