Who do you want the next Villa manager to be?

[passitsideways]

Benteke yes, I don't think Ghana is much of a downgrade on Delph though, in fact I think he'll be better for us.

Losing Benteke was a seismic blow... especially as we bought two poor strikers with the money.

No, we bought a central midfielder, a right winger and 2 strikers and put some towards a left back as well. (Veretout, Traore, Ayew, Gestede together were about £30m)

Of those 3 I think Gestede was a poor signing, I'm pretty sure I said on here that I thought he was the wrong choice as well, just didn't look mobile enough when I'd seen him and what we've seen since backs that up.  I think the other 3 have shown enough to suggest they can become good premier league players so I don't think the money was spent that terribly other than we needed better than Gestede, but I didn't really have an option because I don't think Austin was the answer either, Breel Embolo looked like a fantastic option but he's only 18 so it'd have been a big risk.

Yep, the question should be whether the substantial downgrade from Benteke to Gestede is made up for by the upgrades in other positions - at CB, at LB, in midfield, and at right wing. I guess it hasn't so far, but it's not set in stone just yet.

Of course, it hasn't really helped that instead of playing Veretout and giving him a chance to learn on the job, we keep trotting Westwood out there even though the good things that he offers have all been usurped by Gana; or that he kept playing Gabby (okay, he did alright on Saturday) in the early going; or that Adama and Gil have had injury problems.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'll put my *ahem* reputation on the line and say I'd be happy (that alone is unusual) with Remi Garde.  I remember reading about him when he was being linked with the Newcastle job and being jealous that seemed to have such imagination and we were in Lambersherwoodwonderland.

There's going to be a lot of jealously if we get him. So called experts will probably dismiss him because he chose us only later to sing his praises and claim he's ideal to replace Wenger or manage the French national team.

Wouldn't it be great if Arsenal were coming after him in two/three seasons time.  It'd suggest that he'd have done a great job and got us playing decent football.  I think that scenario is almost the perfect one, rather than a negative against appointing him.

I think you might be getting a bit ahead of yourself 😉

It's a bit like when someone predicted Lambert would be using us as a stepping stone to managing Dortmund.

Big difference is, Garde has already been linked to taking over at Arsenal by Wenger. That's how high he rates him. Newcastle are going to be so, so jealous after chasing him for 6 months and you can be sure they, combined with Tactics' mates in the game and media will try to downgrade Garde purely based on him joining little Aston Villa.Fuckin' bring it on.

As for Redknapp, doesn't he think Aston Villa have done more than their fair share of hiring British managers? He can do one too.

[PeterWithesShin]

As for Redknapp, doesn't he think Aston Villa have done more than their fair share of hiring British managers? He can do one too.

Yep. If for arguments sake we include Pubehead and Mr Fickle as British (Fickle was born in London anyway), we've had British managers for all but 2 seasons in our history. He can hardly whine that we don't them a chance.

[Toronto Villa]

I'll put my *ahem* reputation on the line and say I'd be happy (that alone is unusual) with Remi Garde.  I remember reading about him when he was being linked with the Newcastle job and being jealous that seemed to have such imagination and we were in Lambersherwoodwonderland.

There's going to be a lot of jealously if we get him. So called experts will probably dismiss him because he chose us only later to sing his praises and claim he's ideal to replace Wenger or manage the French national team.

Wouldn't it be great if Arsenal were coming after him in two/three seasons time.  It'd suggest that he'd have done a great job and got us playing decent football.  I think that scenario is almost the perfect one, rather than a negative against appointing him.

I think you might be getting a bit ahead of yourself 😉

It's a bit like when someone predicted Lambert would be using us as a stepping stone to managing Dortmund.

Big difference is, Garde has already been linked to taking over at Arsenal by Wenger. That's how high he rates him. Newcastle are going to be so, so jealous after chasing him for 6 months and you can be sure they, combined with Tactics' mates in the game and media will try to downgrade Garde purely based on him joining little Aston Villa.Fuckin' bring it on.

As for Redknapp, doesn't he think Aston Villa have done more than their fair share of hiring British managers? He can do one too.

I think Garde would be a very forward thinking move and I'm all for it. I just think we need to let things play out and hope he is able to fulfil his potential. Let him make us great before worrying about where he might end up. And if he gets us going as we all might hope maybe by that time we are attractive enough for him to stay with us.

[Toronto Villa]

And as for Redknapp he might be well served to look at his former clubs West Ham and Spurs before commenting on us. He really represents so much of what is wrong in English football and along with his mates embodies precisely why England is where it is internationally. 

[Hillbilly]

I'd be worried that Garde might be this year's Solskjaer. Progressive, successful in his home league, experienced in Europe, with Prem playing experience. And totally out of his depth.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I think if anyone is expecting a fantastic appointment then you haven't been paying attention. moyes isn't going to come in a million years. I'd expect Garde to be announced next couple of days

[pbavfckuwait]

Garde might be the next Solskjaer, but at least he is not Tim Sherwood and from the list of the usaul names being mentioned at least he is a bit left field.
As to Happy Harry, if there was an English / British Manager good enough maybe they would be given a chance, but apart from Fergie (British)when was the last time a English Manager won major silver ware, you dozy cockney spiff.

[passitsideways]

Let's be fair though, Lyon is fucking miles above Molde in terms of stature though. Doesn't mean Garde will definitely be a success, of course, but at least he's managed in a properly decent European league unlike Norway, which is supposed to be around League One quality.

[Hillbilly]

Let's be fair though, Lyon is fucking miles above Molde in terms of stature though. Doesn't mean Garde will definitely be a success, of course, but at least he's managed in a properly decent European league unlike Norway, which is supposed to be around League One quality.

And I think you overrate les grenouilles. While they produce great players and the national team has been successful, the league is relatively gash. It's just about on a par with Portugal and Holland not Spain, Italy, Germany and England. Off the top of my head there have been more misses than hits by French coaches in the UK. Paul Le Guen stands out as particularly special - won the championship with Lyon, couldn't even hack it with Rangers in their financial doping heyday.

[mr underhill]

well there is always a negative example of anything to pull out of the hat, and absolutely nothing to suggest at this stage that Garde would follow suit, either with us or someone else in the PL. Chin up.

[Matt Collins]

There's obviously plenty of the season to go. But any manager coming in must look at the squad and the next few fixtures and worry. Then they'll look at what managing villa has done for people's careers of late. It's easy now to say lambert is a bad manager. But he clearly did an excellent job with Norwich.

I think we're probably in a more perilous state now than at any time under Lerner. I can't see which players we're going to be able to call on the way we did benteke, Delph and cleverly last year. Maybe grealish. Maybe gana.

So someone who can drastically improve our defensive organisation is a must

[Dave]

I think if anyone is expecting a fantastic appointment then you haven't been paying attention. moyes isn't going to come in a million years. I'd expect Garde to be announced next couple of days

And what about the people who think that Garde would be a much better appointment than Moyes?

[Chris Smith]

I'd be worried that Garde might be this year's Solskjær. Progressive, successful in his home league, experienced in Europe, with Prem playing experience. And totally out of his depth.

I agree, it would clearly have risks attached. We need to turn this around sharpish.

On the other hand, if it comes off, it could make us interesting as a club for the first time in a while.

[ozzjim]

I think Moyes is the safe option in people's minds though Dave, the steady hand that will organise the back 4-6 and get us grinding out results. Maybe we don't have the players for that. Garde is certainly the more progressive option in the longer term, but it is whether he could get us safe in the short term.