Who do you want the next Villa manager to be?

[Phil from the upper holte]

That's kind of a rehash of what we've seen. It'll be in the mail after

[Chris Jameson]

Based on the wisdom of the various ex pros who are pundits we need to choose either Howard Wilkinson or Joe Royle I reckon. They are experienced and are the last two English managers to win the league and FA Cup, they know what they're talking about these guys.

[joe_c]

That's kind of a rehash of what we've seen. It'll be in the mail after

True enough but BBC = gravitas to me. I never believe reports of a celebrity death until it's been confirmed by the BBC.

[stuart r]

Is it the fact he's foreign?  Or inexperienced?

I think it's more the foreign thing that is worrying people more than the experience - if we announced that we were hiring Francesco Guidolin or some other foreign type who has been managing consistently since the 1980s then they would still be saying that we should be hiring Nigel Pearson or Sean Dyche.

I agree completely. As an aside there's two reasons I want us to hire Garde. Firstly I want someone with fresh ideas who can potentially get us playing good football, which in turn will move us up the table. Secondly it would be funny to see all the idiotic football pundits and writers back tracking.

Sadly though the idiotic football pundits and writers won't back track and won't be challenged on it. They'll just go blundering on as if they've never said it. They'll shift their opinion but they won't back track.

Lots of surveys and research is done about football and the industry it has created so I'd like a study to be commissioned that looks into the quality of football journalism and punditry. Statistical analysis showing how many of the tabloid assertions and pundit's 'educated' opinions are actually right. A tabloid or pundit league table. But they never get challenged and their wrongness has no impact on their careers.

I'd like to see a study into the cliched arguments that the football media world thrives on. Is there statistical evidence that resting players works for instance? In this Moneyball age I'd have thought the theory would have been properly looked into. But no we just get the same chat trotted out year after year by a bunch of idiots with no interest in really knowing the truth. They have an opinion and they're gonna use it. Opinions generate debate and therefore justify hours and hours of facile phone-ins I suppose. Facts would just spoil the 'fun'.

[not3bad]

I'm torn on this, because -on the one hand- any coach worthy of the name should be able to bring a bit of organisation and nous to the set-up, regardless of where he is from.

On the other: Our record with French players and a previous French manager is not so hot. That's not anti French, history bares it out.

There were two concerns I had when we went about our summer business, one was that the type of players we opted for were largely the sort you would add to an already solid core.  The other concern was that by targeting that many players from France, there was a danger of cliques developing.

Individually, they all made sense from a business perspective.   But it's fitting that into the wider collective.

Maybe Garde is the man to do this, and his English shouldn't be a problem after spending so long at Arsenal. But I'd be wary of pandering to any group of individual players.

With regards to the previous French manager, we finished higher than we have in any of the years since. Houllier made some stupid PR mistakes and had a bad period, but he actually came across like he had a plan.

Our poor record with French coaches is more down to dicky tickers than bad management as I see it.

[brian green]

As in every other walk of life the single most important quality anybody can bring to their work is intelligence.  Garde comes across has being smart and thoughtful.

The one single fault that is marbled through our record since Randy Lerner took over is stupidity. Everything from Moscowgate to hiring McLeish to the Bomb Squad the bullying to publicly disowning players within a few months of their arrival.  The whole sorry litany of our deterioration can be attributed to important decisions being made by people without sufficient intelligence to work out the consequences.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'll say one thing for Garde, if we manage to pull this deal off - he must have some serious pulling power. To take not one but two coaches off a team like Lyon is some challenge. Then if you look at the careers of Bruno Génésio and Gérald Baticle and their history with Lyon, they really must believe in him.

Bruno Génésio was born in Lyon, signed for them as a 5 year old, professionally played for them for 11 years and has been a coach there since 2011. Gérald Baticle has also been a coach there since 2011 and signed a new contract in the summer extending to 2019. To throw away all that security not to mention the loyalty to the club to join a foreign club sitting at the bottom of the league is not what you'd expect from either. Maybe the expression 'mad as a box of frogs' has a new definition.

[mr underhill]

now now, think of the entente cordiale . Box of frogs for heavens sake!

[Smirker]

Is he actually any good?

[rob_bridge]

As in every other walk of life the single most important quality anybody can bring to their work is intelligence.  Garde comes across has being smart and thoughtful.

The one single fault that is marbled through our record since Randy Lerner took over is stupidity. Everything from Moscowgate to hiring McLeish to the Bomb Squad the bullying to publicly disowning players within a few months of their arrival.  The whole sorry litany of our deterioration can be attributed to important decisions being made by people without sufficient intelligence to work out the consequences.

Brian - spot on.

Many see the folly without purpose of such decisions. Within the senior echelons of the club between Steve Stride leaving in 2007 until this summer, there was no person of sufficient football knowledge of the professional game at that level. Witness the recruitment to the most important role at the club in the last decade:

Martin O'Neill
Gerard Houllier (out of semi retirement)
Alex McLeish
Paul Lambert
Tim Sherwood
Remy Garde (assuming it is him though am not against the other front runners)

Now it is totally unfathonable in order to spot any sort of trend or commonality between those recruits, lurching from one type/approach/style to another. Whereas Swansea have had a series of 'progressive' appointments in the same time.

Kenny Jackett
Roberto Martinez
Paulo Sousa
Brendan Rodgers
Michael Laudrup
Gary Monk

[aj2k77]

Is it the fact he's foreign?  Or inexperienced?

I think it's more the foreign thing that is worrying people more than the experience - if we announced that we were hiring Francesco Guidolin or some other foreign type who has been managing consistently since the 1980s then they would still be saying that we should be hiring Nigel Pearson or Sean Dyche.

In the last 20 years, other than Roy Hodgson has there been other British coaches who have managed successfully in the 'Big' Leagues

I know McLaren did well in Holland but not so in Germany. Anyone else?

Is Eck still at Genk?

Would it surprise you to hear they conceded the least goals but drew the 3rd most games and only finished 7th?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

now now, think of the entente cordiale . Box of frogs for heavens sake!

You're right. Apologies but I've just come in having had to side step thousands of them hogging the pavement with their street maps whilst looking for street names. Bloody tourists! In the spirit of the Entente Cordiale I'm adopting the characteristics of a rude Parisian.

[Dave]

Is he actually any good?

By all accounts, what he has done so far he has done well.

The only question is whether three seasons in Ligue 1 is enough data on which to base an opinion.

[Rigadon]

Is he actually any good?

Looks like we're about to find out

[Mister E]

As in every other walk of life the single most important quality anybody can bring to their work is intelligence.  Garde comes across has being smart and thoughtful ...

I'd agree, but with the qualification that excellent people-skills are pretty fundamental as well. Any manager needs to know how to get the best out of his team members; those relying simply on intelligence may fail to create the conditions in which each and every team member can give of their best every day.