It appears to have been confirmed today that Randy Lerner, an American billionaire will be taking over as the major shareholder and chairman of Aston Villa from Doug Ellis.

Like the rest of my family, I've been a Villa fan my entire life and I agree that it's time that Ellis was shot of. It can't be denied that since Ellis's takeover as chairman in 1982 - the year that Villa won the European Cup - the club has seen a slow but certain downhill slide. Yes, there have been high points, like winning the League Cup in 1996, but if current form contines it seems highly likely that Villa may be relegated this upcoming season.

Time then, for a new manager, new Chairman and new money. All have come this summer and with this probably the greatest hope that the Villa will avoid the drop and start to push back up the table to a place befitting of one of the original Football League teams.

As my Dad pointed out recently though, with this takeover comes uncertainty. We've seen what has happened to Chelsea and Manchester United in the last couple of years, and while I would of course like Villa to once again have that kind of success, it can't come at that sort of a price.

Think ahead 5 years... Villa have used their American money to buy up a whole host of players from AC Milan, Real Madrid and a range of struggling Premiership teams that could really do with holding on to their home-grown talent, and are finishing in the top three reliably. They've had plenty of European success too. The new chairman has brought with him a more American style marketing approach and Villa is now becoming popular across certain parts of the less developed world. Ticket prices start to soar, pricing out most of the local Villa faithful who, it has to be said, will not earn enough to spend Chelsea prices week after week to support their local team. But, there's still plenty of interest in seeing these fantastic players and corporate ticket numbers go up. New stadium needed and hey, well that land in Aston is worth quite a bit. Let's build a brand new "American Airlines Arena" out near Sutton Coldfield somewhere with loads of corporate boxes, parking and good motorway access. Fantastic business opportunity.

So in summary, I hope Mr Lerner takes proper note of the tremendous support that Aston Villa has and acknowledges that it is the support of the fans - not his predecessors - that has brought Villa to success and through tough times over the past 132 years.