Who do you want the next Villa manager to be?

[avfcdale]

Peter Reid curently out of work could'nt be any worse

[itbrvilla]

Brenda please.

[brian green]

I would have held my nose and taken Pulis on a two year contract on the justification that anti football is marginally better than doing a Forest/Wednesday/Wolves. I think Moyes will puke up the invitation and it will be Rodgers.

[manic-road]

I have gone for Moyes, he was used to keeping Everton up on a shoestring.

[Dave Pountney]

There are a number of considerations here. Firstly, our plight is such that we need an expert salvage man in the Pulis, Allardyce and Redknapp role. A short term choice rather than a long term one because avoiding relegation is the only game in town for us right now. All bets are off if we go down and then it won't matter how promising a Manager might or might not be. For me, that rules out a few of the more exotic choices on the list; nice-to-haves if we were in a decent position, but either unrealistic now or too unproven in the harsh and unforgiving world of the lower reaches of the Premiership.

Secondly, we have to take on board Lerner's track record of selecting managers. He has found it impossible to lure big names to the club and Moyes, Martinez and Benitez have all rejected his overtures in the past. I think we have to accept that we've got an owner with the personality of a wet lettuce and the guile and craft of a five year old. Compared to the likes of Abramovich, Coates and Dein, even Pearce, he's a bantomweight in the ring with heavyweights. Out of his depth, in other words, and in Tom Fox we've got someone who basked in Wenger's shadow at Arsenal for years and has, as far as I can tell, no track record of finding top class Managers.

And, thirdly, who is there of any note who will accept the poisoned chalice?

All in all, I think it's Nigel Pearson for me. He meets my three considerations. None of the others do, I'm afraid. My dream, and probably far-fetched, scenario, is that he keeps us up, Lerner sells in the summer and new owners come in with real ambition. Then I'd look at some of the other candidates on the list. But horses for courses first.

28 games to save the Villa, that's all.

[robbo1874]

Of the names listed, I've gone for Rodgers. Dunno whether he could keep us up, but if we'd go down I reckon he could get us back the next season. What a fkn mess we're in.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Have people forgotten what Nigel Pearson did? Do you honestly want him associated with our club?

[Monty]

Why is the bottom of the Premier League different to any other part of it? You're playing the same teams. What you need is the manager who'll get you the most points, and to hell with this Dunkirk canard about the 'relegation scrap'. The teams which stay up score often score more goals and play better football than those which go down, yet there's this belief continues to linger that the only way to stay up is necessarily ugly.

This, I submit, is rubbish. We have a group of players who are suited to a style of football, and we need a manager who can play that style with them. Definitely not Pearson. Maybe not Moyes (although, despite Rudy's clear outlining of his flaws, he wouldn't be a terrible appointment). Definitely, definitely, definitely not a Pulis or Allardyce type.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I'd like Rodgers, but I can't imagine the Villa crowd giving the team any assistance. His teams keep the ball all over the pitch. Screams of "get it fucking forward!" would be shouted with even more regularity than it is now. Mistakes will always happen when you play like that, but hopefully you should overcome the errors with positives from keeping the ball. I think, with confidence installed in them, we have some players that can pass and keep the ball well, but also have the movement with it as well. I can imagine Westwood being slated even more for playing and keeping the ball.

[peter w]

The last thing we need is a short-term horses for courses. We need a long-term strategy and the willingness to back the manager financially for a minimum of one transfer window. That's where you've fallen down and not been able to attract the good managers. Why would a half-decent manager come in when they're set up to fail?

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Why is the bottom of the Premier League different to any other part of it? You're playing the same teams. What you need is the manager who'll get you the most points, and to hell with this Dunkirk canard about the 'relegation scrap'. The teams which stay up score often score more goals and play better football than those which go down, yet there's this belief continues to linger that the only way to stay up is necessarily ugly.

This, I submit, is rubbish. We have a group of players who are suited to a style of football, and we need a manager who can play that style with them. Definitely not Pearson. Maybe not Moyes (although, despite Rudy's clear outlining of his flaws, he wouldn't be a terrible appointment). Definitely, definitely, definitely not a Pulis or Allardyce type.

You're right. When he came in and kept us up, he got us playing in a way that we attacked team and scored goals. From the cup final onwards, he's changed those tactics to something different.

Selecting Hutton for the cup final and worrying about the other team rather than what we was going to do to them was, and is, his downfall.

[walsall villain]

The last thing we need is a short-term horses for courses. We need a long-term strategy and the willingness to back the manager financially for a minimum of one transfer window. That's where you've fallen down and not been able to attract the good managers. Why would a half-decent manager come in when they're set up to fail?

We can't have a long term strategy when the owner is trying to sell can we?

[LeeB]

Why is the bottom of the Premier League different to any other part of it? You're playing the same teams. What you need is the manager who'll get you the most points, and to hell with this Dunkirk canard about the 'relegation scrap'. The teams which stay up score often score more goals and play better football than those which go down, yet there's this belief continues to linger that the only way to stay up is necessarily ugly.

This, I submit, is rubbish. We have a group of players who are suited to a style of football, and we need a manager who can play that style with them. Definitely not Pearson. Maybe not Moyes (although, despite Rudy's clear outlining of his flaws, he wouldn't be a terrible appointment). Definitely, definitely, definitely not a Pulis or Allardyce type.

We saved ourselves last season by playing some of the best football we've played in yonks for a brief, glittering few weeks.

Let's try and break the cycle of misery instead of prolonging it.

[curlytailavfc]

we might need someone with good championship ideas to get us back up as things dont look good for us

[ozzjim]

Moyes for me, it looks a good fit, big club on its knees needing a man who can bring it back up to standard, manager who has seen a great reputation take a battering. He needs us too.

Beyond him on the list, I would take a gamble on Warbutton. Think he is a very, very good manager in the making, and seems to be a good coach.