Would you be happy with Ole Gunnar Solskjær? Now with added poll.

[Billy Walker]

Yes, 110% yes.
Why not? Even McLeish couldn't relegate us so we'll be okay whatever happens, and we just might be employing one of the up and coming stars of football management. Okay so when he gets us into the top four he'll be straight off up the M6 but fuck it, it'll be a ride.

Fergie would be a hard act to follow. He might fancy making his own history.

I believe he's on record saying getting the man utd job is his dream.   He'll not be around long either way!

Good luck to him, if he comes here and does well enough to get the man u job we'll have had a few years of being a damn sight better than 16th in thwe league with 37 goals all season.

We should be aiming for better than that Paul, surely?  What a piss poor tinpot club we have become if that's what we are aiming for.  It's the boom and bust Ellisian Aston Villa, all fits and starts and going nowhere in particular.  There's no long term security in this appointment, we'll constantly be looking over our shoulders due to the manager being tipped to go elsewhere.  In the meantime such a situation belittles our club even more in the eyes of the media because, of course, we will now be known as  "Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Aston Villa." 

Why would he be linked with any other job more than any other successful Villa manager would?

It's not so much the constant links as the feeling he would actually go.  I find it very hard to throw any weight and faith behind a guy who dreams of managing another club - especially a club who competes in the same league as us.  I can't imagine such a figure totally buying into Villa and making it the force it should be.  In effect we are grooming this fella for another club and we are beyond that as a club, surely?  This is a Championship level appointment.  I can't stomach the thought that all our young lads at Bodymoor will be given "man utd this, man utd that," too.  Appointing OGS would mean that from the top down this would not be an appointment whose philosophy would be to instill a sense that Villa is the ultimate or could be the ultimate once more.

Yes, it's fair to say other candidates might have dreams to manage elsewhere after Villa too, but I think it would be far more prudent to appoint such a candidate - especially if they don't have such overt links to another club - because it simply brings stability and removes a huge elephant from the room. 

Obviously, all of this doesn't even touch his total lack of top level experience and lack of a record for turning relegation threatened clubs around.  If McLeish was out of his depth what makes anyone think OGS won't be?  If it was a Sunderland, Wolves, Middlesb'ro making this appointment I would be totally nonplussed.  The fact that it could be Villa makes me think Randy Lerner has lost the plot. This is reckless and short sighted in my opinion. 

I'll back OGS, should he be appointed, of course, but as with the Houllier and McLeish appointments this will be an appointment that leaves me feeling my hopes and dreams for Villa will not be be fulfilled.  This is not a long term appointment I fear and we are crying out for just that.  A long term Villa figure head who will lead the club to growth and success is what we are desperate for - really, does anyone seriously think OGS could be that man? I'd love to know why. (Apologies if this is rambling and makes no sense - it's time for bed and serious kippage!)

[Billy Walker]

He's 39 and never had a big job.  Even if he does really well he's got to be at least ten years off getting the Man U job.

Not unless they are after a young manager.  Fergie was, what, mid-forties when he got the job?

[villadelph]

If McLeish can't relegate us, Ole will certainly do better.

[Dave Cooper please]

if we approached somene who just got his team promoted from Div2 would you be happy? Because thats about the standard.

If said manager had taken said club from nowhere to gain promotion whilst playing good football then yes.
Look, call it intuition, madness, 'anyone but McLeish', fuck it, call it what you want, but I reckon we might just have picked up the managerial signing of the decade if he signs.

I don't expect you to agree Greggers, you only ever slag the club off, if we got Guardiola you'd say he had a shit first name.

[Greg N'Ash]

Strikes me that "we'd better not employ such and such a manager in case he gets really good and leaves" is about as small time and short sighted as it gets.

Indeed, cannot believe the number of people that are worried by his association with another club and the possibility that he will leave Villa. It's all part of the game, managers and players no longer spend their entire careers at the same club. If he's appointed and we play Man U I'd expect him to say" had a great time there, the club means a lot to me but I'm Villa manager now and I'm aiming to win ad many games as possible, starting with this one". Let's get behind him and give him some encouragement after all he's not McLeish.

heh. do you remember the fuss on here when Houllier said a  few words before/after Liverpool? I'm like you, and OGS can sleep in a manu duvet off duty for all i care, but there's vocal minority who hate any manager who shows any affection for another club. you can bet with the United loving press something will be printed that will get them spitting bile on here especially if we lose

[Stu]

Look, call it intuition, madness, 'anyone but McLeish', fuck it, call it what you want, but I reckon we might just have picked up the managerial signing of the decade if he signs.

Thems big words, Dave, fair do's for sticking your neck out though.

I really don't know what to think about it. I'll back him if he signs and just take things as they come.

[dave.woodhall]

He's 39 and never had a big job.  Even if he does really well he's got to be at least ten years off getting the Man U job.

Not unless they are after a young manager.  Fergie was, what, mid-forties when he got the job?

And he'd just put together a better and more successful team than any Manchester United manager for the previous 18 years. Still, there must be somebody else.

[Monty]

I understand peoples' reservations about OGS. I just think that, with the evidence about his style of play, his man-management and his will to win, this is a gamble with the air of a potential masterstroke about it.

[Dave Cooper please]

Look, call it intuition, madness, 'anyone but McLeish', fuck it, call it what you want, but I reckon we might just have picked up the managerial signing of the decade if he signs.

Thems big words, Dave, fair do's for sticking your neck out though.

I really don't know what to think about it. I'll back him if he signs and just take things as they come.

Yup, and I'll take all the slagging off that comes with it if he fails. I'm just strangely excited by this...well rumour at the moment! Just got a feeling that this is our way back, dunno why.

[Greg N'Ash]

if we approached somene who just got his team promoted from Div2 would you be happy? Because thats about the standard.

If said manager had taken said club from nowhere to gain promotion whilst playing good football then yes.
Look, call it intuition, madness, 'anyone but McLeish', fuck it, call it what you want, but I reckon we might just have picked up the managerial signing of the decade if he signs.

I don't expect you to agree Greggers, you only ever slag the club off, if we got Guardiola you'd say he had a shit first name.

well you made a fair point until you ruined it with the last paragraph of bobbins

[Holy Trinity]

He's 39 and never had a big job.  Even if he does really well he's got to be at least ten years off getting the Man U job.

Not unless they are after a young manager.  Fergie was, what, mid-forties when he got the job?

And he'd just put together a better and more successful team than any Manchester United manager for the previous 18 years. Still, there must be somebody else.

so dave from the way you have been replying all night you seem to know more than your letting on, how far off an official announcement are we either way

[Dave Cooper please]

Come on Greggers, when was the last time you actually had a good word to say about the club you say you support?

Anyway, who do you want as manager?

[Stu]

Look, call it intuition, madness, 'anyone but McLeish', fuck it, call it what you want, but I reckon we might just have picked up the managerial signing of the decade if he signs.

Thems big words, Dave, fair do's for sticking your neck out though.

I really don't know what to think about it. I'll back him if he signs and just take things as they come.

Yup, and I'll take all the slagging off that comes with it if he fails. I'm just strangely excited by this...well rumour at the moment! Just got a feeling that this is our way back, dunno why.

Did you watch the documentary on youtube that was linked earlier? His team look like they play some lovely stuff. Could be a couple of years before we see that here though.

[Dave Cooper please]

Did you watch the documentary on youtube that was linked earlier? His team look like they play some lovely stuff. Could be a couple of years before we see that here though.

Yes, and it made me want him more (ooerrr missus).
I'll take a couple of years of decent football and mid-table obscurity while he builds a team.

[German James]

  What Ferguson or Manchester United thinks or does is not worth a tupenny-fuck to me! It's incredibly rare for a manager to stay at a club for any great length of time, these days. Even if OGS' ambition meant he saw us as a stepping stone on the way to Old Trafford, he'll be busting a gut while he's in B6.
  This would be a far more exciting appointment than any of the usual has-been, jobbing no-marks who swap jobs every closed season and it occurs to me that Lambert (for example) may still see his job at Norwich as a work in progress, and might simply not be ready to move on.
  His staying put could also be due to the fact he likes boating on the Broads or thinks that Cromer is a nice place for a picnic. Not everyone jumps at the sight of a cheque-book and, as we slag off all-and-sundry for a lack of loyalty, I say, "Good on him" if it's the case... Of course he might still go to Redscouse, in which case he's a mercenary git - but that would just confirm what I think about most top-level football people anyway!