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

[Concrete John]

If we take MM's info as reliable, which it usually is, and subtract those who are clearly out of the running no matter how much we don't like it, and look at the favourites for the job, that leaves:

Benitez
Coyle
Martinez
Rijkaard

The one that excites me from those names is Rijkaard.

[pauliewalnuts]

To me its all pointing towards Benitez now. We know he wants the job, available, best record out of those remaining. Unless RL is considering some candidate without premiership experience which seems doubtful, I reckon he's our man.

I reckon you're right, Gregory.

[Neil Hawkes]

Och shit...........I hope not Benitez.

[Risso]

Still think it will be Hughes personally.  Especially now Fulham have appointed a manager.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I can't believe that McClaren would be second choice to Ancelloti. One guy who's won everything,to another who's a bit of a laughing stock.

I might lump on Rafa ,anyone got his latest odds ?

Can't access gambling sites at work. However I lumped on Rafa within minutes of GH leaving last Wednesday and got 5/1 (not great).

24 hours later he was 10/1 as Hughes had just quit Fulham! Not sure what he is now.

[bob]

Rijkaard doesn't have Prem experience. Is Kendrick's tweet worth taking into account?

[Mr Diggles]

Some things I didn't know about Benitez:

- He brought Dalglish back to the club whilst he completely overhauled the backroom and academy staff at Liverpool
- Whilst he was criticised for not bringing youth players through at Liverpool, the general consensus now seems to be that he laid the groundwork for a more productive youth system that was failing in the mid-noughties, and will start bearing fruit again
- He was UEFA manager of the year 2 years running while managing 2 different clubs (2003-4 Valencia, 2004-5 Liverpool)
- He won the Spanish league twice with Valencia, and has won the UEFA Cup as well as the Champions League

That's an impressive list of achievements, and certainly underlines why Lerner would be foolish to not consider him. Ok there possibly may be some bad blood following the highly dubious way Liverpool went about siging Barry, but that is old news now.

I'm liking the look of him more and more.

[garyshawsknee]

I can't believe that McClaren would be second choice to Ancelloti. One guy who's won everything,to another who's a bit of a laughing stock.

I might lump on Rafa ,anyone got his latest odds ?

Can't access gambling sites at work. However I lumped on Rafa within minutes of GH leaving last Wednesday and got 5/1 (not great).

24 hours later he was 10/1 as Hughes had just quit Fulham! Not sure what he is now.

Cheers,he's probably about the same,though we're two candidates less now.

[Greg N'Ash]

Still think it will be Hughes personally.  Especially now Fulham have appointed a manager.

If we appoint him, it will look for all the world that we tapped him up after apparently assuring Fulham we didn't want him. Just can't see Lerner and Faulkner doing that really.

[Mazrim]

To me its all pointing towards Benitez now. We know he wants the job, available, best record out of those remaining. Unless RL is considering some candidate without premiership experience which seems doubtful, I reckon he's our man.

I reckon you're right, Gregory.

Yes, it's well reasoned. I also wouldn't be suprised if somebody completely out of leftfield came in. Like van Basten.
And I'm not ruling out Ancelotti yet either. Not completely anyway.

[Concrete John]

Still think it will be Hughes personally.  Especially now Fulham have appointed a manager.

When he walked from Fulham I thought the same.  He's not going to get Chelsea, so we're the next best job that's available in this country.  However, all the speculation, ITKs and guess work has left me so messed up I haven't a clue who to expect now.

[Concrete John]

To me its all pointing towards Benitez now. We know he wants the job, available, best record out of those remaining. Unless RL is considering some candidate without premiership experience which seems doubtful, I reckon he's our man.

I reckon you're right, Gregory.

Yes, it's well reasoned. I also wouldn't be suprised if somebody completely out of leftfield came in. Like van Basten.
And I'm not ruling out Ancelotti yet either. Not completely anyway.

What did he actually say and was it a direct quote or 'a source close to Carlo says' type of story?

And my leftfield stab in the dark is Klinsmann.

[Irish villain]

Thanks Mr. Diggles. I didn't know some of that either. The man has strong credentials.

I always thought Houllier was credited with improving Liverpool's training facilities/youth system etc?That was the sort of stuff we heard when we took him on.

[Outcast2006]

Not Benitz please. What next after him?  Dalglish ?

[*shellac*]

Not Benitz please. What next after him? Dalglish?

No, you missed out Hodgson.