The end is nigh.

[KevinGage]

Credit where it's due - you can't slate the manager for signing players who haven't worked out, and also deny him credit for the ones who have.  

 

This is very true. Ash, JC, Milner were excellent buys. Friedel, Dunne and Collins have been solid. Warnock's form pre injury was very encouraging.

Moving Milner into the centre of midfield was the catalyst for him not only going to the World Cup, but also becoming a real contender for a starting place. There was a huge fuss about the size of the fee we paid Newcastle for Milner... look at what he's worth now. Same with Ashley Young - he's helped him to develop into a really good player, perhaps not great, but still with plenty to go.

Possibly. But Milner had been badgering MON to play in the centre for a while, it was where his best form for Newcastle had been.

Consider what he did with Gareth Barry.... the guy's become an England regular because of working with O'Neill. And Petrov.... the manager has reinvented him as a deeper-lying midfielder and it's worked well.

I don't think MON reinvented him particularly. At international level (generally a far higher standard than the SPL) Petrov had been playing as a deep lying DM for years. If NRC went north of the border he'd probably be played as an all action goalscoring midfielder too.

It's probably that we thought we were getting a midfielder in a similar mould to a Lampard or Gerrard that caused the initial disappointment. Stan has many qualities, reads the game well. Rarely wastes possession. But he's not really in their league.

MON deserves credit for a lot of things. Making us competitive again, placing an emphasis (initially) on good, young players. Fantastic away form, good organisation and use of set pieces. Improvement in the defence last year -when it had looked a bit of an achilles heel the year before.

It's whether he has it in his locker to sort out some of our other deficiencies that causes most debate on here. Increasingly it seems that many don't feel he's up to it.

[old man villa fan]

1.   Was MoN the right man for the job at the time of his appointment? yes

2.   Are we in a better position now than what we were in when MoN took over? yes

3.   Were you initially excited about the style of football we would play? yes, compared with what had gone before

4.   Did you expect that we would be able to attract a better quality of player to the club given the fact that we had the new owners and MoN as our manager? yes and I think we did

5.   Has MoN had the funds and enough time to build a squad? yes but not top 3 level

6.   Would you say that we have a healthier and stronger squad now than at many other times in our clubs modern history? Yes, since the early 80s with a few seasons exceptions

7.   Should Mon have any complaints about the levels of trust and autonomy that has been handed to him by Randy and the board? No, unless he was promised more and is not getting it but circumstances change and so do roles

8.   During Mon’s tenure, has the football improved? Yes, we are getting better results relatively.  Style of football has dipped the closer we have got to the top 4

9.   Do you get excited about the future transfer dealings that Mon will conduct? I get excited by most transfers into the club but I do not see us spending more than £15m on a player, regardless of who is the manager, so do not see us getting a real 'star' player

10.   Does MoN utilise his squad? clearly no but our team relies on stability rather than rotating for its teamwork

11.   Did you expect to be in an even better position than what we presently find ourselves? at the time Randy came in I thought we had a good chance of top 4 but I appreciate circumstances have changed regarding the PL

[Dave Clark Five]

1.   Was MoN the right man for the job at the time of his appointment?
So it seemed at the time.

2.   Are we in a better position now than what we were in when MoN took over?
Definitely in the non-footballing side of the Club. On the playing side, it would be hard to not be better off as it was so dire previously.
3.   Were you initially excited about the style of football we would play?
Yes
4.   Did you expect that we would be able to attract a better quality of player to the club given the fact that we had the new owners and MoN as our manager?
Yes
5.   Has MoN had the funds and enough time to build a squad?
Yes

6.   Would you say that we have a healthier and stronger squad now than at many other times in our clubs modern history?
We have some good prospects coming through but a lot of the senior players are now stale.
7.   Should Mon have any complaints about the levels of trust and autonomy that has been handed to him by Randy and the board?
Certainly not.

8.   During Mon’s tenure, has the football improved?
It had improved at one stage.
9.   Do you get excited about the future transfer dealings that Mon will conduct?
No

10.   Does MoN utilise his squad?
No

11.   Did you expect to be in an even better position than what we presently find ourselves? Yes

[Merv]

Who played him first in midfield, for England, not O'Neill.

I've been thinking about this for ages, can you tell me the answer please? Are you saying James Milner hadn't played in midfield until he was chosen there for England?

[mshurst]

Am I the only person who still rates, respects, and trusts MON?

So much negativity. I know that he leaves his signings late but he's still a f****** great manager.

Without MON we'd still be mid-to-bottom of the table now.


And all this stuff about failed signings, at the end of the day every manager makes a mistake or two. Manager's have to see potential to sign someone and, unfortunately, they sometimes do not live up to that potential.

I still love MON. And I'll be greatly saddened if/when he leaves.

[Walmley_Villa]

Am I the only person who still rates, respects, and trusts MON?

I still love MON. And I'll be greatly saddened if/when he leaves.

No your not and I would also be sad. What worries me is that the fire in Mon's belly seems to be going out. We saw it briefly last season at Wembley for instance. However this pre-season he seems very subdued, possibly frustrated that other teams like Man City can just come in and take his crown jewels where we are powerless to stop them. Last season we got into Europe and had two trips to Wembley, the latter just about make it an improvement on the season before for me. It is time players like Downing stepped up to the mark and repaid the faith the manager has placed in them with the size of fee paid.

[Risso]

Am I the only person who still rates, respects, and trusts MON?

So much negativity. I know that he leaves his signings late but he's still a f****** great manager.

Without MON we'd still be mid-to-bottom of the table now.


And all this stuff about failed signings, at the end of the day every manager makes a mistake or two. Manager's have to see potential to sign someone and, unfortunately, they sometimes do not live up to that potential.

I still love MON. And I'll be greatly saddened if/when he leaves.

What about him is "fucking great" exactly?

As for still being bottom of the table, that's laughable.  Lerner would still have bought the club, would no doubt have appointed another good manager and given him the same amount of money to spend.  Who knows, maybe that manager wouldn't have wasted many millions of pounds on the likes of Heskey, Harewood, Shorey, NRC, Sidwell etc etc etc etc.  Every manager makes mistakes, but O'neill's record is worse than most other top managers in my opinion.

[Concrete John]

Am I the only person who still rates, respects, and trusts MON?

No, you're not.

I find that on here peoples views of his strengths and weaknesses aren't all that different, just a matter of how much importance you place on them.  Having said that, the one thing that truely does seem to polarise opinion is his transfer dealings!

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Think the only one on that list of "duff" buys is Harewood. Sidwell had all he qualities at the time to be a promising move. Heskey was sort after by several clubs. Same as Shorey and NRC. "maybe" the hypothetical manager who would of got the job would of put us in the "Champions League" Lets get real. MON has massively improved this club. Sidwell in particular has not played to the standard everyone expected .........

[ktvillan]

1. Was MoN the right man for the job at the time of his appointment?
Thought so at the time, but with hindsight, no.

2. Are we in a better position now than what we were in when MoN took over?
Yes but I think there are many other managers who could have achieved as much or more  with the backing he's had.

3. Were you initially excited about the style of football we would play?
Yes but I hadn't d seen much of Celtic under O'Neill.

4. Did you expect that we would be able to attract a better quality of player to the club given the fact that we had the new owners and MoN as our manager?
Yes but he doesn't seem interested in signing those kind of players.

5. Has MoN had the funds and enough time to build a squad?
More than enough.  See what Redknapp has done at Spurs.

6. Would you say that we have a healthier and stronger squad now than at many other times in our clubs modern history?
Comparing is difficult, squads are far more important and need to be bigger now than even 10 or 15 years ago.

7. Should Mon have any complaints about the levels of trust and autonomy that has been handed to him by Randy and the board?
Certainly not.

8. During Mon’s tenure, has the football improved?
It did seem to at first but the last two season's have seen some of the most uninspiring football I can remember watchng Villa play

9. Do you get excited about the future transfer dealings that Mon will conduct?
No, absolutely not.

10. Does MoN utilise his squad?
No.

11. Did you expect to be in an even better position than what we presently find ourselves? Absolutely, it's been a massive opportunity wasted

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I find that on here peoples views of his strengths and weaknesses aren't all that different, just a matter of how much importance you place on them

I find a huge amount of importance on the fact that he's invested nigh on £16m on Emile Heskey.

That decision alone is unforgiveable.

[Risso]

You can put me down for a "+1" on kt's answers.

[Concrete John]

I find that on here peoples views of his strengths and weaknesses aren't all that different, just a matter of how much importance you place on them

I find a huge amount of importance on the fact that he's invested nigh on £16m on Emile Heskey.

That decision alone is unforgiveable.

£3.5m fee plus a (reported) £60k a week for the 1.5 years he's been here = £8.18m.  Whatever it is it's not well spent, but's lets at least try and keep the figures right.

[Merv]

Possibly. But Milner had been badgering MON to play in the centre for a while, it was where his best form for Newcastle had been.

I don't think MON reinvented him particularly. At international level (generally a far higher standard than the SPL) Petrov had been playing as a deep lying DM for years. If NRC went north of the border he'd probably be played as an all action goalscoring midfielder too.

Hmm, this is becoming the stuff of legend now. Milner was shunted all over the place at Newcastle - right wing, left wing, centre mid, second striker. He didn't have an extended run at centre mid. When we signed him he was seen as a right winger/midfielder. When, this time last year, we debated Barry's replacement and Milner was touted as a candidate for centre midfield, there were many who rubbished the idea.

Maybe reinvented Petrov was the wrong phrase. What impressed me there was that, halfway through his second season, Petrov was out of the side and looking a shoe-in to be sold. What the manager has done then is help to turn the situation around and turn the player into a key figure deserves acknowledgement.

Having said all that, Kevin, I share your concerns on MON moving us forward. Not least because he appears, in recent times, just as likely to fall out with a player as coax the best out of one.

[BannedUserIAT]

I've moved on from being one of the "Well who is better?" crowd to "Who would Randy realistically have got that would have been worse?"

I've got a fucking migraine and I'm utterly pissed off with the Milner bollocks, the Warnock bullshit, the Young crap, the lack of signings, the lack of plan B, the lack of any tactical nouse, the lack of creativity, the lack of anything resembling football from this century, the lack of anyone with a fancy European or South American name, the enormity of the money that ingrate footballers get paid......