‘The real reason I left Aston Villa when Randy Lerner took over’
Stede Stride opens up about leaving Villa Park in his weekly column for Birmingham Live.
Regarding my departure from Aston Villa at the conclusion of the 2006–07 season, there appears to have been a lot of misunderstanding. Some enquire as to my departure, while others inform me that Randy Lerner was wrong to fire me. In actuality, I wasn’t asked to depart by him.
I had worked at Villa for almost 35 years, 25 of those as secretary, and I was exhausted by the time the Americans took over. My life had been consumed by my work. I couldn’t stop thinking about the club during my awake hours.
It seemed like a good idea to depart when the new boys arrived. They appointed Richard FitzGerald as chief executive, and we decided that I would remain for a full year in order to facilitate a seamless transition.
Doug Ellis kept an office at Villa Park even though he had retired, and that was the only thing about my departure that truly irritated me. Every day when he entered Vila Park, it was as though he was still in charge of me.
I told him one day over lunch that I was departing at the end of the season and asked him to keep it a secret. I ought to have been more aware. The Birmingham Evening Mail carried the story the next day: Randy gets rid of another one.
Doug denied telling anyone other than my wife Carolyn when I questioned him about it, but he was the only person I had told. I had never understood where the Villa Park leaks to the media were coming from for years.
Doug was the main source of all. He did so to gain favour with the local press and shift the blame for his criticism onto the manager.
Leave a Reply