Next Villa manager

[Dave P]

Graham Taylor had achieved real success though, taking Watford up three divisions, and never going back down. He also finished second in the league, I think. A phenomenal achievement for a club of their size.

Unlike Bruce he had never failed anywhere.

I was classing real success as silverware. GT's record was amazing but I'm not sure Bruce has failed anywhere to be fair. The relegations from the prem are with clubs who probably had no right being there in the first place.  Sunderland could be classed a disappointment all things considered.  Getting Wigan to 8th is probably just as phenomenal.

[kippaxvilla2]

'Ogan, the great Jimmy 'Ogan.

[cdbearsfan]

Graham Taylor had achieved real success though, taking Watford up three divisions, and never going back down. He also finished second in the league, I think. A phenomenal achievement for a club of their size.

Unlike Bruce he had never failed anywhere.

I was classing real success as silverware. GT's record was amazing but I'm not sure Bruce has failed anywhere to be fair. The relegations from the prem are with clubs who probably had no right being there in the first place.  Sunderland could be classed a disappointment all things considered.  Getting Wigan to 8th is probably just as phenomenal.

He clearly failed at Sunderland... admittedly everyone does!

He failed at Birmingham and Hull when he got relegated, just as he succeeded at both clubs when he got them up.

That's the thing, it's been an up and down sort of career. Fair enough the ups may outnumber the downs but Taylor had had nothing but success prior to his appointment.

[Jimbo]

There are children of around ten or eleven years old who support us and attend games, and all they've really known is embarrassment, humiliation, disappointment and failure.

By the time I was ten we were champions of Europe.

I feel sorry for those kids, and I think we're going to have to learn how to grind out a few 'boring' agricultural wins to let them feel what winning is like, as they've probably no idea.

You don't suddenly go from being the shittest of the shit to exciting winners just like that. The first step is winning by any means. And time is running out, because if we don't start winning soon, we could end up being the 'biggest club' in the third division.

Yes, of course. And "winning by any means" is more likely if we appoint a top quality manager than it is if we settle for second best as we have done with every managerial appointment since 2010.

Who is this top quality manager who'll come to byword-for-failure-national-joke-and-19th-in-the-Championship-can't-buy-a-win Aston Villa? Who?

Thanks for reminding me where we are in the league. You haven't done that since your last post.

There are plenty of managers who would be willing to come to one-of-the-richest-clubs-in-the-World-who-will-pay-you-loads-of-money-and-give-you-even-more-to-spend.

We are only two-thirds of a good season away from the richest league on the planet.

Of course, if you were conducting the interviews we'd be lucky to attract Billy McNeill's lesser talented brother. You'd just keep saying "do you know we're nineteenth in the league?" every ten seconds until the applicant pretended to need the loo then escaped out of a bathroom window.

However, if Dr Tony is good at selling his vision for our massive club, and happy to pay shitloads of cash, we could attract any number of fantastic managers.

I've already stated my preferences but happy to do so again. Monty talked me out of Mancini so I want Bielsa or Girard.

Maybe you're right. Maybe Bielsa and Girard are tweeting Dr Tony right now, begging to join a club that's been a managers' graveyard for the last five years? They're probably wrestling naked on a bearskin rug in front of a roaring fire for the honour of managing one of the world's richest and biggest clubs.

For the record, I'd love Bielsa too. I hope we get him, I just don't think he'd come right now, for reasons you're now fully, comprehensively, irrevocably aware of.

[Toronto Villa]

Graham Taylor had achieved real success though, taking Watford up three divisions, and never going back down. He also finished second in the league, I think. A phenomenal achievement for a club of their size.

Unlike Bruce he had never failed anywhere.

I was classing real success as silverware. GT's record was amazing but I'm not sure Bruce has failed anywhere to be fair. The relegations from the prem are with clubs who probably had no right being there in the first place.  Sunderland could be classed a disappointment all things considered.  Getting Wigan to 8th is probably just as phenomenal.

Sunderland have been a shitter version of us for the past 20 years now. Even Moyes can't shed them of the stench and like us prior to relegation they are circling the drain. I can see them going down this season.

[cdbearsfan]

Mind you, I reckon Moyes is shit now. He's a busted flush.

[PeterWithesShin]

Ron Saunders had just been sacked for looking like he was going to relegate Man City.

[PaulWinch again]

Graham Taylor had achieved real success though, taking Watford up three divisions, and never going back down. He also finished second in the league, I think. A phenomenal achievement for a club of their size.

Unlike Bruce he had never failed anywhere.

I was classing real success as silverware. GT's record was amazing but I'm not sure Bruce has failed anywhere to be fair. The relegations from the prem are with clubs who probably had no right being there in the first place.  Sunderland could be classed a disappointment all things considered.  Getting Wigan to 8th is probably just as phenomenal.

He clearly failed at Sunderland... admittedly everyone does!

He failed at Birmingham and Hull when he got relegated, just as he succeeded at both clubs when he got them up.

That's the thing, it's been an up and down sort of career. Fair enough the ups may outnumber the downs but Taylor had had nothing but success prior to his appointment.

But his ups are pretty relevant to where we are now. This is why for our current position the appointment makes sense. He might not be suitable if we get promoted, but we have to get there first.

[Pat McMahon]

Spink, Steve Agnew and Stephen Clemence as coaches. Assuming Agnew and Clemence would leave their current jobs.

I don't want Spink - he used to coach the Blues.

Sorry - Have you forgotten 1982?

irony failure

Cheers Chicago.

And they say Americans don't do irony...

[Ron Manager]

Frankly I have got to the point where I couldn't really care if it's Steve Bruce,Steve Clarke or Honey G gets the job....as long as they win a few games and quickly as well!

[Nunkin1965]

Ron Saunders had just been sacked for looking like he was going to relegate Man City.

Wonder what a H&V thread would have  made of his appointment?

[Chris Jameson]

Forgive my ignorance but who are Bielsa and Girard?

[kippaxvilla2]

Billy McNeil had won a European cup and won titles and then was doing okay with Citeh.  It still didn't stop him becoming the worst manager in our history.

[PeterWithesShin]

Bielsa is a nutter that would be great fun, but would never join us. Girard is 62, has never played, managed or coached outside France.

[PaulWinch again]

Forgive my ignorance but who are Bielsa and Girard?

Bielsa quit his most recent job with Lazio after about 3 days. His teams play good football, but he's a touch eccentric.