Gerrard In or Out?

[Brazilian Villain]

I think he'll be our next manager and would be a fantastic fit for what we have in the squad, could be much sooner than we all think aswell if results don't improve and there's a feeling he's taken Leicester as far as he can now.

Not keen on his unctuous manner but that'd be a good shout if Gerrard moves on 3 or 4 seasons from now.

Todd?

As long as he brings Dougal McGuire not Harry.

[Ads]

I wonder if the Internet was as ubiquitous in 1995 as it is now, how many would be wanting Little out now?

He was backed with Johnson, Taylor, Wright and Charles when he came in, wanted to play a different system, yet we had to go to Carrow Road on the last day to survive. The squad was more aging but it was definitely better than finishing 1 spot above the relegation zone.

We then buy a new spine in Southgate, Draper and Savo. Give a younger lad called Dwight Yorke a starring role and finish 4th, win a trophy and get to the semi final of the FA Cup.

[PaulWinch again]

I wonder if the Internet was as ubiquitous in 1995 as it is now, how many would be wanting Little out now?

He was backed with Johnson, Taylor, Wright and Charles when he came in, wanted to play a different system, yet we had to go to Carrow Road on the last day to survive. The squad was mroe aging but it was definitely better than finishing 1 spot above the relegation zone.

We then buy a new spine in Southgate, Draper and Savo. Give a younger lad called Dwight Yorke a starring role and finish 4th, win a trophy and get to the semi final of the FA Cup.

He’d probably be ok because of his association with Villa.

[olaftab]

Nah, people complain Gerrard won the title in a 2 team league, Poch failed to win it in a 1 team league.

Yes but Poch manages in a slightly higher standard, in a country that is current World Cup holder whereas our Stevie did it in….hang on…..Scotland😀

[Brazilian Villain]

Nah, people complain Gerrard won the title in a 2 team league, Poch failed to win it in a 1 team league.

Yes but Poch manages in a slightly higher standard, in a country that is current World Cup holder whereas our Steven did it in….hang on…..Scotland😀

About the same I'd say, they've both had one winner of the European Cup/CL and you seem to forget Scotland won the World Cup in 1967.

[cdbearsfan]

Marseille's European Cup doesn't count, the cheating twats.

[olaftab]

Apologies as that triumph for the entire nation in 1967 by the Flower
of Scotland Jock Stein had not been on my radar.

[ChicagoLion]

All appointments are a risk, keeping Smith would have been a risk. Only a handful of managers  would provide a degree of certainty of success and I doubt we are in a position to hire one of them.
The Dutch league is not much better than The Scottish yet Manure have taken Ten Haag.
The jury is still out but we have rolled the dice and we are going to have to see where it lands.
My concern is that we had 2 chances with Grealish to really threaten the top of the PL
1. To build a team around his talent to challenge.
2.To use the Grealish money to build a team to challenge.
He blew the 1st and Purslow Lang Smith blew the second.
So my expectations of Gerrard are maybe not as high as some because that squad has mid table written all over it.

[LeonW]

I wonder if the Internet was as ubiquitous in 1995 as it is now, how many would be wanting Little out now?

He was backed with Johnson, Taylor, Wright and Charles when he came in, wanted to play a different system, yet we had to go to Carrow Road on the last day to survive. The squad was more aging but it was definitely better than finishing 1 spot above the relegation zone.

We then buy a new spine in Southgate, Draper and Savo. Give a younger lad called Dwight Yorke a starring role and finish 4th, win a trophy and get to the semi final of the FA Cup.

I think this is quite an interesting point. Yes, Little was/is a Villa man through and through (which would buy goodwill) and yes he had more experience as a manager but it was in the lower leagues. Whatever people may think about the Scottish league, there’s no doubt that managing either of the two old firm clubs is operating in a major pressure cooker. And it was something SG had success in as his first job. I personally feel that some people question how SG was recruited and it feeds in to how they think about his performance as manager but they’re two separate issues.

[Beard82]

I wonder if the Internet was as ubiquitous in 1995 as it is now, how many would be wanting Little out now?

He was backed with Johnson, Taylor, Wright and Charles when he came in, wanted to play a different system, yet we had to go to Carrow Road on the last day to survive. The squad was more aging but it was definitely better than finishing 1 spot above the relegation zone.

We then
 buy a new spine in Southgate, Draper and Savo. Give a younger lad called Dwight Yorke a starring role and finish 4th, win a trophy and get to the semi final of the FA Cup.

I think this is quite an interesting point. Yes, Little was/is a Villa man through and through (which would buy goodwill) and yes he had more experience as a manager but it was in the lower leagues. Whatever people may think about the Scottish league, there’s no doubt that managing either of the two old firm clubs is operating in a major pressure cooker. And it was something SG had success in as his first job. I personally feel that some people question how SG was recruited and it feeds in to how they think about his performance as manager but they’re two separate issues.

I think its a different world since then - the gap between the haves, and have nots are so much larger.  He was able to get us to finish 4th the next season - and there is no way thats realistically possible now even if you had Pep as your manager

Also - he inherited an aging squad, rather than one that had improved year on year

There is also a key bit with SG that seems to be missed - a lot of the negativity is because Smith was sacked in the name of progress - and we havent seen enough of that yet.  Bottom half was deemed unacceptable - but here we are 20 games later in pretty much the same spot, even with 3 new signings

If our stated target was to make sure stay in the league, and anything else is a bonus then I think there would be less fuss

[Brazilian Villain]

Apologies as that triumph for the entire nation in 1967 by the Flower
of Scotland Jock Stein had not been on my radar.

Totally understandable, you'd have been too young to remember it anyway.

[Risso]

If our stated target was to make sure stay in the league, and anything else is a bonus then I think there would be less fuss

I won't go through the numbers again for fear of boring Drummond ( ), but after the start we had under Smith, the highest realistic finishing position was 9th. Anything above that would just have required a points per game ratio that I don't think is feasible given the players we have. Given where we are, I think in my view the following finishing positions should be viewed as follows:

9th - an excellent position, as good as could have been hoped for, look forward to the summer and next season with confidence
10th - very good, first top half finish in years, an improvement
11th - about par, same position as last year, slightly underwhelming but given the start still acceptable
12th - underwhelming and disappointing, lots to do in the summer
13th - getting into the very disappointing arena now
14th - oh well, at least we finished higher than Leeds
15th - we didn't finish higher than Leeds? Fucking hell.
16th - behind Burnley as well? Gerrard o...
17th - ...ut!

[astonvilla82]

got to stay for me , but as soon as he loses one game next season he's a gonna

[Beard82]

If our stated target was to make sure stay in the league, and anything else is a bonus then I think there would be less fuss

I won't go through the numbers again for fear of boring Drummond ( ), but after the start we had under Smith, the highest realistic finishing position was 9th. Anything above that would just have required a points per game ratio that I don't think is feasible given the players we have. Given where we are, I think in my view the following finishing positions should be viewed as follows:

9th - an excellent position, as good as could have been hoped for, look forward to the summer and next season with confidence
10th - very good, first top half finish in years, an improvement
11th - about par, same position as last year, slightly underwhelming but given the start still acceptable
12th - underwhelming and disappointing, lots to do in the summer
13th - getting into the very disappointing arena now
14th - oh well, at least we finished higher than Leeds
15th - we didn't finish higher than Leeds? Fucking hell.
16th - behind Burnley as well? Gerrard o...
17th - ...ut!

I think thats the point I am making?  I think I said when he came in that I would be realitively comfortable with 11-12th (11th would be very much whelmed)

If we finish there after a strong end to the season I think he will have done ok. 

But as things stand (and yes I know the seasons not finished ) - it is in the Fucking Hell position which isnt progress we are talking about.   Hopefully well get at least 9 points - which will probably see us anwhere between 11 - 14

[cdward]

Looking back at when Smith was sacked.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2021/november/07/club-statement-dean-smith/

"...this year we have not seen the continuous improvement in results, performances and league position which we have all been looking for".

Hmm, exactly the same could be said now.