Manager suggestions - Now with added poll

[brian green]

I am not suggesting that a player should not want to play for his country but they are professionals.  Would it have been too wrong a move to put it to Kodjia that more lasting damage done by playing in the ACON could easily prejudice his future financial prospects.  Bigger contracts with "bigger" clubs.  Being out of the football spotlight for a season and a half is almost as detrimental to the player as his club.  It's all water under the bridge.

[PeterWithesShin]

It was a shit or bust World Cup qualifier, I doubt anyone or anything would have stopped him going.

[IFWaters]

I think he's probably got 2 more games to get a win but I do think Bruce will be fired at the start of January. He just isnt doing what is expected of him, the dross football is one thing, but he was supposed to be grinding our way up the league by now and he looks lost.

By then the automatic spots will be out of sight and we will need someone who can raise the existing squad plus possibly 1-2 loanees to get into the playoffs and win a 4 team tournament. The skills of building a team, youth development , transfer market experience etc are all great but skills that are useless or inapplicable until the summer (if FFP allows it). So unfashionable although it is I would go for a short term mix of a very experienced manager twinned with the on-pitch leadership of John Terry as assistant manager. Lets throw in Carlo Ancelotti as a nice name currently on a career break just to pep it up.

[Simon Page]

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

At some point soon Rodgers will go. He's done everything and won everything you ever will with a Scottish team. He has a ridiculously high pressure job for a club that might have the supporter base of Barcelona but can only ever be Rapid Vienna or FC Basel. A few glorious European nights aside, they aren't going to play on the biggest stages.

The question is would we be his best offer at the time he wants to try something new. I don't think his stock is that high down here. He never gets mentioned as first choice when Prem teams sack someone and he has a tie against Zenit as his only real challenge on the horizon. If the package was attractive, any boss of Rangers or Celtic would move south.

[dorsetvillian]

Eddie Howe

[CT Villan]

Granted Bielsa's reputation has been tarnished by Lille, but if you look at his stats when he gets it right his win % is >50%. He seems lately to get it right every second club, so this could be the perfect time to get him in

I say no to Smith and the other Championship managers - if we have learned nothing from recent managerial appointments, the pressure and expectation can quickly ruin managers that lack experience and self-belief, the job is clearly be too big for some.

If it had to be Dyche or Rodgers, or maybe Howe then so be it. I'm not sure about Koeman or De Boer though.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Granted Bielsa's reputation has been tarnished by Lille, but if you look at his stats when he gets it right his win % is >50%. He seems lately to get it right every second club, so this could be the perfect time to get him in

If we hired Bielsa I would be genuinely excited about the club for the first time in ages.

[mr underhill]

there's more chance of Dr T recruiting Father Christmas than bringing in a grade A nut job like Bielsa

[Mister E]

As has been said on other threads, we need a builder-craftsman, not a journeyman. The job description should include:
- experience of working in clubs where the academy is taken seriously and seen as a genuine feeder for the first-team squad
- 'serious' candidates, with experience of building teams and winning with teams
- able to see beyond the narrow confines of the English game
- bring some gravitas to the role and able to develop their own personal credibility within the club
- acknowledge our past but recognise what it takes to develop a credible and successful future

If you apply this specc to the long list of possible candidates, I think either Koeman and de Boer would make a good fit.
I'd add Edie Howe and Sean Dyche but believe that both would be far out of reach at this time.

[paul_e]

Bielsa is unlikely but he is the sort of character we need, someone who has an established way of doing the job and has the confidence to just implement that wherever he is and whatever the circumstances.  Lille (and a few other clubs) show that it doesn't always work but I'd be willing to guarantee that he's left a better coached squad behind even at the clubs where his tactics fail.

[john e]

the only time I ever see the name Bielsa mentioned anywhere is on this site

to me he’s like the Detectorists or Breaking Bad off the TV, I only started watching them because of the recommendations of H&V

so if Bielsa is as good as the tv recommends then let’s go get him, if only Wyness reads this site because he won’t have a clue who he is either




 

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Not that I think it will happen but if we are going to comment on Bielsa we should at least understand the circumstances to what happened at Lille. There's a good summary here.

It's pretty pointless hiring him unless you're prepared to give him the control he demands and support him financially with his transfer targets. To do the exact opposite was only going to end one way.

[Meanwood Villa]

Reading that article it sounds like he'd be a disastrous appointment.

[luke95]

Dean Smith for me .
It's just him being a Villa fan is my only worry the pressure for him to succeed would be immense.
Could make him , could break him . I'd give him 3 yrs at least , it's time to take the gamble .

[Steve67]

Michael O'Neill?  or his brother, Martin? ;-)