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

[James]

Fair enough, I take your point, but I can't really chew the board out for what they've done, other than perhaps to not follow up the meeting more quickly, but maybe they had their doubts after that meeting etc etc. It's finished now anyway isn't it? Onwards and upwards!

[James]

Just noticed the number of people who voted on this, no wonder it went tits up! Lol. 666.

[Greg N'Ash]

well if we're searching in the free transfers bargain bucket we better get a move on choosing the manager because unlike contracted players the good ones tend to get signed up fast and they'll all be gone. Not much cop if you can't even tell them who the manager is or if he even wants you. See the last poor sod we signed.

[Dave Clark Five]

In the meantime, who is advising on players being released?
Much of the bitterness is because people have believed all the bullshit and plunged money on it. I have £10 on OGS and have about £40 on Lambert. Once the real target is made clear, we will swoop with another wedge; probably a fiver.

[eamonn]

I'm pretty sure in that docu on OGS at Molde he mentioned how his kids miss Manchester even more than he does  and gave the impression of being keen to return.

[Toronto Villa]

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'.

We did. We didn't leak the news of Randy's plane landing in Norway. It was a Villa fan that leaked that story so you could argue all of the attention that followed it could very well had screwed the deal. Had this all been done behind the scenes because nobody knew about it, then he might not have felt the immense pressure of it becoming very public. We also had no role in the way Molde acted or indeed their investors. We identified a target and wanted to get to know if he was interested in the job. We never offered him the job and he backed out so he wouldn't have to officially turn us down.

How else should the club go about identifying targets and talking to them? What they cannot control is people doing all they can to find out about the whereabouts of Faulkner or the Chairman in his process, and in doing so quite possibly having an adverse affect on us getting our desired target.

[Percy McCarthy]

As we found out at the time of the takeover, Randy knew all about The Trees' plane-spotting exploits.

We could have done all the sounding out by phone, the face-to-face stuff that happened on Friday should have only taken place when we knew we were to offer him the job.


As it was, he was left to face the wrath of his club without even a concrete offer to steel him against it.

So due to this 'process' of interviewing multiple candidates, we have missed out on one of our leading picks, and quite possibly put off others who have watched the whole sorry saga unfold.

In terms of public perception (and let's not forget, the public includes other candidates), we now look amateurish, embarrassed and maybe slightly desperate. All because we put ourselves in the position of being snubbed by someone who wasn't even offered the job.

Anyone who thinks we 'played it brilliantly' no doubt thinks that we should now have 'informal chats' with Lambert, Rodgers and Martinez, who will all care not a jot about spoiling their relationships with their present chairmen, players and fans - well worth risking for a one-in-three/four chance at managing the Villa, but not worth risking for the Liverpool job in the case of Rodgers.

[Trinitymiddle]

As we found out at the time of the takeover, Randy knew all about The Trees' plane-spotting exploits.

We could have done all the sounding out by phone, the face-to-face stuff that happened on Friday should have only taken place when we knew we were to offer him the job.


As it was, he was left to face the wrath of his club without even a concrete offer to steel him against it.

So due to this 'process' of interviewing multiple candidates, we have missed out on one of our leading picks, and quite possibly put off others who have watched the whole sorry saga unfold.

In terms of public perception (and let's not forget, the public includes other candidates), we now look amateurish, embarrassed and maybe slightly desperate. All because we put ourselves in the position of being snubbed by someone who wasn't even offered the job.

Anyone who thinks we 'played it brilliantly' no doubt thinks that we should now have 'informal chats' with Lambert, Rodgers and Martinez, who will all care not a jot about spoiling their relationships with their present chairmen, players and fans - well worth risking for a one-in-three/four chance at managing the Villa, but not worth risking for the Liverpool job in the case of Rodgers.

How do you know we weren't already talking to anyone else?

Didn't we release a statement at the time all the OGS news broke that he was one of a number of candidates. Surely for any job you HAVE to interview as many people as you see fit, to make an informed decision. No-one knows everything that is going on, or everyone who is being interviewed.

[pelty]

As we found out at the time of the takeover, Randy knew all about The Trees' plane-spotting exploits.

We could have done all the sounding out by phone, the face-to-face stuff that happened on Friday should have only taken place when we knew we were to offer him the job.


As it was, he was left to face the wrath of his club without even a concrete offer to steel him against it.

So due to this 'process' of interviewing multiple candidates, we have missed out on one of our leading picks, and quite possibly put off others who have watched the whole sorry saga unfold.

In terms of public perception (and let's not forget, the public includes other candidates), we now look amateurish, embarrassed and maybe slightly desperate. All because we put ourselves in the position of being snubbed by someone who wasn't even offered the job.

Anyone who thinks we 'played it brilliantly' no doubt thinks that we should now have 'informal chats' with Lambert, Rodgers and Martinez, who will all care not a jot about spoiling their relationships with their present chairmen, players and fans - well worth risking for a one-in-three/four chance at managing the Villa, but not worth risking for the Liverpool job in the case of Rodgers.

Who can argue with such ironclad logic?

[nick harper]

I don't think this democratic interviewing of candidates works very well in the world of football. There's too much at stake and as others have said, the impact on other clubs and fans is significant. It makes us look daft when targets don't come off. Liverpool are doing the same in their own American way.

One thing Ellis was good at was identifying his targets and getting them with the minimum of fuss, albeit that the desperation for news and the internet makes that much harder these days.

[brian green]

The ones who are coming out of this worst of all are the inveterate moaners who get a perverse delight in slagging off everything the club does.

[ozzjim]

But we don't have a clue what else has been done behind the season, and are judging the whole process on 1 interview/ chat. We sent the plane to try and do the right thing by Molde FFS, so that OGS was here and back quickly. It went a bit tits up due to the plane being parked over night and not just dropping in and coming back, and that in this day and age flight tails are easily tracked.

For all we know, OGS may not even have been first choice. If we appoint someone truly shit, then throw some mud, but until then I just think we are being critical of something that we don't know enough about. I am taking heart that OGS was the type of manager they want to talk to and hopefully someone good is on the way.

Prays.

[mr underhill]

But realistically, after making an absolute mess of it twice the last thing the twins were going to do was to appoint the first person they approached. They owe it to the club to interview several candidates that they identified fitted the current criteria. Even if they had offered OGS the post on Friday and broadly agreed the package with his agent and wife present they could never legislate for the furore that developed once he returned home. How many times have we been caught up in the euphoria of the moment and built castles in the air only to return to a more objective, measured assessment of a situation a day or two later. OGS might well havew taken the job if offered on Friday last, gone home, and then met with the wrath of the Molde board and investors and changed his mind,. A struggling premiership giant with a demanding and at times hostile fan base and little money to invest v the idylic Norewegian fjords, further investment and the Champions League?. As it was, he made that sort of decision  witjhout actually being offered the job. Sometimes shit happens that is always beyond your control. I think if he had impetuously taken the job in the heat of the moment last week he would have been talked back out of it and we would have looked really silly

[tarzansbrother]

The ones who are coming out of this worst of all are the inveterate moaners who get a perverse delight in slagging off everything the club does.

I hold my hands up as being a miserable moaner but don't take delight in slagging the club off. As Ozz has just pointed out I also take heart that OGS is the type of manager we are after. But after the way the club rubbed shit in my eyes by appointing Mcliesh then proclaimed he met all their criteria I really do worry.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't think this democratic interviewing of candidates works very well in the world of football. There's too much at stake and as others have said, the impact on other clubs and fans is significant. It makes us look daft when targets don't come off. Liverpool are doing the same in their own American way.

One thing Ellis was good at was identifying his targets and getting them with the minimum of fuss, albeit that the desperation for news and the internet makes that much harder these days.

You call Brian Little being injuncted by his old club, BFR's double change of mind and "Does anyone know who this is?" after being turned down by the manager of Bristol Rovers the minimum of fuss?