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

[ROBBO]

Never wanted FSW but much prefer him to Martinez, in fact i would prefer Houllier to stay on if they are the contenders.

[villa for life]

We might have the money, but maybe Randy doesn't like the kind of manager who expects or demands it. MON never got the kind of money that we gave Houllier to spend on Bent, but maybe Houllier was more of a gentleman in the way he discussed it with our owner.

[Jim Shoes]

We might have the money, but maybe Randy doesn't like the kind of manager who expects or demands it. MON never got the kind of money that we gave Houllier to spend on Bent, but maybe Houllier was more of a gentleman in the way he discussed it with our owner.

You could be right, my guess is it went something like this;

GH, Placing Bowler hat and cane down on the antique desk and staring at Randy through his monocle "Sir, I come to you with perilous news, you need to spend 24m now or Villa are going down"

RL "Gulp, you are darn right, good sir. Jeeves (PF) bring me my cheque book and make haste" Quill in hand Randy writes out the cheque.

Now that's how it's done FSW! lol

[ozzjim]

For what it is worth I think he will take it despite Wigan clearly thinking he won't. I hope to god within that he has someone like Martin Laursen on the coaching team to sort out the back 4 issues. I also hope the club look to a more experience man to be a director of some description to help him. Whelan is a football man at Wigan, our guys simply aren't.

I am pretty confident the transfer budget will be fairly healthy. The board have backed us before, and Martinez won't leave Wigan to come to a club with nothing to spend. I would expect about 25 million net spend this summer with whoever takes the job. Realistically the squad needs that to stand still.

Long term his eye for a player is brilliant, much better than MON was and that would be needed. If we want to follow the model of buying cheaply and selling for a lot of money then he is a pretty decent place to start, and may signal a change in direction from trying to go for the top 4 immediately to looking at it over a more sustained period. Can't help thinking the Spurs and Arsenal methods are a lot more alluring to owners than the Man City ones.

If it is him, I hope he is backed, if he can find some players like the McCarthy's, N'Zogbia's and Diame's to bring in then all the better. He makes sense if we are shifting emphasis and approach. If we want to finish top 6 next season, he makes no sense at all!

[taylorsworkrate]

Pat Murphy again saying Benitez wanted £30m to spend.  But apparently we don't have/don't want to spend that much.

Surely we would have had that sort of budget after Young was sold (even bigger if downing went too)

Where do you think this money is coming from.........Randys own pocket, the club is making huge losses every season, we wont get all the £15m from Young as Watford have a sell on clause

Well if Downing and Young were sold (which i'd expect both to be), then thats £30 million right there.   Add to that the significant reduction in the wage bill seen already (with more deadwood to go).

The papers were full of this "no money" sort of talk in January. 

[ozzjim]

Pat Murphy again saying Benitez wanted £30m to spend.  But apparently we don't have/don't want to spend that much.

Surely we would have had that sort of budget after Young was sold (even bigger if downing went too)

Where do you think this money is coming from.........Randys own pocket, the club is making huge losses every season, we wont get all the £15m from Young as Watford have a sell on clause

Well if Downing and Young were sold (which i'd expect both to be), then thats £30 million right there.   Add to that the significant reduction in the wage bill seen already (with more deadwood to go).

The papers were full of this "no money" sort of talk in January. 

I reckon that would be closer to 40 million and the wage bill is already being massively slashed. Get Beye, Heskey and Warnock off the books too and a new manager will virtually have carte blanche.

[MYSTERYMAN]

My sources tell me the  Board were not even aware that Villa were being linked to Benitez yesterday and found it hilarious to suggest there was even talk of him turning us down over the size of the budget .

Re Martinez can see some of the reasons why we would go for him in terms of building a dynasty his philosphy on how the game could be played and his scouting but being honest would have preffered someone else if it's the case . If he comes I will back him but can't see him being the original first choice.

[Maradona10]

MM do you think it'll be Martinez? Like you not my first choice however i'll back him to be honest i can't remember thinking much of Little or Gregory either. Some managers have to start somewhere i guess.

[Hammer]

Well that's 50% reassuring. At least it seems the talk of a small budget is wide of the mark. Still hoping there's better out there than Martinez though, but I'll back him if I must...

[MYSTERYMAN]

I still think there is another twist but think the main people were Moyes and Ancelotti but if both haven't given any indication they would speak to us let alone join us then it's plan B .

Young hungry manager with prem experience who can create a dynasty aka Moyes who will continue the GH work  is probably in their thinking .

I don't think for one minute he won't be given funds to spend and I don't think Downing will go this summer either but his remit will be to get rid of the freeloaders and reduce the wage bill .

Don't think the fans are going to see it as inspired a bit Graham Turner ala 86 in some eyes I suppose  but if it's him got to get behind him . Whoever it is aint going to please everybody that's a fact

[Countryside Villain]

My sources tell me the  Board were not even aware that Villa were being linked to Benitez yesterday ....

I find that hard to believe, I'm pretty sure they read the papers.

[nick harper]

Reading between the lines, I think it's clear that Martinez is not first choice. It's impossible to tell how seriously we were after Ancelotti and Benitez and with Hughes not being in the running and Moyes looking like he's waiting for a big one to come along, I think Jol is the one the board let slip through their fingers. Fulham moved very quickly.

So, even though he's not first choice, I think he seems to be close to the type of manager RL sees as thee man to continue the work Houllier started.

[Clampy]

Bearing in mind that the General said that we did'nt want to have to go through a season like the last one again, it's a strange choice to be picking a manager who's spent the last two season's fighting relegation.  Brave or stupid, maybe a bit of both.

Also, i may be barking up the wrong tree, but is it my imagination that the quality of this football club gone downhill since Paul Faulkner showed up? We've lost one manager, who despite his many faults got us into the top 6 on a regular basis. Employed an ageing french manager which did'nt work out and now thinking of taking on a unproven manager who's team last season only stayed up thanks to a last minute goal from N'Zogbia.

[Mazrim]

Mysteryman, you obviously can't say and I appreciate that, but yesterday when you said you didn't want to say anything because you didn't want to get hopes up, you were given a name, yes? I take it that name was not Martinez because he's as far from somebody to get hopes up over than I can imagine.

And are you saying Moyes and Ancelotti are definitely out of the frame now?

[pauliewalnuts]

Also, i may be barking up the wrong tree, but is it my imagination that the quality of this football club gone downhill since Paul Faulkner showed up? We've lost one manager, who despite his many faults got us into the top 6 on a regular basis. Employed an ageing french manager which did'nt work out and now thinking of taking on a unproven manager who's team last season only stayed up thanks to a last minute goal from N'Zogbia.

I'm starting to wonder whether they know what they're doing, to be honest.