AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[charlie]

At  the end of this dismal season lets look at those who have done well and may step up and see the idea of Villa as a real challenge. Lambert, guy at Reading, fellow at Swansea, all would see Villa as a better bet long term and a challenge, as indeed may Hughton now the path has been trod.

[DrGonzo]

So who do you suggest Charlie, and I happen to agree I dont think Eck is the future, but what good manager is going to come to us at the moment?

Absolutely.  We are deep in the mire. And the suggestion that our transfers are going to be mainly Bosmans raises the same question.  Who is going to walk out of their club to join us??  Do you think a player such as Hoilett is not going to get an offer from a more stable club than we are?

[Holtemeister]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcelo_Bielsa

That's who I would like Randy to bring in ......

[paul_e]

The thing is what point is there asking fans who want eck out who they'd get in his place.  We don't know the finances involved on either side so it's impossible to answer with any accuracy.  Flores would be a good shout and should be gettable, ditto with Bielsa but I can see the 'why would they come' argument already which i can argue with.  So on that basis we'll never come up with a decent option.

The reality is we'd have to see at the time but, in my opinion, we're unlikely to get someone worse.  Given that I'd dump him asap and get someone in before the end of the season, let them have a few games to see the players (and the associated time in training) and put plans in place of who needs to go who can stay for the time being and who to keep.  As a new manager they'll have some players they want to bring in regardless and hopefully the review would allow them to identify a few weak links and start looking at replacements.  Given there's 2 big tournaments this summer picking easy options from there should help, with the olympics being all in the age range where it's not a massive gamble as well.

[Jimmy Smash]

The problems at VP lie deeper than McL. Sure he needs to go, but can we trust the board to effectively replace him? He'll have to stay until the end of the season. Randy really needs to undertake a complete clear out starting with Faulkner. Only then can we start to rebuild. Of course both would need paying off, but in the current climate it's debatable whether this is even a viable option

[Greg N'Ash]

At  the end of this dismal season lets look at those who have done well and may step up and see the idea of Villa as a real challenge. Lambert, guy at Reading, fellow at Swansea, all would see Villa as a better bet long term and a challenge, as indeed may Hughton now the path has been trod.

I think you're kidding yourself. Lambert for example - why would he go from a club on a shoestring budget where he's probably safe even if he takes them down, to Villa where he's on a  shoestring budget but has to finish 6th to 8th to even be considered doing ok by the fans? Mebbe the aura of villa will override logic but as one of the best young managers around i'd probably wait for a better gig where i'd have some money to match the club's ambitions. We have the big club mentality but not the spending power and its probably why we couldn't attract anyone last summer so i wouldn't get your hopes up for this summer if Mcleish gets the tin-tack

[pauliewalnuts]

At  the end of this dismal season lets look at those who have done well and may step up and see the idea of Villa as a real challenge. Lambert, guy at Reading, fellow at Swansea, all would see Villa as a better bet long term and a challenge, as indeed may Hughton now the path has been trod.

I think you're kidding yourself. Lambert for example - why would he go from a club on a shoestring budget where he's probably safe even if he takes them down, to Villa where he's on a  shoestring budget but has to finish 6th to 8th to even be considered doing ok by the fans? Mebbe the aura of villa will override logic but as one of the best young managers around i'd probably wait for a better gig where i'd have some money to match the club's ambitions. We have the big club mentality but not the spending power and its probably why we couldn't attract anyone last summer so i wouldn't get your hopes up for this summer if Mcleish gets the tin-tack

Between where he is now, and where he would like to go, where is a more obvious next step than a club like us?

[silhillvilla]

Driving to the game yesterday, the first glimpse of the ground bathed in sunlight from the M6, i sat back and thought wow, we are a BIG club, in the UK's second City with a very generous owner.
I think there would be plenty of top managers interested tbh

[Greg N'Ash]

You go somewhere where you have a chance to suceed and the time to do it. If Lambert took over he'd probably have about a 5m budget to replace about 5 or 6 players likely to leave this summer and with that he has to get us up the table and keep the fans onside if we're not playing like Barcelona in November. Thats not a challenge, more career suicide

[pauliewalnuts]

You go somewhere where you have a chance to suceed and the time to do it. If Lambert took over he'd probably have about a 5m budget to replace about 5 or 6 players likely to leave this summer and with that he has to get us up the table and keep the fans onside if we're not playing like Barcelona in November. Thats not a challenge, more career suicide

How difficult is it going to be to improve a club which is floundering around 15th or so in the league, despite having a squad which suggests it should be way, way better than that?

Where else would he go - which clubs would he be likely to get a chance at?

[DB]

You go somewhere where you have a chance to suceed and the time to do it. If Lambert took over he'd probably have about a 5m budget to replace about 5 or 6 players likely to leave this summer and with that he has to get us up the table and keep the fans onside if we're not playing like Barcelona in November. Thats not a challenge, more career suicide

How difficult is it going to be to improve a club which is floundering around 15th or so in the league, despite having a squad which suggests it should be way, way better than that?

Where else would he go - which clubs would he be likely to get a chance at?

Spot on. someone who can get that squad playing, as you say it is better than AM has it performing.

[Greg N'Ash]

You go somewhere where you have a chance to suceed and the time to do it. If Lambert took over he'd probably have about a 5m budget to replace about 5 or 6 players likely to leave this summer and with that he has to get us up the table and keep the fans onside if we're not playing like Barcelona in November. Thats not a challenge, more career suicide

How difficult is it going to be to improve a club which is floundering around 15th or so in the league, despite having a squad which suggests it should be way, way better than that?

Where else would he go - which clubs would he be likely to get a chance at?

Your reply just shows what i mean really. we're 3 points off mid-table, 6 points off Liverpool. Houllier was hammered for finishing 9th, Mcleish could finish 8th and he'd still be the wrong man. Does lambert need that and with no money to spend to solve it immediately? Personally i think he'll end up at celtic but even if he doesn't i think he'll bide his time before jumping in the deep end with us.

[Steve67]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

[PeterWithesShin]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

Why can't he a win cup there? Or are their resources lower than the rabble across the city?

[pauliewalnuts]

You go somewhere where you have a chance to suceed and the time to do it. If Lambert took over he'd probably have about a 5m budget to replace about 5 or 6 players likely to leave this summer and with that he has to get us up the table and keep the fans onside if we're not playing like Barcelona in November. Thats not a challenge, more career suicide

How difficult is it going to be to improve a club which is floundering around 15th or so in the league, despite having a squad which suggests it should be way, way better than that?

Where else would he go - which clubs would he be likely to get a chance at?

Your reply just shows what i mean really. we're 3 points off mid-table, 6 points off Liverpool. Houllier was hammered for finishing 9th, Mcleish could finish 8th and he'd still be the wrong man. Does lambert need that and with no money to spend to solve it immediately? Personally i think he'll end up at celtic but even if he doesn't i think he'll bide his time before jumping in the deep end with us.

Eh?

What has our proximity to Liverpool got to do with it?

And Houllier was far from hammered for finishing ninth. He was hammered for having us so poor during the season. If anything, opinion on here was that ninth flattered us a bit.

Nobody on here would give McLeish a hard time for finishing eighth, either. They'll give him a hard time for playing terrible football and going 4.5 months without a home win, but I can't think of a club whose fans wouldn't get pissed off about that.