Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: Murph 
Date:Tuesday January 29 2008
Time: 4:11PM
UK time is: 09:14:39
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Villa CEO Quits
The breaking news from the official Villa website is that the club's Chief Executive Richard FitzGerald has resigned.
The brief statement reads:
'Aston Villa Football Club today announces the resignation of Chief Executive Richard FitzGerald.
'The club has made significant progress off the field in the last 13 months and would like to thank Richard for his contribution during that period.
'The club wishes him every success in the future.'
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Spain
Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.
Join the Vital Fantasy Football League - its Free!
Your Comments
erm ? Did I miss something there ????
xfranc
wtf ? more people leaving the club?
Stig
strange timing in the transfer window with no new players in yet..?
Maybe there is more to this..?
deemz
Where were you when you heard the Aston Vile bubble pop? The man has sense.
By Eck We'll Do It
how very odd !!!!!
Bearvill
Perhaps he wasn't happy with the "sell before you buy" policy that O'Neill appears to have been given. Lots of talk about it in the newspapers this morning, perhaps those stories came from somewhere?
The Blues Brother
Any other time and I wouldn't worry, but at this stage in the transfer window? Doesn't really all add together. Or it does and I don't want to think about what it equals.
DerryVillan
who cares? has anybody seen the league table recently??
andrew144
You don't care that the man who has been running the club for 13 months, and who has got us to that position in the league table, has walked out without any reason why? Okay, then...!
DerryVillan
This is not good news for the club, we have been making great strides forward with Mr Fitzgerald and I would have thought he was part of the team bringing in players. However we do not know the reasons behind this and we may all be reading something out of nothing................BUT THIS IS THE VILLA.........
rdunbar100
How many days a year is Randy at Villa? Who makes decisions when Randy isn't at Villa? The CEO. So who makes decisions now? Erm? Answers on a postcard?
DerryVillan
Mr Fear, do you know owt about this? What are the rumblings from the club? Did he jump or was he pushed? It could just be something as simple as he got a better offer elsewhere.
The Usual Suspect
Perhaps he was the reason why we seem to be struggling to bring in new players and keep current players under long contract (Melberg).
Willa
Doug Ellis for Chief Exec? Just joking. Lets not panic until we know the answer it may be something as simple as he has been offered a higher wedge at another company or does not like b'ham.
tylervilla
The CEO has not got us anywhere in the league thats the managers job but the timing is strange. He hasn't been here long and we went a long time without a CEO before he came so I'm not worried. Lerner makes all the decisions anyway as did Ellis so I shouldn't think much will change. I wonder if the General will replace him he seems to be the CEO anyway.
daveldvilla
I cannot understand many of the comments here. Fitz had no control on transfer policy or activity. Also just recently a new stadium or operations director was brought in, so is this a great surprise? Only from the point of view that this guy was meant to be leading the promotion and marketing of the club. I reckon his progress was not fast enough for the board. The only way that this may have been connected to any other news is the view that the club has a low PR profile. Where was the CEO? I don't see any problems here.
Gordonsleftboot
From what I hear he wasn't happy with his limited role at the club. Probably had a better offer.
tarzan
You apparently hear a lot Tarzan. Are you Doug Ellis? :o)
Villain Of The North
It's still a worry that the second most important person at Aston Villa the Business has walked away, especially given the timing.
DerryVillan
I was the one who taught him the bicycle kick :-o It's all about Randy, the General and MON at the Villa
tarzan
maybe hes got a better job or something but it seems more sinister than that. Im thinking hes fallen out with randy lerner.
villabikes29
Sinister! We are all frail because there's no-ne been signed! A couple of big ones and we'll all be happy!
tarzan
Maybe the rest of the board arent happy with his transfer dealings? Im not 100% sure of the role of the CEO but isnt he supposed to sort the contracts for new and existing players? Maybe he's toatally screwed up both transfer windows and has been given the axe as the plyers MON wanted were missed?
son_of_cher
I love conspiracy theories, alternatively he wasn't happy with his limited role.
tarzan
son_of_cher that really is nonsense. Randy himself said that MON does all the transfer dealings himself, without any limits or meddling from anyone. Truth is most likely, as tarzan says, he didn't have that big a role. CEO's generally have big egos, if he wasnt needed he'd have looked elsewhere for a role that suits him better.
The Usual Suspect
Hmmm maybe because he says too much in the forums to fans ?
He was getting into rows with Gold...
I'm not happy who will contact and talk to the fans, and get the voices of the fans to the top boss to make changes and see what we want...
Villa 4 Ever
So who runs the business the 90 per cent of the time Randy is not in the UK, then? There is more to a football club than the on-the-pitch stuff. A lot more.
DerryVillan
Oh, and as for the suggestion that General Krulak takes the job...unless he is prepared to move to England on a permanent basis, thus leave his 95-year-old father, not to mention many other business interests, in the USA, it's not going to happen.
DerryVillan
A lot of guesswork and rumour, from a lot of people who do not really know how important (or unimportant) the CEO actually was. At the moment we are all in the dark until the club expand on the comments made. My understanding is that he was responsible for day to day running of the club and that his primary role was attracting and obtaining the best deals from the business partners that Villa wanted. This included things like the Nike deal and potential new sponsorship. I actually believe it is a development that we should be concerned with. The club should be doing everything to inform fans of exactly what is going on.
voiceoftheholte
I prefer the 'conspiracy theory' theory, much better for debating. Who knows why the guy left, we'll never find out. Perhaps he had a fling with Harewood and left by mutual consent.
son_of_cher
Can he play right back? If so, get him back!!
DoLpHiNaToR
In broad terms the timing suggests he has quit because he isn't happy - rather than getting a better offer.
Notice the sell to buy theories have hit the nationals today - coincidence ?
graydon
He never did a CEO's job so never understood why they gave him that "handle"? He certainly was'nt "media friendly" and I'm at aloss to know what he achieved since he arrived last January. Probably a good, hard working No2 and apparently a very talented "marketeer". Will be interesting to see who is appointed to replace him or will someone else be appointed to drive forward the marketing side of the business leaving a CEO to be appointed from within.
villacross
Wasn't he relatively new to the world of football when he arrived at Villa Park? Maybe the role wasn't what he was looking for, maybe it wasn't what he thought it would be? Maybe he just wasn't suited to it? Who knows? No doubt more information will be released in due course, but in the meantime hopefully the club will set about appointing a replacement with the minimum of delay.
glensider
I personally think Tarzan is correct. If so, Fitzgerald could sue Villa for "constructive-dismissal", by not being permitted to do the job he was appointed to. What do you say about that General Krulak? Not enough "intellectual rigour" to that theory?
villacross
hes going to Newcastle! good luck too him! is he meeting Bruce Langham on his way up???!!
leelindsay
Came by to see if anyone had been brought in to find Villa are shrinking behind the scenes as well, watch out for an offer from Rangers.
TergeHauge
It is a very strange time for a CEO to be leaving but lets look at what this man has actually done. He presented the new club crest, he said last summer that we would be signing big name players (erm . . ). Maybe Mr Lerner believes the CEO isn't as important as he once was. I will give him his due that the club has made massive strides whilst he has been here but I believe that is more to do with Mr Lerner and MON.
notthedougellisstand
All very strange because the last time I saw Dicky he was in McDonalds talking with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Tarzansbrother was serving him a veritable feast of bulls1t. Luckily I don’t believe in conspiracy theories… just the truth and I saw it with my own eyes.
Hoss The Villain
We can't second guess why he resigned (or whether he was asked to). Point is, all we have seen on and off the pitch since Ellis went is progress. Lest we forget that. There may be very good reasons why he went and Villa will be a much better proposition for good candidates to be seriously interested in such a pivotal role under Randy. Does anyone have Bruce Langham's 'phone number?!
Dropacog
Richard is leaving Villa in a better state than when he came in, so that is positive. Second guessing does no one any good. There haven't as far as I can tell been any major bust ups or anything sinister, its just business. I think he has helped our club enormously and sometimes it is just time to move on. Certainly nothing to do with signings etc, as that is Randy and MON's part of the job.
The Fear
agree with the Fear...
reza
Paper talk says he was unhappy with his role being restricted by new appointments so he has quit! I would agree that he has had a positive effect, shame that he has felt the need to go in this way.
Waldorf
A strange one indeed. He was very low profile I thought for a CEO, but he certainly seemed up to the task at hand.
glensider
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
The Vital Villa Fantasy League Winner! (Monday May 20 2013)
Lambert Thanks Fans For Vociferous Support (Sunday May 19 2013)
Stats: Wigan v Aston Villa (Sunday May 19 2013)
Wigan v Villa - Team News 19/5/13 (Sunday May 19 2013)
We Deserve To Finish Higher (Saturday May 18 2013)
Pre Season Takes Shape (Friday May 17 2013)
Something For The Weekend (424) (Friday May 17 2013)
Lambert Sticking To His Policy - No Big Signings (Friday May 17 2013)
Shaun Maloney Speaks To Vital Wigan About Stan (Friday May 17 2013)
Mystic Mug Sits On Fence To Beat Lawro! (Friday May 17 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | Pride of Lions | 873 |
| 2. | The Fear | 659 |
| 3. | BodyButter | 436 |
| 4. | kefkat | 368 |
| 5. | CDX_EIRE | 309 |
| 6. | ClivetheVillan | 244 |
| 7. | thefacehead | 239 |
| 8. | Villan57 | 239 |
| 9. | DeanoVilla | 196 |
| 10. | mike_field | 180 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Wigan | 2 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 2 | Chelsea |
| Norwich | 1 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 6 | - | 1 | Sunderland |
| Man Utd | 3 | - | 0 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 1 | Fulham |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 12. Fulham | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | -10 | 43 |
| 13. Stoke | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | -11 | 42 |
| 14. Southampton | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -11 | 41 |
| 15. Aston Villa | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | -22 | 41 |
| 16. Newcastle | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | -23 | 41 |
| 17. Sunderland | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -13 | 39 |
| 18. Wigan | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | -26 | 36 |
Breaking League News
| Liverpool: Carra Admits To Being Emotional
» Liverpool : 20/05/2013 09:00:00
|
| Liverpool: Carra Not Easy To Replace - Rodgers
» Liverpool : 20/05/2013 08:48:00
|
|
» Wigan : 20/05/2013 07:21:00
|
| The Reality Of Newcastle United
» Newcastle : 20/05/2013 00:43:00
|
| PDC: 'Environment worse here than Swindon'
» Sunderland : 20/05/2013 00:39:00
|
| Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sunderland
» Sunderland : 20/05/2013 00:31:00
|
| Report - Swansea City 0-3 Fulham
» Swansea : 19/05/2013 23:07:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
1 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.