Our sources say.....

[richard moore]

Saunders got it without being a Villa man...

This whole "understands the special nature of Aston Villa" argument is nonsense if the examples given include the man who walked out of the club a couple of months before we were due to play a European Cup quarter final and pitched up on the other side of the city a week later.

All managers are self-serving - that's a direct consequence of being in a career where the likely tenure is usually no more than a couple of seasons.  He simply doesn't have the time to immerse himself in the history and tradition.  In the vast majority of cases, there is no point in the emotional investment. 

All we can ask is that whoever is in the manager's seat does their best by the club during his time with us.  They then in time become part of the tradition by dint of what they achieve.  If they do that, where they go next - be it a local rival, the England job or retirement - is irrelevant. 

 

Exactly, spot on. And quite what is the special nature of Aston Villa when we deride other clubs for thinking too that they are special like Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool....

[AVFCRob]

Surely the notion of the specialness and importance of Aston Villa is at least matched by the plans to compete for the big prizes in the here and now to any self-respecting and ambitious manager? It's all well and good saying that the new manager has to 'understand' what Aston Villa means and can't use us as a stepping stone but if we come 15th this season and it looks as though the financial means to improve things aren't going to be in place to change that, how strong will the pull of Aston Villa be then?

[Nii Lamptey]

i still would like to hear martins version of events , i think he should have gone in may but is like to know just what he was told regarding the milner money

I don't care less what he was told about the Milner money. If I was Randy, I wouldn't have given him a penny either, on it on evidence of what I saw the other night! I'd make more use of it down the pub on a Friday night!

[montague]

Koeman strongly linked today and on the shortlist apparently!

Told you this weeks ago as this was the name the Villa backroom staff was hearing ....

Not pulled up too many trees in his managerial career and seems to have moved around a bit.

Having retired as a player after his stint with Feyenoord, Koeman became member of the coaching staff of Guus Hiddink during the 1998 World Cup along with Johan Neeskens and Frank Rijkaard. After the tournament Koeman was appointed the assistant coach of Barcelona. In 2000, he was handed his first managerial job as the head coach of Vitesse where he led the team to a UEFA Cup spot on a relatively limited budget.
[edit]Ajax
Koeman was appointed the manager of Ajax in 2001. Ajax' fortunes suffered a steady decline after Koeman got off to a successful start at the Amsterdam ArenA, winning a domestic double in 2001–02. Despite regaining the title in 2003–04, Ajax had fallen eight points behind rivals PSV in the Eredivisie. Coupled with Ajax being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Auxerre, 3–2 on aggregate, lead Koeman to resign the following day on 25 February 2005.[6]
[edit]Benfica
Koeman bounced back quickly from a disappointing end to his reign at Ajax in February 2005, taking up the vacant position at Portuguese champions Benfica following the departure of legendary Italian Giovanni Trapattoni. In Benfica, against whom he won the 1988 European Cup final as a player with PSV, Koeman only won the Portuguese Supercup: the team finished the Portuguese League in third place (behind rivals Porto and Sporting) and was knocked out of the Portuguese Cup in the quarter-finals (after losing to Vitória de Guimarães). This, along with an offer from PSV, sufficed for the manager to leave one year before the end of his contract, even though Benfica reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League before losing to Barcelona, who ended up winning the trophy.
[edit]PSV
In the 2006–07 season, Koeman served as head coach of PSV, as successor of Guus Hiddink. PSV dominated the first season half, putting competitors as AZ and Ajax at a reasonable distance and PSV was almost destined to become champions again. However, PSV suffered in the second half of the season, also because of injuries of players Jefferson Farfán, Alex and Ibrahim Afellay, obtaining only 19 out 39 possible points.[7] AZ and Ajax regained their momentum, making for a close finish, with all three teams tied at 72 points before the last competition day.[8] AZ played struggling Excelsior in their final match, but did not manage to win. Ajax played at Willem II, but did not score enough goals; it was PSV eventually who triumphed against all odds, winning at home 5–1 against Vitesse Arnhem, and thereby becoming Eredivisie champions on goal difference.
[edit]Valencia
On 31 October 2007 Koeman agreed to be the new coach of Valencia after the sacking of Quique Flores.[9] With Valencia he won the 2007–08 Spanish Cup, a tournament he previously won as a player of Barcelona. This was Valencia's first Copa del Rey since 1998–99.[10] The remainder of his tenure at Valencia would prove disappointing. The team would slump to 15th in the league, only two points above the relegation zone. A 5–1 defeat by Athletic Bilbao would prove the final nail in Koeman's time with Valencia. He was sacked the following day, on 21 April 2008.[10]
[edit]AZ
He was appointed manager of AZ on 18 May 2009,[11][12] after Louis van Gaal, who won the Eredivisie 2008-09 with AZ, joined Bayern Munich.[13] On 5 December 5, 2009, AZ announced that Koeman no longer was in charge of AZ, after losing 7 of the first 16 games in the Dutch competition.[1

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I think it is harsh to suggest he didn't "get" Aston Villa. I think he did, pretty much from the start. He had a high opinion of the club.

I think the problem at the end was that he had an even higher opinion of himself, and when it came to a little less for Martin O'Neill and a little more for Aston Villa he wasn't prepared to give it.

That's his decision, but i really do think he understood the club to start.

I've always thought, from Day 1, Martin never had such a high opinion of us but that is understandable to an extent having come from Celtic, who whether we like to admit it or not, are a huge club. I don't hold it against him, I think he saw the potential and tried to rebuild us but we were never going to be a club with 40,000 every home game, never questioning a decision, just happy to have him here. I'd imagine the "Martin give us a wave" left him thinking "WTF" but played along with it and for at least three seasons he had almost full backing from the fans. The booing last season, the ironic cheers when he substituted Gabby and the cheers for Luke Young against Blackburn no doubt got to him.

We must be the only club in the world that love our chairman more than our manager (at least until now). Despite what the press may think about us being "Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa", we were always and will continue to be "Aston Villa", where nobody, not even Randy, are bigger than the club. That's taking nothing away from MON, for the most part, he saw the club or more correctly the team, as an extention of himself and gave it his best. Even after a poor display he would talk us up, saying how well we played. He loved his team, if not the club. Self serving? I don't think it really matters. He did his best even if his best wasn't good enough.

Edit: Spot on, Topdeck.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Koeman bounced back quickly from a disappointing end to his reign at Ajax in February 2005, taking up the vacant position at Portuguese champions Benfica following the departure of legendary Italian Giovanni Trapattoni. In Benfica, against whom he won the 1988 European Cup final as a player with PSV, Koeman only won the Portuguese Supercup: the team finished the Portuguese League in third place (behind rivals Porto and Sporting) and was knocked out of the Portuguese Cup in the quarter-finals (after losing to Vitória de Guimarães).

He was pretty much a disaster at Benfica, only winning the equivalent of the Charity Shield. He's certainly not missed here and despite being an excellent player, he's certainly not a great manager. Not even a good one. No thanks.

[Steve67]

Following on from Montague's post above.  Koeman has been unlucky to have to follow in the footsteps of two or three of the greater managers in the game with the clubs he's taken over.  Hiddink, Trapattoni are tough men to follow in to any job.  I guess a little like MON, right now at Villa.  That's what makes this decision and even tougher one.  Koeman is pretty much as big a name as has been mentioned for the Villa job, a serious contender, unlike Maradoughnut IMO, and might just be about ready for a crack in the English game.  It might take him a season to assess the standard and the club but could be quite good in the longer term. He certainly has a good view of European football and appears really keen to get the job. He has a bit of passion for it, rather than wanting another pay day, a la Sven.

[atomicjam]

Thanks for the info, Dave.

I would like to think that the club are not specifically looking at links with managers and having Villa on their CV from the past but rather someone who would seemingly share a long term view of buying in talent but also bringing in our young players. A man they feel will have hunger and ability and a realism that it will take time and patience to bring the first team on against established Chumps league clubs and the freakshow that is Money City. I think I am just stating the obvious actually, I blame the hangover.

Still, its stopped raining, the cricket has got better, we had more at Villa Park in the week than Blues managed for their last two home games combined, Albrighton looks the business, in the right formation I think Ireland will be great for us and I have a Blueberry fruit corner.

So, on that positive note, we will beat Everton tomorrow and appoint someone currently in employment- hopefully with an international side.

[kipeye]

Dave-just a comment. For me, these plain, simple statements are what I take note of more than lots of the guff that's posted on here. Don't be put off continuing in the same vein.
Note: No money was exchanged in the writing of this article

[Villa'Zawg]

I thought the most important thing in Dave's post was."Above all the overall thinking, the long-term plans and ambitions of everyone at Villa Park haven't changed."

I've had my doubts about that over this summer. We'll see.

[N'ZMAV]

SimplyZola on 606: "Paul Jewell has been approached for the Aston Villa manager, according to rumours

[London Villan]

Who, realistically, is going to be on the short list next week then? And how many?

[PaulWinch again]

Thanks for the information Dave, I hope that is the case.

[atomicjam]

SimplyZola on 606: "Paul Jewell has been approached for the Aston Villa manager, according to rumours

Yeah, according to rumours by SimplyZola!

[Chris Smith]

Who, realistically, is going to be on the short list next week then? And how many?

The E & S reckon Dave Jones is one of the names being considered. Not exactly one to set the pulses racing.