Is the Villa job a poison chalice?

[Phil from the upper holte]

I just watched this from last night..http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34631974

They ask who would want the job? Managers used to think we were a massive Club but are we now the unwanted job in football?

[saunders_heroes]

I just watched this from last night..http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34631974

They ask who would want the job? Managers used to think we were a massive Club but are we now the unwanted job in football?

It's 6 seasons of austerity that's got us into this mess so I'm not surprised we struggle to attract decent managers.

[passitsideways]

Part of it is something wrong with the club itself, but I think a bigger part comes down to the fact that the managers we've had since Houllier simply aren't very good, rather than being dragged down by the club's problems. McLeish, we all knew what he was. Same with Sherwood - many of us suspected he was a chancer. Lambert - yeah, he had to deal with the worst of the austerity, but he had a chance to build on a decent second half of his first season, and didn't do so at all.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Is it a career Ender? Mon did OK because he walked. SGT got the England job but other than that I can't think of anyone who went onto something better?

[Hillbilly]

Ssshh. You'll scare them off.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Only if the manager is shit.

The only thing we have going for us that if a manager does do well, they'll looking like a genius.

[saunders_heroes]

Is it a career Ender? Mon did OK because he walked. SGT got the England job but other than that I can't think of anyone who went onto something better?

Not many bigger jobs than Villa though.

[aj2k77]

Good managers did well, shit ones floundered. It's not rocket science. You employ someone like Mcleish and you won't score many goals or win many games. You employ someone untested like Lambert and when push comes to shove you have no idea if they will go in to their shell and crack, there's no refrence point for them.

You employ someone seasoned in big jobs with good results and they tend to do well.

[ozzjim]

I think it is a bit like Man City back in the 90s/ 00s, where they got through a lot of managers that did not go on to do much else. I think it is a tough one, but the person who gets it right, and someone will, will be a massive hero and their career will go upwards fast.

[paul_e]

I don't think it is, I just think most of our recent managers didn't realise how big a club they were joining and they were either not good enough (Sherwood, McLeish) or got totally overwhelmed by it (Lambert).  The budgeting hasn't helped but I genuinely believe that no amount of extra funding would've seen those 3 turn out successfully.  Houllier is an anomaly largely because I think he 'got it' but he saw the squad he inherited and realised it was going to be a massive job to turn it into one he was happy to work with.  I'm convinced that he'd told the board exactly that and when he had to leave they decided to look for a manager who could work with what we had instead of having to go through with that clear out.

[saunders_heroes]

I don't think our recent managers could believe they were actually offered the Villa job. None of them deserved it that's for sure.

[Brian Taylor]

Roy Keane would kick arse and be good for a quote now and again. But I am en Garde.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Roy Keane would kick arse and be good for a quote now and again. But I am en Garde.

Maybe we should send out for Ronnie Pickering.

[ktvillan]

I think managing any big club with big expectations can be a make or break situation. If you fail, it's usually all downhill.   It's not just us, Spurs, Newcastle, Everton have over the years all had managers that looked promising, flopped, and either scuttled off back abroad, dropped down the divisions or simply disappeared off the radar.  It will be interesting to see what happens next for Lambert and Rodgers who looked two of the most promising young managers a few years ago, but have both flopped to varying degrees at bigger clubs.   The problem with us now is we're probably seen, like Newcastle,  as something of a basket case.

[Dave]

Is it a career Ender? Mon did OK because he walked. SGT got the England job but other than that I can't think of anyone who went onto something better?

Not many bigger jobs than Villa though.

Precisely - and not in a big-headed, ideas-above-our station way either. There just aren't that many more upwards steps to take.

How many Spurs or Newcastle managers in the last generation have gone on to bigger things than those jobs? Like us, they've each provided England with a manager and that's about it.