Manager suggestions - Now with added poll

[ozzjim]

I voted Koeman because he’s out of work and has built a team in the past. Did a great job at Southampton and hasn’t become a bad manager all of a sudden. I don’t see Bielsa at this stage of his life /career as what we need right now. Rodgers isn’t leaving Celtic where it’s not even a challenge and they love him. Dyche maybe but he won’t leave now for sure. And forget Paul Clement. He gets fired all the time as manager.

Koeman benefitted from the work Pochettino did at Southampton. They got lucky Everton paid big bucks for him when they did, by all accounts a man that saw himself too big for that job is unlikely to ingratiate himself with our fans.

I understand the people saying no to Smith on the basis that Brentford are mid table, but even when they started the season slowly, they were creating more chances and playing other sides off the park every week. He has created a really good side that know how they are expected to play each week, and had to sell their better players to do so. I think he would do very well for us and the squad we have.

I have seen a few suggest Bilic, but hes done very little in club football to actually create a side and style of play etc that I can see.

Rodgers would be amazing, but won't leave Celtic unless he had a pot of gold and real opportunity to carry through a project, and with FFP we are screwed on that front.

Lee Johnson looks a hell of a good young manager, but something about him reminds me of the Paul Jewell/ Paul Lambert type of manager, maybe he has it right at 1 club but would not be able to replicate it. Could be worth a good look though, and we were rumoured to be interested last time.

Terry we need in the team, so not yet!

Which brings me back to Jokanovic. Won promotion before, created a good side on nothing at Fulham, plays very attractive football and seems to have an eye for a player. I reckon he would be ready for a move too. Between him and Smith for me.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Had a look at the Swansea betting list, as probably that's a similar market to where we might be shopping.

I don't get the love-in with Dean Smith. He manages a bang average-at-best side, no more. So they beat Villa, so do Cardiff, but no-one wants Colin. So will Middlesbrough (probably) but no-one wants Pulis.
Dr Tony wants us to be Premier League plus, so appoint an experienced PL manager. Sell the vision Tony, and they will come. Then you can extend the infrastructure, but without a team worth the name, not gonna happen.
Spend money on the correct objectives,  for God's sake, don't give Bruce any more!

Well, as he's a Villa man, you'd hope he would give a shit about us, and understand what the club needs and the fans want.

Also, he's keeping Brentford far above their budget and typical status - pound-for-pound he's doing incredibly well. 

Even if he was just basically competent at picking a balanced team and organising it, he'd be a step up from pretty much every manager since Houllier.


That said, I suspect he'd just be digging his managerial grave coming here (as will almost anyone who takes up the Villa job).

[mr underhill]

so we're fucked, right?

[JUAN PABLO]

if we ever did get dean Smith , he would save us £10 million straight away as he would know how to get Hogan to score goals . He can bring Rico Henry and Ryan woods with him and grab us a Canos type signing too and feck off Snodgrass .

[Mister E]

I think it is too early for Smith.
Would Jokanovic come to Villa? - not sure.
At this moment in time, I think it has to be someone like Koeman or de Boer: both have experience of working in clubs where the academy is taken seriously and seen as a genuine feeder for the first-team squad; both are 'serious' candidates; both see beyond the narrow confines of the English game; both will bring some gravitas to the role and have credibility within the club

[brian green]

The ongoing debate about the loss of Terry and Kodjia started me thinking that I really would like a manager with persuasive skills.  Somebody to get what he wants by charm, guile and diplomacy.. Another SGT if you will.  When Kodjia wanted to go to the ACON despite the Villa doctors advising against it, it would have been good if we had had a manager who could have made him change his mind.  Likewise when Nathan Baker wanted away it would have been good to have had a manager able to get him to stay.   A good communicator with the players.

[Toronto Villa]

We don’t what conversations took place though Brian. Is it any different to SGT not being able to get McGrath to give up alcohol? You know he must have tried and just ended up being good counsel and working with Paul to battle the demons. A good negotiator isn’t always successful and with Kodjia it was his first big national tournament. With Baker he just wanted to start and Bruce couldn’t guarantee it.

[Clampy]

I'm not sure we had any choice in regards to the Kodjia one. Besides, that is a tournament every African player would want to play in.

[chrisw1]

Anybody seriously think Rodgers will consider us over Celtic?

Of course not.  Very few decent managers currently in a job would jump ship at this time of the season.

[brian green]

Maybe you are right, maybe not.  Steve Bruce does not, and never has, come across to me as somebody who could talk a player into putting the club before his personal interests.  It is not easy but it is what good management is all about.  I put Nathan Baker in the same bracket as Marc Albrighton and Gary Cahill.  It would not have taken that much more to get them to stay.  Johnny Kodjia would have been a harder nut to crack but it was never going to be achieved by blunt, northern, Anglo Saxon Steve Bruce.

[john e]

Anybody seriously think Rodgers will consider us over Celtic?

Of course not.  Very few decent managers currently in a job would jump ship at this time of the season.

Scottish Football management is a bit like managing one of the home nations everyone pretends its a massive job until you get offered a proper one

Didn’t Lennon swap Celtic for Bolton like Coleman ditched the Welsh for Sunderland as soon as it came up

[cheltenhamlion]

Bielsa would take the job. Jokanovic would come tomorrow. Flores would be interested. If we pot Bruce and the answer is Monk, or Smith, or Hurst at Shrewsbury, or Lee Johnson, or Redknapp, or whoever the fuck else from these isles I won't be impressed.

For every Dyche there are 20 Sherwood's. We need a tactically astute bloke from the continent, who is solid of mind on how we should play, and will not be overawed by expectations at a big club.

You could get a Bielsa,  a Koeman, a Cocu. Please God not someone whose biggest managerial exploit is Shrewsbury though. They might turn out great but we need someone to walk in with a plan, gravitas in the dressing room and who is pretty confident they are great as well.

[SoccerHQ]

I do smile at all these credible european coaches. Where was the ambition to get a Bielsa type when we'd finished 6th in the premier league three times in 2010?

I think that was the time to tempt them, not below that position in the championship.

John Terry is too valuable for us on the pitch to mess around with him as player manager. That used to be all the rage in the 90s (Gullit, Vialli, Strachan, Bryan Robson) but you hardly see anyone take on the duel role now as it's just too time-consuming.

Likely candidates for me are Dean Smith, Karanka, Alex Neil and yes maybe Jokanovic aswell as Fulham are underachieving a bit and he dosen't like the way they do transfers.

Outsider would be someone like Graham Potter. Done a magnificent job at Osterunds if you look them up, not just in Sweden but they're through to the europa league knock outs and will play Arsenal next round.

[john e]

I'm not sure we had any choice in regards to the Kodjia one. Besides, that is a tournament every African player would want to play in.

Yep, I don’t blame Bruce for any of that either

I actually think it’s wrong to try and make a player stay against his will
if a player wants to play international football he should be allowed to without being made to feel guilty about it

[SoccerHQ]

Don't FIFA ban players from playing for clubs during the tournament if they suspect it's not a genuine injury? Sure there's been examples of that.