The replacement for MON...?

[Toronto Villa]

The more I think of it, the more I think we should go for Eriksson.

Do you think he is able to operate under the changed financial circumstances at the club?

I don't see why not Chris. It was only at Man City under Shinawatra that he had a large kitty and that pales into comparison to what Hughes/Mancini has. He managed to operate under a more conservative environment at some of the other clubs he's been at

That is simply not the case. At Benfica he had the biggest budget in Portugal, at Lazio Cragnotti was signing cheques like he'd been told it would make him irresistible to women. The fact is that Sven needs the money, and would not operate well under our new constraints.

It shows that he spend the money given to him well. He won trophies at both of those clubs. He is very astute, tons of contacts and now also has an in with African talent also. Again, I'm not saying he'd ideal, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss it.

[midnite]

just watching the boro game and they are saying about gordon strachan should go for the villa job..

HE CAN FECK RIGHT OFF !~!!!!!

I'm finding the whole media speculation thing very depressing, thinking of avoiding any papers etc until we've got someone in place and can move forward

[cb]

I think before considering who the new manager might be, we should think about the overall strategy of the club as a whole. The Lerner regime has said that we won't be taking the let's just throw money at it approach and it would seem from the last four years that the strategy was to identify young up and coming players on the cusp of a breakthrough and bring them in and try to build a strong first team which could also be supplemented by the academy. For this we need a manger who can through his own contacts or the clubs own scouting system find and sign such players (doesn't particularly matter whether they are English or not, but that's a bonus). We also want to have as exciting a product to sell on match days as possible, so the quality of football that he may play is also an obvious characteristic to target.

I think O'Neill has done pretty well on all counts (maybe having better home form would have helped his cause) and my abiding memories of him are of him being present on the bench at the Youth Cup games and of how he scouted the likes of Young and Delph from almost nowhere. This was a manger who, for whatever faults he may have had, was intertwined with the very fabric of the club. In terms of his successor, I think these are qualities that are absolutely essential to target as well as the quality of football that he is likely to produce. Maybe the quality of football he played was one place where he fell down, but we were very exciting away from home, particularly against the big boys, so I guess we would want to try and keep the good qualities that O'Neill brought to the table and try to improve on his weaknesses.

Of the list above I don't see too many possibilities. I don't think the likes of Sven or even Hiddink/Rijkaard are suitable for the job. These guys would be excellent first team coaches, but I thuink we'll be looking for more than that. I think we have to identify a younger, hungry coach. Obviously we're also not interested in most of the dross which has also been mentioned above as we will be looking for a quality appointment. However, I think it may not be a huge name and I think the most interesting possibility mentioned so far was Rangnick from Hofffenheim. I don't know much about him but it seems he has a rep for scouting players and building good attacking teams from relative unknowns. I guess operating in the Bundesliga he'll be used to at least balancing the books which would I think also be attractive to Randy.

I'm not holding a torch for this guy, as I really don't know a whole lot about him, but I think this is the type of appopintment we will make. Obviously there's a huge risk attached, as hiring a potenial unknown will also mean the likelihood of the wheels coming off is relatively higher than it would be with a safer appointment, but I think we are forced into a position where we have to take a calculated gamble on the next manager. It is for this reason why I was so in favour of continuing to back O'Neill as it is going to be extremely difficult to find the right man to replace him. I hope Randy has some good advice behind him and that he takes his time with the appointment. I also hope the supporters are patient with the new appointment, as I think we need to think outside the box on this and so may not get the big name that many people want.

[Monty]

He won trophies with absolute billions. Honestly, the blank-chequery that was going on at Lazio in particular was almost frightening. There's one particular story where Eriksson goes to Cragnotti and says "I want Vieri from Atletico". Cragnotti asks Atletico for the price, and they ask for 55 billion lira, an unbelievable amount of money. Cragnotti then goes to Eriksson and says "they want 55 billion. I'll just pay that then shall I?" Sven obviously goes "um...yeah?", and off Cragnotti goes to give Atletico that precise sum. No negotiation, no weighing up of pros and cons, just pays it. Ridiculous.

Under those conditions, which ruined Lazio in the long-term, sure, Eriksson won trophies. Would he do so at Villa? I doubt it. Also his football has always been so pragmatic and death-inducingly boring. Honestly, I want him about as much as I want Southgate.

[pmk1981]

well sky are saying that ireland is holding talks so that means it is very likely he will be with us by thursday and that also means that sven may be on his way.  why else sign a player when there is no manager in charge unless that manger does or may want that player

[midnite]

great post cb, completely agree. I think Rangnick is a great shout, unknown granted but not prepared to bankrupt a club and sign huge players, but interested in playing a system, picking the right player to fit into that system and letting young blood come through

[Matt C]

Sven Goran Eriksson? Jesus wept. No thanks.

why not? One of the most successful managers in European club football history.

'Was' is the operative word. His time has been and gone in my view - we can do better. .

[Moorski]

I would rather have Southgate over Sven & that is going some!

[Toronto Villa]

I firmly believe that the overall strategy of this board is to grow the Villa brand outside of the UK. I have a feeling that while for the most part MON was doing a solid job, under his management the globalization of Villa was never going to happen. If you want to compete financially with some of the bigger teams then, and it's sad to say, you have to prostitute yourself a little. I think Randy, because of his belief in tradition would never do this overtly, but he's not naive and knows that you need to be able promote yourself to a wider audience e.g into Asia, Africa or North America.

Under MON we all pretty much knew we were never going to get "exotic" foreign players. I think that has held us back from a financial standpoint. I'm speaking like a Marketing person, because I am one, but I understand that the goals of the brand are always to grow into new markets. I would hope and expect that board take this opportunity and appoint a manager that has some reach into new markets for us. That will take the risk and bring some players that play in other countries. We don't have to get a player from Japan or China, but we need to be marketable in those countries. It would be nice to be linked to player in Spain and actually think we may end up getting him.

I'm hoping for a Sven, Jol or Klinsmann for those reasons.

[cdbearsfan]

Sven Goran Eriksson? Jesus wept. No thanks.

why not? One of the most successful managers in European club football history.

'Was' is the operative word. His time has been and gone in my view - we can do better. .

Such as...?

[eastie]

Sven got Ireland playing well when at city , so there may be something in this, he has said he wants the villa job before and has lots of contacts in world football- interesting !

[Moorski]

Sven got Ireland playing well when at city , so there may be something in this, he has said he wants the villa job before and has lots of contacts in world football- interesting !

Indeed he did in the NOTW Sting and promised to get us Beckham!!

[hilts_coolerking]

Of the list above I don't see too many possibilities. I don't think the likes of Sven or even Hiddink/Rijkaard are suitable for the job. These guys would be excellent first team coaches, but I thuink we'll be looking for more than that. I think we have to identify a younger, hungry coach. Obviously we're also not interested in most of the dross which has also been mentioned above as we will be looking for a quality appointment. However, I think it may not be a huge name and I think the most interesting possibility mentioned so far was Rangnick from Hofffenheim. I don't know much about him but it seems he has a rep for scouting players and building good attacking teams from relative unknowns. I guess operating in the Bundesliga he'll be used to at least balancing the books which would I think also be attractive to Randy.

I'm not holding a torch for this guy, as I really don't know a whole lot about him, but I think this is the type of appopintment we will make. Obviously there's a huge risk attached, as hiring a potenial unknown will also mean the likelihood of the wheels coming off is relatively higher than it would be with a safer appointment, but I think we are forced into a position where we have to take a calculated gamble on the next manager. It is for this reason why I was so in favour of continuing to back O'Neill as it is going to be extremely difficult to find the right man to replace him. I hope Randy has some good advice behind him and that he takes his time with the appointment. I also hope the supporters are patient with the new appointment, as I think we need to think outside the box on this and so may not get the big name that many people want.

A good, thoughtful post cb.  I have to say though that I totally disagree about appointing a young, hungry manager.  That's what you do if your club is potless and / or at a very low ebb.

The thing to do now is to appoint a manager who can build on what Martin has done and move us forward.  I'm not saying it's totally impossible for a young, relatively unknown manager to do that, but the odds are against it.  For every David Moyes there is an Iain Dowie, an Aidy Boothroyd, a Chris Coleman, a George Burley etc etc.

For me, the thinking outside of the box in our case should mean making an approach for a manager who most fans, pundits, and players would ordinarily think was out of our league.  Failing that, a Jol-level appointment would do for a while: I doubt we'd slip back much, if at all, and we might even move forward slightly.  But that's the least we should consider.

Taking a punt on an unknown would be a massively high-risk option.  The chance of him moving us forward would be very low, and the chance of him wasting the last four years would be significant, in my view.

[Matt C]

Sven Goran Eriksson? Jesus wept. No thanks.

why not? One of the most successful managers in European club football history.

'Was' is the operative word. His time has been and gone in my view - we can do better. .

Such as...?

Hiddink? 
Rijkaard?
Moyes?
Schuster?
Ranieri?

Sure you could argue the above are unrealistic but why not try?

[Des Little]

I just can't see past Randy opting for Bob Bradley, I really can't