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

[Iago]

Pointless appointment if you ask me. Doomed from the start.

To have any chance of winning over the support, McLeish is going to have to exceed all expectations but with his track-record and penchant for anti-football, it's extremely unlikely he's got it in him.

Just a repeat of Hodgson with you guys then ?

Exactly.

The two situations  are not comparable.

[Irreverent ad]

The most frustrating thing about not appointing Sanchez-Flores was that he'd come with Ayesteran... A man who spent Liverpool's best years under Rafa alongside him.

Which surely would be considered under the requirement of Premier League experience.

Or there is no proof he actually applied for the job.

[Redman]

Pointless appointment if you ask me. Doomed from the start.

To have any chance of winning over the support, McLeish is going to have to exceed all expectations but with his track-record and penchant for anti-football, it's extremely unlikely he's got it in him.

Just a repeat of Hodgson with you guys then ?

Exactly.

Was Hodgson's main problem that the task of managing Liverpool was just simply too big for him?

I'm scared

That's about it in a nutshell.

[Dave Clark Five]

The most frustrating thing about not appointing Sanchez-Flores was that he'd come with Ayesteran... A man who spent Liverpool's best years under Rafa alongside him.

Which surely would be considered under the requirement of Premier League experience.

I wonder how many at the protest were advocating the merits of Sanchez Flores.

[Doorbell]

Mirror exclusive saying he's agreed 3 yr contract and is bringing his staff with him- wonder where that leaves Sid and co?

Apparently sids on his way out, along with all the other back room staff.  Quoted on 5 live today. Gonna cost Randy £20 mill for this deal to go through..or so the 5 live lot worked out?...

oh that was such a load of bollocks.  That was Pat Murphy making up figures.  He was going on the following:

x millions compensation to MON (undisclosed - and this has nothing to do with McLeish);

5mil compensation for Houllier (undisclosed but 5mil is clearly balls and again this has nothing to do with McLeish, Houllier was not able to return to the job);

5.4 to Blues in compensation (never going to happen, Villa had to pay off MON before he possibly won his constructive dismissal case, so McLeish must have a fair case too)

Compensation for any of the other coaching staff who need to be sacked (other than McAllister, I can not see it being much.  We should try to persuade Sid to stay!)

Wages for McLeish, he claimed would be considerably more than 2mil per year (this also does not account for the fact we have to pay someone to be manager)

Wages for new coaching staff (again I find it hard to believe they will cost anymore than what we would be paying the current coaching staff, especially McAllister).


So this could potentially cost us, some compensation to Blues and McAllister of note, 20million??? Fuck off Pat.

Thanks for clearing that up. I had asked about this on an earlier page as I wasn't sure if my stepdad was on the windup or not...

[old man villa fan]

Five years of putting money into the club and building a bond with the supporters.  For what?  He will never get a considerable number of supporters back on side, it will be like the Doug years.  At the first sign of problems the knives will be out.

No doubt he will continue to put money into the club but it will be like pouring money down the drain.  At the most important time, Randy Lerner lacked the vision and understanding of what it will take to challenge the top 4 in this day and age.  He does not have enough money to do it with financial clout and missed that chance 3 years ago.  That left the only way to do it by bringing through a crop of talented young players that were coached together from a young age and then adding a few quality players brought in.  By using this model year after year you develop a club method/style of play that is consistent and may eventually achieve the aims.  The closest to this (and probably the only team) in English football is Man Utd, otherwise you have to look overseas where there are many technical coaches and administrators that stay in the background when managers come and go.

Randy Lerner has decided to go with the traditional British model that goes in 3 year cycles.

I hope I am wrong but I believe we will be looking for a new owner within 3 years and a new manager much earlier.  If I am wrong it will mean that we will have been successful and I only hope that is the case.

[pauliewalnuts]

OMVF, I agree with you by and large, but Man United are the only British club to manage to pull of that model because they are the only British club that doesn't have to worry too much about their excellent home grown players getting snared by other clubs.

I agree on the money thing, he's pumped enormous sums in. The shame is that it was used so unimaginatively (not always his fault, far from it in fact), and a large amount was wasted.

The Houllier pay off must have been a decent chunk of cash, for example. I think we sometimes forget these things.

[Villanation]

I know it has been linked but I think it's worth posting the article

Aston Villa turned down the chance to install former Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores as manager.

But the Spaniard remains ready to answer the call if a fan backlash means Villa ditch their move to land Alex McLeish.

Sanchez Flores, who resigned from Atletico at the end of the season following a major fall-out with star striker Diego Forlan, was lined up as a managerial team with Rafa Benitez's former Liverpool assistant, Pako Ayestaran.

The 46-year-old, who took Valencia to the last eight of the Champions League in 2007 and led Atletico to their 2010 Europa League Final victory over Fulham and last season's European Super Cup win over Inter Milan, was approached by intermediaries last week.

Sanchez Flores told the agents involved he would jump at the opportunity, especially if he could lean on Ayestaran's knowledge of the Premier League.

Ayestaran, who also worked alongside Benitez at Valencia, fell out with his long-term friend in 2008 when he went to Benfica, then returned to Valencia as assistant boss two years later.

Sanchez Flores, who has a decent command of English but accepts he would have to go on a crash-course if he got the Villa job, has studied the playing staff he would be inheriting from Gerard Houllier.

Despite the imminent loss of Ashley Young and the likely departure of Stewart Downing, Sanchez Flores believes he would only need to make "two or three changes" to produce a squad that would achieve a top six position in his first season in charge.

A friend said: "Quique was very optimistic about achieving his targets and felt he was extremely confident of attracting top La Liga stars to join him at Villa."

Those players could have included rejuvenated former Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes, who revelled under Sanchez Flores at both Benfica and Atletico.

Despite Sanchez Flores' interest and his reputation as a persuasive and intelligent technical coach, Villa owner Randy Lerner switched targets to McLeish, sparking a hugely negative response among the Villa supporters.

Sanchez Flores is still prepared to listen if fan power forces Villa to come calling again.

The friend added: "Quique wants the job and wants to come to England.

"He feels that he and Pako would make a really good team at a club with great potential and is not fussed about where he will have been on their initial preference list."

The Mirror - Clicky

Just read this, why would you turn away from a coach of this mans ability and what he could bring to Villa, let alone his contacts in terms of players, he could provide cover for Young and Downing, we wouldn't know they'd gone.

The side he built and took to the final of the Europa Cup a couple of seasons back, I thought was one of the most exciting attacking teams i'd seen for a long time outside of Barca.

Don't make sense.

[old man villa fan]

Surely McLeish is like anybody else, in that he has to prove himself at a level before moving up to the next step.

For parts of last season he put out a team that were well organised and difficult to beat, (yes we all know what happened with the last kick of a match on a day when 2 of 5 teams could have gone down, and we weren't placed much more attractively for most of the season either) but certainly going into those Derbys wasn't comfortable as Blues were a threat. Then he pushes the mighty Villa out of the way to achieve cup success against the odds with that same team. Now he's ready for the next rung in his career, a step up to bigger and more successful club. If he can instill some of that grit and tenacity into our team of much better players and a more balanced squad, then we're going to some fuckin team.

I've read on here many times that we don't want a manager who sees Villa as a step down, as a payday, as a last chance at glory, a return to the prem, or to bask in the reflected glory of their previous roles. Or even a manager who is foreign for the sake of it. McL is none of those.

It is not as if McLeish is a young and up and coming manager.  He has been in this game for 17 years, yes, 17 years.  He has a consistent theme that keeps on cropping up on his CV - failing to deliver and resorting to negative football.

[JJ-AV]

Five years of putting money into the club and building a bond with the supporters.  For what?  He will never get a considerable number of supporters back on side, it will be like the Doug years.  At the first sign of problems the knives will be out.

No doubt he will continue to put money into the club but it will be like pouring money down the drain.  At the most important time, Randy Lerner lacked the vision and understanding of what it will take to challenge the top 4 in this day and age.  He does not have enough money to do it with financial clout and missed that chance 3 years ago.  That left the only way to do it by bringing through a crop of talented young players that were coached together from a young age and then adding a few quality players brought in.  By using this model year after year you develop a club method/style of play that is consistent and may eventually achieve the aims.  The closest to this (and probably the only team) in English football is Man Utd, otherwise you have to look overseas where there are many technical coaches and administrators that stay in the background when managers come and go.

Randy Lerner has decided to go with the traditional British model that goes in 3 year cycles.

I hope I am wrong but I believe we will be looking for a new owner within 3 years and a new manager much earlier.  If I am wrong it will mean that we will have been successful and I only hope that is the case.

Brilliant post. However it's not done for Randy yet, if he keeps pouring the money in (which he of course will), it'll keep most supporters happy... If McLeish doesn't work, he'll get another chance to win us over (however after the last two botched attempts of appointing a manager I wouldn't trust him to do it successfully).

[Redman]

Pointless appointment if you ask me. Doomed from the start.

To have any chance of winning over the support, McLeish is going to have to exceed all expectations but with his track-record and penchant for anti-football, it's extremely unlikely he's got it in him.

Just a repeat of Hodgson with you guys then ?

Exactly.

The two situations  are not comparable.

In as much as both clubs appointed a manager against the will of their support, I reckon they are.

[Iago]

Surely McLeish is like anybody else, in that he has to prove himself at a level before moving up to the next step.

For parts of last season he put out a team that were well organised and difficult to beat, (yes we all know what happened with the last kick of a match on a day when 2 of 5 teams could have gone down, and we weren't placed much more attractively for most of the season either) but certainly going into those Derbys wasn't comfortable as Blues were a threat. Then he pushes the mighty Villa out of the way to achieve cup success against the odds with that same team. Now he's ready for the next rung in his career, a step up to bigger and more successful club. If he can instill some of that grit and tenacity into our team of much better players and a more balanced squad, then we're going to some fuckin team.

I've read on here many times that we don't want a manager who sees Villa as a step down, as a payday, as a last chance at glory, a return to the prem, or to bask in the reflected glory of their previous roles. Or even a manager who is foreign for the sake of it. McL is none of those.

It is not as if McLeish is a young and up and coming manager.  He has been in this game for 17 years, yes, 17 years.  He has a consistent theme that keeps on cropping up on his CV - failing to deliver and resorting to negative football.

He has had a fair degree of success if you look at his CV without being bias. I  am just focused on what his does at this football club.

[Villanation]

Its being reported on Radio 5 live that its pretty much a done deal, just needs to be announced tomorrow, by all accounts they (The Randy&Alex show) fit well together.

Wonder which one is the bitch.

[johny]

Car crash in slow motion approaches. How can we go from spending 24m on Bent to this in less than six months? This is what come's from being a rich mans toy. Braindead fuckwitts have taken over the asylum.

[Greg N'Ash]

Pointless appointment if you ask me. Doomed from the start.

To have any chance of winning over the support, McLeish is going to have to exceed all expectations but with his track-record and penchant for anti-football, it's extremely unlikely he's got it in him.

Just a repeat of Hodgson with you guys then ?

Exactly.

The two situations  are not comparable.

In as much as both clubs appointed a manager against the will of their support, I reckon they are.

yep.