Fans unhappy over Lerner bid withdrawal

Aston Villa shareholders and fans have hit out at chairman Doug Ellis after American billionaire Randy Lerner pulled out of his bid to buy the midlands club.

Lerner is understood to have been upset at the response he received from Ellis in talks about a possible £64m (€93.5m) takeover at Villa Park yesterday.

This has prompted a furious response in a joint statement from the Aston Villa Shareholders’ Association and the supporters groups Villa Fans Combined.

It means the consortium led by lifelong fan Michael Neville and another group including Sven-Goran Eriksson’s agent Athole Still will be battling for control at Villa.

The statement from AVSA and VFC reads: “The never-ending saga of Mr Ellis seems to know no bounds.

“Unless groups interested are willing to bow and scrape to our so called ‘Mr Aston Villa’, no matter how much money they have got or how good they would be for the club, they will have no chance of wrestling power away from Mr Ellis.

“Wednesday’s events only go to illustrate just how farcical the situation is. Not only has Mr Ellis let Aston Villa down but also the board of Aston Villa Football Club plc have let us down to a man.

“Randy Lerner came to England with the intention of bidding for Aston Villa. His advisors and himself had been in contact with VFC and the Shareholders Association in order to gauge the fans’ feelings and they showed a great willingness to listen.

“There can’t be many billionaires in the world that would treat ‘simple fans’ with that level of respect.

“Our information is that Mr Lerner had a meeting with Mr Ellis where Mr Ellis tried to jostle for position and play one (consortium) group off against another.

“Mr Lerner had the funds in place and was willing to offer the full asking price. What he was not prepared for was the level of disrespect that Mr Ellis showed.”

The statement hinted that Villa fans were ready to boycott matches unless Ellis sells the club.

It added: “I think Mr Ellis should be prepared for a massive backlash. Step aside before the start of the season or see what a Villa Park scorned really looks like.”