Aston Villa have had better times in terms of points on the board, and the club’s owner has also seen his numbers fall.
Randy Lerner became a popular figure when he put his money where his mouth is to invest in the Premier League club six years ago.
That move earned him a place on the Rich List, and despite seeing about £100 million knocked off his value, he remains one of the three billionaires.
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His mouth is sometimes the issue with the club’s fans, who occasionally voice frustration that he doesn’t communicate with them, but are prepared to put that down to his quiet and modest nature.
In the past he has shown a preparedness to put his hand in his own pocket to ensure the club gets the investment it needs, bringing in the likes of Darren Bent and Christian Benteke.
However, efforts to get the finances on an even keel mean that while his investment remains key, his popularity has waned in some circles.
Randy Lerner pocketed around £620 million from the sale of American football team, the Cleveland Browns to US businessman Jimmy Haslam in 2012. Just as well, as Villa has already accounted for more than £200 million of the Lerner fortune.
In the year 2011/12 Villa posted a loss of £17.7 million, a big improvement on the previous year’s loss of £53.9 million. A cost-cutting programme meant that operating expenses fell by £20.3 million to £138.4 million.
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The sale of England internationals Ashley Young and Stewart Downing netted around £35 million, resulting in a player trading profit of £26.9 million. Randy Lerner also waived interest on loans totalling £107.1 million, creating a one-off benefit for the club of £20.3 million. Turnover for the year was £63.8 million.
Randy Lerner certainly can’t be accused of not being committed to the club.
He has a Villa logo tattooed on his ankle, and continues to pour money into the club and its facilities. On top of paying £62 million for the club nearly six years ago he has invested heavily in equity and loans and has underwritten the club’s losses.
Although an American citizen, Brooklyn-born Randy Lerner makes it into our list not just as the owner of Aston Villa, but as a resident of the region, even if it is part time.
He owns a converted £2.5 million farmhouse in Bodymoor Heath, close to Villa’s training ground. His other home is in Amagansett, New York where he owns a restaurant and a shopping mall.
The US entrepreneur and lawyer continues to treat the club he owns with respect. He understands that it is a venerable institution with a long history and proud heritage, not simply an investment vehicle to be laden with debt.
As well as a lover of football, he is an enthusiast for the arts; a fact underlined by his patronage of the National Portrait gallery with a gift of £5 million – the gallery’s biggest ever single gift. In acknowledgement of his generosity the ground floor galleries have been renamed The Lerner Galleries.
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He has also donated cash to Clare College, Cambridge where he spent a year studying in 1983 – to provide new residential accommodation for students. It has been named Lerner Court.
Randy Lerner, who is 51, inherited control of the Cleveland Browns in 2002 from his father Al Lerner when he died. Under the terms of the sale of the Browns he retains 30 per cent for four years.
He graduated from Columbia Law School and is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bar Association. He worked as a lawyer in New York before entering the business world.
His business career began at the Progressive Corporation where he was an investment analyst. In 1991 he started an independent investment firm called Securities Advisors Inc, which he owned and managed until 2001. In 1993 he became a director at MBNA, of which his father was a founder.
He became chairman of MBNA in 2002, selling the family’s interests three years later to Bank of America for more than £1.2 billion. The family’s investment in Bank of America, which has been posting losses and seeing shares slide, has fluctuated.
He was divorced from his wife Lara in 2011, and has four children.