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

[Mazrim]

Our resources are significantly larger ?

Right, so presumably Martinez would use them to perform much better?

[Walmley_Villa]

I don't believe AVB will ever have been on the radar. I don't see what we could offer him and he would be a massive gamble after in my opinion failing at Chelsea. At least Poyet has played in the PL and has managed in England.

[mazrimsbruv]

Our resources are significantly larger ?

Correct.

Wigan Athletic Record transfer Fee Paid: Mauro Boselli - £6.5M

Aston Villa: Darren bent - £18M (Rising to £24M with add-ons)

[nigel]

From Yahoo news. "Wigan boss Martinez's advisers spoke with Villa at the end of last week before the Spaniard held talks with Liverpool. But Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers now appears to be the new favorite to take charge at Anfield.
It is understood Martinez is now willing to push ahead with Villa talks - a post he rejected 12 months ago - but the delay in any possible deal while he spoke to the Reds means Norwich manager Paul Lambert is also now on Villa's radar."
The Mail (I think) mentioned that there was possibly a 3rd possibility. Gus Poyet, I wonder?

I'd be happy with any of those 3.

[Mazrim]

I'm not sure if actually prefer Poyet to Martinez if I'm honest and I can't explain why. The same vibe I had from OGS I suppose.

I hope we are after AVB and wouldnt rule it out. Or Benitez for that matter.

[James]

Well his poorly resourced side finished above Villa last year, so I don't think you can definitely say he's not good enough for Villa.

They went above us with one week to go to the end of the season after being in the bottom three for nearly all of it, and we were shit! I don't think that says too much in his favour tbh!

The previous season, only a fortuitous set of results on the last day kept them up when it was completely out of their hands, hardly a fanfare of managerial genius was it?

I remain unconvinced, but we all have our own opinions!

[charlie]

So we hold our breath now for the official confirmation from Gasbag Whelan?

[PaulTheVillan]

I'm not sure if actually prefer Poyet to Martinez if I'm honest and I can't explain why. The same vibe I had from OGS I suppose.

I hope we are after AVB and wouldnt rule it out. Or Benitez for that matter.

I'm thinking that AVB, Benitez, Poyet, Lambert and Martinez are all a step up from McLeish.

I'd take any of them.

Even Di Matteo.

[James]

Kendrick/any journo will claim there are 'mystery runners' to cover themselves in the event that their guesswork is totally wrong. Don't read too much, if anything at all, into it. The real ITKs aren't talking, so everyone is guessing, nothing more!

[not3bad]

So we hold our breath now for the official confirmation from Gasbag Whelan?

I really hope that whatever happens that guy is the last know.

[nigel]

Not my first choice but a guy I can get behind. And I doubt he'd be coming if there wasn't some financial backing.
Lots of question marks but then I cant imagine there are many likely candidates without them so, bring it on.

It will be interesting at least if he's coming and lets hope the woeful form in the first half of the season is more to do with Wigan's limitations than Martinez's.

I think someone mentioned this earlier in the thread too.
The reply, which seemed a good point, was that although results were poor Wigans form was pretty decent, it's just that they couldn't score. Had they had a goal scorer, such as Darren Bent, however, I'm pretty sure some of those defeats could have been reversed.

[Mazrim]

That's fair enough and was my opinion after watching Wigan several times. Great play with little cutting edge in front of goal. At Villa he could afford that and in Darren Bent, has it.

[DB]

So we hold our breath now for the official confirmation from Gasbag Whelan?

To be fair to Whelan, he knows he is fighting a losing battle to keep his manager - he has a small club and has to do everything he can to keep it together. Small person (club) syndrome I suppose.

[James]

That's fair enough and was my opinion after watching Wigan several times. Great play with little cutting edge in front of goal. At Villa he could afford that and in Darren Bent, has it.

That's a fair comment, to which I have to say, after three years in the job why hadn't he identified and signed someone within his budget to do the business? He hasn't really progressed Wigan at all in that time in any quantifiable way, other than the last nine games of last season. Is that enough evidence?

[PaulWinch again]

To be fair I think with better players a Martinez side wouldn't struggle so much earlier in the season, when you listen to him speak about the game he is very tactically aware. Also people saying that Wigan only overtook us with one week to go, whilst that's true it doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that over 38 games with much poorer players they finished above us.