It's not Sherwood!

[Dante Lavelli]

Coach? Alex Ferguson wasn't a coach. Mourinhio isn't a coach. I want a manager who can win games.

What's the big obsession with a coach? A coach belongs in the NFL.

I think the obsession is that we haven't got any and it fucking shows.

No, a coach is something obssessed with only recently. Go backs few years and they're nothing. Who's Man City or Chelsea's coach? Do they matter more than their managers? No. Blatantly not.

The roles of coaches and manager has changed recently though, in my opinion, so its not unreasonable for people to question it.
I think the job titles/responsibilities are becoming more narrow and specific as football has started to embraced sports science and more in depth analysis.

[kippaxvilla2]

All this negativity from the same people who championed the appointment of Lambert. Frankly I'd be more worried if we appointed a manger most on here were happy with. Give the geezer a chance!!

I was against the appointment of Lambert - does that mean I get to moan about Sherwood?

Really? Or was it more that you were more cautious or sceptical than others? I don't recall you ever being outwardly against him.

No, I was dead against his appointment. He then said all the right things when he first got here so I got a bit more warm about it. But ultimately, my initial feeling that he was essentially another British plodder was, sadly, proven right.

Richard - I just asked a question, it wasn't meant bitchily or anything. I just genuinely don't know what that phrase means in practical terms.

If I interpret his statement correctly he means don't get on the blokes back straight away before he's even taken charge of a game as you appear to be doing.  You know the way the crowd can effect the performance of the team on the pitch and pressure on the manager so we all need to pull together to stop us going to the abyss.  Although I might be wrong.

[Rudy65]

Apparently Laursen would like to come back as a coach

Source?

[Bellster]

Good luck Mr Sherwood. You have my full support and a half decent squad of players to work with.

Ignore the people on this site who slag you off before you have even started and for no good reason. They will be the ones who "always backed your appointment" after you win 2 games in a row (and then start to talk about qualifying for the Champions League).

[LeeB]

Coach? Alex Ferguson wasn't a coach. Mourinhio isn't a coach. I want a manager who can win games.

What's the big obsession with a coach? A coach belongs in the NFL.

I think the obsession is that we haven't got any and it fucking shows.

No, a coach is something obssessed with only recently. Go backs few years and they're nothing. Who's Man City or Chelsea's coach? Do they matter more than their managers? No. Blatantly not.

That's the bulldog spirit!

Ever thought that the best managers use the best coaches?

[Monty]

Oh sure, I agree with that. It was justified when it was Lambert, as he really needed to go, but the crowd can hardly start booing at the first sign of trouble. Sure, get behind the team and stay behind them. On here, however, the rules are different, and I don't need to hide my dislike of this appointment.

[silhillvilla]

Having had time to digest the news , weigh up the pros and cons etc and invert some perspective into things I honestly think this is a shocking appointment and we are down. Anything above relegation this season will be a bonus. The jokers running the club left it way too late and chose the wrong man.

[ronshirt]

There's an argument that the playing staff has not added up to the sum of its parts. Maybe certain players were as tired of our tactics as were the support; maybe others were disillusioned having witnessed the bomb-squad fiasco; others by the 'alleged' bullying by some of the coaches; others may have wondered why, if the owner didn't turn up at Villa Park, they were expected to do the same.

When Mr Fox intimated that the board would continue to keep faith with Lambert I did wonder if that was intended more as a message to the players than the world at large. Perhaps the players reacted by by ratcheting up their underperformance to a level that would not only force Mr Fox to rid them of Lambert but also make him look fairly foolish in making such a violent U-turn.

Mr Lerner, learning about the new Sky/BT riches, blinked and ripped up the Lambert plan.

We're not going down unless Timothy Alan comes in with the big 'I am' and tips the players into thinking they'll teach him a lesson by giving our esteemed owner the result he has courted for the last three or four years.

[Damo70]

I don't think the decision was rushed.  Someone, I can't recall who, posted recently that Sherwood had been seen in the company of Fox on at least two occasions and, he (Sherwood) had been photographed recently at Villa Park.  It suggested to the poster, and me, that Sherwood was being courted, we can't say tapped-up as he was unemployed.  That to me, and I stress that this is my opinion, that this put unfair added pressure on Lambert as if we knew about it; he sure as hell did. 

Lambert would know that in football every club has a loaded gun in the chairman's desk draw, it's in the DNA, but when you hear the trigger being cocked it does nothing to instil any kind of confidence in either manager and players.  I'm no Lambert apologist, I voted to sack him, but I find those meetings unethical.

Given the fact they were both previously employed and both almost certainly lived in North London/Hertfordshire and mixed in football circles I would imagine Fox and Sherwood were not total strangers to each other.

[silhillvilla]

Can he recall Bent ?

[kippaxvilla2]

Oh sure, I agree with that. It was justified when it was Lambert, as he really needed to go, but the crowd can hardly start booing at the first sign of trouble. Sure, get behind the team and stay behind them. On here, however, the rules are different, and I don't need to hide my dislike of this appointment.

Fair enough

[LeeB]

Can he recall Bent ?

No. McLaren said so this morning.

[Rigadon]

Why would he?

[adrenachrome]

Can he recall Bent ?

No.

[LTA]

I think given where we are in the league and the number of games, we couldn't really afford to be choosy.  Sherwood is probably as good as what was available.

Anyway, I will back him 100%