The end is nigh.

[Chris Smith]

I don't think our supporters are impatient - in fact, the opposite. The majority have seen a couple of years of little or no improvement and seemingly remain behind the man in charge. I've said before that with the set-up we have there's a manager who could get us into the top four consistently and the secret is finding him, unless of course he's here already.  

Here's another left-field potential manager - Peter Schmeichel.

Here's another, Kate Winslet.

Whenever I've heard hom as a pundit he comes across as pretty cluless and only want to talk about Manu and Manu players.

The time to discuss potential manager is when the vacancy arises, I remember not so long back you were advocating Paul Jewell but I doubt he'd be in the top 30 now. The stock of potential managers rises and falls so if we get a vacancy this time next year then people we talk about now might have blotted their copybooks and others might look better bets.

[BannedUserIAT]

I think finishing 6th for 4 seasons running is a success. It's only a matter of time before we break through.

In pure footballing terms, how do you figure that running 6th for consecutive seasons is a success?

And you think 'time' is the answer to cracking the Top 4?

[Merv]

I'm not reluctant to give MON praise when due - I have - in this very thread. He just doesn't need to be made out to be some kind of visionary re team selection/ positioning et.c. When he's pretty much only doing the obvious or trying what has already been done before.

I haven't claimed him as a visionary, either, that's certainly way too strong. We'll have to agree to disagree on Milner's previous time at CM; I remember something else. What I was trying to get across was a response to the question of whether Martin was capable of getting the best out of players. Milner would be one of those who has played the best football of his career under O'Neill and taken his game to a whole new level since being at Villa.

Formations is an interesting one. There's very little around that's fresh and innovative. This 4-5-1/4-3-3 is in vogue right now. Interestingly, it was O'Neill who introduced it at Villa, with the Gabby-Angel-Luke Moore formation and, later on, he's used a midfield trio with two wide attacking players and a lone striker (Gabby, mostly) quite a lot. At the World Cup, that kind of formation was raved about. It's what the brightest coaches were using.

It's a shame we used 4-4-2 so often last season, but I think MON has shown several times that he's not quite the tactical dinosaur many think. I just hope, moving forward, he's not reluctant to experiment again.

Finally, I guess my major concern about MON right now is his relationship with players - he seems to either love or hate those in this squad and it does seem that if someone crosses him once, that's it. It's actually starting to cost us some multi-million talent who have reportedly fallen out with O'Neill. Now we've got trouble moving them on.

[Risso]

I don't think our supporters are impatient - in fact, the opposite. The majority have seen a couple of years of little or no improvement and seemingly remain behind the man in charge. I've said before that with the set-up we have there's a manager who could get us into the top four consistently and the secret is finding him, unless of course he's here already.  

Here's another left-field potential manager - Peter Schmeichel.

Here's another, Kate Winslet.

Whenever I've heard hom as a pundit he comes across as pretty cluless and only want to talk about Manu and Manu players.

I'd have thought he'd be more interesting on the subject of Chinese food.

[Mazrim]

Schmeichel should stay in the left field. With his pigs.

[Fuse]

If we are talking about Brian Little coming back then although I loved his time as manager I think the game has moved on and I wouldn't see it working.

If we wanted to employ a Villa man as manager then why not promote Sid Cowans and Kevin McDonald. As far as I can see they have done as good a job as any coaches in the country in the last 5 years.

[Mazrim]

If we are talking about Brian Little coming back then although I loved his time as manager I think the game has moved on and I wouldn't see it working.

If we wanted to employ a Villa man as manager then why not promote Sid Cowans and Kevin McDonald. As far as I can see they have done as good a job as any coaches in the country in the last 5 years.

Not that I feel its time to part company with MON yet but if that ever happens this wouldn't be a bad idea at all.
I doubt it would be all that popular though, at first.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I really don't think we'd be even discussing alternative managers if we had the right coaches at the club. As I said last season, I think Martin needs help in this department but for whatever reason, he seems reluctant to change or add to his staff. In the end, he'll only have himself to blame.

[Chris Smith]

If we are talking about Brian Little coming back then although I loved his time as manager I think the game has moved on and I wouldn't see it working.

If we wanted to employ a Villa man as manager then why not promote Sid Cowans and Kevin McDonald. As far as I can see they have done as good a job as any coaches in the country in the last 5 years.

Cowans has done a good job working under Tony McAndrew but there is no evidence that he's either ready or willing to be a manager, it's a completely different job.

As for Kevin McDonald, what coaching does he actually do? My understanding is that most of the players train with the first team squad and he just has to make do with who is made available for reserve games. I might be mistaken but again I don't see this as the right preparation to manage a top 6 PL team.

[Risso]

If we are talking about Brian Little coming back then although I loved his time as manager I think the game has moved on and I wouldn't see it working.

If we wanted to employ a Villa man as manager then why not promote Sid Cowans and Kevin McDonald. As far as I can see they have done as good a job as any coaches in the country in the last 5 years.

Not that I feel its time to part company with MON yet but if that ever happens this wouldn't be a bad idea at all.
I doubt it would be all that popular though, at first.

If, as you suggest Maz, that developing the kids is the key to our future success, then this would be a logical step.

[Mazrim]

Exactly.

[ktvillan]

Quiet simply I find it an insult when some fans ask whom else could we attract. We have nearly the world to pick from.

The irony is that quite frequently the very same people who spend most of the time telling us that the manager has done a great job, and the club has improved beyond all recognition over the last four years then tell us that, should we look to replace MON, we'd be poking around the Curbishleys of this world.

That doesn't quite stack up.

It's like when the people who think sixth is an achievement call those of us who think we can do better the negative ones.

Three wise men.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Sorry, I seem to be a bit behind the times.

From the look of it here, MON has already been dismissed and arguments are already breaking out about who we appoint to replace him.

I hope you are going to do a North Korean on MON as well. I suggest he is paraded in front of the Holte End on friday night to be publicly criticised by each member of the first team. Then he can be banished to do hard labour on a building site somewhere.

Played 190  Won 80  Drawn 60  Lost 50.
 What a loser he is !

[Concrete John]

Quiet simply I find it an insult when some fans ask whom else could we attract. We have nearly the world to pick from.

The irony is that quite frequently the very same people who spend most of the time telling us that the manager has done a great job, and the club has improved beyond all recognition over the last four years then tell us that, should we look to replace MON, we'd be poking around the Curbishleys of this world.

That doesn't quite stack up.

It's like when the people who think sixth is an achievement call those of us who think we can do better the negative ones.

I don't think anyone thinks we couldn't do any better, but I do have an issue with those who think three consecutive top 6 finishes is easy and refuse to give the manager any credit for it.

[dave.woodhall]

Sorry, I seem to be a bit behind the times.

From the look of it here, MON has already been dismissed and arguments are already breaking out about who we appoint to replace him.

I hope you are going to do a North Korean on MON as well. I suggest he is paraded in front of the Holte End on friday night to be publicly criticised by each member of the first team. Then he can be banished to do hard labour on a building site somewhere.

Played 190  Won 80  Drawn 60  Lost 50.
 What a loser he is !

Not at all. Someone said we wouldn't get a suitable replacemnt when the time comes, and since then we've been discussing what replacements would be available.