Doug Ellis has stepped down from the post of Chairman of Aston Villa after spending 35 years with them after American Randy Lerner reached the 90% shares mark that entitles him to compulsorily purchase the remaining 10% of shares to become Villa’s new chairman.

Stephen Kind, Anthony Hales, David Owen and Peter Ellis also stepped down as directors of the club to give way to a new breed brought in by Lerner including his son Randolph Lerner as chairman and General Charles C Krulak, Bob Kain and Michael Martin as new non-executive directors.

Lerner is also the owner of NFL side Cleveland Browns and hopes to bring Villa out of the ashes into a glorious future and has already made plan to secure a £100million sponsorship deal by December which will provide manager Martin O’Neill with further funds for players alongside Lerner’s own capital.

It’s amazing for me to see many Premiership clubs being owned by a single person, Man Utd,Chelsea and now Villa (West Ham soon?).Lerner is also intrested in removing Villa from the Stock Exchange so that the club will now become a private company.

With the amount of money that Villa will receive now plus a very good manager in O’ Neill i wonder if they can cause a surpise in the league this season as they are anticipated to make waves in the transfer market in January.

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