Hands up - Pulis...

[john e]

When posters say 'he wasn't my first choice' who was the first choice then ?

I saw a two stage appointment , the first manager to try and keep us up, the second for more long term

So I went for Graham Taylor to keep us up and then he could help choose the next guy in the summer

I still think it was a cunning plan destined to be super sucsessful but I guess Sherwood  isn't turning out so bad either

[cdbearsfan]

Graham Taylor would have been an insane, nostalgia-tinged, Geordiesque appointment.

[john e]

Graham Taylor would have been an insane, nostalgia-tinged, Geordiesque appointment.

So who was your first choice ?

[Villa in Denmark]

One of the commentators over here summed up Pulis, either at the end of the league game or one their games just afterwards, where the 6 toe county crew were at whinge factor 9. "It's no use complaining now it looks like you're out of danger.  You know exactly what you get when you give Pulis a job and it's not very pretty."

Maybe we should give Liam that as his signature line?

[Damo70]

They are both yesterday's men in terms of football management sadly, but for getting short term results till the end of the season I would have thought that would have suited BFR more than SGT.

[PeterWithesShin]

We'd have had more chance of staying up with Lambert staying than putting SGT or Atkinson in charge imo.

[dave.woodhall]

They are both yesterday's men in terms of football management sadly, but for getting short term results till the end of the season I would have thought that would have suited BFR more than SGT.

There is a story that when one of our recent managers (think it was McLeish) got sacked BFR was asked by the board who he thought would be the best man for the job. His reply was one word and you can guess who it was.

[pauliewalnuts]

Graham Taylor would have been an insane, nostalgia-tinged, Geordiesque appointment.

So who was your first choice ?

It's hard to imagine a worse first choice than an old man who has been out of the game for a long, long time.

It would have been an appointment made entirely on the basis of sentiment.

And the whole "two stage" thing is a total non starter.

If you want someone to keep you up in the short term, you need someone who knows what they're doing in modern football. That's not Sir Graham. He looked a man from a different era 12 years ago.

You can not realistically appoint someone on the basis that they keep you up and then fuck off without moaning when you bin them in the summer. Which is what Albion are about to find out, to their cost, this summer.

Pulis will keep them up, but they'll be stuck with his mindbendingly fucking horrible brand of "football" for the next two or three years.

[john e]

My point is everyone has a load of good reasons why managers won't work at Villa including Sherwood at the time
But this is a hands up thread, no one yet has said who there first choice was

[supertom]

They are both yesterday's men in terms of football management sadly, but for getting short term results till the end of the season I would have thought that would have suited BFR more than SGT.

There is a story that when one of our recent managers (think it was McLeish) got sacked BFR was asked by the board who he thought would be the best man for the job. His reply was one word and you can guess who it was.

That's a story I can believe.

[supertom]

My point is everyone has a load of good reasons why managers won't work at Villa including Sherwood at the time
But this is a hands up thread, no one yet has said who there first choice was

My first choice in terms of who was readily available was probably Pulis. Back in November anyway. I wanted Lambert out by that point. Then the Baggies nabbed him and it seemed (to me) like we'd just let go our best chance of staying up and kept a manager who seemed to be taking us in one direction, the championship.

When Lambert finally got the boot I wasn't thrilled with appointing Sherwood but he was still my first choice, in as much as it seemed like a choice of one. We were only ever gonna get an out of work Manager, and aside from some duffers and over the hill choices, Sherwood was probably the only viable option. As it is, it looks like it's going to be a good appointment.

[cdbearsfan]

Graham Taylor would have been an insane, nostalgia-tinged, Geordiesque appointment.

So who was your first choice ?

I can't remember. I think none of the British favourites particularly excited me so I wanted some foreign genius.

I think I mentioned Rene Girard (should be an acute on the second 'e' but don't know how to do it on phone).

[junxs]

We have 12 points from 10 games since Sherwood took charge, which isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination. Think the 3 wins in the cup have glossed up the indifferent league form since he took over - we are after all still only 2 points above the relegation zone.

I'm not saying he's been a bad appointment, but I'd rather wait until we are mathematically safe before getting excited for the future which I have no doubt would be better than if Pulis was here - as long as we are in the premier league next year.

He took a few games to sort out the mess that Lambert had left, but it was never going to be an overnight job.  I can't see how realistically he could have done much more.

He's doing alright, I'm not saying he's doing bad. His record isn't as good as some are making out due to the cup wins. We are still only 2 points above the relegation zone. A bit of bad luck in the last 3 games and we could still quite easily go down.

Lets just wait until we are mathematically safe before a hands up session - that's all I'm saying.

I'm delighted with the way we have been playing in the last few games, but I still keep finding myself checking the league table every few hours

[Damo70]

My point is everyone has a load of good reasons why managers won't work at Villa including Sherwood at the time
But this is a hands up thread, no one yet has said who there first choice was

I am struggling to remember as I was quite poorly around that time. To the best of my recollection I regretted the fact Albion got to Pulis before we did and wondered if, due to his contract situation Allardyce might be tempted from West Ham. I was shocked when it became clear Sherwood was the choice. I rated him from his time at Spurs but didn't think he was the best man to keep us up. I am glad to say I felt he started proving me wrong pretty much from day one.

[Gregorys Boy]

I not only will admit it, but will also say that we will only know next season who got the better deal us or West Brom   Sherwood has been a good short term appointment, but there are still question marks over him long term.