Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: LTA on January 26, 2016, 10:14:26 PM
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Given them debate over Remi Garde, it got me wondering who everyone's best and worst Villa managers in their lifetime was.
Best (since 1989) for me is a toss up between Sir Graham, Big Ron and Brian Little, but I think Graham edges for them way he sorted then place out (indeed Ron and Brian benefited from some of them things he put in place.
Worst would be DOL. Patronising and demeaning and underachieved with a decent squad.
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Best - Taylor Atkinson and Little.
Worst - Lambert
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Best obviously Sir Ron Saunders but emotionally Brian.
Worst tough one as there have been so many but McNeil for me but the one I hated most was O'Leary.
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Best is obviously Saunders. Followed by, in no particular order, Little, Sir Graham and Tony Barton. I think Barton gets overlooked too much, he won the EC, the ESC, took us to another ECQF, an FAC QF and a LC SF. Plus 6th and 10th in the league in his 2 full seasons, all done while Ellis was destroying the squad and cutting costs left right and centre.
Worst is McNeill.
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He was only there for just over a year but Tommy Doc managed to be both.
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I don't remember Vic Crowe, so my ranking is:
1. Ron Saunders
2. Tony Barton
3. Ron Atkinson
4. Brian Little
5. Graham Taylor I
6. Martin O'Neill
7. John Gregory
8. Gerard Houllier
9. David O'Leary
10. Graham Taylor II
11. Tim Sherwood
12. Graham Turner
13. Jozef Venglos
14. Paul Lambert
15. Alex McLeish
16. Billy McNeill
Too early to rank Remi Garde.
Once you get past O'Neill and Gregory, it gets grim fast.
Sherwood surprisingly high, but he ought to get credit for keeping us up last season, the FA Cup Final and at least making me love the Villa again for a month or so.
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Best - Big Ron - brought a real buzz to the club from the opening game at Hillsborough.
Worst - McLeish - decent guy but wrong on every level. Still a really baffling decision.
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Obviously Sir Ron was and is the best - He built the Villa back to the very top, McNeil by far the worst, he was a car crash even before he signed on for his Claret and Blue assignment.
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Best: Saunders, Barton, Sir GT Mk I
Worst: O'Neill, O'Leary, McNeill
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Best, Ron Saunders the full 110%.
Worst, so many choices, Lambert, O'Leary, Sherwood, McLeish, McNeill.
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Best has got to be Ron Saunders. I think Sir Graham would have got close if he had stayed first time then it's a joint third of Little, Atkinson and Barton. The worst has got to be McNeil who did sod all as we slid to relegation. Tommy Docherty was hopeless too after so much optimism following the upturn in fortunes when he first came, for those too young it was Sherwood like. Most disliked? O'bloody-Leary.
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Saunders
Lambert
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Best: Saunders, Little, SGT, Gregory (for a while)
Worst: Turner, McNeil, Lambert
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Best is obviously Saunders. Followed by, in no particular order, Little, Sir Graham and Tony Barton. I think Barton gets overlooked too much, he won the EC, the ESC, took us to another ECQF, an FAC QF and a LC SF. Plus 6th and 10th in the league in his 2 full seasons, all done while Ellis was destroying the squad and cutting costs left right and centre.
Worst is McNeill.
Fully agree with this PWS - and also (as well as guiding us to European Cup glory) he stabilised the slightly perilous league position we were in when he took over early in 1982.
Tony Barton was a very under rated manager - sacking him to replace him with Graham Turner was definitely a backward step.
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In my life - Best: Saunders - Worst: McNeill
In the time I've been old enough to understand football - Best: Big Ron (just edging out Taylor Mrk1) - Worst: Turner
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Big Ron - Exciting signings, most worked. Best football, plus he had lots of charisma, we won a cup and were runners up in the league.
Close 2nd though of course GT. Got promoted, first div runners up and came up with great tactics that season. He also made the 3 best signings of the past 30 odd years, McGrath, Platt and Yorke.
Lots of choice for worst, I think it's a tie between Venglos, Lambert and McLeish.
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Best for me: O'Neill (granted it went sour)
Worst: Mcleish, was close between him and Lamberk though
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I don't remember Vic Crowe, so my ranking is:
1. Ron Saunders
2. Tony Barton
3. Ron Atkinson
4. Brian Little
5. Graham Taylor I
6. Martin O'Neill
7. John Gregory
8. Gerard Houllier
9. David O'Leary
10. Graham Taylor II
11. Tim Sherwood
12. Graham Turner
13. Jozef Venglos
14. Paul Lambert
15. Alex McLeish
16. Billy McNeill
Too early to rank Remi Garde.
Once you get past O'Neill and Gregory, it gets grim fast.
Sherwood surprisingly high, but he ought to get credit for keeping us up last season, the FA Cup Final and at least making me love the Villa again for a month or so.
I'd have GT I and Barton swap places - rest is spot on. O'Neill and Gregory joint.
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Saunders
McLeish - what were they thinking?
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Best - Taylor
Worst - Lambert
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In my lifetime Atkinson & Little
Worst Mcshit & Lambert
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Best - Big Ron
Worst - Paul Lambert
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I think the best would be Ron Atkinson, don't really remember Graham Taylor from his first time at the club. Second in the league and a league cup too.
Worst was definitely O'Leary. Not only for the fact that we were rubbish under him, but the fact that he was always banging on about Leeds and trying to make out what a small club we were! Never hated any other manager that we've had, some have been crap but at least they seemed okay as people.
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The best in my lifetime is Ron Saunders, with GT Mk I second.
The worst is McNeill by a country mile.
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If my memory serves me correctly didn't McNeill have the dubious distinction of taking two clubs down in the same season in us and Man Citeh ?
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Best - Saunders, Barton, Taylor, Atkinson, Little, O'Neill, Gregory
Worst - McNeill, Lambert, Turner, McLeish, O'Leary, Sherwood
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Been a regular since 1984. In that time the best was Sir Graham for his time at the club between 1987-1990.
The worst was David O'Deary for being shit, and having an incredible ability to put his foot in his mouth. He was worse than Billy McNeill for me, who despite taking us down at least knew not to slag the club/fans off every week.
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Best - Ron Saunders, growing up having him as Villa manager almost felt like your Dad was in charge, the ultimate authority figure, his word was law, always right.
Worst - Billy McNeil, we've probably had worse managers but none that cared so little, treated the club like a 6 month cash point. Still disliked DOL more though as a person.
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Tommy Doc turned me from a 9 year old Villa cynic (I already held dour views about managers following Tommy Cummings!) into an absolute believer so I'll always have a soft spot for him. But Ron Saunders actually knew what he was doing and how to deliver it by sticking to his principles so he's best in my view.
McNeill was by far the worst
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Best - Ron Saunders, growing up having him as Villa manager almost felt like your Dad was in charge, the ultimate authority figure, his word was law, always right.
Worst - Billy McNeil, we've probably had worse managers but none that cared so little, treated the club like a 6 month cash point. Still disliked DOL more though as a person.
That's so right - whatever Ron said, it was taken and there was not even a thought of disagreeing with him - a superb manager.
I remember all the big talk Billy McNeil brought with him ( and I'd always admired him as a player ) - however, it was in the main just that - talk.
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Tommy Doc turned me from a 9 year old Villa cynic (I already held dour views about managers following Tommy Cummings!) into an absolute believer so I'll always have a soft spot for him. But Ron Saunders actually knew what he was doing and how to deliver it by sticking to his principles so he's best in my view.
McNeill was by far the worst
Yes I'd got into football in the mid 1960s recognizing Villa as a poor team - when Tommy Docherty came - for a short time it was something else - so yes I'll always have a soft spot for him, however, is it worth a mention for Vic Crowe - in that he laid the foundations for Ron Saunders to build from that 1974-75 season ?
McNeill and DOL (in that order) for me were the worst.
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Best - Ron Saunders for obvious reasons.
Worst - McLeish. Only manager i know of who settles for low scoring defeats.
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The Greats
1. Graham Taylor
2. Ron Saunders
The nearly men ...
3. Ron Atkinson
4. Brian Little
5. Vic Crowe
6. John Gregory
A category all on his own ...
7. Tony Barton
The marmite men ...
8. Martin O'Neill
9. David O'Leary
10. Paul Lambert
The right people and the wrong time ...
11. Gerard Houllier
12. Jozef Venglos
The egotists ...
13. Tim Sherwood &/= Docherty
The never should have happened men ...
14. Alex McLeish
15. Graham Turner
16. Billy McNeill
SGT tops my list because he simply achieved everything on his own - there was nothing to build on after Turner & McNeill.
Saunders won (nearly) everything, but he took over at a time when things were already on the up.
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The Aston Villa of 1968 can best be described as a patient in need of a double heart and lung transplant, dying. Then along came the donor in the form of the big buyout and Tommy Doc being installed as manager but, you all know that anyway.
The Doc came with a lot of hype and hope but sadly never fulfilled the ambition. As has been posted above, he'll always have fond memories for me as it was then that I began to believe.
There's only one Ron Saunders and there's only one Grahame Taylor. If anyone can emulate what those two brought to the club then they will have achieved immortality. The debt of gratitude owed to those two men by Aston Villa is incalculable.
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Best, Ron Saunders. He continued the great work of Vic Crowe, building three successful teams en route to the one that won the European Cup.
Worst, Graham Turner, a man appointed way out of his depth when he left Shrewsbury Town to manage the team that won the European Cup. Not his fault of course. A question for Ellis.
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Best -Vic Crowe & Graham Taylor -when you're deep in the shit, it takes someone really special to dig you out.
Worst -McNeill -seemed to care about as much as some of our current 'players'.
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Best - I probably had my most fun times down VP under Gregory
Worst - I've never felt the same attachment to Aston Villa since DO'L
It's hard to say these were the best and worst managers, indeed Little and BFR were probably better managers, Lambert and McLeish certainly worst but they are where I had my best and worst times as a Villa fan.
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Jozef Venglos who could not speak English (?) nearly got a runners up side relegated and then the next season Ron Atkinson with 13 signings or in his own words "major surgery was required or we would of been relegated".
perhaps the Venglos one is debateable as he did give the club a great night at home against Inter...and but even though its a different game these days, the massive overhaul of the squad when Ron took over was similar to this squad's turnover in the summer, with new players arriving thick and fast.
that point has not been made much. however granted the Ron overhaul was all British with the exception of Darius Kubicki.
I am a Big Ron fan, no problem admitting that, cos he put Villa up there with the big boys again with quality signings. Hands down its gotta be Graham Turner as worst though. No other club in Europe has won the European Cup and been relegated withing 5 seasons (not sure if Juve fit the bill but cos their relegation was not for same reasons i.e. replacing quality with crap).
So best: Ron
worst: Turner / Venglos
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in my life time best is Saunders. No one else comes near.
Worst: Too many to choose.
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Ron Saunders
Vic Crowe
Joe Mercer
The Doc
Ron Atkinson
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Ron Saunders
Vic Crowe
Joe Mercer
The Doc
Ron Atkinson
Vic Crowe is so often a forgotten man, overshadowed by Ron Saunders, but he stopped the free fall, stabilised the team, brought in some sound players and handed an already good team to Ron Saunders.
At the time I was disappointed that they chose to get rid of him, but it worked out brilliantly of course.
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Yes, it was a shocking sacking, after Doug had imposed Lerner-style austerity.