Next Villa manager

[The Edge]

The noses that I know are dreading Brucie getting the job and they all think he will be a big success at Villa Park.
If it pisses them off then I'm all for it.

[paul_e]

Even the midfield isn't as bad as some are suggesting.  The issue is I don't think we have the fitness levels in there.  Tish is great but picks up too many injuries to be relied on as the main man and then Jedinak and Gardner both look as if they'd be best off playing an hour and being replaced.  The only one who is always available and lasts 90 minutes is Westwood but his lack of mobility is a problem, especially if the guy alongside him gets tired.

If we'd been battered by teams regularly I'd share the concerns but the truth is that we've thrown away lots of points by running out of gas late in games and getting caught by a sucker punch.  Fix that and we'd be around the playoffs, not the position of a team that is so fundamentally weak in midfield that they can't compete.  The big issue for me was that RDM just couldn't see that the midfield were tiring and dropping deeper and deeper.  Bring someone like Lyden on for half an hour and tell him to give it everything he can and challenge for every ball and you're halfway there.

I do want a midfielder or 2 but I honestly don't think it's massive talent black hole that some are suggesting.

[Des Little]

The beauty of forums like this is that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and free to air it (providing they're not sensitive by nature!), however I'm looking at these posts and seeing folks who are explaining their reason why Bruce isn't the man, which is fine, however it would really add to the discussion if some were to give us an idea of who their choice would be.  I've just leafed through the last ten pages or so, and there are precious little alternatives being offered for discussion.

[brian green]

How about Wagner, Rowett, Smith and Johnson for starters.  They have only fallen out of the posts because it looks like a done deal and those of us who think we should be trying to do better are accused of snivelling.

[Des Little]

Brian, I agree about Rowett 100%, but do you really think he'd get the backing from fans coming straight from there? Bruce left them ten years ago and he's still viewed as the anti-Christ by many. The 'unproven/club too big' tag would be thrown at both Wagner and Johnson and I'll be honest and confess I don't know which Smith you refer to!  I wanted Warnock, which was obviously not well received but it's all about opinions...

EDIT - Just realised.  Dean Smith.

[AVH87]

If we'd been battered by teams regularly I'd share the concerns but the truth is that we've thrown away lots of points by running out of gas late in games and getting caught by a sucker punch.  Fix that and we'd be around the playoffs, not the position of a team that is so fundamentally weak in midfield that they can't compete.  The big issue for me was that RDM just couldn't see that the midfield were tiring and dropping deeper and deeper.  Bring someone like Lyden on for half an hour and tell him to give it everything he can and challenge for every ball and you're halfway there.

I do want a midfielder or 2 but I honestly don't think it's massive talent black hole that some are suggesting.

I really think it's been more than just a sucker punch in the majority of games. Huddersfield and Brentford at home we were poor for large parts/all of the second half and neither goal came as a surprise, Barnsley away I'm led to believe we were poor also. It's only the Forest game where the equaliser could really be described as a sucker punch for me.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Des, I think we've been resigned to Bruce being our new manager since Saturday. Now it's just a case of trying to find stats to defend him, commenting on how handsome he now is and how crap we are whilst avoiding all sharp objects. Very similar to our previous new manager thread in fact.

[KevinGage]

This idea that we can take a few seasons out to get the structures right and bounce back really is quite fanciful.

We have a significant advantage this season as far as the parachute payments are concerned. Hence the Dr front loading our spending in an attempt to get back at the first attempt.

We don't exist in a bubble, so sitting it out for a season or two (or seven, as was the case with Southampton) and experimenting with young up and coming managers stands a better than average chance of seeing even more sides eclipse us. 

As for the appeal to 'do something different' and go for a long-term appointment; Lambert, Sherwood and Garde were all intended to be long-term appointments judging by their length of contract. That they ended up being short-term was as much down to their own limitations as anything else. 

[Hookeysmith]

Whoever the manager is to be (and its looking pretty much nailed on Bruce) they are at least inheriting a decent squad to work with, even if their fitness levels need work.

I wonder however why it is taking so long with Bruce as he is a free agent. Surely they saw the writing on the wall with RDM and would have started the process of sounding people out before him biting the bullet?

I know Bruce is limited and I know his limits could still see him successfully get us at least into the play offs. My biggest issue is that I, like many thousands sang, "sit down potato head" at every visit to VP - I feel a real hypocrite now thinking I will support him as if nothing happened before. The other worry is that a huge part of his career so far was with Eric Black, and we certainly don't want that clown back

[Toronto Villa]

I agree with that Kev. We need to be playing PL football next season so the club seems to be going down the pragmatic path of appointing someone who on many occasions has achieved promotion. Once we get back up either Bruce will remain in charge and do better than he has done with his previous clubs or we will find ourselves at a standstill and have to push on again with someone new. It's not about hiring him to fire him. It's about hiring him to achieve the most immediate objective in front of us. And I imagine Xia is keen to recoup a lot of his investment that can only happen once he has the exposure of the PL.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

I'm mellowing. If it's Bruce, it's Bruce.

Awww. You're just a big old soppy. You'll be sending Owen Smith a Christmas card next.

[john e]

for me its no different to the appointment of Mcliesh

same style football, same sort of record, same sort of teams managed, same sort of age, same old boy network, same well everything really

I didn't want Mcliesh, i didn't stop supporting Villa obviously but i hated every minute he was in charge, and looked forward to the day he went, and i actually liked him as a person

so i know the other managers we have had since have been no better some even worse,
 but the difference for me is with RDM, Lambert, Garde, Sherwood i didn't know how they were going to do,
 i didn't really know what the football was going to be like and i had hope, that hope was dashed and ended up being no hope but initially there was some hope

with Mcliesh i had no hope, i knew exactly what we were getting, i didn't want him and i said so at the time, with Bruce its exactly the same for me, i know exactly what we are getting and i don't want him
the big difference this time is we are championship, maybe people settle for less i don't know but that's the way i see it

Mcliesh was Randy's pick and i can only put it down to an complete aberration on his part what makes this 10 times worse is we are going back for second helpings

[Toronto Villa]

Whoever the manager is to be (and its looking pretty much nailed on Bruce) they are at least inheriting a decent squad to work with, even if their fitness levels need work.

I wonder however why it is taking so long with Bruce as he is a free agent. Surely they saw the writing on the wall with RDM and would have started the process of sounding people out before him biting the bullet?

I know Bruce is limited and I know his limits could still see him successfully get us at least into the play offs. My biggest issue is that I, like many thousands sang, "sit down potato head" at every visit to VP - I feel a real hypocrite now thinking I will support him as if nothing happened before. The other worry is that a huge part of his career so far was with Eric Black, and we certainly don't want that clown back

I think they had to look at other options and also once they identified it was to be Bruce he might have certain personnel demands. I'm sure Atkins joining isn't just coincidental and they might be looking to secure Agnew. But I imagine this will all be done by Wednesday and Bruce is already looking at DVDs of our players and performances from this season.

[OCD]

The noses that I know are dreading Brucie getting the job and they all think he will be a big success at Villa Park.
If it pisses them off then I'm all for it.

The one I spoke to this morning saw it as a betrayal that he's even thinking of coming here. I pointed out that he's out of work with the chance of a multi-million pound contract - can you blame him? The Bluenose just shrugged his shoulders as a response.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

Whoever the manager is to be (and its looking pretty much nailed on Bruce) they are at least inheriting a decent squad to work with, even if their fitness levels need work.

I wonder however why it is taking so long with Bruce as he is a free agent. Surely they saw the writing on the wall with RDM and would have started the process of sounding people out before him biting the bullet?

I know Bruce is limited and I know his limits could still see him successfully get us at least into the play offs. My biggest issue is that I, like many thousands sang, "sit down potato head" at every visit to VP - I feel a real hypocrite now thinking I will support him as if nothing happened before. The other worry is that a huge part of his career so far was with Eric Black, and we certainly don't want that clown back

surely we can still sing that, that's the only positive in the appointment