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Check yourself.
Steve Hollis is a man who doesn't make any damn half measures.
Since his arrival, Aston Villa have slowly pulled themselves up into the 'almost respectable' category after a number of PR gaffes by Tom Fox and others had not only made the club a laughing stock, but also ostracised fans leading to both mass protests and mass anger.
Tom Fox is now gone and there's some people of serious credibility working behind the scenes to get things moving again at Villa Park. Chief among those is David Bernstein, who not only worked for the FA, but steadied the ship at Manchester City (who had suffered a hell of a lot worse than Villa's current situation before the money hit). Arguably, there's no one better that would fit the definition of 'a football man' than Bernstein.
Then Villa went ahead and hired a legend in the form of Brian Little to advise the board. PR move? Hell yes. Bad move? no.
With Tom Fox leaving behind a large role at Villa, it makes sense to replace that same role - but as I said, Steve Hollis doesn't seem like a man to do half a task.Instead of appointing a new CEO, Hollis has asked that Bernstein and Little along with a new HFO or Head of Football Operations form a 'football board'. Note that the link does not mention a CEO role being open.
What this means is that Steve Hollis, a man who has admitted he doesn't know much about football has made the intelligent decision to allow someone to run the performance side of the football club whilst he, General Charles Krulak and Mervyn King run the commercial and business side. The football manager of Aston Villa in 2016 will also report to the 'HFO' and not Hollis or King, which shows that Villa look to have learnt from their mistakes and will allow the footballing side of the club to breath and concentrate on what matters - playing good football.
This is a fantastic move for the club and I cannot wait to see who is brought in. For once, there's some excitement within me about this club.