The replacement for MON...?

[Rigadon]

Agree hilts_coolerking.  An unknown entity would be the wrong move.

We need the club to appoint somebody who will excite us.  Transitional seasons shouldn't be an option for a club purporting to have a bright future.  Easier said than done of course.

It occurred to me earlier when hearing the welcome news that Ireland had visited the club that MON may have quit because of getting wind of Villa talking to another manager.  It seems odd to me that we;d have a high profile player entertaining the thought of signing for another club when they had no idea who the manager would be.  I could be talking bollocks of course.

[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...?

Hiddink? 
Rijkaard?
Moyes?
Schuster?
Ranieri?

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

Don't know Schuster, will take your word for it that he's good. Don't want Ranieri... too nice a bloke to do well.

The rest I would be delighted with. I agree, we should try. If we try and fail though, I wouldn't mind Eriksson.

[b23]

How about Roberto Martinez ? Did well at Swansea and does well at Wigan.

[Villa'Zawg]

...
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.

Pellegrini

He was disappointed at missing out on the Liverpool and said he'd love to manage in the Premier League. Why not?

[Monty]

...
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.

Pellegrini

He was disappointed at missing out on the Liverpool and said he'd love to manage in the Premier League. Why not?

I actually fully agree. If his English is good enough (and that is very important), then he'd be perfect. Just look at what he did with Villareal - absolutely remarkable.

[PaulTheVillan]

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 !

I remember that.


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

Sven, Beckham and the arabs!

[dave.woodhall]

...
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.

Pellegrini

He was disappointed at missing out on the Liverpool and said he'd love to manage in the Premier League. Why not?

I actually fully agree. If his English is good enough (and that is very important), then he'd be perfect. Just look at what he did with Villareal - absolutely remarkable.

I don't suppose he has to speak perfect English in a dressing room with a dozen different native tongues.

[PaulTheVillan]

Any news?

[Moorski]

I hope that he can Des, that would be a disaster.

[Dave Clark Five]

That Pelligrino is a bubbly character. He would be very refreshing.

[littlevillain]

Managing at the World Cup is hardly Chembo Town. He would at least be an interesting appointment who may or may not be a success. Would rather have him than someone we know will be shit like Curbishley or Mowbray.

believe me its a little different managing fucking kansas cheerleaders then the premiership. It would be an absolute embarrassment to take someone at that level which if you have ever watched the mls is on a par with the old 3rd.

[RunRickyRun]

Sven for me on a 12 month deal

We're not going to finish in the top four or appoint a decent long term replacement so the remit is for us to play some attractive football this season and I think Sven is the best bet to do this. He would be a refreshing change from O'Neill, especailly for the players.

I can't see Jol coming. By all accounts he was flirting with Fulham to gain influence over player dealings at Ajax. I can't see any of the other glitterati coming either - especially at this stage of the season.

[cb]

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.

I can understand your point, and I'm sure you're not alone. I did allude to the fact that the approach I outlined has significantly more risk attached to it. The problem with going for a 'name' is the majority of them only ever want to spend money on other 'names', which I'm sure would be exciting for the fans and might look good for a while. In fact I'm sure that if we brought someone like Eriksson in he'd do a pretty good job at first. However I don't think such appoinments will be able to crack the top four under Lerner. To do this we'd need to spend at the very least £50M and continue to increase te wage bill. When the realities of Villa's finances hit home these guys will probably walk, or let the levels of performance drop through apathy that they'll be forced to walk. This is just something that is not realistic at the moment (and imo not route I'd particularly like us to go down). We could go for someone like Eriksson or even Jol now and I think he'd do ok for a while, but we'd have a similar problem in a couple of years time.

I just think we need someone who will buy into the idea of what we want to do and I think for that we need someone with the energy and drive to really build something. I think this comes with being a bit younger as a manager; you're not going to get a  'name' manager who feels they've already earned their stripes doing this. You've talked about names and there is one. The ideal candidate is Wenger, but we know there is no chance of that happening. However Wenger was a relative unknown before coming to Arsenal. We need to find our very own version of him. I'm not sure there is such a manager out there, but I am certain that this is the type of individual we need to crack the top four; either that or we need our very own Sheik, because as far as I can see just about every other route equals finishing in the top 6 or thereabaouts, with the classic  Villa 3-4 year cycle. I think we need to take a calculated risk now, or else be doomed to death by a thousand cuts in the future.

[cdbearsfan]

Managing at the World Cup is hardly Chembo Town. He would at least be an interesting appointment who may or may not be a success. Would rather have him than someone we know will be shit like Curbishley or Mowbray.

believe me its a little different managing fucking kansas cheerleaders then the premiership. It would be an absolute embarrassment to take someone at that level which if you have ever watched the mls is on a par with the old 3rd.

I don't particularly want him, but he's not the worst option. Didn't Wenger come from the Japanese League?

[Ger Regan]

...
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.

Pellegrini

He was disappointed at missing out on the Liverpool and said he'd love to manage in the Premier League. Why not?

The only downside that i can see is that "Manuel Pellegrini's Claret and Blue Army" doesn't scan too well.......