I couldn't believe that Sherwood was seriously being considered by some fans, but then I looked on Twitter and saw that he was.
Stop the world, I want to get off.
My question about that is if he wanted a big name, why didn't he appoint one in June??
Guidolin??? A bit fresh but I thought his Swansea team looked ok and were definitely playing for him...
The wisdom of Patrick:
Pat Murphy, BBC Radio 5 live
"Aston Villa will operate from a blank sheet of paper after sacking Di Matteo.
"Dr Xia took sole responsibility to dismiss Di Matteo on Saturday after watching the abject 2-0 defeat at Preston on a live television feed in China.
"Now the owner will draw up a defined style of playing and management structure before moving for a replacement. The international break gives him time to re-group and he will be assisted by chief executive Keith Wyness, technical director Steve Round and football consultant Brian Little.
"Among the candidates bound to be considered are Bruce, who is available, and three young, progressive managers - Huddersfield's David Wagner, Bristol City's Lee Johnson and Brentford's Smith - who is a lifelong Villa fan and used to clean the steps on the Holte End with his father.
"I understand Steve McClaren is not a likely contender, nor David Moyes, who turned down Villa before joining Sunderland in the summer.
"For now, there's no designated successor to Di Matteo."
Hughton has done well down here at Brighton with relatively little money. They were a shambles before he took over. Previous records shows he knows what he's doing at this level, its the level above that worries me, but maybe we need to learn to crawl before we can walk.
Maybe we should just get O'Neill back. He'd sort us out.
Not a bad shout. Putting aside for one second the fact he's a cnut, he would certainly sort out our midfield problem by bypassing them altogether, as the defenders hoof it straight up the pitch at every opportunity.
The good news is, it won't be Bob Bradley.
Maybe Xia will appoint himself as manager, Michael Knighton at Carlisle-style
It's all a bit surreal isn't it? It does feel a bit early to have pulled the trigger so I wonder if there was something else the manager wasn't impressed with apart from the results and the last two performances? As for who next, I've no idea but it wouldn't surprise me if they're already lined up someone despite what Pat Murphy has said.
The good news is, it won't be Bob Bradley.
I'm also hoping it won't be Ryan Giggs, Tim Sherwood or Neil Warnock!
"Now the owner will draw up a defined style of playing and management structure before moving for a replacement. The international break gives him time to re-group and he will be assisted by chief executive Keith Wyness, technical director Steve Round and football consultant Brian Little.
Terrifying that statement.
I think the something else that motivated Tony Xia in China that does not spread to us is the big hole in his bank account.
Winds me up when I read people saying 'X is good at this level, but then what happens in the Prem?'. We are closer to League 1 than the Prem with the way we are playing!
Unlike many on here I have time for Murphy but he has talked a load of horseshit on Twitter today, saying that we didn't give RDM long enough.
There were no signs whatsoever of anything approaching an acceptable way to manage a team from start to finish, it was regressing in terms of performances.
He talked of the fans expectations being too high. Had we won a few games and were sat mid-table, among the grumbles I believe everyone would be reasonably happy, but after watching on Saturday I would say we are at risk of relegation. That cannot be allowed to happen, not without a fight anyway,
It's not that we didn't give him long enough. He didn't earn the opportunity to be given longer. We were, and are, getting worse under him.