Next manager

[Legion]

It's the Villa way.

[enigma]

I'd try for Leonardo Jardim. Did a great job at Monaco first time round and has a reputaion for improving players.

Was he the one who got the sack so Henry could come in?

Yep. Then took over again when Henry got the elbow. Then got sacked again, mind you. Still out of work though.

[Richard E]

Mourinho might be available in time for Saturday.

[supertom]

Fat Sam for a 10 game rescue mission. Mission shithousary. I'll give him daily footrubs if he keeps us up. I'd sell my soul to the football anti-christ to stay up. He doesn't do relegation and he'll knock some sense into our CH's. He'll also, I dunno, do something drastically simple like having our best header marking the oppositions biggest aeriel threats during set pieces.

[SoccerHQ]

The last top drawer manager we got was Gerard Houllier but his health failed.  Ever since then we have gone for safe pairs of hands with very bottom drawer intellects.  The ones with a bit of brain - RDM, Remi Garde, lacked the mental steel required to perform in a city widely derided for no better reason than not being that London, Liverpool or Manchester.

Houllier wasn't top drawer when we appointed him though. He last managed in May 2007 when he left Lyon and he was doing some part time work with Fifa/French FA which is why he couldn't start when we announced him and had McDonald in charge for two more games v Stoke and Bolton.

It was all very small time for a top 6 premier league club.

Appointing him was like signing Pires, Drinkwater or Ginola, way past their best on the pitch or for a similar manager Sven Goran Eriksson who reminded the world he was still around the other night.....

[Steve67]

Villa about to be discussed on the Debate. Danny Murphy is a ******. He's on with Curtis Davies.

[Villan82]

Villa about to be discussed on the Debate. Danny Murphy is a c***. He's on with Curtis Davies.

They said what a lot of us are saying and have been for some time.

Why the heck can we not try and grind out a few draws. We are too open. We should have been making ourselves harder to beat. 3 or 4 extra points from draws would make a huge difference. If we had that right now we could, in theory, draw our way to safety.

For me, this is Smith's biggest failure. We threw away 3 or 4 draws that I can think of: Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Bournmouth.

Also, the return of that old dreaded enemy- 'the villa collapse' from a winning position- has been the worst thing about this bloody season.

[Damo70]

MON was a huge coup in 2006. I remember coming home from work to the news at about 6.30pm (we had mobiles kids but no social media in those days!).

2006 is a long time ago. I think O'Leary in 2003 was also seen as a bit of a coup, he had a good reputation at that stage due to his Leeds team. We haven't made a bold move since we signed Darren Bent in 2011.

I was really excited when we got O'Leary. Ultimately he was a big disappointment and very annoying. O'Neill being appointed was also big news, hundreds turned up at the ground to welcome him IIRC.

O'Leary was classed as a good appointment after doing a good job at Leeds. I think he only signed Sorensen and McCann for £2.5 million each in his first close season and we finished sixth, ten places higher than the previous year and got to a semi final. He did a really good job in his first season but then it all seemed to unravel after that and he seemed to have lost the plot, the dressing room and the fans.

[Sexual Ealing]

MON was a huge coup in 2006. I remember coming home from work to the news at about 6.30pm (we had mobiles kids but no social media in those days!).

2006 is a long time ago. I think O'Leary in 2003 was also seen as a bit of a coup, he had a good reputation at that stage due to his Leeds team. We haven't made a bold move since we signed Darren Bent in 2011.

I was really excited when we got O'Leary. Ultimately he was a big disappointment and very annoying. O'Neill being appointed was also big news, hundreds turned up at the ground to welcome him IIRC.

O'Leary was classed as a good appointment after doing a good job at Leeds. I think he only signed Sorensen and McCann for £2.5 million each in his first close season and we finished sixth, ten places higher than the previous year and got to a semi final. He did a really good job in his first season but then it all seemed to unravel after that and he seemed to have lost the plot, the dressing room and the fans.

He was the opposite of a chequebook manager, who thought himself handy with a chequebook.

[mr underhill]

Go large for Bielsa.

[chrisw1]

Go large for Bielsa.

Do you seriously think that's realistic when Leeds are more liklely to be in the PL than us next year?

[Des Little]

Go large for Bielsa.

Bit early for the Buckfast isn't it old chap?

[Ads]

Fat Sam. Keep us up and bore our way to 11th or 10th.

Imagine a season that is just boring. When was the last one we had where we weren't trying to stop up, trying to get promoted, trying for Champions League or not sacking managers left right and centre?

It must have been O'Neill's first season.

[mr underhill]

My Bielsa post was obviously tongue in cheek - and at the moment, as far as Villa are concerned, it's never too early for a large glass of something.

[Brassneck]

Fat Sam. Keep us up and bore our way to 11th or 10th.

Imagine a season that is just boring. When was the last one we had where we weren't trying to stop up, trying to get promoted, trying for Champions League or not sacking managers left right and centre?

It must have been O'Neill's first season.

Sam until the end of the season with the option of staying if we stay up (I think that's what you mean).

Losing 3-0, 4-0 & 6-1 is pretty boring as well.  I'm more than happy to watch us "bore" our way through - However, winning games would not bore me.  At this point, just staying in them would be good (and a novelty).

Sam gets my nod regardless of Saturday's result.