Best and worst managers in your life time

[castlefields_villan]

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.

[ez]

Best - Ron Saunders for obvious reasons.
Worst - McLeish. Only manager i know of who settles for low scoring defeats.

[oldhill_avfc]

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.

[dave shelley]

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.

[Big Dick Edwards]

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.

[dcdavecollett]

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'.

[ACVilla]

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.

[ZhongYi]

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

[passport1]

in my life time best is Saunders. No one else comes near.

Worst: Too many to choose.

[Ron Manager]

Ron Saunders
Vic Crowe
Joe Mercer
The Doc
Ron Atkinson

[E I Adio]

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.

[dcdavecollett]

Yes, it was a shocking sacking, after Doug had imposed Lerner-style austerity.