Next Manager Speculation/Hopes

[London Villan]

He’d match the ambition of the stadium plans. Please make it happen.

[N'ZMAV]

Poch would be a real statement of intent from NSWE.  He'd be brilliant for some of our talented young players.  I just think it's too big an ask to convince him.  He'd certainly want to move a load of the current first team on if he did come

I'd want him to move a load of the current first team on if he came

[Dante Lavelli]

TBF I think they thought that SG would do that - but I think they underestimated just how difficult it is to manage a club like Villa.   To an extent - I think DS made it look too easy. 

There's prob a degree of truth to that.

I also think Smith was/is more of a people person. Whereas SG doesn't strike me as that.

Might have either been in the promotion season or our first season back and someone asked him whether he read the riot act to the players after a bad performance and he said, paraphrasing, no. Because we need those same players next week and I work hard at trying to have a neutral response. He said he had done that early on at his time at Walsall and realised there was no benefit to it.

John Terry shortly after he'd left Villa (or maybe shortly after Smith had been sacked) was asked in a TV interview what had he learned from Deano and he said man management and a more considerate approach to players.  He'd been in high-performance dressing rooms where excuses were not tolerated (no excuses, sound familiar?)

Shortly after the Covid lockdown an unnamed Villa player kept on coming in late to training and looked distracted when he did turn up.  Terry said to his mind it was unacceptable and he wanted to bawl the player out. Smith said maybe find out what was going on in his personal life. Can't recall if it was a first  child or summat else, but the long and short of it is the club gave him a bit of breathing space and the player responded with key performances in our run in.

You need to strike a balance, obviously. Or else you get pisstakers like Gabby, Micah Richards and Ross McCormack taking over the asylum.

But players in our bracket probably respond better to the collaborative approach of a Dean Smith or similar rather than a Roy Keane or Steve Gerrard nausing them out about how many trophies they've won etc.

I hadn’t heard those stories before, so thanks for posting.

It’s a tightrope that all managers need to negotiate and very few get the balance right over the long term.

[PaulWinch again]

That article is ultra speculative.

[dave.woodhall]

There was a story about Smith going to get rid of a youth team player at Walsall because of his attitude, then finding out his home life was chaotic so he helped him out instead, and Walsall sold him for £1 million in the end. Sir Graham was like that. I don't think Gerrard is, and maybe that's because he's always had it easy. He's always been the big star, the player everyone looked at, and because he's never had to struggle he can't understand how anyone can.

[Brazilian Villain]

That article is ultra speculative.

I'm not getting my hopes up, and it's not just me who thinks it's unlikely to happen. https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/1582052571208114177

[villadelph]

That article is ultra speculative.

I'm not getting my hopes up, and it's not just me who thinks it's unlikely to happen. https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/1582052571208114177

Well, PP has him at almost evens to get the sack.. so there's hope.

[Smirker]

There was a story about Smith going to get rid of a youth team player at Walsall because of his attitude, then finding out his home life was chaotic so he helped him out instead, and Walsall sold him for £1 million in the end. Sir Graham was like that. I don't think Gerrard is, and maybe that's because he's always had it easy. He's always been the big star, the player everyone looked at, and because he's never had to struggle he can't understand how anyone can.

One of my good friends is a scouser and lifelong Liverpool fan. Says the exact same thing about Gerrard, knows people around him. Says he needs taking down a peg or two because he thinks the world revolves around him, especially in football.

[PaulWinch again]

Thing is it’s understandable in a weird way - if you’ve always has that experience why would understand anything else?

[dave.woodhall]

Which is why the best players rarely make good coaches.

[DB]

Agree Dave. Totally different skill set. There are exceptions but yes, they have had it all as a player

[PaulWinch again]

Yep some struggle to understand the struggle of not being an absolute star.

[eamonn]

No idea, but John Percy retweeted it.

Yeah but man is always gonna support his colleague in public, even if he's shit. I'm sure you've done it yourself!

Eamonn, I'd retweet YOU. That's how little I respect my Twitter profile.

Thanks...I thought you were a swell guy, not some bad cover version 

[Percy McCarthy]

If Percy is involved I am going to get my hopes up!

Poch is a big fan of "Gangsters, Geezers and Mods" from what I've heard, so it's got legs

True story.

[Villan For Life]

I’d love Pochettino at Villa but I think that we aren’t an attractive proposition to a coach of his calibre at the moment.

Unless he fancies a challenge!

Sir Graham and Deano “got” the Villa, Gerrard sees us as a stepping stone. Unfortunately for us that stepping stone is a step too far and he’s out of his depth.