Lerner takes responsibility for Aston Villa's demise

Randy Lerner is still looking for someone to purchase Aston Villa.

The controversial American owner said the club's relegation "lies at my feet and no-one else's" and that he is still actively seeking a takeover of the club after initially putting it up for sale in May 2014.

Lerner addressed fans via a statement on the club website, coming days after board members Mervyn King and David Bernstein exited the club after an apparent fallout with the owner. It also followed Thursday's reports of an Aston Villa-supporting consortium being in talks with Lerner over a takeover deal.

The statement included:

How many seasons after all can one hold on and hope to slide through? That is not Aston Villa. That kind of desperate existence is totally unacceptable, unbearable and totally incompatible with Villa's glorious past. That is not what, or why, I looked to get involved back then and it is why I've looked for some time to make a change. I can say certainly in good faith that I have tried to sell since my May 2014 announcement and put our beloved club in better suited hands - but that hasn't happened.

I write to Villa supporters to make clear that this relegation lies at my feet and no one else's. And because I believe in Aston Villa and know it will come back stronger and more able, with love and care for the community it serves, with the edge and attitude it must have to represent our history and tradition.

The demise of Aston Villa under Lerner's ownership got the bedsheet brigade out in force in B6, unfurling banners urging him to be forced out of the boardroom at the earliest opportunity.

Relegation was confirmed by a 1-0 loss at Manchester United last Saturday - its ninth consecutive defeat - which left it rooted to the bottom of the Premier League with a miserly 16 points.

Aston Villa's descent into the Championship marked its first relegation since 1987.