Press off

[dave.woodhall]

Just when you thought it was all over.

http://thebirminghampress.com/2015/06/summer-fun-2/

[Toronto Villa]

Hard to argue any of that, and to make things worse it was 10 points from the first 4 league games, and then a massive 12 points and 8 goals from the next 21 before Sherwood joined. That's how bad it was.

[bob]

It was the first time Villa had changed managers during the season since November 1994, when Ron Atkinson had been replaced by Brian Little

What about Little > Gregory?

[Tony Erdington]

Cant argue with that, time and money are the elements which will decide where we are 16/17,

a nice 10th or 11th would be bliss!!!

oh my expectations, and my beliefs may differ.

Depressed

[Villa in Denmark]

It was the first time Villa had changed managers during the season since November 1994, when Ron Atkinson had been replaced by Brian Little

What about Little > Gregory?

I'll see your Little > Gregory and raise you with Gregory > Taylor in 2002 

[dave.woodhall]

Note to self: never write late at night, and pretty damned niftily edited, though I say it myself.

[paul_e]

Cant argue with that, time and money are the elements which will decide where we are 16/17,

a nice 10th or 11th would be bliss!!!

oh my expectations, and my beliefs may differ.

Depressed

I can and will.  Money makes things a lot easier, that's undeniable but I think a lot of people now use it as an excuse.  For me Money isn't the difference between 6th and 16th, above and below that it is key for different reasons.

This is clearly shown by simple comparisons between squads, results and spending.  Let's use ourselves and Swansea as the examples.  In the last 5 years our total spending (according to transferleague.co.uk which is as accurate a source as any) is £31.1m, Swansea's total spending for the same period is £13.175m.  Now add on the starting points of us having just finished 6th in the premier league and them finishing 7th in the championship.  Both teams have seen their best players leave for big fees in that time and both teams have purchased from lower leagues and abroad as well as a few cast offs from other premier league teams. Both have also seen numerous managerial changes. So why are we 18 points and 9 places behind them?

The simple answer is direction and consistency, The start of that period saw us lose a counter-attack manager 5 days before the season, replace him someone who wanted to play quick passing direct football for a year then bring in an ultra defensive manager and finally bring in a tactical chameleon who seemed to not know exactly how he wanted to play.  So we have players throughout the clubs who were purchased for very different types of football and mostly misused by subsequent managers.  Swansea on the other hand have had the same approach to the game from every manager and have picked players to fit that consistent approach.

With all the new coaches and all the new back office staff I believe Fox has come to the same conclusion and what we'll see the beginnings of this summer is the creation of a club identity, it will take a couple of years to get there but with players like Delph, Sinclair, Grealish, Clark and Okore (and hopefully Benteke) already part of where we want to go the first step is getting an 11 that works and then using the squad players and youth teams to fill around that for a year or 2 to see if some of the younger players can develop that way and then recruiting where the gaps are too big.

[Steve R]

I read that and thought Atkinson>Little was indeed, strictly speaking, the last time that Villa changed manager mid season; Little and Gregory's departures were their own idea. There's a difference between Villa changing its manager and Villa's manager changing.

[dave.woodhall]

I read that and thought Atkinson>Little was indeed, strictly speaking, the last time that Villa changed manager mid season; Little and Gregory's departures were their own idea. There's a difference between Villa changing its manager and Villa's manager changing.

You're right, but I'm not changing it again.