The replacement for MON...?

[avfcpg]

Sean O Driscoll was 20/1 with betfred...Why? Cos he's done a great job at Doncaster and it just so happens that me and the mrs are very close friends with his daughter...I reckon I could get a game...

[eric woolban woolban]

The Telegraph says we are thinking of making a formal approach for Mark Hughes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/astonvilla/7935765/Aston-Villa-spark-tug-of-war-for-Mark-Hughes-as-Martin-ONeill-quits-on-eve-of-new-season.html

He'll be the new Unsworth.

[UK Redsox]

AOB SOG

Any one but Sven or Glenn

[unclefabio]

In Bradley's favour, he proved during the World Cup that he's very good at identifying what's going wrong on the pitch and fixing it quickly. The USA came from behind in every match (except Algeria), and were noticeably better in the second half of every game I watched them play.

[garyfouroaks]

Jol was certainly giving serious consideration to join Fulham-We could well be that little bit more of an attractive proposition that may tip the scales.

But he didn't. And it was London.

You forget that Jol also assembled that excellent Hamburg side a couple of years back.

No I don't. i think he is a good manager. I simply do not think there is any evidence that he is either an upgrade on MON, or that he is the best of the contenders ( or that he is likely to come).

I think we are crying out for someone like Jol who has the ability to utilise funds by signing from a much broader spectrum than MON's cautious (& not very successful)  "buy British" approach.

The deal at the heart of this affair involves a Club record sale from which we are likley to make a 100% profit.That is hardly evidence of either a cautious approach, or that it has been not very successful.Previous record fee? Gareth Barry,another British player. who would you rather have at the club, james Milner, or Stilyan Petrov?

Would have ideally liked Mark Hughes,with the added bonus that he could very likely attract some of Man City's fringe players but given the list available,its Jol all day long for me.

I agree about Hughes, but you have not presented a case for Jol as the outstanding candidate.

[Risso]

If we do go after Hughes, could we get him to change his mind and buy Sidwell for Fulham first?

[Chris Smith]

The Telegraph says we are thinking of making a formal approach for Mark Hughes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/astonvilla/7935765/Aston-Villa-spark-tug-of-war-for-Mark-Hughes-as-Martin-ONeill-quits-on-eve-of-new-season.html

He'll be the new Unsworth.

From that article:

"In addition, he is understood to have been told in no uncertain terms that owner Randy Lerner was not going to continue sustaining the losses he has endured since he acquired Villa in 2006. Since then the American has underwritten Villa to the tune of £179 million with the club making losses of £43.7 million last year.

Most damagingly, the club's wage bill has risen by 42 per cent to £71 million (£11 million more than Tottenham and £21 million more than Everton) giving an alarming wages-to-turnover figure of 85 per cent – with the likes of Richard Dunne believed to be earning £70,000 a week. "

Seems to me that whoever comes in will operating under very different conditions.

[Chris Jameson]

If we do go after Hughes, could we get him to change his mind and buy Sidwell for Fulham first?

Excellent thinking and perhaps exchanging Heskey for absolutely anything in the Fulham club shop.

[TheSandman]

The Telegraph says we are thinking of making a formal approach for Mark Hughes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/astonvilla/7935765/Aston-Villa-spark-tug-of-war-for-Mark-Hughes-as-Martin-ONeill-quits-on-eve-of-new-season.html

He'll be the new Unsworth.

From that article:

"In addition, he is understood to have been told in no uncertain terms that owner Randy Lerner was not going to continue sustaining the losses he has endured since he acquired Villa in 2006. Since then the American has underwritten Villa to the tune of £179 million with the club making losses of £43.7 million last year.

Most damagingly, the club's wage bill has risen by 42 per cent to £71 million (£11 million more than Tottenham and £21 million more than Everton) giving an alarming wages-to-turnover figure of 85 per cent – with the likes of Richard Dunne believed to be earning £70,000 a week. "

Seems to me that whoever comes in will operating under very different conditions.

If that is the case then surely the different circumstances are the result of the activities of the previous incumbent.

[Risso]

Well Chris, do we blame O'Neill for making the expensive mistakes, or Lerner for letting him?  Bit of both?

[avfcpg]

I can't help but think that we sometimes underestimate ourselves. Outside of the Sky 4 & Man City, we have to be one of the most attractive clubs in this country and no one is shifting Fergie or Wenger in a hurry either so these jobs don't come along very often. I am pretty sure that a lot of more than decent managers would jump at the chance to come here.

As someone said, if Jol was interested in Fulham, I would hope he is digging his passport out....

Given the amount of texts I have had tonight (ha ha, Young, Milner & all your players are off, no money, etc etc) I truly hope it's a decent, modern thinking tactical genius of a manager !!

[paul_e]

It's very difficult to take seriously anyone who thinks Mark Hughes would've been a good choice.

For me the 1 silver lining of MoN leaving so close to the start of the season is that at least Hughes already has a job so it's a very outside chance we'll get him.

He had 1 good season with Blackburn when Santa Cruz was immense (but even then never achieved anything spectacular) and then made a very expensive man city squad look like a bunch of cloggers for a few months before the sheikhs realised he was useless and got rid.

I don't see Jol as the outstanding candidate either, but he'd be a good choice from the 2nd tier, on a similar level to MoN but might just do that something different with the squad to push us on.

[citizenDJ]

The Telegraph says we are thinking of making a formal approach for Mark Hughes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/astonvilla/7935765/Aston-Villa-spark-tug-of-war-for-Mark-Hughes-as-Martin-ONeill-quits-on-eve-of-new-season.html

He'll be the new Unsworth.

From that article:

"In addition, he is understood to have been told in no uncertain terms that owner Randy Lerner was not going to continue sustaining the losses he has endured since he acquired Villa in 2006. Since then the American has underwritten Villa to the tune of £179 million with the club making losses of £43.7 million last year.

Most damagingly, the club's wage bill has risen by 42 per cent to £71 million (£11 million more than Tottenham and £21 million more than Everton) giving an alarming wages-to-turnover figure of 85 per cent – with the likes of Richard Dunne believed to be earning £70,000 a week. "

Seems to me that whoever comes in will operating under very different conditions.

But with a talented squad who, I believe, would benefit from a different tactical approach which a new manager will, hopefully, provide.

[Matt C]

I can't help but think that we sometimes underestimate ourselves. Outside of the Sky 4 & Man City, we have to be one of the most attractive clubs in this country and no one is shifting Fergie or Wenger in a hurry either so these jobs don't come along very often. I am pretty sure that a lot of more than decent managers would jump at the chance to come here.

Here here. Crap timing granted but surely we're better tham Curbishley,  Erikkson, Reid  (!!) et al.

[CBAV06]

Just for the squirm...