Next Manager Speculation/Hopes

[LostInMunich]

Our problem is that every time we find ourselves at a crossroads, we take what we think is the right turning, only to find another crossroads.

Milton Keynes?

It's worse than I thought.

[Brazilian Villain]

Our problem is that every time we find ourselves at a crossroads, we take what we think is the right turning, only to find another crossroads.

Milton Keynes?

Well, we were once sponsored by COWS.

[SoccerHQ]

I expect us as a club to be top 6 and challenging for trophies.  Not this season, but as a general point of principal.

That is where Villia sit in the hieracrchy and where I expect us to get back to.  It's become harder with the emergence of the likes of Man City and now Newcastle, but it doesn't really change how I see Aston Villa and what I expect from the club. 

Based on what tho , weve won very little over the last 100 years , very rarely finished in the top 6 certainly havnt finished in the top 6 with any consistency.
We are a top 10 club at best, top 10 with the capability to step up to top 4-6.

Just done some totting up from mid 80s.

We've finished in the top 6 on ten seperate occasions since 89/90 season.

In same timeframe we have:

Everton with eight top 10 finishes.
Newcastle with eight aswell
West Ham with two.
Leeds with nine top 6 finishes.

So we're still ahead of that cluster of clubs despite being in decline since 2010.

It's very hard to break into the next group though unless so much comes together with manager and squad. Think back to 18 months back, we were comfortably ahead of Arsenal in the league and neck and neck with Spurs. Didn't take our chance, lost Grealish and now we're miles off both again.

Big issue this season is the likes of Wolves and Leicester have been top half fixtures last 4 years, both will be battling relegation. West Ham not quite as good as last few years aswell and Brighton are going to fall down the league so we really should be in the mix for 8th, extreme negligence from above if that dosen't become a realistic target at any point this season.

[tomd2103]

It's important to remember - and I've got experience of this as do many others on here I'm sure - that you follow different clubs for different reasons. Aston Villa isn't a town club, it's not even a city club - it's the biggest club in a region with more people than Scotland. It's natural for it to have expectations commensurate with that position.

Tim Vickery, on radio earlier, said just about the same when asked if Pochettino would take the Villa job. He said  this is about working in Birmingham, a massive football hub and a chance to put a big club back on on the footballing map Poch would love that after the chaos of PSG.

There wouldn't be massive immediate pressure either, compared to say Nuno at Spurs.  I don't think it would take a massive turnaround either to get us moving in the right direction. 

[Dave P]

Just done some totting up from mid 80s.

We've finished in the top 6 on ten seperate occasions since 89/90 season.

In same timeframe we have:

Everton with eight top 10 finishes.
Newcastle with eight aswell
West Ham with two.
Leeds with nine top 6 finishes.

So we're still ahead of that cluster of clubs despite being in decline since 2010.

But what does this mean or prove? All of those apart from Everton have has longer outside the top flight then us in that timeframe but are arguably ahead of us now.

If Poch comes to us, it’s because we’ll pay him well and not because we finished 4th in 95/96. 

I’m afraid we have to sell the ambition and not the history, otherwise they’ll all be clambering to be Huddersfield’s or Sunderland’s manager.

[ozzjim]

How many do we sound out before we appoint Beale?

[PaulTheVillan]

How many do we sound out before we appoint Beale?

1.

[Dave P]

How many do we sound out before we appoint Beale?

1.

And then John Terry when Beale turns us down.

[john e]

Our problem is that every time we find ourselves at a crossroads, we take what we think is the right turning, only to find another crossroads.

Milton Keynes?

It's worse than I thought.

Not many crossroads in Milton Keynes mate it’s all roundabouts, Probably just as appropriate though

[ozzjim]

How many do we sound out before we appoint Beale?

1.

And then John Terry when Beale turns us down.

Wouldn't shock me.

Our owners have the ability and means to get Poch no doubt. I just don't know if they have the fire for it anymore. Beale would be a cheap alternative known to the players and half the staff might not need paying off.

[ChicagoLion]

How many do we sound out before we appoint Beale?

1.

And then John Terry when Beale turns us down.

Wouldn't shock me.

Our owners have the ability and means to get Poch no doubt. I just don't know if they have the fire for it anymore. Beale would be a cheap alternative known to the players and half the staff might not need paying off.

How many do we sound out before we appoint Beale?

1.

And then John Terry when Beale turns us down.

Wouldn't shock me.

Our owners have the ability and means to get Poch no doubt.

We really don’t know that, he could have turned us down already
.

[Beard82]

If it's guarantees that Poch, or Tuchel, want then I don't see why we can't give them to him. What's the point in having absolutely minted owners if they can't or won't step up at a crucial moment?  The difference between getting a Poch and getting someone like, say, Frank is massive and could set us on a whole new path.  It sounds melodramatic but I think this next appointment (assuming they sack Gerrard, and even that doesn't appear to be something they'll do lightly) is perhaps the most crucial in terms of the club's future that we've faced for decades.

Yes, I agree. The club is at a massive crossroads. 

I agree, too.

Our problem is that every time we find ourselves at a crossroads, we take what we think is the right turning, only to find another crossroads.

The problem is, its the judgement in the turns we take.  Did anyone seriously think that there wasn't a very high chance that SG appointment would end up like this

I think a lot of people called it at the time - the wrong appointment for the wrong reasons

[Drummond]

We should be as attractive a proposition as any given the foundation, history, money and support we have.

We may be sitting 16th but that's because we have a shit manager. The wage bill is 7th highest in the league. The players are good enough.

The issue comes when our form is crap that as supporters we start questioning everything and everyone. Each player gets criticism, the manager, the CEO and even the owners.

Turn 2 of our defeats into wins and were 7th, much closer to where we feel we should be.

I think the owners have still invested in the playing side (see wage bill in comparison to where we have finished). The CEO has made a dodgy call on the manager and I guess wants to give him a chance. Chnage now (or imminently) and we can still fly up the table with some decent results. We'll all be happier then and the criticism and shit feeling we have will all go away.

I still believe.

[Nunkin1965]

It will be really interesting to see if we can appoint an elite manager.
That would be a massive statement of intent by the owners.

[boozey182]

The problem is, its the judgement in the turns we take.  Did anyone seriously think that there wasn't a very high chance that SG appointment would end up like this

I think a lot of people called it at the time - the wrong appointment for the wrong reasons

This got me thinking: as a fanbase has a managerial appointment ever surprised us? When has it been much different to what we expected?

O'Neill - Very excited and proved to work out really well until the abrupt end

Houllier - I can't really remember the reaction, but I think there were concerns about his age and how committed he would be? I may be misremembering

McLeish - Dour and uninspiring. I think the only major shock was how it never got personal with him and how long it took for us to get fed up with the football

Lambert - This was probably the closest one to the fans getting it wrong. We wanted him so much his name was being chanted while he was employed by our opponents, but it didn't work out. There was that time at the end of his first season/start of his second where it briefly looked like we were going to get the exciting, attacking football that we wanted, but for whatever reason, it disappeared pretty much overnight and it became very boring.

Sherwood - He came with the name Tactics Tim for a reason. While I think we all got swept up in the little spell around the cup run, he was never seen as a great manager by the fans, I don't think. Again, I can't really remember the reaction tp his appointment there, I think we were all so relieved to have got rid of Lambert.

Garde - I know I got this one wrong, because I was excited. But I think I was in the minority. He ended up doing a very difficult job badly.

Di Matteo - I was in the 'anyone other than Pearson' camp, but I think the general consensus was that it was a pretty uninspiring appointment. His appointment was a little overshadowed by the takeover, as far as I can remember.

Bruce - "it could be worse I guess" seemed to be the general reaction. Not inspiring at all, but could work out in the short term. That pretty much sums up what happened.

Smith - Again, I think we were generally quite excited. Someone that we could really get behind and would try to play attacking football, which we were crying out for.

Gerrard - A lot of us were worried abut his inexperience, his overreliance on Beale, his Liverpool connection/stepping stone, the fact that he hadn't been that successful at Rangers. He was a long way down people's list of managers, and in a Yes or No vote, it was a pretty convincing No.

Now, I'm not saying that the club should take a vote on who the next manager should be (we'd end up with Ashley Young), but I am suggesting that this site always knows exactly how things are going to pan out and we should be part of the interviewing process.