Aston Villa living the American dream

“English football has experienced its fair share of American owners, rolling into town unencumbered by tradition, puffed up and full of vacant promises, with more than just an eye on the bottom line and who have since saddled their clubs with debt… The antithesis of their kind is just down the M6. Randy Lerner, the philanthropist who contributes to the National Portrait Gallery, the quiet American who bought Aston Villa for £63.6 million in 2006, has transformed his club in 3½ years to the point that they are on the cusp of a trip to Wembley for their first major final in a decade.”

“English football has experienced its fair share of American owners, rolling into town unencumbered by tradition, puffed up and full of vacant promises, with more than just an eye on the bottom line and who have since saddled their clubs with debt… The antithesis of their kind is just down the M6. Randy Lerner, the philanthropist who contributes to the National Portrait Gallery, the quiet American who bought Aston Villa for £63.6 million in 2006, has transformed his club in 3½ years to the point that they are on the cusp of a trip to Wembley for their first major final in a decade.”
– Read the rest of this thoughtful article by Sandy Macaskill in the Daily Telegraph