Who do you want as the next manager? New poll option.

[planet9]

no im not joking
randy lerners joking appointing houlier and then mcliesh
and we all must be joking if we say we are going to watch anymore of the disgusting rubbish thats being churned out   andy gray  could he do worse ?   no  only if he got us relegated ,,,thats if it dont happen in the next three weeks anyway

[Clampy]

I've been having a think about this today.

Martinez seems to be the popular choice at the moment, but i have my doubts. He seems to make hard work of keeping Wigan in the Prem every season which dont get me wrong he's done well at doing. He's not under any pressure there either. If he took them down, he'd most likely be given the chance to bring them back up. Could he hack the pressure here?

Lambert has got Norwich through two straight promotions and kept them up with ease. I can't say i've seen a great deal of them but i'd choose him over Martinez.

I don't know why but i think Rogers (another one who's done a great job) will get found out year and again, he's another one who'd not under a great deal of pressure.

My choice would be Chris Houghton. He's coached and been assistant manager at Spurs. Got Newcastle back up at the first time of asking and really should'nt have lost his job. Small Heath fans would have been happy with mid table considering what's gone on there but he could get them back up and even if he dose'nt, he's done yet another decent job. I think he'd be ideal.

[Toronto Villa]

No idea whether these recent press reports are true about change in the summer, but I woulf love for Randy to recommit as owner by employing Sir Graham as chairman, and having him oversee a complete change in our structure from this point on. If that means a completely different approach with a Director of Football and head coach then so be it. The club needs to take a very deep breath and examine what was meant to be when Randy arrived and why we are a million miles from it. As a fan, I want to be assured that the custodians of the club are looking after my interests as a patron of the club and in doing so addressing both the club's short, medium and long term objectives.

[Dave Cooper please]

no im not joking
randy lerners joking appointing houlier and then mcliesh
and we all must be joking if we say we are going to watch anymore of the disgusting rubbish thats being churned out   andy gray  could he do worse ?   no  only if he got us relegated ,,,thats if it dont happen in the next three weeks anyway

Andy, we're not going to let you be our manager, go and open an Asda or something.

[mrfuse]

Total rubbish if we were playing a great passing game we wouldn't be finishing 15th! Its the only way to go long term if you want to succeed you either throw loads of money at a team or you play proper football and as we haven't got loads of money theirs only one option.

WBA didn't play a great passing game but they attempted too and maybe if they had stuck at it they would have been a better team for it in any case are you still laughing at them now?

Yes it is all about results but long term results not a few wins here and their. Swansea and Norwich may get found out next season who knows but currently who would you want to watch and play for us or them?

I hope they stick to their guns and play the same next year and I hope many more teams adopt the same attitude rather than the anti football we play.

You can pass the ball around brilliantly and no nothing with it.  Wigan have been near bottom all season, despite passing it well, and Swansea play the best football bar Arsenal, yet only sit a little above us in the table.  So it's not total rubbish.

I'm not knocking the possession based game - it's something I'd like to see at Villa - but I dispute the theory that it's the solution to all our problems.  You get a good passing system going, but fail to deliver a good final ball or consistently fuck up at the back or lack a goal scorer and you'll still end up where we are now, more or less. 

I wouldn't say Wigan pass it round brilliantly they attempt too at times which is why they get good results but at other times they revert back and Swansea have only just got into the premiership and haven't had time too establish themselves so have done exceptionally well while still playing the passing game.

Weve never been out of the premiership so with our history and size of Club we should be able to attract decent players and yet we are further away from competing then we have ever been.
A good passing system will always end up creating chances that's the whole point you wear down the opposition as they are chasing after the ball all the time which creates space and openings your strikers don't have to be exceptional to get chances but it helps if you have them obviously

[john e]

I've been having a think about this today.

Martinez seems to be the popular choice at the moment, but i have my doubts. He seems to make hard work of keeping Wigan in the Prem every season which dont get me wrong he's done well at doing. He's not under any pressure there either. If he took them down, he'd most likely be given the chance to bring them back up. Could he hack the pressure here?

Lambert has got Norwich through two straight promotions and kept them up with ease. I can't say i've seen a great deal of them but i'd choose him over Martinez.

I don't know why but i think Rogers (another one who's done a great job) will get found out year and again, he's another one who'd not under a great deal of pressure.

My choice would be Chris Houghton. He's coached and been assistant manager at Spurs. Got Newcastle back up at the first time of asking and really should'nt have lost his job. Small Heath fans would have been happy with mid table considering what's gone on there but he could get them back up and even if he dose'nt, he's done yet another decent job. I think he'd be ideal.

Alex Ferguson, Pep and the special one would make hard work of keeping Wigan in the Prem

[mrfuse]

Still DiMatteo for me.

The only way he will keep the Chelsea job is by winning the European cup and that isn't going to happen.

Yeah agreed I don't think he is high enough profile for Chelsea so he is a great shout. He would be be able to attract some foreign signings and from what I saw of WBA they were playing decent football
As soon as he get's the push we should be straight in there.

[JJ-AV]

Hodgson or Martinez.

[Boz]

Hodgson or Martinez.

Hodgson, please not another dinosaur.

[Concrete John]

Hodgson or Martinez.

Hodgson, please not another dinosaur.

If you look at the job he's done with Fulham and WBA, who both have similar budgets to ours right now, he would be the very definition of 'a safe pair of hands'.

[barrysleftfoot]

  Have to say MF, when you suggested RDM, i laughed at the thought of it, but having watched Chelsk last night, and the way they were set up, and more importantly the way the team knew how to exploit Barcas weakness was very impressive and your suggestion quite logical.

  That assumes of course that Chelsk keep acting in their jumped up way and have to go for "a name", thus allowing RDM to apply for the upcoming vacancy at VP.

 Would'nt be against the idea tbh.

[JJ-AV]

Hodgson or Martinez.

Hodgson, please not another dinosaur.

Excellent manager and a decent bloke.

[Irish villain]

RDM is a good shout. But, we need a long-term manager. If RDM was a success with Villa, how long before Chelsea come calling?

[Holy Trinity]

i want a bloke in his late 30's early 40's who we will all stick by through the years where he starts building his dynasty. thats why im so adamant that it has to be a villa man through and through so we ALL back him, sir alex tosspot did bugger all from 86-91 really. but he was given time by the majority of the fans.
we need to be realistic i dont think we will compete for the premier league title as it stands now ever again. i think there will be so kind of over haul of the league within the next few years which will include some kind of break away or split and once this happens teams like Villa, Everton, Newcastle etc etc will have to start scrapping it out for the new for of league what ever it may be.
in all honesty i am happy to be competitive in a cup and would like to see more of Europe with avfc and if that ment building slowly with say laursen, petrov, mellberg or southgate coming in under a director of football or as a number 2 for a few years and building up a legacy that our fantastic academy can work with and drill into the gary gardners, barry bannans, marc albrightons, and clarke's of the future that this is aston villa this is where you want to be and this is where you will win things if you stick around and work with us, i would prefer to finish 9th with 10 academy than 6th with 10 players on 60-80k a week im sure the vast majority would and i'd wager that most long term villa fans share this feeling.
we also have to remember we picked up a few "glory hunters" during the mon era as it looked like we were going places and we have lost most of them over the last 2 seasons but you will still find the odd one here or there spreading discontent weather its in the pub or in the stands who think its our god given right to be top 6 and competing for silver wear year on year, for these people i'll say this i started watching villa in 89, i was 5 none of my family were villa and only my cousin was even into footy and he was tescos bags my first 3 live games were baggies ipswitch 0-0 1994 at hawthornes, next was chelsea baggies 1994 at hawthornes 6-0 and then villa baggies at villa park in 1999 or 2000 fa cup 4th round by this time my cusian had failed to convert me and my mom had re married and my new man u supporting step dad had given up trying to convert me to the dark side of football and at 15 took me to see the 4th round tie. since 2000 i have held season tickets on and off have been to most cup games, virtually every european game moved abroad and started going to benfica games week in week out and came home. in the last 12 years of going to live games i have only once ever felt we were going to win a cup and it wasn't during the mon era, it was gregorys villa in the quarter or semi of the fa cup vs leeds at villa park. merson was a god on the pitch that day until he split his head open and carbone scored the best goal i have seen live 3-2 to us it finished.
we need to take a step back and start to think of ourselves as also rans and hope of a good cup run in the same way everton, wigan and sunderland do and i genually think if we drop our expectations whoever takes over will have the room needed to make us great again but it wont happen over night. look at man city 600 million quid on transfers i'd bet almost the same in wages to, 1.2 billion pounds for an fa cup and 6 games in the champions league but there arnt forming lynch mobs in the streets for bobby manc are they.

sorry for rattling on but i do feel we the fans are a massive problem down the villa and the 4th best team in the history of english league football is thrown around a little to often as 6 of our 7 first division titles were pre 1911, 6 of our 7 fa cups were pre 1921,  and whilst they should never be discounted for bragging right vs other teams supporters and such, but they should never be used as a measuring stick of what we should expect now.

[Dante Lavelli]

If you look at the job he's done with Fulham and WBA, who both have similar budgets to ours right now, he would be the very definition of 'a safe pair of hands'.

You’re probably right about Hodgson being a ‘safe pair of hands’ but that in many ways is the problem.  He’ll take us so far but I cannot see him pushing us to the next level (i.e. reguarly qualifying for europe).  I’d prefer us to take a risk on a younger manager (the guy at MK Dons for example?).

As I have said before (I apologies), I’d like to see us have a DoF as then this guy can be the continuity and the ‘safe pair of hands’ allowing us to be more adventurous with with the selection of head coach/manager.