People forget that according to Fox, Remi agreed that the Villa did good transfer business over the summer and Remi was perfectly happy with the signings!
Quote from: ROBBO on December 30, 2015, 09:21:15 AMEvery manager since O'Neil has had his hands tied behind his back, they don't get sympathy from me because they took it on knowing the score and they all made more money than most of us will ever see but everyone of them failed. If Garde is not backed by Lerner I hope he walks and keeps his reputation in tact for another day and another club.Houllier and McLeish were arguably more wasteful than MON in the transfer market. They landed us with such deals as Makoun (Bent kept us up so I will leave him out even though he was a badly utilised resource), N'Zogbia, Given and Hutton who was subsequently frozen out for two years before being made a key player on an improved contract! Downing, Milner and Young all went for double what we paid but the club failed to adequately replace those players. In 2009 our midfield options were Barry, Milner, Young, Petrov, NRC & Sidwell and by 2012 it was Bannan, Westwood, Holman, Delph & N'Zogbia. Sound investment?And that is the nub of the problem at villa . In every year since MON left the club has made extremely poor decisions and when selling players has failed to adequately replace them. The heart was ripped out of our team and replaced with poor players. Barring one or two exceptions (Benteke obviously, Okore and, being generous to the club, Lowton, Westwood and Bacuna) our signings have been absolutely atrocious. Wasters like N'Zogbia, flops like Makoun plus bargain basement purchases like Tonev, Bowery, Dawkins, El Ahmadi, Luna, Grant Holt, Helenius, Joe Cole, Sylla, Kieran Richardson. Gavin McCann looks like a world beater compared to some of the players who have lined up in our midfield in recent seasons.Over the last few seasons we have been well warned by the football Gods about where our approach was taking us. Yet we have blindly continued along the same path and in the summer we failed to replace Benteke's goals. We finished 17th last season with Benteke and Delph in the side. We clearly needed a big investment in that team to pull away from the relegation places. Yes, we did invest in the team but we sold its two best players. Benteke kept us up for three seasons and we replaced him with a Championship player who is only good in the air. Ayew seems to be the long awaited upgrade on Weimann/Gabby. We have failed to reach 40 points in three of the last four seasons and in none of the last four years have we matched the dizzy heights of the 42 points, eight clear of Birmingham in 18th place, achieved in the season before Randy bought the club. Failing to buy a recognised, premier league goalscorer after we sold Benteke was absolute madness but fits in with the villa we have come to know since 2010/11. The sad thing is the club's hierarchy absolutely deserves what is happening to it right now. They have been playing Russian Roulette and it has caught up with them. For the fans this has been a slow death by a thousand cuts. Yes, we have scraped survival over the last half decade but we have smashed so many unwanted records in the process. For the most part we have fielded teams lacking character & ability and have been a soft touch conceding late goals while rolling over too easily. Traditionalists like myself may not like the way football is now but sadly you either adapt or get left behind and we are being left behind. Did we ever imagine we would be envious of sides fielder by Southampton, Swansea, Leicester, Watford? Each year the list grows longer and I am not sure our team will be cut out for the battles of the Championship. Lerner's failures have left this club with a very uncertain future.
Every manager since O'Neil has had his hands tied behind his back, they don't get sympathy from me because they took it on knowing the score and they all made more money than most of us will ever see but everyone of them failed. If Garde is not backed by Lerner I hope he walks and keeps his reputation in tact for another day and another club.
Loic Remy would do nicely.
Remi Garde is adjusting to managerial life in this division as are a great deal of the players on the pitch. For that alone Garde needs to be cut a little slack. He's going to make mistakes but, as long as they're not continually repeated then we have to give the man time. It becomes a different story if he doesn't learn. See Sherwood, Tim.
Quote from: dave shelley on December 30, 2015, 12:45:20 PMRemi Garde is adjusting to managerial life in this division as are a great deal of the players on the pitch. For that alone Garde needs to be cut a little slack. He's going to make mistakes but, as long as they're not continually repeated then we have to give the man time. It becomes a different story if he doesn't learn. See Sherwood, Tim.I agree. I actually think Garde is the most imaginative appointment that this board has made. He seems like the kind of guy who can fix things whatever division we are in. Sherwood, Lambert and McLeish allowed things to fester whereas Garde has come in and set a standard as young Jack and Gabby have learned. For what it's worth I am not sure Tim Sherwood should ever have been appointed manager of Aston Villa but that's another day's work!ps thanks for the welcome eamonn. I am only back momentarily because I cannot quite believe my eyes at the moment and needed somewhere to vent my frustration. Sad times, I never thought it could get this bad.