The replacement for MON...?

[avfcpg]

Its a very good point and as you say, has to be a bit of both. Who's agreeing the wages? MON? Randy? Both ?

I am staggered at those wage stats if they are correct. It didn't seem that long ago that the general concencus here was that we would have to start paying top money to attract top players. Well seems we are paying top money alright...but to the right people? Evidentally not.

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

[nechells]

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.

I have not tried to present a case for an outstanding candidate-he is the best of a very bad bunch although I'm not sure why you seem to think that Fulham being based in London is an added attraction?

If you are trying to suggest that MON was anything but cautious (something he openly admits himself) then you must have been walking around with a blindfold on for the past 4 years.

The heart of this affair is the fact that MON has spent so much money on dross that up to now look like they can't be given away-Their weekly wage is frightening.

You asked the question if Jol could do any more for us than he did at Spurs-He got them to 5th,two seasons running which is more than MON has done for us-I think most Villa fans would settle for 5th at this moment in time.

[pauliewalnuts]

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.

For the last four years, we've been telling ourselves - quite rightly - that the club had improved out of all recognition. Until today, the one thing we were pretty much entirely united on on this forum was that we had the best owner in the league.

So how can anyone possibly think that we'll be poking around the Curbishleys of this world?

Randy isn't stupid. He might (might) have called time on the spending, full stop. He might have called time on MON doing the spending. We don't know yet.

However, he's invested an enormous amount of money in the club thus far and whilst that is a good reason why he might want to slow things down money-wise, it is also a very good reason why he will make sure he gets the best manager he possibly can for the club right now.

That 179 million pounds isn't money flushed down the drain. he's appointing someone now who will protect and get the most out of his investment.

[Chris Smith]

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

I don't know. I do think that the changed economic climate has made it more difficult to sell players that ordinarily we would probably have been able to move on.,Should Randy, as the businessman, have foreseen that? If those players had been sold in January or earlier in the window would it have been different? Do the players carry some responsibility for failing to live up to their reputations or did we just buy the wrong ones? Could MON have got more out of them. I genuinely don't feel able to give an answer at the moment.

Whatever the reason if Randy is cutting back then the new man is going to struggle to match MON's league placings.

[UK Redsox]

Martin Laursen impressed me on Five Live tonight. I'd prefer to see him given a shot than some retread has been type

[JJ-AV]

I want Bilic. He's got that streak of arrogance about him and he's cool as fuck. I also think he'd be very much seen as 'ours' despite his West Ham links.

Jol would be like DOL where he'd just be asked about his old club again and again...

Jol also seems like he's willing to move about a bit, whereas Bilic has shown with Croatia he's in it for the long haul.

There's also the wages thing, IIRC Billic was getting peanuts in comparison to McLaren when he put us out of Euro qualifying, wasn't he?

He could be our Mourinho.

[nechells]

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.

For me,it's hard to take anyone seriously who think the sheiks opinions are worthy of any credibilty.

Hughes had 3 good seasons with Blackburn & was on course to taking Man City to their highest ever league placing (beating the previous highest place that he had achived the season before)

[David_Nab]

Jol didn't join Fulham has he had a clause in his contract allowing to move to a Premier league club for a low fee ,but it expired and Fulham wouldn't pay what was asked by Ajax ,apparantly £8.6mil

[avfcpg]

I wouldn't be so sure. Maybe it's just the money that needs to be utilised better. I am only going on what's been rumoured re wages but signing Harewood, Shorey, Sidwell, Luke Young, NRC, Heskey etc etc  on those rumoured wages plus fees and then not using the players has made the board rethink who is in charge of the cheque book.

Randy may well have sanctioned the deals and let MON lead the way but after a few years of watching, learning, being advised etc he may have thought hang on a mo'....they were his targets and he's not using them?

Just speculating of course....

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

I don't know. I do think that the changed economic climate has made it more difficult to sell players that ordinarily we would probably have been able to move on.,Should Randy, as the businessman, have foreseen that? If those players had been sold in January or earlier in the window would it have been different? Do the players carry some responsibility for failing to live up to their reputations or did we just buy the wrong ones? Could MON have got more out of them. I genuinely don't feel able to give an answer at the moment.

Whatever the reason if Randy is cutting back then the new man is going to struggle to match MON's league placings.

[garyfouroaks]

Martin Laursen impressed me on Five Live tonight. I'd prefer to see him given a shot than some retread has been type

Me too. There is no obvious choice, and the bloated claims for Jol and Bilic, amaze me. Frank Rijkaard may also be one to look at. A distinguished playing and managerial career, one year left on his contract, and persuading a Dutchman to move from Turkey to England is not a big call.

[Ads]

Dirty spitting bastard.

[garyfouroaks]

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

Hughes had one of the most distinguished playing careers of his generation with invaluable experience abroad at Barca, and Bayern.He did a decent job at Wales, Blackburn and Man City.

It is difficult to take seriously anyone who fails to acknowledge that.

[Chris Smith]

I wouldn't be so sure. Maybe it's just the money that needs to be utilised better. I am only going on what's been rumoured re wages but signing Harewood, Shorey, Sidwell, Luke Young, NRC, Heskey etc etc  on those rumoured wages plus fees and then not using the players has made the board rethink who is in charge of the cheque book.

Randy may well have sanctioned the deals and let MON lead the way but after a few years of watching, learning, being advised etc he may have thought hang on a mo'....they were his targets and he's not using them?

Just speculating of course....

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

I don't know. I do think that the changed economic climate has made it more difficult to sell players that ordinarily we would probably have been able to move on.,Should Randy, as the businessman, have foreseen that? If those players had been sold in January or earlier in the window would it have been different? Do the players carry some responsibility for failing to live up to their reputations or did we just buy the wrong ones? Could MON have got more out of them. I genuinely don't feel able to give an answer at the moment.

Whatever the reason if Randy is cutting back then the new man is going to struggle to match MON's league placings.

Whoever comes in still has to cut the wage bill. Randy and the General have made it very clear that it's a priority. I'm not saying that they can't still take us forward just that I think it is going to be very difficult under those circumstances.

[Monty]

I want Bilic. He's got that streak of arrogance about him and he's cool as fuck. I also think he'd be very much seen as 'ours' despite his West Ham links.

Jol would be like DOL where he'd just be asked about his old club again and again...

Jol also seems like he's willing to move about a bit, whereas Bilic has shown with Croatia he's in it for the long haul.

There's also the wages thing, IIRC Billic was getting peanuts in comparison to McLaren when he put us out of Euro qualifying, wasn't he?

He could be our Mourinho.

It may not be popular but I agree with you. Most people who know a thing or two reckon he's among the very best young managers in the world. He's tactically astute, philosophically innovative and an excellent man-manager (the Croatian players do love him). Sure, unproven - but I get the feeling that someone's going to take a chance on him and, if it's not us, when they do and he succeeds we're going to be really kicking ourselves, wishing we'd taken that chance.

[avfcpg]

Definately...will be a tough job to unload them on those contracted wages. Hardly likely to be top of any wanted lists.

I wouldn't be so sure. Maybe it's just the money that needs to be utilised better. I am only going on what's been rumoured re wages but signing Harewood, Shorey, Sidwell, Luke Young, NRC, Heskey etc etc  on those rumoured wages plus fees and then not using the players has made the board rethink who is in charge of the cheque book.

Randy may well have sanctioned the deals and let MON lead the way but after a few years of watching, learning, being advised etc he may have thought hang on a mo'....they were his targets and he's not using them?

Just speculating of course....

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

I don't know. I do think that the changed economic climate has made it more difficult to sell players that ordinarily we would probably have been able to move on.,Should Randy, as the businessman, have foreseen that? If those players had been sold in January or earlier in the window would it have been different? Do the players carry some responsibility for failing to live up to their reputations or did we just buy the wrong ones? Could MON have got more out of them. I genuinely don't feel able to give an answer at the moment.

Whatever the reason if Randy is cutting back then the new man is going to struggle to match MON's league placings.

Whoever comes in still has to cut the wage bill. Randy and the General have made it very clear that it's a priority. I'm not saying that they can't still take us forward just that I think it is going to be very difficult under those circumstances.