We've not had a Martin O'Neill argument in ages...

[supertom]

I don't think we need to go down to be successful again. We just need a decent manager, which is something we have been lacking for a very long time now.

In an ideal world a new manager comes with a new owner, with a budget enough to bring in 4-5 good footballers to make the transition easier. With Lerner's budget, should someone akin to Pochettino or Koeman come in, we may actually get worse before we get better, particularly as too many of our squad are more physically adept than technically. The trouble is, even a little bit worse as we are could mean going down.
That's worst case scenario of course and hopefully wouldn't work out like that.

[go on the dog]

It's also made me think just how many clubs were undoubtedly bigger than us in 1996-ish. Liverpool and Manchester United definitely, Arsenal were re-building after George Graham and they'd have gone past us helped by the fact that Nick bloody Hornby helped make them the ideal club to cash in on the new footie boom but apart from that who? Spurs were doing poorly, Newcastle were massively in debt, Everton were mid-table in a good year and struggling in a bad one, Chelsea's rescuer was still six years away. We could have been right up there but for that corner shop mentality.

Come on Dave write the book, you know there's a story there. And you know you really really want too

[ChicagoLion]

I don't think we need to go down to be successful again. We just need a decent manager, which is something we have been lacking for a very long time now.

In an ideal world a new manager comes with a new owner, with a budget enough to bring in 4-5 good footballers to make the transition easier. With Lerner's budget, should someone akin to Pochettino or Koeman come in, we may actually get worse before we get better, particularly as too many of our squad are more physically adept than technically. The trouble is, even a little bit worse as we are could mean going down.
That's worst case scenario of course and hopefully wouldn't work out like that.

Yes get your drift. The first step to turning this around I would have thought would be keeping the core decent players. The problem we have with this regime is that the opposite will happen.

[rob_bridge]

O'Neill failed. He did no better than Gregory, but spent more than any manager in our history, bringing the club to it's knees financially, which is also Lerner's fault for handing the cretin the cash so readily. The summer he said hang on, the bellend walked out on us to cause maximum damage.

Wrong manager, wrong time. Somebody with a more progressive approach to football would have won us the home games needed to qualify for the champions league. The home form under O'Neill was disproportionately poor compared to our peers because we were so one dimensional. Now we're lacking dimensions of any sort when we attack, so of course the O'Neill years look attractive.

What a wasted opportunity.

Can't disagree with any of that. The subsequent decision making by the board was largely woeful but doesn't detract from O'Neill's underachievements.

[go on the dog]

The fact we only had £7m to spend this summer despite an income of nigh on £100m is down to the legacy MON left us. He bankrupted Celtic too

And Leicester if I remember had money troubles when he left

[supertom]

I don't think we need to go down to be successful again. We just need a decent manager, which is something we have been lacking for a very long time now.

In an ideal world a new manager comes with a new owner, with a budget enough to bring in 4-5 good footballers to make the transition easier. With Lerner's budget, should someone akin to Pochettino or Koeman come in, we may actually get worse before we get better, particularly as too many of our squad are more physically adept than technically. The trouble is, even a little bit worse as we are could mean going down.
That's worst case scenario of course and hopefully wouldn't work out like that.

Yes get your drift. The first step to turning this around I would have thought would be keeping the core decent players. The problem we have with this regime is that the opposite will happen.

Yeah, the problem right off the bat with that is we could be looking at next season without Vlaar, Delph and should this season begin improving for him, probably Benteke.

[supertom]

The fact we only had £7m to spend this summer despite an income of nigh on £100m is down to the legacy MON left us. He bankrupted Celtic too

And Leicester if I remember had money troubles when he left

Though his financial dealings (as much down to Randy's naivity) have buggered us we've actually scraped survival largely in part down to the ever dwindling assets O Neill left.
Delph's still here and a key player.
Bent saved us and came in largely from the Milner sale and impending exit of Downing and Young. Some of that cash undoubtedly probably helped fund Benteke.

Our budget this summer just gone really shows that the O Neill reserve has probably well and truly run out now.
So whilst our situation has been shit, his better signings and the money we received has played it's part in just about keeping us up, as we've still managed to keep hold of a reasonable decent core of players.
Bent was good for a year.
Vlaar (when he plays) is okay, Delph has been good for Lambert and Benteke a real difference on his day.

Next season when we're unable to keep hold of the strong core, and struggle to replace them? That's when things get really bad. But Lerner and his management should have been able to steady the ship by now and look toward progressing rather than merely treading water. O Neill can't be blamed any more. His final season is a distant memory now. Beaten into the shadows by an ever dwindling level of quality and increasing ineptitude.

O Neill left us with a strong spine. A spine that's been getting progressively weaker. Some have come in become a strong part of our spine as others leave, but since Benteke, we've not made a significant signing. We'll make no money on Delph. We'll not make much on Vlaar. If Benteke wants to leave, he'll probably not fetch anything like what we may have been offered a year ago.

[LeeB]

And there we have it.

Asks for a cogent argument then resorts to name calling and sarcasm.

Look in your parallel universe on here you clearly have a party line.Its just regretable that the media treat some as the voice of Villa supporters.

Sound more like the voice of Randys PR machine to me.

Honestly, what is it with fucking divs having a swipe at all and sundry because their shitty argument doesn't hold up?

[eamonn]

Christ's chin, this makes for depressing reading. Bad enough turning 30 tomorrow and having to sit two exams this week.

[Legion]

We have a party line? Ace! Anyone for more beer?

[silhillvilla]

Christ's chin, this makes for depressing reading. Bad enough turning 30 tomorrow and having to sit two exams this week.

Turning 30, that sounds like heaven

[Dave]

And there we have it.

Asks for a cogent argument then resorts to name calling and sarcasm.

Look in your parallel universe on here you clearly have a party line.Its just regretable that the media treat some as the voice of Villa supporters.

Sound more like the voice of Randys PR machine to me.

Honestly, what is it with fucking divs having a swipe at all and sundry because their shitty argument doesn't hold up?

Bad arguments they might be, but at least he's not had to resort to childish insults.

[SoccerHQ]

'Thoroughly decent'? And, again, 'held in high regard' - by whom? By Robbie Savage and Steve Claridge?

He is remarkable in one way. There aren't many managers who are so good at one thing and so bad at another. MON is, or at least was, quite amazing at motivating players, creating a club mentality or even a siege mentality, and inspiring loyalty in players and individual performances of a level higher than they often should be. However, he was a good candidate, even while with us, for the title of League's Least Progressive Tactician, along with training methods, player diets, squad use etc. He would have been a brilliant manager in the 1970s, but he was an inadequate one in the 2000s.

In regards to our training and fitness I think O Neills injury records compared to each of our managers since speaks volumes. Also whilst his rotating policies should have been better. We kept a high tempo for 90 minutes far better under O Neill than the last couple of managers.

I think there's some fallacy that O Neill had this lazy bunch of booze guzzling, fag smoking wasters at his disposal who couldn't last the season. I don't care how fit you are if you don't rotate your squad a bit, or make substitutions, even the fittest squad would struggle by March-April as we annually did. But in my view, on the seasons on a whole under O Neill our squad looked in much better nick than it does now. Players didn't drop like flies. And they always gave 110%
Compare Gabby now to back then. Fitness, attitude but mostly work-rate. It's like a different player.

If I had a squad of players I wanted fit for Prem competition and to be looked after. I'd be asking O Neill to do it long before I'd ask Houllier, Lambert, or TSM1.

He really should've learnt from 08/09 in regards squad rotation.

I still think of the two seasons 09/10 was our best opportunity to finish top 4 (clearly it had to be with the money Man. City were spending) and yet in March 2010 we had results like Villa 2 Wolves 2, Villa 1 Sunderland 1 and Chelsea 7 Villa 1 which knackered our GD compared to Spurs anfd Man., City.

We didn't change the team enough. It wasn't impossible to win with below par 11s, christ early on in the season we won at Anfield with Shorey and Beye as our full backs.

That reminds me, Habib fecking Beye. What was the point of signing him when Luke Young was already at the club and in the end he just decided to play Cuellar at RB for the whole season, what a waste of a signing.

He did some good things for the club I'm not going to deny, 6th was about par for what we were spending but we did mess up some great opportunites.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

The fact we only had £7m to spend this summer despite an income of nigh on £100m is down to the legacy MON left us. He bankrupted Celtic too

And Leicester if I remember had money troubles when he left

He's like a Harry Redknapp with glasses.

[LeeB]

And there we have it.

Asks for a cogent argument then resorts to name calling and sarcasm.

Look in your parallel universe on here you clearly have a party line.Its just regretable that the media treat some as the voice of Villa supporters.

Sound more like the voice of Randys PR machine to me.

Honestly, what is it with fucking divs having a swipe at all and sundry because their shitty argument doesn't hold up?

Bad arguments they might be, but at least he's not had to resort to childish insults.

But he has though, with his 'party line' nonsense.

He's not the first, hence my reaction, and I'm sorry but it seriously pisses me off.