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

[Hammer]

Guardian:

Randy Lerner, the Aston Villa owner, has arrived in Britain to finalise the appointment of Gérard Houllier's successor as manager with Steve McClaren among the frontrunners for the job. The billionaire's brief for the week is expected also to include the sale of Ashley Young to Manchester United for an initial fee of £16m.

Lerner flew to Birmingham on Tuesday to draw up a shortlist of candidates for the managerial vacancy with the club's chief executive, Paul Faulkner. They are seeking an appointment with Premier League experience – a stance that discounts the former Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard – and ideally want the new man in place by the end of next week as they look to avoid the problems caused by Martin O'Neill's departure five days before the start of last season.

The hierarchy hope to commence the interview process by the end of this week, although it is understood Villa have sounded out several candidates who may be interested in the post. One who is keen to return to the Premier League with Villa is the former England manager McClaren and his availability would assist Lerner's task of installing a manager before the squad reports back for pre-season training on 7 July.

Owen Coyle, the Bolton Wanderers manager, Wigan Athletic's Roberto Martínez and David Moyes, the Everton manager who has been linked with the Midlands club for several months, are all believed to appeal to the owner but prising any from their employers would be a complicated and expensive affair. Moyes has said he is not interested while Wigan are to offer Martínez a new long-term contract. The Wigan owner, Dave Whelan, has said the Spaniard, who kept the Latics in the Premier League while reducing the club's wage bill, will not leave this summer, although Martínez's deal has only 12 months remaining.

Carlo Ancelotti, whose representatives were approached by Villa last week despite his claims to the contrary, would have been favourite but for his decision to take a 12-month sabbatical from the game. Lerner was unimpressed by Mark Hughes's abrupt exit from Fulham and Martin Jol, another early candidate when Houllier departed on health grounds last week, has now replaced the former Manchester City manager at Craven Cottage.

McClaren endured a miserable 17-month spell in charge of England having guided Middlesbrough to League Cup success and the Uefa Cup final. His reputation was repaired in Holland where he guided FC Twente to the first league title in their history but his subsequent move to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg ended in the sack in February. McClaren last worked in the Premier League five years ago but Lerner is expected to give the 50-year-old the opportunity to press his claims in an interview.

Whoever lands the Villa job will have to cope without Young, albeit with his transfer budget swelled by the imminent departure of the England international to Old Trafford. Young claimed after scoring in England's European Championship qualifier against Switzerland on Saturday that he would sit down and discuss his future with Lerner this week. However, no such meeting is planned, with Villa resigned to the forward's determination to join the Premier League champions regardless of whom they appoint as manager or whether they offered to improve the terms of a contract that has 12 months left to run. No fee has been agreed between United and Villa for Young, who also considered a move to Liverpool, but a deal of £16m plus add-ons will take the 25-year-old to Old Trafford.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/07/randy-lerner-aston-villa?CMP=twt_gu

No mention of Benitez at all there.

Aside from that it's telling us nothing particularly new. Seems as speculative as much that's been written recently.

[dounavilla]

Please NOT McClown ¬!!!

[Ian.]

Without following a club it is sometimes hard to judge a player or manager. The amount of people from outside Aston Villa only ever see the good things MON did and never the very odd things. Similar things happen with players, the press and non supporters will often think a player for that club is great but when you speak to a supporter their opinion is quite different.
So it's great to see your comments Redman, very interesting and insightful indeed. Very true about Nani and Anderson.

[hawkeye]

Thanks Redman, a lot of H and V,ers  appreciate other fans coming on here for a chat, its been good, off to bed now see you soon Up the Villa

[PeterWithesShin]

Rafa Benitez transfers for liverpool. I think he worked on the premise that if you sign enough players you're bound to get 11 good ones eventually.

http://www.liverweb.org.uk/benitez.asp

[Mazrim]

Thanks Redman, a lot of H and V,ers  appreciate other fans coming on here for a chat, its been good, off to bed now see you soon Up the Villa

You dont have to sleep with him. I'm sure he would have given his views anyway.

[Greg N'Ash]

Well, if he does employ McClaren i'm applying for a job in Villa's season ticket department. Quite fancy doing fuck all this summer.

[pauliewalnuts]

Well, if he does employ McClaren i'm applying for a job in Villa's season ticket department. Quite fancy doing fuck all this summer.

Ha ha ha, very good.

[Redman]

Redman, Thanks for coming on and providing a Liverpool perspective on Rafa.  I can only speak for myself but I like it when decent fans come on and add different viewpoints.

It's been mentioned on here a few times that Benitez pretty much re-built the Liverpool youth system which is now paying dividends for Kenny.  Is this true or an exaggeration?
 
Depending on how pessimistic the Villa fan is, it is possible that we might not have huge amounts of cash left for transfers.  How do you think Rafa would do when working under a tight-ish monetary conditions?  After all, didn't it start to unravel at Liverpool when they started to stop spending big money?

It's good for me too. I don't like spending too much time with my own kind - it can get a bit parochial. 

Rafa fought for control of the academy the whole time he was at Liverpool. I think he finally got it when Rick Parry left and he signed his new contract in 2009. And he appointed Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura who worked together at La Masia developing the Messis and Iniestas. So yeah - this current crop of youth two years later is Rafa's legacy really. But Kenny deserves all the credit for bringing them through to the first team.

As for the money, I don't remember Rafa complaining much about the size of his budget. It was more that the budget was withdrawn at short notice or wasn't made available in time for the window. He was exasperated that if he couldn't have a big budget, at least make sure the budget he did have was available when he needed it and let him spend it how he saw fit.

A typical transfer window might go something like this:

• Wait for funds to become available
• Miss out on target number 1
• Receive smaller budget than promised
• Ask CEO for target number 2
• Miss out on target number 2 because of CEO dithering
• Ask CEO for target number 3
• CEO overpays for target number 3
• Now can't afford target number 4
• Pre-season starts. Business not concluded
• Ask CEO for target number 5
• CEO buys target number 5
• Ask CEO for target number 6

[ii]Budget withdrawn[/li]
[/list]

I've exaggerated that a bit but you get the idea.

[mr woo]

Anyone know for sure if Benitez has kissed and made up with his former assistant Pako whatsisface? A lot of dippers suggest their falling-out was the start of their decline.

[JUAN PABLO]

My mates are already taking the piss out of us being linked with the wally , and thats before hes got the job...

[Greg N'Ash]

well i know we're only a tiny slice of opinion on this site paulie, but i can't imagine there's any sort of groundswell of support for McClaren anywhere, even amongst those nutters who write to the Evening Mail.

We have 1 McClarenite so far and i reckon thats only Chris smith getting his loyalty card marked early just in case

[Redman]

Without following a club it is sometimes hard to judge a player or manager. The amount of people from outside Aston Villa only ever see the good things MON did and never the very odd things. Similar things happen with players, the press and non supporters will often think a player for that club is great but when you speak to a supporter their opinion is quite different.
So it's great to see your comments Redman, very interesting and insightful indeed. Very true about Nani and Anderson.

Agree with all that.

There must be loads of outsiders who see MON as the man who took you back into contention and Lerner as a fool for not backing him. And they must take the Bent signing as Lerner admitting his mistake. 

It's never that simple.

[dave.woodhall]

Without following a club it is sometimes hard to judge a player or manager. The amount of people from outside Aston Villa only ever see the good things MON did and never the very odd things. Similar things happen with players, the press and non supporters will often think a player for that club is great but when you speak to a supporter their opinion is quite different.
So it's great to see your comments Redman, very interesting and insightful indeed. Very true about Nani and Anderson.

Agree with all that.

There must be loads of outsiders who see MON as the man who took you back into contention and Lerner as a fool for not backing him. And they must take the Bent signing as Lerner admitting his mistake. 

It's never that simple.

Loads. Oliver Holt, Paul Hayward, Rod Liddle, Henry Winter.....
 

[pauliewalnuts]

Without following a club it is sometimes hard to judge a player or manager. The amount of people from outside Aston Villa only ever see the good things MON did and never the very odd things. Similar things happen with players, the press and non supporters will often think a player for that club is great but when you speak to a supporter their opinion is quite different.
So it's great to see your comments Redman, very interesting and insightful indeed. Very true about Nani and Anderson.

Agree with all that.

There must be loads of outsiders who see MON as the man who took you back into contention and Lerner as a fool for not backing him. And they must take the Bent signing as Lerner admitting his mistake. 

It's never that simple.

Loads. Oliver Holt, Paul Hayward, Rod Liddle, Henry Winter.....
 

... Patrick Barclay, Villadawg