Kevin MacDonald the next Manager???

[Somniloquism]

Whilst I'm not advocating he has the job after one match I would like to point out ot people who says top clubs don't promote from within by mentioning the Liverpool Boot Room for 30 odd years and more recently Pep Guadiola at Barcelona who was Reserve Team coach when he took over from Rikjaard.

[hilts_coolerking]

Whilst I'm not advocating he has the job after one match I would like to point out ot people who says top clubs don't promote from within by mentioning the Liverpool Boot Room for 30 odd years and more recently Pep Guadiola at Barcelona who was Reserve Team coach when he took over from Rikjaard.

For each Guardiola or Fagin, it's possible to point to probably half a dozen caretakers who failed.  History tells us it is a move than is far more likely to fail than succeed.

I'm not saying it cannot work but the odds are very much stacked against it.

[Clampy]

There's an interview with him this morning in the Mercury (no, i did'nt buy it) and he says that he owes a lot to Brian Little for helping him get into coaching after he retired from playing and they are still quite close.

If he is given the job until say Christmas, maybe brining in Brian as a training ground coach to work with the forwards would be a good idea.

[Simba]

I can think of managers in the prem with less of a CV than Kevin Mac. I also like the fact that he is Villa and has been for fifteen years. Perhaps he needs a "Director of Football" type personality but with Faulkner playing a major role in transfers even that might not be necessary. This is an experienced manager.

For me it is not simply a reaction to yesterday except that we were all surprised "delighted" even, at the very successful  introduction of the youngsters instead of favourites playing out of position and the manner in which the team played, fought, created and most of all enjoyed it.

I would give him until Christmas for sure. At least. We would be remodelling this season even with a "name" manager and perhaps we won't be playing for top four -  but Christ it is a breath of fresh air.

The bad spell will happen of course but the fans will see it though if they see the team and coach/manager giving their all.

[wozwebs]

The fact that Kevin has never appeared to want a full time managers post in the past 16 years though tends to say that he is happy as just a coach, without the extra baggage that comes with being a manager.

[Billy Walker]

I can't help but feel we are in danger of really going over the top on yesterday's (brilliant) performance.  Just as last year's 0-2 Wigan defeat had no bearing on how the rest of our season would go, yesterday's result is exactly the same.  We need to keep our feet on the ground and keep focused.

The only way I think we could judge if KevinMac was the right man for the job would be after ten to twenty matches, surely?  Has he the strength of character, say, to lift Villa through a string of defeats or a four-nil thumping?  Has he any nous for transfers and buying/selling talent etc.?

What we saw yesterday is something that often happens at clubs when a manager leaves.  A member of staff gets promoted on a caretaker basis and the players group together and play their hearts out for him.  Remember the run we went on when John Gregory returned for example?

I think we need to give this one a good ten games before we make any hasty decisions.  I would still belong to the school of thought that a genuine top class, proven, manager needs to come in and take the club forward. 

Here's to more of the same from yesterday, though.  Well done Kevin and the Boys.

[hilts_coolerking]

I can think of managers in the prem with less of a CV than Kevin Mac.

Successful managers?

[Simba]

I can think of managers in the prem with less of a CV than Kevin Mac.

Successful managers?

THAT is a very fair question. (seriously).   Was O'Neill a "successful Manager". How do we judge a successful Manager for Villa. What exactly are our aims. Champs League on a consistant basis, Silverware? I guess no one wants a mid-table manager, we want ( expect even) a name. Who, Sven? No thanks. I mean who is out there? We can't claim Hiddink can we?

Give KM until Christmas whilst we find that man - if we need him. KM might just be the founder of our 'boot room'.

[Chris Smith]

I can't help but feel we are in danger of really going over the top on yesterday's (brilliant) performance.  Just as last year's 0-2 Wigan defeat had no bearing on how the rest of our season would go, yesterday's result is exactly the same.  We need to keep our feet on the ground and keep focused.

The only way I think we could judge if KevinMac was the right man for the job would be after ten to twenty matches, surely?  Has he the strength of character, say, to lift Villa through a string of defeats or a four-nil thumping?  Has he any nous for transfers and buying/selling talent etc.?

What we saw yesterday is something that often happens at clubs when a manager leaves.  A member of staff gets promoted on a caretaker basis and the players group together and play their hearts out for him.  Remember the run we went on when John Gregory returned for example?

I think we need to give this one a good ten games before we make any hasty decisions.  I would still belong to the school of thought that a genuine top class, proven, manager needs to come in and take the club forward. 

Here's to more of the same from yesterday, though.  Well done Kevin and the Boys.

All good sensible points but my worry is that if we don't act decisively we write off  this transfer window and if we want to have any hope of competing this season then I don't think we can afford to do that.

[Simba]

Lerner is going to have to bite the bullet on two more players at least. In this window. Ireland will give us the more creative midfielder but a striker? We need a good one NOW. If Lerners position is truly that we have to lower the wage/income ratio - and he is right to confront it on the numbers we have seen- that will take time. So does he restrict or even 'ban' incoming transfers until we have lowered the ratio or does he apply a longer term strategy of wage reduction.

I ask because the decision would apply to any manager. And I can't see a big name, 'successful' manager wanting to work on the condition of a strict and immediate sell to buy policy.

[BannedUserIAT]

After the Wrist Ham result, I was all for K-Mac becoming our next manager.

Having had a chance to sleep on it and let the relief/exiliration of not having to watch a joyless MON team subside, a list of pro's/con's comes to the surface.

On the plus side, he knows the players very well (a new manager will take some time to get up to speed).
He's had the MON rejects playing at a level that's won the reserve league so, if we're talking about motivation, surely to God he must leave MON (or rather, the myth) for dead in this regard.
He seems tactically astute.
He's obviously not afraid of youth or substitutions.
As he's been at the club a long time, he clearly has the respect of senior management.
He already has the fans on-side.

On the downside, we've not yet seen how he reacts (at least on a first team level) when things aren't going so well (both during a match and if we go on one of those bad runs). Having said that, we also can't say how any new manager will react either.

He's not had to deal with transfer markets. Obviously, he's inherited players that are off-cuts from the 1st team or have been shunted up a grade from the youth squad. To counter that arguement, I could point at our transfer thread and the knowledge-base there, knowing that his may well be every bit as good.....and he has a senior team to do the negotiating for him.

To be honest, I'd be giving him 6 months. We'll know then whether he's up to it and, indeed, if he even wants it!

Interesting to see he had Tony Mc on his bench (a man highly regarded on these pages) and the discussions seemed (without the ability of lip-reading skills) to be intelligent. I always got the impression with MON and Robertson that exchanges were along the lines of:

Robbo - "What to we do now?"
MON - "Heskey?"
Robbo - "Not Delfouneso?
MON - "No, that's what the want"
Robbo - "There's always Sidwell."
MON - "Don't confuse matters. Just pick one. Surprise me"

[Simba]

Interesting to see he had Tony Mc on his bench (a man highly regarded on these pages) and the discussions seemed (without the ability of lip-reading skills) to be intelligent. I always got the impression with MON and Robertson that exchanges were along the lines of:

Robbo - "What to we do now?"
MON - "Heskey?"
Robbo - "Not Delfouneso?
MON - "No, that's what the want"
Robbo - "There's always Sidwell."
MON - "Don't confuse matters. Just pick one. Surprise me"


Do I not like that... ?

[Billy Walker]

I can't help but feel we are in danger of really going over the top on yesterday's (brilliant) performance.  Just as last year's 0-2 Wigan defeat had no bearing on how the rest of our season would go, yesterday's result is exactly the same.  We need to keep our feet on the ground and keep focused.

The only way I think we could judge if KevinMac was the right man for the job would be after ten to twenty matches, surely?  Has he the strength of character, say, to lift Villa through a string of defeats or a four-nil thumping?  Has he any nous for transfers and buying/selling talent etc.?

What we saw yesterday is something that often happens at clubs when a manager leaves.  A member of staff gets promoted on a caretaker basis and the players group together and play their hearts out for him.  Remember the run we went on when John Gregory returned for example?

I think we need to give this one a good ten games before we make any hasty decisions.  I would still belong to the school of thought that a genuine top class, proven, manager needs to come in and take the club forward. 

Here's to more of the same from yesterday, though.  Well done Kevin and the Boys.

All good sensible points but my worry is that if we don't act decisively we write off  this transfer window and if we want to have any hope of competing this season then I don't think we can afford to do that.

Yep.  A very good point.

[RossLeach]

I can't help but feel we are in danger of really going over the top on yesterday's (brilliant) performance.  Just as last year's 0-2 Wigan defeat had no bearing on how the rest of our season would go, yesterday's result is exactly the same.  We need to keep our feet on the ground and keep focused.

The only way I think we could judge if KevinMac was the right man for the job would be after ten to twenty matches, surely?  Has he the strength of character, say, to lift Villa through a string of defeats or a four-nil thumping?  Has he any nous for transfers and buying/selling talent etc.?

Let's see how he get's on with the away games too. If we play open expansive football at home, great; away from home might be a tad naive

[ozzjim]

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/10/08/15/SOCCER_Villa_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=soccer

Petrov has given his backing. Very interesting about the different style of play and KMD thinking we can adapt to playing a different style. As has been said elsewhere, we played with a different freedom and philosophy, as backed up with what Petrov has said.