Dr T has pulled the trigger

[brian green]

Osmosis is a very slow process.  I would like to see the owner put a £50 million rocket up his trouser leg.

[Clampy]

Like someone said above, if the internet had been around in 1987, people would have been wanting Sir Graham out after a similar start. 2 years later, he nearly won us the title. I do think a bit more patience is needed, especially after what an absolute mess we were last season.

Maybe.  So you're guaranteeing that RDM's career path is going to take the same trajectory as Taylor's?  If it doesn't, at which point do you stop insulting fellow posters for holding a different opinion to you?

I'm not guaranteeing anything. No-one knew how successful Graham was going to be and that's my point. And I haven't insulted anybody, i'm just disagreeing with some people's posts, like you are with mine. That's the way it works.

[pbavfckuwait]

Results will dictate his future, as they should, but for all these saying give him time, when you have a fire in the corner of the room, how big do you let it become before you call the fire brigade, we have a recent record of allowing the walls and ceiling to catch fire, before we set off the alarm.

[Chris Smith]

I think there is a danger of over analysing making us see things that are not there. A combination of injuries, late signings and a general getting to know each other period coupled with a large dollop of bad luck (hitting the woodwork and bizarre goals conceded from keepers kicks) has put us in a worse position than our efforts have deserved. This has consequently transferred to an understandably jittery set of fans. Getting rid now would just add to the sense of panic and ratchet up the pressure on the squad further when what they need is a period of stability while they turn themselves from a recently assembled bunch of individuals into a coherent team.

[Clampy]

Results will dictate his future, as they should, but for all these saying give him time, when you have a fire in the corner of the room, how big do you let it become before you call the fire brigade, we have a recent record of allowing the walls and ceiling to catch fire, before we set off the alarm.

In fairness, we sacked two managers last season when it wasn't working. The only one we gave too much time to was Lambert who should have gone way before he did. I'm not sure 8 games is a fair crack of the whip.

[Monty]

It is too early to get rid of him. We have to go through a bad run of form at some point even if we're winning the title - the hope is it just happens to have come at the beginning of the season by coincidence/circumstance.

Nonetheless, I find myself calming down in the days following each match, thinking 'oh it's not all that bad, there's this and that and the other, it'll get better' - then matchday rolls round again and I'm reminded why I was so pissed off in the first place. It's a really really bad run.

[aj2k77]

Sacking him would be pretty daft I think. Who on earth do you think will come in who's better?

He's got to have at least til Xmas.

You can't sack someone after a handful of games.

No you're right and we shouldn't. The internet brings out the impaitence in some fans though.

What does the internet have to do with winning 4 in 48? Obvious selection errors, formation errors, playing people out of position and being around the bottom of the championship? We've also won 3 away games in 2 years. It's nothing to do with the internet stop being patronising.

[Clampy]

Sacking him would be pretty daft I think. Who on earth do you think will come in who's better?

He's got to have at least til Xmas.

You can't sack someone after a handful of games.

No you're right and we shouldn't. The internet brings out the impaitence in some fans though.

What does the internet have to do with winning 4 in 48? Obvious selection errors, formation errors, playing people out of position and being around the bottom of the championship? We've also won 3 away games in 2 years. It's nothing to do with the internet stop being patronising.

I think it's a valid point and I don't think it's patronising. People were moaning before a ball had been kicked yesterday. Its not just on here, you only have to read some on the stuff Dr Tony gets tweeted to him and he's only been here 5 minutes.

[mr underhill]

you can colour it anyway you like - fact is he has to start leading soon and winning matches, otherwise he's history. I don't give a shiny shite about hitting woodwork, injuries, time to gel ; all that shit is the same for every team in the league and with one exception, none of them have spend what we have. Newcastle have gone through as much upheaval as we have and look where they are in the table compared to us. No more excuses. Win, end of.

[David_Nab]

I do thing

Internet does nothing more than how fans react in the ground during the match and after the match. This forum exactly reflects the rumblings or otherwise I pick up  at Villa Park.

Let's take yesterday. 10 minutes into the game, someone posts on here 'I wonder what Tony's thoughts are on this' and that was just 10 minutes into the game. Like someone said above, if the internet had been around in 1987, people would have been wanting Sir Graham out after a similar start...

I don't think that's quite right.

Graham Taylor had shown himself to be one of the best managers in the First Division. Him coming to Villa at that time was an enormous coup for the club. He was a popular appointment, and that always buys time with the fanbase - see Lambert.

He also didn't have the luxury of completely rebuilding the side in one summer with the type of financial backing Di Matteo has enjoyed.

Di Matteo could field virtually a full XI of his signings.  Taylor's sides in that opening run of 87/88 were made up of most of the mentally scarred rag tag band who had dragged us down to the Second Division in the first place.

Under normal circumstances, I would say it is perfectly reasonable to say a side that has had so much money spent on it needs time to gel. But our issues this season aren't (for the most part) personnel based. It's fundamental tactical naivety/stupidity from the manager. And that -as we have witnessed all to often- doesn't tend to improve with time.

I really dont think its fair to compare RDM to Taylor , GT wasn't spending vast summers greater than anyone else in league.

My issue isn't just the results /performances its that to me alot of it is down to poor purchasing  the way I see it now unless Tshibola can 1) stay fit 2) live up to the hype from his very  limited championship experience we are going to continue to struggle as the midfield simply isnt good enough and has no variation.

[Matt Collins]

Results will dictate his future, as they should, but for all these saying give him time, when you have a fire in the corner of the room, how big do you let it become before you call the fire brigade, we have a recent record of allowing the walls and ceiling to catch fire, before we set off the alarm.

On the basis of that analogy you'd fire the manager after every defeat on the basis that every fire starts with a spark.

[sickbeggar]

pulling the plug when we're only half into September would be madness. He inherited a squad that was rock bottom in morale and would easily have gotten relegated in this division left as it was. Repairing 5+ years of mismanagement on and off the pitch is not going to be completed in 2 months however much money you throw at it - if the likes of Man U can't buy a winning team then we certainly can't. Will wait to mid-November and if things are going in the right direction, then i'll be happy enough even if we are 15 points off a play-off place

[aj2k77]

If we are 15 pts off a play off place in November we will be touch and go for bottom of the league, how can we be going in the right direction?

[Clampy]

pulling the plug when we're only half into September would be madness. He inherited a squad that was rock bottom in morale and would easily have gotten relegated in this division left as it was. Repairing 5+ years of mismanagement on and off the pitch is not going to be completed in 2 months however much money you throw at it - if the likes of Man U can't buy a winning team then we certainly can't. Will wait to mid-November and if things are going in the right direction, then i'll be happy enough even if we are 15 points off a play-off place

15 points would be too much to be honest but if we're around the play offs going into January, then i'd be happy with that.

[saunders_heroes]

Is it any wonder so many fans are trigger happy after what we've had to go through over the last 6 years. When it comes to patience (something that's called for regularly on here) Villa fans are up there with the best of them.