Where Did It All Go Wrong....

[cdbearsfan]

The fact that most of us fans knew the lack of proven striker would be our undoing before a ball was kicked, is a quite frankly unforgiveable error on the club's part.
..... And then to REPEAT that mistake in January is mindblowing!

Yeah. Not buying anyone to even compete with Wesley was madness. Add that to not getting any pace to hurt teams on the break and you're just inviting teams to put you under pressure.

[KevinGage]

I've been saying it for years - there are no men in grey suits to advise behind the scenes, no Grand Old Man of Villa Park to reassure the common herd and there are no self-appointed PR men to push our case in the media.

We seem to have more pundits with some degree of connection to the club kicking around than most. 

McInally, Townsend, Dublin, Taylor and Hendrie don't try and disguise their affection for the club all that much. Merson you could use the f word (or both f words) about.  Platt, Keown and Mouthgate seem to have genuine disdain for the club for reasons known only to themselves.

[aj2k77]

The fact that most of us fans knew the lack of proven striker would be our undoing before a ball was kicked, is a quite frankly unforgiveable error on the club's part.
..... And then to REPEAT that mistake in January is mindblowing!

Yeah. Not buying anyone to even compete with Wesley was madness. Add that to not getting any pace to hurt teams on the break and you're just inviting teams to put you under pressure.

But then we had a second bite of the cherry in January. In desperate need of a Striker who could play the lone role, a defensive midfielder and a goalkeeper we picked up 2 semi retired footballers with a handful of games between them in the last 2 seasons and another Belgian league punt.

That tells me that the though process between our scouting and recruitment teams are way off kilter and haven't a clue what they're doing.

[cdbearsfan]

Yeah. Having just Wesley was nowhere near enough. So replying just Wesley with just Samatta was never going to be enough, either.

[gpbarr]

It wasn't a moment. For me, its been the fact that ever since O'Neil's departure, the club have made too many repetitive errors in management appointments, repeating the tactic of hiring young, inexperienced managers into a role way above their pay grade - Lambert, Sherwood, Garde, Matteo, and now Smith. None of them had any/anywhere near enough top flight experience. One or two as gambles, fair enough - 5 in 8 years is suicide.

Add to that the fact that even when the club veered away from that tactic, they appointed dull, uninspiring, experienced managers - Bruce and McLeish.

I keep saying it - for Villa to return to top flight stability (which one needs before looking to genuinely compete at the top level) we need to appoint a manager with top flight experience and success.

Is the money there - yes.
Is the brand there - yes.
Is the potential there - yes.
Do those managers exist and are they available - yes
Would they come if offered the role in the summer - maybe.
Is the ambition from the club there - yes.

Do we trust the people running the club to get this right - ?       

[garyellis]

It wasn't a moment. For me, its been the fact that ever since O'Neil's departure, the club have made too many repetitive errors in management appointments, repeating the tactic of hiring young, inexperienced managers into a role way above their pay grade - Lambert, Sherwood, Garde, Matteo, and now Smith. None of them had any/anywhere near enough top flight experience. One or two as gambles, fair enough - 5 in 8 years is suicide.

Add to that the fact that even when the club veered away from that tactic, they appointed dull, uninspiring, experienced managers - Bruce and McLeish.

I keep saying it - for Villa to return to top flight stability (which one needs before looking to genuinely compete at the top level) we need to appoint a manager with top flight experience and success.

Is the money there - yes.
Is the brand there - yes.
Is the potential there - yes.
Do those managers exist and are they available - yes
Would they come if offered the role in the summer - maybe.
Is the ambition from the club there - yes.
Who are tha managers you believe exist and are available?
Do we trust the people running the club to get this right - ?       

[gpbarr]

Schmidt, Setien, Marcelino - to name just 3.

This question (who?) is often asked and when people suggest names the same people usually come out with the “they won’t come” nonsense.

Hasenhüttl is a really good example of a promising manager who came to Saints (surely no more attractive that Villa) with top flight experience and the ambition to coach in the best league in the world.

Bielsa at Leeds. Was he too big for a Championship club.

We have just done a very poor job appointing managers, it’s really that simple. And sadly, when I look at the setup of the club today, I fear we won’t fix it anytime soon despite the fact we could. And the longer we go on in this state, the harder it will be to make the turn.

[PaulTheVillan]

We should have signed players that were less of a gamble.  2016 all over again

[David_Nab]

We should have signed players that were less of a gamble.  2016 all over again

Fair comment but 2016 is as much about poor leadership and management as the recruitment side.The 2 full time managers we had ,Sherwood and Garde have done nothing since leaving us and frankly were less up to the job than the players like Ayew , Traore who have gone on the better things.

I can't imagine another club in the last 10-15 years have employed so many managers who have gone on to do absolutely nothing since being sacked.Of course then you look at the CEO's in that time and they have proven to be a poor bunch as well.

[garyellis]

Schmidt, Setien, Marcelino - to name just 3.

This question (who?) is often asked and when people suggest names the same people usually come out with the “they won’t come” nonsense.

Hasenhüttl is a really good example of a promising manager who came to Saints (surely no more attractive that Villa) with top flight experience and the ambition to coach in the best league in the world.

Bielsa at Leeds. Was he too big for a Championship club.

We have just done a very poor job appointing managers, it’s really that simple. And sadly, when I look at the setup of the club today, I fear we won’t fix it anytime soon despite the fact we could. And the longer we go on in this state, the harder it will be to make the turn.

i admire your optimism with the first two and nobody has snapped up Marcelino since he left Valencia. I'm all for being ambitious and I think if there is a proven better manager/coach than DS then the owners will pull the trigger if we go down. I always thought it was Rodgers who was their first choice but we didn't have the pulling power at the time. The timeline for the start of a new season is so tight I think they will go for continuity. We will soon know.

[richtheholtender]

I don’t the question now is where did all go wrong? So much as why does it continue to go wrong? We have all mentioned historical events but right up until our last match, with a minute to go we could have put ourselves just a point behind Watford and failed to do so. We keep receiving chances by our rivals and refuse to take them.

[N'ZMAV]

maybe it all goes wrong because our 11 players on the pitch fail to defend or attack properly?

[Allan C]

Schmidt, Setien, Marcelino - to name just 3.

This question (who?) is often asked and when people suggest names the same people usually come out with the “they won’t come” nonsense.

Hasenhüttl is a really good example of a promising manager who came to Saints (surely no more attractive that Villa) with top flight experience and the ambition to coach in the best league in the world.

Bielsa at Leeds. Was he too big for a Championship club.

We have just done a very poor job appointing managers, it’s really that simple. And sadly, when I look at the setup of the club today, I fear we won’t fix it anytime soon despite the fact we could. And the longer we go on in this state, the harder it will be to make the turn.

Great post, spot on. I fear though we’ll go for Dyche Allardyce or Pearson. Same old manager same old style

[adrenachrome]

It went wrong at Villa Park, Bodymoor Heath and other locations yet to be determined.

[AlexAlexCropley]

Stephen Ireland