It Is Time For Lerner To Sell

by Greg Kozarik

The time has come for one Randolph Lerner to just cut bait and sell the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are more than a football team. It is a business and it is obvious it is one business adventure that Lerner has never wanted to be involved in.

When his father, Al Lerner, won the chance to own the expansion, this was something he was passionate about. When he passed away in 2002, Randy Lerner was given the team, something that he did not want but felt obligated to honor his father’s wishes. Now he is just running a proud franchise into the ground.

If it was not for that zombie, Al Davis and the way he is running the Oakland Raiders, the Browns would be the laughing stock of the NFL. Lerner does not need to be like Jerry Jones but he needs to be more like Dan Gilbert and the way he handles the Cavaliers.

Sure Lerner shows up to every home game but the fiasco that is the Browns is just a runaway train. Where was he with the whole staph infection situation? Where was he with the Kellen Winslow situation? These are two major issues that he was nowhere to be found. Look how he handled the John Collins process a couple of years ago.

He hired a GM in Phil Savage who has no idea that there is more to being a general manager than traveling to scout college games. Savage should be director of football operations much like Dwight Clark was when he was here and Lerner needs to hire a Carmen Policy-type person to handle the other side of the Cleveland Browns.

Browns legend Bernie Kosar speaks on the local talk shows about how much Lerner cares for the Browns and how losses tear him up. Lerner spends money on football players but Savage makes the decision on you to get and that obviously is not working. But does Lerner really care?

Did he not learn from the way the Browns were run when Butch Davis was the head coach? Davis tried to become the dictator of the organization and the team quickly when down the drain. Davis was a joke in the way he ran the team and the way he treated the players. This should have been a huge lesson for Lerner.

Lerner is now letting Savage run rough shot throughout the organization. He needs to reel him in and as the season becomes more about where the Browns will be drafting in April than winning football games, he needs to show some backbone.

The Aston Villa soccer club that Lerner owns has had some success since he has bought the team. He has hired some competent people to handle the day-to-day operations and the fans love him. Why can’t he do that here? He can start by firing that fraud of an NFL coach, Romeo Crennel.

This whole organization needs direction from the top down to the bottom. Since Lerner does not care how his team is perceived by the fans (despite what that buffoon Trent Dilfer says), the media and his peers in the NFL. Sell now Randy, your time has come! We need an in flux of new blood throughout the entire Cleveland Browns organization.