We're not fickle..

[dave.woodhall]

Please, please, please can the 'MacLaren didn't get the job because of the fans' reaction' theory be filed in the Myths Cabinet, between the Five Year Plan and Mcleish getting it because Randy wanted a manager we could hate instead of him.

No because they're all true.

Has dan hacked into your account?

[paul_e]

Please, please, please can the 'MacLaren didn't get the job because of the fans' reaction' theory be filed in the Myths Cabinet, between the Five Year Plan and Mcleish getting it because Randy wanted a manager we could hate instead of him.

No because they're all true.

Has dan hacked into your account?

I think it was the illuminati, slowly hacking accounts on here to bring about the NWO.

[supertom]

Honestly, you lot will be telling me next that N'Zogbia is genuinely injured.

[Ads]

Please, please, please can the 'MacLaren didn't get the job because of the fans' reaction' theory be filed in the Myths Cabinet, between the Five Year Plan and Mcleish getting it because Randy wanted a manager we could hate instead of him.

No because they're all true.

Has dan hacked into your account?

You've got Pat Murphy to blame for that myth.

[Damo70]

I've just been reading the new manager thread from that period.

Here onwards

http://www.heroesandvillains.info/forumv3/index.php?topic=43650.5445

people saying no way will it be McLeish etc, then someone reports he's resigned, and it all snowballs.

Quote from Mazrim on that first page probably a good example of how unbelievable we all found it.

Its not bad news, its just a bookie's odds.
McLeish isnt going to be Villa manager any more than Barbara Streissand.

Barbra Streisand would have been more entertaining. But the ticket prices would have been a bit steep.

[gnrpoison]

Seemed appropriate to post here, a link from the bbc on one of our ex managers with a bit discussing us, as he was before my time (born june 87) what were fans general opinion of him? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24945469

[eastie]

Seemed appropriate to post here, a link from the bbc on one of our ex managers with a bit discussing us, as he was before my time (born june 87) what were fans general opinion of him? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24945469

Nice enough bloke by put well out of his depth at villa - tried to change far too much too soon and the 6-0 defeat at forest was quite atrocious - should never have been given the villa job - huge clanger by Douglas!

[Damo70]

Seemed appropriate to post here, a link from the bbc on one of our ex managers with a bit discussing us, as he was before my time (born june 87) what were fans general opinion of him? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24945469

Nice enough bloke by put well out of his depth at villa - tried to change far too much too soon and the 6-0 defeat at forest was quite atrocious - should never have been given the villa job - huge clanger by Douglas!

I didn't like Turner from day one, but I'm not sure the changing so much so soon was totally his idea.

[Meanwood Villa]

I've just been reading the new manager thread from that period.

Here onwards

http://www.heroesandvillains.info/forumv3/index.php?topic=43650.5445

people saying no way will it be McLeish etc, then someone reports he's resigned, and it all snowballs.

Quote from Mazrim on that first page probably a good example of how unbelievable we all found it.

Its not bad news, its just a bookie's odds.
McLeish isnt going to be Villa manager any more than Barbara Streissand.

Barbra Streisand would have been more entertaining. But the ticket prices would have been a bit steep.

Nice one!

The dawning realisation it was going to be McLeish was awful. I went into work on Monday and told everyone not a hope in hell, by Thursday it was inevitable. What on earth was Randy thinking? We'll be talking about the insanity of that decision 50 years from now. Bizarre.

[dave.woodhall]

Seemed appropriate to post here, a link from the bbc on one of our ex managers with a bit discussing us, as he was before my time (born june 87) what were fans general opinion of him? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24945469

Nice enough bloke by put well out of his depth at villa - tried to change far too much too soon and the 6-0 defeat at forest was quite atrocious - should never have been given the villa job - huge clanger by Douglas!

Agreed. As was said in a certain book about managers, "How can you go from Shrewsbury into a dressing room of internationals and European champions and tell them they're not good enough?" If he'd gone to Wolves first then us it might have been completely different.

[saunders_heroes]

I was at that Forest game where we lost 6-0. Villa fans chanted to Clough all match "we'll take more care of you, Brian Clough,  Brian Clough" and you could see his ego growing by the second. He loved it. At the end he came over to applaud us at the end.

[SoccerHQ]

Had Houllier had a less abrasive number than McCallister things may have been easier with the squad. I think Gary Mac also had his fair share of problems during his stint here. The fact that neither the number 1 and 2 were very popular with the squad didn't help.
If you have a stand off-ish manager who doesn't take much shit, then I'd have thought the rule of thumb would be to have a right hand man who can play the good guy.

I thought Houllier had good ideas though. In retrospect, the injuries he suffered (possibly in part down to his new training regime) did not help him. The teams we had to put out in the middle third of the season were very thin on experience and quality. The fact too that we "lost" John Carew the second O Neill left, didn't help either. As inconsistent as he was, he was mercurial and a match winner. But with his fitness and attitude to grafting, he was never going to get on with Houllier (as had been proven at Lyon). We were just too predictable early on in the season. Carew could often, when he wanted to, do something from nothing. With AY struggling somewhat that year, playing as the second striker, we were quite easy to defend against. Heskey actually played quite well for a time under Houllier but obviously because he doesn't score many (despite him going on a little purple patch of 5 goals in 9 at one point) you need goals from midfield. So in that regard, we missed Jimmy M in CM.

When we had Bent come in, we seemed to have that missing link to turn our decent play in the first 2/3 of the pitch into goals. We were starting to take a step forward, before the McLeish appointment ended up being an almighty leap back.

My abiding memory of the GMAC caretaker spell was us drawing 1-1 against WBA, Paul Scharner gets sent off so we have extra space to counter attack and he brings on flipping Pires who singlehandly slowed down all our attacks. We lost 2-1. I do chuckle when some say why didn't we just give him the job, he would've been as bad as TSM. We did beat Arsenal and Liverpool but they were both on the beach at that stage and it's completely out of context with the results we had for pretty much all the season.

I believe in the confusion of MON's walkout the intial plan was to give the job to McDonald for the season seeing as there was a big emphasis on the youth at the time. But losing 6-0 to Newcastle and losing the 2nd leg to Vienna comically changed all that and we couldn't seriously make him head coach after that.

IMO then we handicapped ourselves by saying we wouldn't approach a premier league manager under contract. I doubt we would've got Moyes but in hindsight Martinez could've been pursued at this stage seeing as we went after him the next summer. Instead we got a half-baked up appointment of Houllier. Well remembered also we appointed him in early September 2010 and yet he couldn't even take up the job until Wolves on 25th September due to making tea at the French FA.

The next summer the club again made the error of stating they wanted a manager with premier league experience (rather than casting our net into Europe which seemed logical due to the steps Houllier had started). So we got TSM. No idea what the thought process was, all I can think is they looked at the period of 09- feb 11 (ignoring the relegations) and thought he could emulate that here....e.g finish top 10 and win a cup with a tough defence and good spirit. All we predictably got was dire football and a relegation battle we were lucky to survive after losing to Bolton.

Again that's why I'm happy to stick with Lambert and give him time. Who knows what the board will come up with next?!

[oldham_villa]

We seemed to be such an un-motivated disorganised bunch under Turner's reign.

When I look back at this period or before, I see certain things we failed to resolve:
Getting a decent replacement for Peter Withe (Rideout was poor)
Steve MacMahon was not yet ready to replace Dennis Mortimer (but he turned into a great player)
A solid replacement for Ken McNaught (instead of persevering with Brendan Ormsby).

Terrible injuries to Gary Shaw and Gordon Cowans.

We should have been in for players like John Wark, Alan Smith, john Metgod. I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing

[dave.woodhall]

We seemed to be such an un-motivated bunch under Turner's reign.

When I look back at this period I see certain things we never sorted:
Decent replacement for Peter Withe (Rideout was poor)
Steve MacMahon was not yet ready to replace Dennis Mortimer (but he turned into a great player)
A solid replacement for Ken McNaught instead of persevering with Brendan Ormsby.

Terrible injuries to Gary Shaw and Gordon Cowans.

We should have been in for players like John Wark, Alan Smith, john Metgod. I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing

"We should have been signing players like Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins. Alan Curbishley suited the chairman's wallet better." - Tony Morley.

[Damo70]

Doug's finest piece of business was refusing to give Ken Mcnaught a new contract and flogging him to Albion. Then spending twice as much to buy Steve Foster. Then selling him at a loss to Luton. Then spending twice as much again on the player he was keeping out of the Luton team, Paul Elliott.