Stephen Warnock

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Me and Paulie had him bang to rights from the off.

Ha! Glad you were both listening to me. I really couldn't see what all the fuss was about when we hired him. Never been a fan of his, inheriting Larsson at Celtic pretty much guaranteed his success in Scotland and watching these videos just confirms how far he had his head up his arse. Total chancer.

EDIT: We're you playing with the stiffs on Villatalk at the time? That's a rewriting of history even MON would be proud of.

[Chap]

My other half got me his book for Christmas, I couldn't believe it, I hated the idea that gave money to him.

was it titled ‘My part in their down-fall’?

[rob_bridge]

As a general rule, I tend to warm to former Villa players and managers over time.  Any animosity I had for them during their time here tends to wane, and I end up remembering the better elements of their time with us, ahead of the worst bits.

For MON, it's the exact opposite.  The more I hear, the angrier I get.  The position we were in. The players we had. Although things are going great right now, it's clear his total fuck-ups with that bunch of players cost us the chance of getting to the top table of world football 15 years earlier.

It's absolutely no wonder Milner couldn't wait to get out of here.

History is less kind to O'Neill over time. Rightly so. He was very lucky that the subsequent appointments were woeful.

[Smithy]

What's incredible is how a multi-million pound organisation can be run in such an amateurish fashion for so long.

If only Randy had appointed someone who knew something about football as a Sporting Director, and they then recruited and appointed an actual coach.

It's amazing what you can get away with when results are going in your favour.  Clearly MON's approach appealed to a certain type of player in that mid-90s to 2010 period, and it got pretty good results from them.  Maybe that same bunch of players would have HATED being in hour-long video meetings on a daily basis, or having their diets micro-managed, or having every metre of their game anaylsed.  Or maybe they would have been elevated to the maximum their natural talent would allow.

I would love to hear Ashley Young doing an interview like this when he retires. Comparing MON's approach to those of Ferguson, Conte at Inter and even Unai last season.  I imagine Ashley loved playing under MON, but I wonder if now, with the benefit of hindsight, he realises how much more he could have achieved if the whole club had been more professional.

[Somniloquism]

I noticed a link from that page to one Gabby has done with Ben Heath in the last 2hours. I don't think I can cope with two hours of him so anyone who wants to, knock themselves out.

[Monty]

God listening to Warnock talk about MON...his strong suit was meant to be the motivation, because Christ knows it wasn't tactical, but Jesus. He just sounds like a bully.

[Somniloquism]

What's incredible is how a multi-million pound organisation can be run in such an amateurish fashion for so long.

If only Randy had appointed someone who knew something about football as a Sporting Director, and they then recruited and appointed an actual coach.

It's amazing what you can get away with when results are going in your favour.  Clearly MON's approach appealed to a certain type of player in that mid-90s to 2010 period, and it got pretty good results from them.  Maybe that same bunch of players would have HATED being in hour-long video meetings on a daily basis, or having their diets micro-managed, or having every metre of their game anaylsed.  Or maybe they would have been elevated to the maximum their natural talent would allow.

I would love to hear Ashley Young doing an interview like this when he retires. Comparing MON's approach to those of Ferguson, Conte at Inter and even Unai last season.  I imagine Ashley loved playing under MON, but I wonder if now, with the benefit of hindsight, he realises how much more he could have achieved if the whole club had been more professional.

Warnock seems to indicate him and Gabby were the ring leaders on getting the time off etc. But then both were only just in their 20's weren't they under MON.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Smithy mentions 'The position we were in. The players we had.' Also the money we spent. As Warnock points out, he was the most expensive left back at the time he signed for us. Gabby gets a lot of stick but he was bang-on about the player appraisals..and he along with Ashley Young were Teachers' Pets.

[rob_bridge]

For all I enjoyed watching the team at that time it did all seem a bit spur of the moment on the pitch.  Something that went unnoticed at the time I suppose.

I don't think it did, not from me anyway. Whenever we came up against real thinkers and proper modern coaches we looked inferior, we relied on magic and set pieces.

And plenty of people were indeed pointing that out at the time.

I wasn't one of them, mind.

Yeah - I remember in a FA Cup game v ManU (who else) and basically they doubled up on Young (Neville and AN Other) and that was it. Lost 2.0

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Warnock seems to indicate him and Gabby were the ring leaders on getting the time off etc. But then both were only just in their 20's weren't they under MON.

In the James Collins interview he talks about the players getting Gabby and Ashley to get them more days off as MON couldn't say no to them.

[London Villan]

As the following three/four/five managers had to deal with the fallout from MON's time in charge - which wasn't sorted until Bruce rocked up - then the damage he did to our club is up there with McNeil, Ellis and First World War!

Then, look at the leaches that hung around, that we paid millions, that just didn't give a flying fcuk. Gabby being the ringleader. He should never be allowed in Villa Park again, the fraud.

[Brend'Watkins]

He's a decent pundit he might be more than decent but his last days with us as a player sully him now particularly for his performance for my first visit to the Etihad. He was atrocious for us that day and very good for Man City.

[Somniloquism]

Warnock seems to indicate him and Gabby were the ring leaders on getting the time off etc. But then both were only just in their 20's weren't they under MON.

In the James Collins interview he talks about the players getting Gabby and Ashley to get them more days off as MON couldn't say no to them.

Similar in the other one linked the other day where it was someone (don't think it was Collins) and Sidwell and they also mentioned this and Gabby going off to Vegas.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Warnock seems to indicate him and Gabby were the ring leaders on getting the time off etc. But then both were only just in their 20's weren't they under MON.

In the James Collins interview he talks about the players getting Gabby and Ashley to get them more days off as MON couldn't say no to them.

Similar in the other one linked the other day where it was someone (don't think it was Collins) and Sidwell and they also mentioned this and Gabby going off to Vegas.

There's a big Gabby interview out today where he talks about his partying etc. After the Warnock interview I don't have the strength to watch it today. Life's too short.

[ChicagoLion]

I like Warnock . Always says good things about Villa and talks well.

With him, I can't think of many players where their form fell off a cliff quite so dramatically. He cost a fair whack for the time, was great for the first half of his first season with us, and was being talked about as an England regular. But then he went completely and utterly shit and was in the Championship a couple of years later.

Now we know why, O'Neill was obviously toxic.