Randy Lerner sacks another head coach in Aston Villa.   This time after 11 months.  And since his contract was surely for more than 11 months U can count on money that could be spent on the Browns to be funneled to pay off the several years remaining on the Aston Villa manager.


In a not so strange parallel to the Browns, Aston Villa seems so wayward  in their ability to compete that their first targets as head coaches won't take their job offers either. 


Randy Lerner.  Ruining franchises one continent at a time. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18056282

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18066443

"Randy Lerner. Ruining franchises one continent at a time."

-- Can he come to Brazil and ruin a team? It would be interesting to see how the fans greet him after that. I've seen some samples.

He should have moved Mangini over to Aston as the HC. Or something. Apparently the guy he did hire wasn't a fan favorite anyway. So Eric might not have been any worse.

At least Randy actually bought a team in England with Dad's money, they then became pretty good and then he ruined them. So he has that on his, uh,  "resume". 

And remember, as bad as his teams get, he'll always have family money to lean on. So that's a relief.

To save money, why doesn't he have the same guys play soccer one season and then football the next season? If the season's are different, guys are just sitting around anyway, right? Did I really have to think of that myself? And for free?

Randy, let's talk. I'm full of, uh, ideas.

Randy could save more money on the Browns too, by having every player play on both sides of the ball.  Weeden could be a safety for sure.

lbsouth1 wrote: Randy Lerner sacks another head coach in Aston Villa.   This time after 11 months.  And since his contract was surely for more than 11 months U can count on money that could be spent on the Browns to be funneled to pay off the several years remaining on the Aston Villa manager.


In a not so strange parallel to the Browns, Aston Villa seems so wayward  in their ability to compete that their first targets as head coaches won't take their job offers either. 


Randy Lerner.  Ruining franchises one continent at a time. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18056282

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18066443

They are managers, not head coaches. 

They do not get guaranteed contracts.  When someone is sacked in the EPL they usually get a payoff although occasionally owners say screw 'em and don't pay out anything.  However he'll get a payoff.  Probably about a million or half his remaining contract. 

If anything Lerner and his boards decisions this year likely meant that overall they made money.  They sold a number of transfers and didn't use the money to boost Villa. 

Again that cashflow has absolutely no impact on the Browns.  The Cleveland Browns are profitable by a fairly significant margin and the contracts that they have signed over the past two years are shaped in a way that gives no credence to cashflow problems.  If you had a team with cashflow issues or concerns over profits you would see more guaranteed salaries and deferred bonuses.  The Browns have continued using the same relatively high signing bonus/relatively low but steadily increasing non-guaranteed salaries that they have used since the arrival of Holmgren.  They also showed no signs over any problem hiring an OC who was making 4 million per year and likely is being paid more than most OCs.  If Lerner was instucting Holmgren to reduce salary the easiest way to do so would have been to hire a relatively inexperienced OC.

In other words your theory that Lerner's involvement with Villa is somehow hurting the Browns is still mostly ridiculous.   Lerner hired Holmgren to act as his proxyholder and to manage the hiring of the coaching staff and the direction of the team.  He is paying him millions specifically so Lerner does not have to be involved in those decisions.  So I am confused over why there is concern with Lerner not being involved.  I also do not see any evidence that the Browns are not attracting FAs because they will not pay top dollar.  I see them not attracting free agents because they are not attractive to free agents and because they are not attempting to build through free agency.  Holmgren essentially did the same in both GB and Seattle.  In fact in Seattle the biggest knock on him was his failure to retain his own players - something that has been emphasised in Cleveland with signings of DQ, Cribbs, Rubin, and Thomas. 

Also you have always failed to differentiate cap space with actual dollars.  It is very annoying.

I know they are managers.  I used the term coaches so that other readers woudn't be confused. 

I know Aston Villa lost $58 million in '11 and Randy put in $40 million over the past 2 years to help compensate for some Premiership rules of debt etc that I'm not 100% familiar with. 

I remember reading that he fired some of his front office at Aston Villa and was having to pay their salaries (at least a portion) as he had to do with Crennel, Mangini etc.  There was an unexpected £12 million burden placed on the club’s finances, reported by Aston Villa as “changes in football management personnel”. These related to the enforced departure through illness of then-manager Gérard Houllier and his backroom staff.  That's $19 mil US.

And while I was only slightly facetious about a dollar for dollar transfer of wealth from the Browns to Aston.  Lerner has made investments of $324 million in "player acquisitions, infrastructure and losses in the form of equity and loans" to Aston since 06.  At the same time the Browns have maintained a level of total salary expenditures in the bottom 20% of the NFL. 

I know he's competing with sheiks and sultans and businessmen who's fortune's make Randy look like a pauper. 

I know Lerner's divorce has cut a chunk into his total fortune. 

I know despite record income, Aston has reported record net profits loss.


As far as expensive coordinators, on the few occasions that happened, it's usually balanced by a first time head coach.  And in the era where backup CB/nickels get 3 years for $16 mil, even the highest paid coordinator (which the Browns have not consistently paid) is pocket change in comparison. 

Google the list of players the Browns were reportedly interested in but didn't want to get into a bidding war with.  The Browns are on a budget.  And that budget is low by any measurement of their peers.  And that budget has been maintained from before  Savage, Mangini, Mangini/Holmgren and now Holmgren/Heckert

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/spo...wages-soar.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/spo...-two-years.html



  If U can find me an actual dollars spent that isn't 10 years out of date I will happily use that.  Salary cap isn't a total dollars account of financing but it is a fair representation.  Especially viewed over the long term.  If ur consistently 15-25 mil under the cap there's a damn good chance ur not in the upper tier of actual dollar spent. 



Finally, "they sold a number of transfers and didn't use the money to boost Villa" and AV barely survived being relegated.  Maybe he would spend on some NFL FA's if teams that finish last were relegated to the CFL.