Replacing one of us

[ChicagoLion]

That last 10 minutes against Wolves was hugely damaging.
You do not lose when winning 2 nil at home with 10 minutes to go with the Holte in full voice.

[Villan82]

That last 10 minutes against Wolves was hugely damaging.
You do not lose when winning 2 nil at home with 10 minutes to go with the Holte in full voice.

It was fatal. Indeed, he may have just survived the 5 losses if they hadn't begun with such a soul destroying collapse as that.

[Villan82]

Great article. A day after the news about the sacking I still feel very sad.
The only other time I felt this sad about a Manager leaving was when Ron Saunders left.

God yeah, that one was the end of the world - I was 14.

SGT, Brian Little and Dean Smith for me.

[Risso]

Brian Little was the biggest disappointment at a manager leaving for me. There just didn't seem to be any big reason for the slump, other than trying to accommodate Collymore as well as Savo and Yorke. I think there were rumours about turmoil in his private life at the time though?

[dave.woodhall]

Brian Little was the biggest disappointment at a manager leaving for me. There just didn't seem to be any big reason for the slump, other than trying to accommodate Collymore as well as Savo and Yorke. I think there were rumours about turmoil in his private life at the time though?

That, and having Collymore, Curcic, Bosnich and Milosevic together didn't help.

[kippaxvilla2]

Garde was a terrible appointment.  An unmitigated disaster.

[Villan82]

I remember rumours that Little was separating around that time. All through 1997-98 we looked out of sorts until Gregory arrived. We just hadn't been the Aston Villa of the previous two seasons. We were conceding goals and we didn't look as energetic. The only highlights with Little were the Uefa Cup games and the demolition of Spurs.

I actually thought Milosevic played well that season and looked to gain a little pace- he created some lovely goals, for Yorke away at West Ham and for Draper against Spurs and did well in the Uefa cup games. Yorke wasn't quite himself. I think the signing of Collymore disrupted Yorke's game.