What's incredible about the league tables in their respective years is that in 1993 it was Man United, Villa, Norwich, Blackburn, QPR, Liverpool, Sheffield Wednesday. In 1996 it was Manchester United, Newcastle, Liverpool, Villa, Arsenal, Everton, Blackburn. In three years the big clubs were already moving into position and starting to kick the little ones out.
Quote from: dave.woodhall on November 10, 2014, 06:46:58 PMWhat's incredible about the league tables in their respective years is that in 1993 it was Man United, Villa, Norwich, Blackburn, QPR, Liverpool, Sheffield Wednesday. In 1996 it was Manchester United, Newcastle, Liverpool, Villa, Arsenal, Everton, Blackburn. In three years the big clubs were already moving into position and starting to kick the little ones out. And even that cup success was bought by Matthew Harding. And Chelsea were nowhere, they didn't start finding any kind of consistency until the Gullit/Vialli days in which they were fairly similar to the then Sheff Wed, Leeds or Villa, winning cups and making top 6 without ever challenging seriously maintaining a title challenge yet getting a far higher media profile. And then Abramovich came and the rest is sadly history.
Quote from: Fred on November 10, 2014, 02:01:10 PMQuote from: dave.woodhall on November 10, 2014, 12:39:08 PMQuote from: Fred on November 10, 2014, 12:31:02 PMAs I said on a previous post BFR was a very popular manager and i remember asking my mate to confirm using Ceefax (internet of the day) if what i had heard was true. I remember somebody in the office telling me they had heard Villa had sacked Rowan Atkinson. I did not know wether to laugh or cry.However rhe desicion was right as the team was growing older with the manager and a rot had set in for some time, the fact that BL came in and by 1996 we were 4th with another league cup under our belt proved Doug right.My worry now is that there is no BL or a BL type of manager to come in and would the chairman be able to find a manager like that?Those managers, like Sir Graham, found him. That's the biggest difference between Doug & Randy; the former had the knack of always coming up smelling of roses.Thank god Sir Graham did find Doug and wanted the job, Reading about his time at the club he seemed to know how to work with and handle the chairman.The only manager to ever best Doug. [/quote)I love the story of Doug walking to the dressing room with the door open for Sir Graham to then shut it before he could enter the dressing room. Great man and a great manager. If only England had waited for two more years before taking him as manager.
Quote from: dave.woodhall on November 10, 2014, 12:39:08 PMQuote from: Fred on November 10, 2014, 12:31:02 PMAs I said on a previous post BFR was a very popular manager and i remember asking my mate to confirm using Ceefax (internet of the day) if what i had heard was true. I remember somebody in the office telling me they had heard Villa had sacked Rowan Atkinson. I did not know wether to laugh or cry.However rhe desicion was right as the team was growing older with the manager and a rot had set in for some time, the fact that BL came in and by 1996 we were 4th with another league cup under our belt proved Doug right.My worry now is that there is no BL or a BL type of manager to come in and would the chairman be able to find a manager like that?Those managers, like Sir Graham, found him. That's the biggest difference between Doug & Randy; the former had the knack of always coming up smelling of roses.Thank god Sir Graham did find Doug and wanted the job, Reading about his time at the club he seemed to know how to work with and handle the chairman.
Quote from: Fred on November 10, 2014, 12:31:02 PMAs I said on a previous post BFR was a very popular manager and i remember asking my mate to confirm using Ceefax (internet of the day) if what i had heard was true. I remember somebody in the office telling me they had heard Villa had sacked Rowan Atkinson. I did not know wether to laugh or cry.However rhe desicion was right as the team was growing older with the manager and a rot had set in for some time, the fact that BL came in and by 1996 we were 4th with another league cup under our belt proved Doug right.My worry now is that there is no BL or a BL type of manager to come in and would the chairman be able to find a manager like that?Those managers, like Sir Graham, found him. That's the biggest difference between Doug & Randy; the former had the knack of always coming up smelling of roses.
As I said on a previous post BFR was a very popular manager and i remember asking my mate to confirm using Ceefax (internet of the day) if what i had heard was true. I remember somebody in the office telling me they had heard Villa had sacked Rowan Atkinson. I did not know wether to laugh or cry.However rhe desicion was right as the team was growing older with the manager and a rot had set in for some time, the fact that BL came in and by 1996 we were 4th with another league cup under our belt proved Doug right.My worry now is that there is no BL or a BL type of manager to come in and would the chairman be able to find a manager like that?
I love the story of Doug walking to the dressing room with the door open for Sir Graham to then shut it before he could enter the dressing room. Great man and a great manager. If only England had waited for two more years before taking him as manager.
Quote from: Fred on November 11, 2014, 01:51:10 PMI love the story of Doug walking to the dressing room with the door open for Sir Graham to then shut it before he could enter the dressing room. Great man and a great manager. If only England had waited for two more years before taking him as manager.I'm convinced we'd have won the league, and he would have set the club up for the long-term in a way that Ron never could.
Quote from: dave.woodhall on November 11, 2014, 02:22:32 PMQuote from: Fred on November 11, 2014, 01:51:10 PMI love the story of Doug walking to the dressing room with the door open for Sir Graham to then shut it before he could enter the dressing room. Great man and a great manager. If only England had waited for two more years before taking him as manager.I'm convinced we'd have won the league, and he would have set the club up for the long-term in a way that Ron never could. I agree. Ron got us up for the big games and we had a decent chance of winning the league under him in one season. I believe Sir Graham was a manager who built foundations at a club. A friend of mine had a chat with him in 2006 and he was refering to the club as "us" and "we". So his heart as well as his talent was truly in the Villa.
Quote from: Fred on November 11, 2014, 03:09:06 PMQuote from: dave.woodhall on November 11, 2014, 02:22:32 PMQuote from: Fred on November 11, 2014, 01:51:10 PMI love the story of Doug walking to the dressing room with the door open for Sir Graham to then shut it before he could enter the dressing room. Great man and a great manager. If only England had waited for two more years before taking him as manager.I'm convinced we'd have won the league, and he would have set the club up for the long-term in a way that Ron never could. I agree. Ron got us up for the big games and we had a decent chance of winning the league under him in one season. I believe Sir Graham was a manager who built foundations at a club. A friend of mine had a chat with him in 2006 and he was refering to the club as "us" and "we". So his heart as well as his talent was truly in the Villa.It's funny looking back to his second spell. Often thought of as a bit of disaster. That said in retrospect Gregory left at the right time (much like O Neill to be honest) and Taylor came in as a transitional man. I don't think either he or Doug particularly considered it would be anything much longer than what it was. But he finished the season on 45 points. At that time it was bad. Compared to recent times, it doesn't look to shite to be honest. He also inherited an aging squad and a very limited budget.
I thought Doug offered him the role until the end of the season 2002 and Sir Graham said no i will take it full time. If that is true i am sure that was heart ruling head. I remember when he came back to the club and was so happy to have him back and sorry to see him leave.
Quote from: Fred on November 11, 2014, 03:40:31 PMI thought Doug offered him the role until the end of the season 2002 and Sir Graham said no i will take it full time. If that is true i am sure that was heart ruling head. I remember when he came back to the club and was so happy to have him back and sorry to see him leave.He came back for two reasons: i) unfinished business and ii) he'd never had a proper crack at the Premier League. I don't suppose a £1 million a year towards his retirement was to be sniffed at either.Possibly the only thing I disagree with Sir Graham about was when he left, and said he'd been surprised at how divided and Doug-centric the club was. He would have already known that better than anyone.
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