An ex-manager speaks

[peter w]

Problem is, over the last 30 years or so, the one's who we've allowed to embellish their CVs haven't been anywhere near good enough.

[SamTheMouse]

Terrible footablling philosophy, but he always came across as a nice bloke and, impressively, he never threw a wobbler in spite of all the vitriol that came his way (although the fans were pretty patient too, all things considered).

[Jon Crofts]

So, in a nutshell.  Nice bloke but a bit shit really.

[not3bad]

Good bloke, terrible appointment for Villa.  However I reckon the "TSM" nickname should be dropped now.  No hard feelings Alex.

[olaftab]

Very good words of wisdom from Alex. He is also very good on his occasional TV pundit stints as well.

[LeeB]

A charlatan that walked off with several million pounds out of us.

[eastie]

Good bloke, terrible appointment for Villa.  However I reckon the "TSM" nickname should be dropped now.  No hard feelings Alex.

Agreed.

[Dave]

Good bloke, terrible appointment for Villa.  However I reckon the "TSM" nickname should be dropped now.  No hard feelings Alex.

Agreed.

I think it's quite witty and it's hardly the worst insult in the world.

[rob_bridge]

He wasn't good enough and never would have been, but you also have to factor in the fact that straight down the spine of the team we were missing key players for lengthy periods. Bent in particular was a big loss; from Wigan onwards we had eight games out of 11 where there wasn't more than a goal in it. We could easily have got another eight points from them and finished comfortably mid-table.

That may well be true. However that could have been an even worse sceanrio where he was kept on, given more money, we got even worse and he would have been sacked the following October (2012) leaving us in 1986-87 scenario (maybe even with DiCanio in charge).

[JUAN PABLO]

It was not his fault that the owner made the most ridiculous decision since being owner at Villa .

[Legion]

Arguably the most bizarre one since 1874.

[rob_bridge]

It was not his fault that the owner made the most ridiculous decision since being owner at Villa .

On a professional and even (esteem) personal level he could not have turned down the job. Let's face facts it was likely to be his only one of that stature however well he did.

The owner and CEO are clearly culpable as it was only ever likely to be a car crash and a decision made (in comparative haster) by people who didn't have a clue in how to recruit a person for the most important football role at the club.

Madness.

[Damo70]

They must have thought he did a decent job with Rangers and Scotland, got the noses promoted then top half finish and a trophy. Maybe unlucky with injuries when they went down. What they totally ignored was his football philosophy and tactics which have fans of his sides grumbling even when results are decent and going ballistic if results are poor.

[jeowje]

If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.

[SoccerHQ]

If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.

Disagree, after beating Chelsea on NYE with still half the season to go, we won only two further games and yet the abuse only really started after losing to Bolton in late April.