Who Should be Aston Villa Manager ? Now with new, revised poll

[dave.woodhall]

As i've said before if we only pick managers who are disliked by their former club's fans and hate their ex-clubs then its a pretty shite shortlist.

O'Leary.

[PeterWithe]

I'd expect anyone earning a multi million pound salary to have the nous to know when to be quiet, especially Benitez if its him.

[The Situation]

As i've said before if we only pick managers who are disliked by their former club's fans and hate their ex-clubs then its a pretty shite shortlist.

Liverpool fans don't dislike Benitez though.

[Greg N'Ash]

martin jol always strikes me as too nice. Not sure how he'd cope with the likes of dunne and ireland. Rafa, good manager, bit odd, prefer moyes though. Mcclaren, well i think he's the one guy who could unite the whole of H & V. And not in a good way.

[adrenachrome]

maybe, but can you imagine benitez going to liverpool is we're not doing well. He won't be able to resist responding to them. If we lose it will be "f**k off back to liverpool" Once you've got that dislike colouring people's opinions you're on borrowed time unless the results are very very good.

And if he responds in the way GH did he'll fucking deserve it.

GH seemed to think he was above all those types of PR considerations in a detached, academic sort of fashion, like an eccentric professor who has a masterful grasp of his specialism, but can't be bothered to tie his shoe laces. As I have written a few times before, I remember one press conference fairly early in his tenure when he admitted that what he was about to say would be twisted and used against him, and then went on to say it anyway.

Benitez would make no such mistake. Different personality and circumstances altogether.

[Greg N'Ash]

As i've said before if we only pick managers who are disliked by their former club's fans and hate their ex-clubs then its a pretty shite shortlist.

Liverpool fans don't dislike Benitez though.

thats what i'm saying. if you're any good as a manager, unless you left under a cloud, then you'll gonna have some residule affection from your old clubs.

[pauliewalnuts]

That's possibly the most accurate description of GH I've read, adrenachrome.  Spot on.

Although that air of detachment was sometimes amusing. When he had that spat with holloway and Bruce and outlined how they were angry / what they'd said, then at the end said "by the way, I don't care" and shrugged, that was the point at which I liked him most.

[Toronto Villa]

There's no doubt GH went too far at Anfield, but did also nearly die up there. So I'll allow him a little slack for that. Benitez doing anything close to the same would be unthinkable and unbearable.

He had split opinions by the time he departed and was constantly coming out with complete and utter bollocks in his press conferences. I'm sure things weren't helped by the stuff in the boardroom, but he'd entirely lost the plot. I don't buy into this building stuff either. He spent heavily at Liverpool, much of it on complete garbage. Instead he could have been promoting from his own set up, and very few players ever came through in his time up there. It's only now he's gone, is Dalglish giving one or two of them a go.

I just don't think he fits what the club is looking for today. In my opinion, way too unstable.

[Barca 2011]

martin jol always strikes me as too nice. Not sure how he'd cope with the likes of dunne and ireland. Rafa, good manager, bit odd, prefer moyes though.


Moyes would be my choice as well, BUT never going to happen. He is waiting for bigger things.
As it stands tonight I think it will be Rafa

[Toronto Villa]

That's possibly the most accurate description of GH I've read, adrenachrome.  Spot on.

Although that air of detachment was sometimes amusing. When he had that spat with holloway and Bruce and outlined how they were angry / what they'd said, then at the end said "by the way, I don't care" and shrugged, that was the point at which I liked him most.

I suspect GH tries to play the nice bloke to players too. But at the end of the day he's just as likely to say, "if you don't like it - fuck off" with a smile. I imagine that's got him into trouble once or twice in his career.

[PeterWithe]

I still reckon it will be Hughes.

[Brian Taylor]

Bar Ron Saunders, and he got effed over, AV have had a pretty poor record for choosing long term managers who have achieved something solid and remarkable since the reign of Joe mercer.
It is about time we got someone who can do and will do. No more dithering with will we improve on being sixth. We ended up ninth by dint of serious good luck. We are lucky, all things considered, to be in the PL and lucky to have the opportunity to start building again towards something the woebegone fans have been crying out for for the last 30 years and more.
Please get it right this time. I don't think I can handle another decade of hoping and struggling as an also ran!

[hilts_coolerking]

I don't have anything against Rafa. Couldn't care less about the Barry thing.  The received wisdom is that any manager who responds to Ferguson's 'mind games' has automatically fallen for them but I don't buy that; I actually quite liked some of the things Benitez came out with.  I must admit some of the things he's said since he left Liverpool have baffled me but I'm prepared to overlook that because I think he's still a quality manager.

I'd prefer Ancelotti, who has none of that baggage, but I think Benitez is keener to come, would be hungrier and speaks better English, for what that's worth.

[Pete Green]

GH managed to get Villa fans en-masse singing "You don't know what you're doing", and I've never heard that sung to any other Villa manager.

Not saying it hasn't been sung, or even thought over the years, but it's the first time that I've known it.

[KevinGage]

You can go two ways with Benny.

You can say he's a tactical genius for getting a side containing Baros, Smicer Traore and co to win the biggest pot in Europe in 2005.  And he did have the Redscouse competitive in the title race as recently as 2009.

But I also recall so many negative games throughout his tenure, which always seemed at odds with the resources he had both in personnel and finances (and he did spend a bit -particularly early on).  Some of his bigger signings were obviously a success, but there was a hell of a lot of waste. And I can't recall to many budget deals that came off for him.

He also pissed away Liverpool's top 4 status, taking them from 2nd to 7th in the space of 12 months.  The most recent events are obviously easier to recall to a degree, and might seem a wee bit more relevant.   Maybe the opposition had got wise to his dull approach and this blunted his effectiveness. The ownership situation obviously didn't help either.