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

[Duncan Shaw]

He's been more or less blackmailed by the two investors to stay IMO.  Leave now like this and we'll kill the club, do you want that as your legacy?

[john e]

Why, oh why, oh fucking why, do we have pages and pages of posts about what Ferguson may or may not have said? Even if it WASN'T just made up crap, why should anyone care?

3 posts ?

I wasn't just referring to to you.

i know, i only posted 1, but i can only see 3 in total, unless its from earlier on

[James]

He's been more or less blackmailed by the two investors to stay IMO.  Leave now like this and we'll kill the club, do you want that as your legacy?

Yep, and having got away with it, they'll do it to him again whoever comes calling next too!

[brian green]

Being a good father is more than fetching and taking your kids to and from school.   Being a good parent is a two way street.   You want the best for your children and in return they want the best for you.   W H Auden wrote about it perfectly in his piece The Pram In The Hall which examines one's duty to your talent balanced against your domestic duties.

I had an absolutely magnificent father.   When he was told that he would not be getting a retirement pension from his factory because the company secretary had embezzled the contributions, he took off his overalls, put on his coat, drew all his savings from the post office, went to Navigation Street, got on a Midland Red bus, went to deepest Shropshire, got off the bus and bought the first cottage he came to in Bent Lawnt which was for sale.   The first time my mother saw it was from the cab of the removal van.   There was a man.

[KevinGage]

The 'family wishes' thing might very well be true, but I have my doubts. 

People comparing Birmingham to his current abode are missing the point somewhat.  He wouldn't have been  relocating to Bromford. The mega rich move in different circles, he could have had the family residence closer to Millionaires Row (or Alderley Edge, as it's otherwise known)  in Cheshire if the wife and kids felt more comfortable up there. His kids grew up there afterall. 

The likes of Friedel, Alan Wright and McGrath regularly made the commute in from that neck of the woods, and it didn't seem to affect their performance or commitment. Alternatively, he could have rented a place in Brum or Sutton, as many have done.  He is wealthy enough that the wife and kids could go back to Norway as often as they liked, if the scenery and the fjords were such a big pull for them.

No, I think it's a football decision, which may or may not have been influenced by some kindly words from Uncle Awex, but -as another poster mentioned- the way he's been left with his dick in the wind since the news broke last week is just as likely a factor.  All that aggro and press intrusion -and for a club who didn't even offer him a position at the end of it.  He -like us-  was told he was just one of a number of candidates.

[Ad@m]

He's been more or less blackmailed by the two investors to stay IMO.  Leave now like this and we'll kill the club, do you want that as your legacy?

Or maybe they've just given him a massive payrise?

[Percy McCarthy]

No, I think it's a football decision, which may or may not have been influenced by some kindly words from Uncle Awex, but -as another poster mentioned- the way he's been left with his dick in the wind since the news broke last week is just as likely a factor.  All that aggro and press intrusion -and for a club who didn't even offer him a position at the end of it.  He -like us-  was told he was just one of a number of candidates.

Spot on.

And yet we've had posters saying 'we've played it brilliantly'.

[Somniloquism]

I never bought into this going into football management after a successful and lucrative playing career just to pass the time and a reason to get out of the house.   Any man or woman worth a light does what they do to the best of their ability.   If they decide to run a whelk stall they want the best whelk stall in the civilized world if they go into football management they want to be the very best they can and pit themselves against the best.   The children's education and the view from the bedroom windows has to be subservient to that ambition there is no compromise.

Redknapp has money coming out of every orifice of his and his dog's body but you can be sure he wanted that England job.

Brian, Redknapp is in his mid 60's so he probably won't get another shot at the England job. OGS is only 39 so he can decide to get a bit more experience in management before he takes a bigger job. Next season he will have European experience (even if they don't get past the knock outs) and will have to deal with building upon a successful team. Yes, he would have had a more prestigious job with us but it could quite easily blow up in his face (and ours as well). AVB's stock has fallen considerably after he took on the Chelsea job when he was ready for it.

[Hopadop]

Being a good father is more than fetching and taking your kids to and from school.   Being a good parent is a two way street.   You want the best for your children and in return they want the best for you.   W H Auden wrote about it perfectly in his piece The Pram In The Hall which examines one's duty to your talent balanced against your domestic duties.

I had an absolutely magnificent father.   When he was told that he would not be getting a retirement pension from his factory because the company secretary had embezzled the contributions, he took off his overalls, put on his coat, drew all his savings from the post office, went to Navigation Street, got on a Midland Red bus, went to deepest Shropshire, got off the bus and bought the first cottage he came to in Bent Lawnt which was for sale.   The first time my mother saw it was from the cab of the removal van.   There was a man.

I understand, though I'd not look to Auden for advice on fatherhood.

He's got what sounds like an idyllic life with his young family, and time is probably on his side. I just wouldn't be as quick as some to condemn him for a lack of ambition.

[Percy McCarthy]

So he either stays in beautiful scenic Molde with its good schools and clean streets until he becomes a failure or becomes bored with shooting fish in a barrel, then what? 

"You know darling, I really should have tried to make the grade in England"  "Okay Ole, let's see if we can find somewhere with nice landscape, good schools, no crime, easy access to good shopping, close to a major airport so we can pop home to see the grandparents"  "Here's a vacancy darling 'Manager wanted Wycombe Wanderers'    Perfect.   I will e mail them right away."

What it has boiled down to is that we were prepared to take a chance on him but he was not prepared to take a chance on us.   To have made the grade in the Prem would have required a level of single minded commitment from him he is clearly unable or unwilling to deliver.

Spot on there for me Brian

Has anybody had it confirmed we were willing to take a chance on him? Surely, us considering other candidates after we had spoken to him shows we're not really up for taking chances?

Don't blame him at all for ruling himself out. We met, chatted each other up, then we left him hanging while his soon-to-be ex-club gave him hell.

Fuck that shit would be my response too.

[Percy McCarthy]

I never bought into this going into football management after a successful and lucrative playing career just to pass the time and a reason to get out of the house.   Any man or woman worth a light does what they do to the best of their ability.   If they decide to run a whelk stall they want the best whelk stall in the civilized world if they go into football management they want to be the very best they can and pit themselves against the best.   The children's education and the view from the bedroom windows has to be subservient to that ambition there is no compromise.

Redknapp has money coming out of every orifice of his and his dog's body but you can be sure he wanted that England job.

Brian, Redknapp is in his mid 60's so he probably won't get another shot at the England job. OGS is only 39 so he can decide to get a bit more experience in management before he takes a bigger job. Next season he will have European experience (even if they don't get past the knock outs) and will have to deal with building upon a successful team. Yes, he would have had a more prestigious job with us but it could quite easily blow up in his face (and ours as well). AVB's stock has fallen considerably after he took on the Chelsea job when he was ready for it.

Am I missing something here? Has it been discovered that we offered him the job? Or are we slagging him for not accepting a job that wasn't offered.

[Somniloquism]

I never bought into this going into football management after a successful and lucrative playing career just to pass the time and a reason to get out of the house.   Any man or woman worth a light does what they do to the best of their ability.   If they decide to run a whelk stall they want the best whelk stall in the civilized world if they go into football management they want to be the very best they can and pit themselves against the best.   The children's education and the view from the bedroom windows has to be subservient to that ambition there is no compromise.

Redknapp has money coming out of every orifice of his and his dog's body but you can be sure he wanted that England job.

Brian, Redknapp is in his mid 60's so he probably won't get another shot at the England job. OGS is only 39 so he can decide to get a bit more experience in management before he takes a bigger job. Next season he will have European experience (even if they don't get past the knock outs) and will have to deal with building upon a successful team. Yes, he would have had a more prestigious job with us but it could quite easily blow up in his face (and ours as well). AVB's stock has fallen considerably after he took on the Chelsea job when he was ready for it.

Am I missing something here? Has it been discovered that we offered him the job? Or are we slagging him for not accepting a job that wasn't offered.

I'm just replying on the hypothetical why someone of his age might have ruled themselves out of the possible job which is not about lack of ambition.

[KevinGage]

You can see the blind panic on here and other Villa related messageboards.

TSM has only been gone just over a week, and - much as it might have had some of our lot foaming at the mouth- they could have said that there is no rush, they will take their time and have someone in place for the start of pre season training.

I accept a fair chunk of this is hindsight = 20/20 vision but: 
If OGS was near or top of the list, the preliminaries could have been taken care of via phonecalls and actual meetings conducted after the break in their season on the 28th.  It seems the biggest part of Molde's grievance in this matter is the timing- that he was flying off to Brum when he should have been preparing for their game last weekend.

That timing - and their mention of other candidates- looks like it's lost them their no.1 pick.

[James]

The trouble with that Kevin is that there is some rush. There is far too much to do to wait for the start of pre-season to appoint a manager. It needs sorting. We were a light squad last season, as of now we're already three down. I really don't see 'taking their time' and 'no rush' as an option, the Euros will slow things down enough as well as far as the transfer market is concerned, and also, any decent further Bosman's need to be snapped up now if they're going to be.

Ultimately OGS bailed before knowing if he was going to get an offer, on that basis was he ever the right man for us? Yes, I really wanted him to get the job, but clearly he didn't want it enough! Not criticising him or the board really, it's just how it panned out!

[KevinGage]

Having someone on place by the start of pre season training doesn't necessarily mean he'd arrive in the day before.  It would have just meant that -although there might be a desire to get someone in ASAP-  it didn't need to be the 2nd/3rd week in May.  Setting expectations, and all that.