Dean Smith - Confirmed

[OzVilla]

Comparisons with Lambert are unfair. Smith has been naive and in my opinion we should be doing better with this squad but Lambert was on another level when it came to incomprehensible incompetence.

[OzVilla]

That’s a nice way of putting it Brian.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Comparisons with Lambert are unfair. Smith has been naive and in my opinion we should be doing better with this squad but Lambert was on another level when it came to incomprehensible incompetence.

Not sure I agree with that. Lambert did better at Norwich and Colchester than Smith did at Brentford and Walsall.

At no point could Lambert call on a player as talented as Grealish, and he was in a tougher league having to slowly replace the squad with cheap punts circling the bowl closer each season.

Smith had the best squad in a shit league and could throw money at it, plus Grealish and Tammy.

Neither were much good and will be hoping for better next time.

[brian green]

I dislike Lambert intensely but he hog tied himself trying to please Randy Lerner who I think, respectfully, should have never come into football.

[Ads]

Give over. Lambert, bar a brief run in December 2012 brought fuck all but misery. Utter shite.

12 games without a win
Parading his coaching tour to Barca and bringing us the pass back from a goal kick
Getting done 8
Getting done over two legs by a 4th division outfit

When you make Sherwood look like a breath of fresh air, you know you're utter bollocks.

[john e]

managers are the most important appointment at any club

look at Leeds 16 years in the championship with a list as long as your arm of failed mainly British managers

then they finally go out and get Bielsa a top coach, the risk assessment being he was a maverick and unpredictable but who's manager and coaching skills were solid

up in two years
first year play offs second year promoted (i'm taking it for granted now)

so Smith got us up in his first year, so whats the difference between them and us
Leeds now go into the Premier league with a man who wouldn't look out of pace at some of the top clubs in Europe,
easy to say they will come straight back down in the same way we say Leeds always blow it at the end of the season forgetting they have Bielsa now, he actually knows what he's doing at this level

where as we look like going down and there's talk of Sean Dyche or Big Sam

and that's your problem right there, more of the same will never work long term

[Ads]

Bielsa might get Leeds up in two years. Smith did it in less than one season and with the poorest excuse for a defence at the start of his time that we've had in my lifetime.

Dyche has kept a Burnley side up and got them into Europe. Look at their squad, look at their midfield. Why rubbish his achievements which are far greater in the Premier League than Bielsa, who so far, has not managed a single game in the top flight of English football.

Thats your problem there. Assuming that being forrin rather than from iNguRlaNd is a prerequisite for success.

[mattjpa]

getting older, the weekend-crushing Villa defeats have morphed into 10minutes of anger/disappointment followed usually by the decision to not watch any more football all weekend. I cant decide whether its due to a life priority shift and availing years or whether 10 years of this non-stop shit show have numbed me to the point of caring less.
I take a massive amount of comfort in the fact that the most I have enjoyed football since the early MON years was our final season in the championship. Loved the team, the football, the ethos at the club, the management. We are likely down, when it happens it will tell us a lot about our new owners but I would hope the fact that we have tasted it once would stand us in better stead to regain some of that. I would probably keep Smith based on that alone

[Mister E]

Chris Wilder - British manager - has already done what I suspect Bielsa will do: promote a squad of players and have them playing fast, aggressive and mid-table Premier League football in their first season in the EPL.
For me, it's about the sustainable building of a squad of players who play for each other, are super-fit, use the ball effectively and are committed to a vision that the manager has articulated and 'sold' to them; seeking to improve incrementally the overall squad quality every time the transfer market opens.

[The Edge]

It’s shit that on Thursday, Man U will field Rashford and Greenwood from their youth system. We have Davis and Vassilev. The gap in quality of products coming out of our system vs the likes of Man U or Chelsea is frightening.

And this is despite the club making big claims about the plans  for our academy becoming one of "the best in Europe" We continue to lose our most promising talents to Man City/Chelsea etc. It really is starting to look like someone has fell asleep at the wheel.

[Big Ming]

When relegation is confirmed, there will be many understandably calling for Smith's head, but a new management team will mean spaffing yet more compo up the wall and starting from scratch all over again.

Probably better to sort out which players are going and which are staying, which can step up from the U23's and just make a few key signings to make sure we can bounce straight back up.

Money should be no problem with income from sales and parachute payments.

Smith's a Championship manager. Might as well give him another chance in the Championship.

[Clampy]

I've no idea if Belisa will be any good in the Prem next season (if they get there) but let's not forget his team are currently only three points in front of Brentford and last season he had to resort to having other team's training sessions spied on.

[kippaxvilla2]

I’ll hear a lot of things said about Dean Smith but being compared unfavourably to Lambert is the time I need to step off the bus.

[Risso]

When relegation is confirmed, there will be many understandably calling for Smith's head, but a new management team will mean spaffing yet more compo up the wall and starting from scratch all over again.

Probably better to sort out which players are going and which are staying, which can step up from the U23's and just make a few key signings to make sure we can bounce straight back up.

Money should be no problem with income from sales and parachute payments.

Smith's a Championship manager. Might as well give him another chance in the Championship.

Do that and we'll forever stay a Championship team.  The bloke has been found out, big time.

[Chris Smith]

Chris Wilder - British manager - has already done what I suspect Bielsa will do: promote a squad of players and have them playing fast, aggressive and mid-table Premier League football in their first season in the EPL.
For me, it's about the sustainable building of a squad of players who play for each other, are super-fit, use the ball effectively and are committed to a vision that the manager has articulated and 'sold' to them; seeking to improve incrementally the overall squad quality every time the transfer market opens.

I agree but that requires a level of stability that we haven’t had in years and will be a step further away if, as seems likely, we change the manager again this year.

The profile of candidate we can attract if we are relegated will obviously change but a commitment to a long term vision rather than a quick fix to appease impatient fans should be a prerequisite to any appointment.