Did Remi influence our summer spending?

[TB]

Is it possible that the board already had decided what kind of recruitment policy the club needed in order to improve year-on-year? The up-and-at-them guy they hired last year to salvage the season did in fact manage to avoid the drop (even though there could be plenty of others that might do so, given the chance...)
If he also could get the best out of the new crop of recruits: great. Keep him on until he's found out. If not: "Well, thank you, you did what you were required to do: keep us up. Now, you've had your chance to prove yourself, and you blew it. Thank you, and bye-bye. Now, we're going to find the guy that actually will be able to bring the best out of our new squad." And they might just possibly have a couple of French candidates in mind?

Or am I attributing way too much intelligence/cunning to the board?

Not attributing too much of the sort to our last manager incumbent...

[DeeBoy1]

This is where my head was and I imagine what Toronto was suggesting may not be too far fetched. I'm not convinced that Remi directly bought players but to label any conversation about a recruitment policy which may have had someone in mind other than Sherwood as completely ridiculous is pretty unfair.

[damon loves JT]

to say Eddie's suggestion is the most ridiculous thing ever read on here is beyond harsh in my opinion.

This is true, it's not even in my top 50

[Dave]

This is where my head was and I imagine what Toronto was suggesting may not be too far fetched. I'm not convinced that Remi directly bought players but to label any conversation about a recruitment policy which may have had someone in mind other than Sherwood as completely ridiculous is pretty unfair.

I don't think that anybody is denying that the recruitment policy might have been to benefit a manager other than Sherwood, and I don't think that anybody has labelled that suggestion as ridiculous - that's a mile away though from Rémi Garde 'instigating the French spending spree'.

Which is ridiculous.

[damon loves JT]

Can we have a poll?

1. Ridiculous
2. Not ridiculous
3. Back, and to the left
4. Creepy janitor

[dave.woodhall]

How about - they were working in a market with which they were familiar, both for players and then a manager?

[Villa in Denmark]

Sherwood himself at one point over the summer that the reason we were buying players from primarily France was because there was far more value for money than buying British.

So there was a strategy that we would buy players that would cover any one of 3 scenarios.

1. Players and club develop in tandem and send us shooting up the league. Everyone's happy.
2. Players develop faster than club progresses. A good percentage of the players "do a Benteke" for us and allow us to repeat the trick for free in 2/3 years time. Players very happy. Club financially happy. Supporters "will things ever bloody change"
3. The playing side goes to rat shit and we end up finally swirling down the plughole. We're in a position where any players that want out / need to go can go without completely banjaxing the finances in terms of writing off value, bit on the flip side we can probably afford to keep most of them, as Newcastle did.  Nobody's happy but at least we aren't reliant on Randy's benevolence to keep the club solvent again.

The players may well have been brought in to fit an overall philosophy of how Fox & co want the club to be run and fit within the playing style that Reilly and Almstadt settle / have settled on to see us through future manager shifts. (Unless Remi is the new Wenger / Ferguson and decides to stay at Villa Park for a couple of decades.) but that's not the same as saying that they were bought with the express intention that they'd be there waiting for Garde come late October, or that Garde himself helped pick them.

That kind of guff belongs to the lost and not lamented Conspiracy Theories thread.

[PeterWithe]

Sherwoods reign was like Scooby Doo, started very strongly, dropped off when Scrappy was involved and became unwatchable when the daft redneck one with the White fur turned up.

[DeeBoy1]

This is where my head was and I imagine what Toronto was suggesting may not be too far fetched. I'm not convinced that Remi directly bought players but to label any conversation about a recruitment policy which may have had someone in mind other than Sherwood as completely ridiculous is pretty unfair.

I don't think that anybody is denying that the recruitment policy might have been to benefit a manager other than Sherwood, and I don't think that anybody has labelled that suggestion as ridiculous - that's a mile away though from Rémi Garde 'instigating the French spending spree'.

Which is ridiculous.

I agree, I think I just felt a bit sorry for Eddie and was over zealous in my protection of him...! I certainly don't think Remi instigated the French spending spree. It wouldn't surprise me though if feelers had gone out to him and Fox and co were confident that if the Gillet experiment went tits up after 10 games or so there was a very warm lead waiting in the wings who would happily fit in with the recruitment.

[DeeBoy1]

Can we have a poll?

1. Ridiculous
2. Not ridiculous
3. Back, and to the left
4. Creepy janitor

I think the man on the moon peering into little girls' windows in the John Lewis ad is a creepy janitor but that's another story...

[damon loves JT]

Can we have a poll?

1. Ridiculous
2. Not ridiculous
3. Back, and to the left
4. Creepy janitor

I think the man on the moon peering into little girls' windows in the John Lewis ad is a creepy janitor but that's another story...

You mean #moonpaedo

[Percy McCarthy]

This is where my head was and I imagine what Toronto was suggesting may not be too far fetched. I'm not convinced that Remi directly bought players but to label any conversation about a recruitment policy which may have had someone in mind other than Sherwood as completely ridiculous is pretty unfair.

I don't think that anybody is denying that the recruitment policy might have been to benefit a manager other than Sherwood, and I don't think that anybody has labelled that suggestion as ridiculous - that's a mile away though from Rémi Garde 'instigating the French spending spree'.

Which is ridiculous.

I agree, I think I just felt a bit sorry for Eddie and was over zealous in my protection of him...! I certainly don't think Remi instigated the French spending spree. It wouldn't surprise me though if feelers had gone out to him and Fox and co were confident that if the Gillet experiment went tits up after 10 Ganges or so there was a very warm lead waiting in the wings who would happily fit in with the recruitment.

Oh fuck, not again.

[passitsideways]

This is where my head was and I imagine what Toronto was suggesting may not be too far fetched. I'm not convinced that Remi directly bought players but to label any conversation about a recruitment policy which may have had someone in mind other than Sherwood as completely ridiculous is pretty unfair.

I don't think that anybody is denying that the recruitment policy might have been to benefit a manager other than Sherwood, and I don't think that anybody has labelled that suggestion as ridiculous - that's a mile away though from Rémi Garde 'instigating the French spending spree'.

Which is ridiculous.

I agree, I think I just felt a bit sorry for Eddie and was over zealous in my protection of him...! I certainly don't think Remi instigated the French spending spree. It wouldn't surprise me though if feelers had gone out to him and Fox and co were confident that if the Gillet experiment went tits up after 10 Ganges or so there was a very warm lead waiting in the wings who would happily fit in with the recruitment.

Oh fuck, not again.

It's as if people do it on purpose just to set it off.

[purpletrousers]

I agree, I think I just felt a bit sorry for Eddie and was over zealous in my protection of him...! I certainly don't think Remi instigated the French spending spree. It wouldn't surprise me though if feelers had gone out to him and Fox and co were confident that if the Gillet experiment went tits up after 10 Ganges or so there was a very warm lead waiting in the wings who would happily fit in with the recruitment.

I think it's more likely we were measuring our success by multiple Indian rivers. I think if it'd got as far as 10 Ganges and an Indus, then there really would have been no hope.

An alternative theory could be, much as supporters have clamoured for a more thought out strategy a la Southampton/Swansea, where managers are recruited to fit an uber plan (perhaps even style), where we aren't chucking daft fees & wages at aged not-quite-stars, and even managers can change without having to re-start the project all over, we might have actually done exactly that.

I think Villa in Denmark (and others) already called this. More interestingly was the ViD tantaliser of could Notre Rémi be our Wenger/Ferguson. After my irrational cup final optimism I have learned to pay no heed whatsoever so my villa intuition, but, I do have this very unfamiliar experience happening. I'm not sure, but I think it's called something like hope.

 

[Toronto Villa]

How about - they were working in a market with which they were familiar, both for players and then a manager?

are you suggesting that we had some kind of plan? That we have now executed, somewhat luckily (or unluckily given our position in the table).

I do happen to think that we moved ahead with our plan irrespective of what Sherwood had in mind. They gave him a couple of wins but ultimately it was this is the direction, live with it. And if it didn't work, then firing him was always an option to help secure part II of the plan.