Martin The Great

[spk]

Hes danish,having lived there for 5 years,all the people seem to be hard working,smart and diligent and he loves the Villa.Got to be a start hasnt it?
How about G.T. all director of football and M.L. as team manager?

[Neil Hawkes]

So then, once every great manager in existence today has shuffled off their mortal coil- that will be the end of football as we know it?

Just where is the next exceptional manager going to come from, if no-one is willing to try out someone with no experience, but great intelligence, passion and knowledge of the game?

Not necessarily saying it's Martin, but who knows?

From a team further down the league, where all the decent current managers have come from, which is the whole point.  Let Laursen go and be a coach somewhere for a year, then get a manager's job at somewhere like Sheffield Wednesday for a couple of years.  That'll tell you far more about his ability than giving him £30m to play with in the Premier League.

Playing devils advocate here really. But just say this happens and he is a raging success. So good infact that the likes of Madrid, Barcelona, etc come a calling. Would we still be able to secure his services then?

[Neil Hawkes]

So then, once every great manager in existence today has shuffled off their mortal coil- that will be the end of football as we know it?

Just where is the next exceptional manager going to come from, if no-one is willing to try out someone with no experience, but great intelligence, passion and knowledge of the game?

Not necessarily saying it's Martin, but who knows?

That's fair enough, but when they're tried out at the higher levels of the game, and fail, they very rarely recover, because they're so stigmatised by high profile failure

Yet every now and then, someone doesn't fail. What it takes is not only the person themselves, but someone with the vision to see the potential greatness just lurking below the surface.

[Rancid custard]

I'll tell you what, with Martin at the helm we'd have the meanest and most organized defense in the league, still a few years away though...

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

WE HAVE A MESSIAH!

[The Man With A Stick]

7/10 times it tends to work man with a stick. 

Sorry, I stand corrected.

David Platt was twice the player that Laursen was, why not give him a crack first?

[The Man With A Stick]

And since when did we start referring to Laursen as "God"?!

[Risso]

So then, once every great manager in existence today has shuffled off their mortal coil- that will be the end of football as we know it?

Just where is the next exceptional manager going to come from, if no-one is willing to try out someone with no experience, but great intelligence, passion and knowledge of the game?

Not necessarily saying it's Martin, but who knows?

From a team further down the league, where all the decent current managers have come from, which is the whole point.  Let Laursen go and be a coach somewhere for a year, then get a manager's job at somewhere like Sheffield Wednesday for a couple of years.  That'll tell you far more about his ability than giving him £30m to play with in the Premier League.

Playing devils advocate here really. But just say this happens and he is a raging success. So good infact that the likes of Madrid, Barcelona, etc come a calling. Would we still be able to secure his services then?

That's about as likely as Guardiola getting on a private jet to talk to Randy Lerner tomorrow.  How many of the European giants have appointed a manager from the English lower leagues, however well they've done?  I don't see Inter banging on Paul Lambert's door for example.

[hilts_coolerking]

I put all this down to the panic we all feel at the possibility of McClaren becoming our next manager.  Which is understandable.  Nevertheless, appointing Laursen - however much we love him and would want him to succeed - would be a terrible idea.

[Chipsticks]

I'd rather have him just as a defensive coach but I think he'd do an OK job.

[darren woolley]

I would like him to be our manager one day but I would like him to learn the ropes lower down the leagues or with the youth teams of the danish international team.

[Neil Hawkes]

That's about as likely as Guardiola getting on a private jet to talk to Randy Lerner tomorrow.  How many of the European giants have appointed a manager from the English lower leagues, however well they've done?  I don't see Inter banging on Paul Lambert's door for example.

Fair enough, point noted.

[Concrete John]

So, is this still sounding like such a bad idea to everyone now?

[Risso]

So, is this still sounding like such a bad idea to everyone now?

Yes.  A worse idea than Martinez even.

[Concrete John]

You'll see the light yet, Risso