Next Manager Speculation/Hopes

[sid1964]

When we appointed Gerrard part of the reason given was to raise our profile and his appointment would attract top players to the club

Therefore if they sack Gerrard, then the next manager would have to have a similar high profile within the game, so I think if that is the case we can then rule out the likes of Beale, Dyche etc..

[Villan82]

It's been a while since I have grown to dislike a manager as much as I now dislike SG. Every day he is in post he sucks the life out of things.

[chrisw1]

When we appointed Gerrard part of the reason given was to raise our profile and his appointment would attract top players to the club

Therefore if they sack Gerrard, then the next manager would have to have a similar high profile within the game, so I think if that is the case we can then rule out the likes of Beale, Dyche etc..

I think we can rule out the likes of Beale, Dyche etc anyway.  I just can't see any prospect of the owners making that sort of appointment.

[Villa in Denmark]

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. 

From what I can recall

O'Neill - General excitement but I do recall a certain fanzine editor saying something along the lines of "he'll get top 6 but no higher"

Houllier general feeling of "is that the best we can do?" along with some mutterings about his health.

McLeish & Lambert spot on

Sherwood The initial relief that Lambert had gone was completely washed away by his appointment, especially after Fox's "shortlist of one" comment.  Several on here called the trajectory of his stay almost to the week.  The only upside being the Liverpool semifinal performance.

Garde was proof we'd given up for many.

De Matteo and Bruce I can't comment as I wasn't paying attention.

Smith & Gerrard I think you've got right.

[Billy Walker]

My feeling with Houllier was that it would have been a great appointment ten years earlier.  Hiring a guy with a serious health issue was concerning, high risk and, potentially, very short term.  I started doubting Lerner and his "nous" from that moment on.

[PaulTheVillan]

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.

Pretty much sums up how I felt with all the managers of last 15 years.

I was excited by David O’Leary. D’oh!

Remember when Lerner flew his chopper to meet Solskjaer?

What’s he up to these days?

[SoccerHQ]

My feeling with Houllier was that it would have been a great appointment ten years earlier.  Hiring a guy with a serious health issue was concerning, high risk and, potentially, very short term.  I started doubting Lerner and his "nous" from that moment on.

Yep. He'd done a good job managing Lyon after Liverpool but he left them in 2007 I think. Was semi retired at French FA when we got him.

Imagine if we dug Roy Hodgson out of retirement, that would be Houllier style appointment these days.

Considering we'd just finished 6th three times on the trot and still had many talented players in our squad I was very disappointed with that appointment and that was first serious doubts about long term Lerner strategy which imploded soon after.

After that and the McLeish fiasco we've just taken punts on managers really, at least DS can off and more than fulfilled his brief.

[BC Villain]

Have you seen more half-hearted and dispirited body language?

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1582390665627176960?t=FEqGkC1oF8JhPjtGAuHtvg&s=19

[Ian.]

I do remember being excited with MON, DOL and Lambert. I have fond memories with MON as well even though it all ended up a right mess.

When Gerard rocked up and a few mentioned the coaching abilities of Beale I remember thinking we shouldn’t be more excited about his backroom team than the manager.

[Clark W Griswold]

Managerial appointments since i've been a fan;

Name   - Reaction - Reality
Venglos - Who? - Obscure and not a good fit for our game.
Big Ron - Hell Yeah - Great appointment but seem to lose interest when he knew he'd have to rebuild *
Little - Exciting, logical choice - Very good also but made a couple of bad record signings.
Gregory - Why? - Turned out a lot better than i thought but the football was uninspiring
SGT - Exciting but is he past it? - Turned out he was
DOL - Not impressed - Turned out better than i thought to start with but didn't last
MON - Hell yeah - Got us to where i thought he would but seemed to run out of ideas. Good overall *
Houllier - Bit of a panic, could have been worse - Worse than i thought but was in bad health.
McLeish - WTF - Turned out as bad as expected
Lambert - Similar to Little but without the Villa connection - Big Disappointment
Sherwood - Err, not much experience for starters - Turned out really poor after decent start
Garde - Why? - Possibly the worst of the lot
De Matteo - See Sherwood - Very mediocre and taking us no where
Bruce - Better than the last few - Boring football but ok otherwise until last few months
Smith - See Little (but for the championship) - Great appointment at the time but needed to upgrade
Gerrard - No relevant experience, probably a mistake - It has been a mistake.
Pochetinho?? - Hell Yeah *

I've starred the ones that gave / give real confidence in improving us dramatically.

[Brazilian Villain]

Have you seen more half-hearted and dispirited body language?

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1582390665627176960?t=FEqGkC1oF8JhPjtGAuHtvg&s=19

I doubt they'll be signing you up for the next series of 'Faking It: Tears of a Crime'.

[Steve67]

Great debate.

That’s our captain on the video at the beginning!  Half arsed

[Villa in Denmark]

Just think, they've consciously decided that footage is the best they've got.  God knows what the rest of the session looked like

[ozzjim]

Konsa looks erm...  Motivated?

[Goldenballs]

Konsa not even bothering to step over the thing, just swinging his leg round the side with a face like a smacked arse. I think that sums up how the majority of us feel.