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

[Claret trim]

Oh dear. Even the Graun gets it.

[Ads]

Well, as with ever new boss, McLeish, win us the FA Cup and I'll love you forever.

[olaftab]

I think this thread shoud be locked now as I don't want it to be locked tomorrow when the obvious pending disappointment becomes reality.

Tomorrow I do not look forward to a thread titled:

"Welcome Alex"

[eastie]

What an absolute shambles it is at Villa right now. I never thought I'd see protests down the Villa again after Randy had taken over. I just can't believe that R
Randy would be so daft as to appoint Mcleish. I'd be interested to know what our goals are if Mcleish is appointed. Are we still aiming for top 4? And would this be seen as the last chance for Randy to get things right? Appoint Mcleish and things go wrong would Randy be forgiven?

Are we bollocks.

I defy anyone to suggest top four is even worth talking about if we appoint a manager who specialises in bottom four.

even with ancelotti the top 4 would be out of reach- that dream is long gone.

[Risso]

Oh dear. Even the Graun gets it.

That's very fair, and bang on the money.  I think Lerner used to see the Villa as an escape from the Browns, where he is widely disliked.  I wonder where's he's going to go now?

[olaftab]

Oh dear. Even the Graun gets it.

Good article and  that would be  my view as well.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

His first 2-3 signings will be crucial. If they are top players then he will get a bit of time. If they are shit, then he will be hounded from the first whistle.

I get the impression there will be no money for 'top' signings.
I'd also expect him to bid for Gardner.
He also loves Fahey beyond all reasoning, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get lumbered with that piece of shit as well.

[Rick_avfc]

What an absolute shambles it is at Villa right now. I never thought I'd see protests down the Villa again after Randy had taken over. I just can't believe that R
Randy would be so daft as to appoint Mcleish. I'd be interested to know what our goals are if Mcleish is appointed. Are we still aiming for top 4? And would this be seen as the last chance for Randy to get things right? Appoint Mcleish and things go wrong would Randy be forgiven?

Are we bollocks.

I defy anyone to suggest top four is even worth talking about if we appoint a manager who specialises in bottom four.

even with ancelotti the top 4 would be out of reach- that dream is long gone.

Realistically, I think we are aiming to finish top 8 or get to 40 points as quick as possible!

[1780liam]

When the news broke that he had left SHA, the lads at my work started ribbing me saying he would be our next manager...

so convinced was I that that this was media guess work, and over Randy's dead body etc, I sort of said that I'd walk out my job and pursue a career as a 'Chelsea rent boy' the day he was appointed...

My only hope is Randy can back pedal as fast as me!!

[ASHTONVILLA]

I am not holding out much hope of him flunking the interview.

I strongly suspect that Villa are in fact guilty of having tapped him up, and that the appointment was agreed in Corsica before he resigned from Blues. All this interview process is more than likely just window dressing so as to be able to show a sequence of events where Villa can demonstrate that they didn't show an interest until after he left Blues.

Not that I have a problem with the tapping up, its par for the course in football.

I do have a problem with who we have tapped up though! Objectively speaking McLeish is an ok manager, average rather than terrible. But there are so many better options available, which makes such a mediocre appointment really hard to stomach.

Even disregarding the more fanciful candidates like Ancelotti and Van Gaal, there were very good managers like Jol and Hughes available that comfortably meet the stated criteria of the board (a rather limiting and somewhat stupid criteria I might add).

To pass up on good options like Jol and Hughes in favour of bottom dwelling managers such as Martinez and McLeish to me only means one thing. We are preparing for lower spending, wage cutting, and possible relegation dogfights for the next few seasons. It simply does not make any sense to be favouring managers with 'bottom of the table working on a sell to buy budget experience' if this is not the case.

The most telling word in the club statement yesterday was 'sustainable', if this is what Randy wants ie. the club generates its own cash and lives within its means, then we are in for a severe check in ambitions. Even so, spunking upwards of £10m on switching one inept appointment for another potentially worse one is not a great way of going about achieving it.

Of course there is the other explanation - that Lerner is clinically insane!

fwiw I think McLeish will be no worse than Houllier (damning with faint praise I know), and will do a solid but unspectacular job for us and finish somewhere between 8th and 12th - Meh 

[NeilH]

What I keep thinking about is the following. If Bruce was still at Blues and we’d gone out and got him then there would have been dissenters, but most of us would have seen what he achieved and the football he was playing and would have got it. There may have been a little disquiet at the first match, but it would quickly die down. In the case here, the only decision making process that seems to have been taken into account is that AM quit, we were floundering to get a manager and suddenly an opportunity presented itself. All other commonsense seems to have been chucked out of the window.
For a chairman that claims to love the club and has gone out of his way to improve things for the supporters and right some of the ills of Doug, this singular action just seems like some an act of madness. At the best its utterly ill informed and wide of the mark and at the worst it is simply spiteful and vindictive.

I keep asking myself what damage this is going to do to our support come the first game. How much of a financial hit are the board prepared to take in order to get their man and is it really worth it?

[eastie]

His first 2-3 signings will be crucial. If they are top players then he will get a bit of time. If they are shit, then he will be hounded from the first whistle.

pity kevin nolans gone to west ham - he would be a good signing.

[ozzjim]

He would be eastie. Allardyce will bring them straight back.

[Jimbo]

The Guardian article only highlights what's been evident for a while now. Two words define the Aston Villa board's strategy: expectation management. The Mcleish appointment - if it happens - would be the next logical stage for them. They're not looking for an ambitious manager, rather a stable one. As Houllier remarked when he left, they are still in trauma over MON's departure.

That has scarred them so severely that what they now want in place is a man who is not likely to jump ship at the first opportunity of something better. If you're too ambitious and you let the world know it - like Mark Hughes - you're off the shortlist. After all, you could be gone of your own volition in a year. However, if you're willing to come in and steer a team to mid-table respectability, while respecting the traditions and ethos of the club (one of fair play, and doing things 'the right way'), and you're unlikely to be flashing a bit of managerial thigh when you go to Old Trafford, then you're a top candidate.

McLeish fits the bill, partly because he can't believe his luck at being selected by Villa. He'll promise loyalty, perhaps because he knows deep-down this is the biggest job he'll ever get. If the club want him to, and he achieves its reasonable objectives, McLeish will build something here in the board's eyes. The hope is that over time the club matures into something special, like Fergie's Man Utd - an institution that shares the same vision from top to bottom. At the very least it will mean that Randy will be working with someone unlikely to inflict scars of disloyalty, yet it may well cause all kinds of other ignominious damage.

Sometimes our board forgets how passionate and irrational English football can be. They will discover the hard way with this appointment, I fear.

[The Situation]

His first 2-3 signings will be crucial. If they are top players then he will get a bit of time. If they are shit, then he will be hounded from the first whistle.

pity kevin nolans gone to west ham - he would be a good signing.

He might be past his prime, but he would of added some toughness to our midfield.

He did really well at Newcastle this season, not only is it surprising is he leaving, he's leaving them to join a Championship team.