Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[old man villa fan]

I do not understand the 'right manager at the wrong time' comment. Yes, may be when he came in but now he is certainly the right manager to rebuild us.  The chance of staying up was very slim and with the constant injuries, together with poor attitude we are seeing now and not least bringing in players, it was in reality near impossible.  As fans, we always think there is a chance and I have been as optimistic as most but the writing has been on the wall. Just look at the options for the front six at the moment. On Sunday, it ran to the six Garde picked plus Sinclair. We have a couple of options at the back but that's about it.

Going forward we need a technical manager that can build a side on the right principles, not somebody that can just shout. We have a poor squad and shouting may work for a run of games but what then. In recent years, the teams that have come up have generally been 'footballing' sides or fast counter attacking. Yes, they have been hard to beat but that has been because they have taken the game to the opposition, not because they just battled.

I feel Garde is the right man but needs the support of the Board in being able to do things as he sees fit. That doesn't mean spending lots of money but allowing him to weed out the wasters and poor players.

[ez]

Garde should use the rest of the season to find out who wants to play for us and is good enough. In the summer clear out all the deadwood and rebuild. If the club puts the block on him i expect he'll walk.

[Des Little]

Apologies if I've not got this right, but didn't play Garde a key part in setting up the conveyor belt of young talent that Lyon produced in recent years? If so, let's give him what he needs from here on to do the job here.

[peter w]

It was a day for a manager with a volcanic temper and a tongue like a butcher knife.  Not the sort of manager to patiently rebuild a squad given the time and the money but one to stop the club being humiliated there and then.

For the first (and only?) time in my life I found myself agreeing with Tom Toss in his column where he was berating Garde for doing nothing, either a positive word or a verbal hammering, during the break in play for injuries.

I feel dirty typing that too.

You shouldn't. Despite his allegiances he comes across as a Shitty fan first and a Brummie second. I genuinely think he is as even handed as possible for a Nose about us.

[Ads]

We need a new spine; literally and figuratively. Strong willed, narky, opinionated players of good quality right up the middle. A loudmouth keeper, a brutish and dominating centre half who equally cannot keep his opinions to himself. A thug of a defensive midfielder and goal scorer with a big ego.

Ayew, Veretout, Amavi and Gueye are all nice enough players with decent quality, but the spine we've tried to adorn them on is as brittle as a wet wheatabix.

There needs to be a root and branch change of the inatingle qualities we miss; leadership, attitude and arrogance. Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Clark; they may all have the capability to do well in the second division or play as ad hoc squad players for a good Premier League side, but none of them are capable of doing what is required. They need to be lead and it's high time we brought a reliable spine.

[mr underhill]

were you invertebrated when you wrote this?

[ChicagoLion]

Garde should use the rest of the season to find out who wants to play for us and is good enough. In the summer clear out all the deadwood and rebuild. If the club puts the block on him i expect he'll walk.

Agree.They should be planning the clear out and identifying targets now.
I hope that the majority of this squad is let go.

[tomd2103]

We need a new spine; literally and figuratively. Strong willed, narky, opinionated players of good quality right up the middle. A loudmouth keeper, a brutish and dominating centre half who equally cannot keep his opinions to himself. A thug of a defensive midfielder and goal scorer with a big ego.

Ayew, Veretout, Amavi and Gueye are all nice enough players with decent quality, but the spine we've tried to adorn them on is as brittle as a wet wheatabix.

There needs to be a root and branch change of the inatingle qualities we miss; leadership, attitude and arrogance. Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Clark; they may all have the capability to do well in the second division or play as ad hoc squad players for a good Premier League side, but none of them are capable of doing what is required. They need to be lead and it's high time we brought a reliable spine.

Totally agree and it becomes more apparent by the game.  The lack of leadership on the field is stark.

[adrenachrome]

We need a new spine; literally and figuratively. Strong willed, narky, opinionated players of good quality right up the middle. A loudmouth keeper, a brutish and dominating centre half who equally cannot keep his opinions to himself. A thug of a defensive midfielder and goal scorer with a big ego.

Ayew, Veretout, Amavi and Gueye are all nice enough players with decent quality, but the spine we've tried to adorn them on is as brittle as a wet wheatabix.

There needs to be a root and branch change of the inatingle qualities we miss; leadership, attitude and arrogance. Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Clark; they may all have the capability to do well in the second division or play as ad hoc squad players for a good Premier League side, but none of them are capable of doing what is required. They need to be lead and it's high time we brought a reliable spine.

Spot on.

[LeeB]

We need a new spine; literally and figuratively. Strong willed, narky, opinionated players of good quality right up the middle. A loudmouth keeper, a brutish and dominating centre half who equally cannot keep his opinions to himself. A thug of a defensive midfielder and goal scorer with a big ego.

Ayew, Veretout, Amavi and Gueye are all nice enough players with decent quality, but the spine we've tried to adorn them on is as brittle as a wet wheatabix.

There needs to be a root and branch change of the inatingle qualities we miss; leadership, attitude and arrogance. Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Clark; they may all have the capability to do well in the second division or play as ad hoc squad players for a good Premier League side, but none of them are capable of doing what is required. They need to be lead and it's high time we brought a reliable spine.

You're not wrong there lad.

[Hillbilly]

Some of the posts above seem to come from the English 'commitment and fight' school of management. Shouting and looking angry is not leadership.

[olaftab]

We need a new spine; literally and figuratively. Strong willed, narky, opinionated players of good quality right up the middle. A loudmouth keeper, a brutish and dominating centre half who equally cannot keep his opinions to himself. A thug of a defensive midfielder and goal scorer with a big ego.
Ayew, Veretout, Amavi and Gueye are all nice enough players with decent quality, but the spine we've tried to adorn them on is as brittle as a wet wheatabix.
There needs to be a root and branch change of the inatingle qualities we miss; leadership, attitude and arrogance. Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Clark; they may all have the capability to do well in the second division or play as ad hoc squad players for a good Premier League side, but none of them are capable of doing what is required. They need to be lead and it's high time we brought a reliable spine.

Rubbish. We just need a little tinkering with may be a couple of players from the Belgian second division and we will be cooking on gas. Riley knows what he is doing and we are lucky to have him as head of our recruitment.

[Richard E]

We need a new spine; literally and figuratively. Strong willed, narky, opinionated players of good quality right up the middle. A loudmouth keeper, a brutish and dominating centre half who equally cannot keep his opinions to himself. A thug of a defensive midfielder and goal scorer with a big ego.

Ayew, Veretout, Amavi and Gueye are all nice enough players with decent quality, but the spine we've tried to adorn them on is as brittle as a wet wheatabix.

There needs to be a root and branch change of the inatingle qualities we miss; leadership, attitude and arrogance. Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Clark; they may all have the capability to do well in the second division or play as ad hoc squad players for a good Premier League side, but none of them are capable of doing what is required. They need to be lead and it's high time we brought a reliable spine.

'A dirty Scottish git' as I seem to remember the type of player we need being described in H and V many moons ago.

[nick harper]

I do not understand the 'right manager at the wrong time' comment. Yes, may be when he came in but now he is certainly the right manager to rebuild us.  The chance of staying up was very slim and with the constant injuries, together with poor attitude we are seeing now and not least bringing in players, it was in reality near impossible.  As fans, we always think there is a chance and I have been as optimistic as most but the writing has been on the wall. Just look at the options for the front six at the moment. On Sunday, it ran to the six Garde picked plus Sinclair. We have a couple of options at the back but that's about it.

Going forward we need a technical manager that can build a side on the right principles, not somebody that can just shout. We have a poor squad and shouting may work for a run of games but what then. In recent years, the teams that have come up have generally been 'footballing' sides or fast counter attacking. Yes, they have been hard to beat but that has been because they have taken the game to the opposition, not because they just battled.

I feel Garde is the right man but needs the support of the Board in being able to do things as he sees fit. That doesn't mean spending lots of money but allowing him to weed out the wasters and poor players.

I think he'll be the right man next season if he can get his back room staff from Lyon in the summer. They may turn out to be the most important signings on the assumption the club give him the assurances over the changes he wants to make. I think they are very important to the way he manages.

The decisions the club makes in the next 3/4 months will determine whether we will have the tools to come straight back or whether we are out of this league for a long time.

[KevinGage]

Aye.  How brutish was Paul McGrath?

George Gavin always used to have a thing about needing a nasty, hairy arsed Jock in midfield, but the only thugs we had on the books that I can recall were Noel Blake and Robert Hopkins, and they found a more fitting stage for their talent in the end. 

Dennis Mortimer, Sid Cowans and then later Richardson and Townsend were all midfielders who could do the ugly stuff, but they were good players first and foremost.

It's good players we are lacking.