Next Manager Speculation/Hopes

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Yes Aston Villa...
Accept that you are also-rans...
Accept that you are there just to make up the numbers...
Accept that you are just a training ground for shite managers...
Liddle is talking twaddle! GFY Liddle!

[Stu]

Villa, Leicester, Everton expect not to go down at the very very very least, and have every right to sack managers who look like failing at this very basic requirement.

As to Liddle, maybe he should stick to subjects he knows better, like pushing women down the stairs

Or imagining shagging schoolgirls

[Pete3206]

This Liddle chap sounds like a charmer

[PeterWithe]

Didn’t Liddell have a bit of an issue when he was less than critical of some of his fellow Millwall fans transgressions?

[garyellis]

Rod Liddle in The Times today. Sobering

“Forty years ago Aston Villa won the European Cup - Tony Morley scampering through bemused Germans, cutting inside to Peter Withe, bingo! - beating Bayern Munich 1-0. Five years later they were back in the old Second Division, having finished rock bottom of the top flight. They had won the league championship in 1981, their first title since Edwardian times. It was only their second meaningful trophy since the 1920s too a solitary FA Cup final victory in 1957 illuminating a general postwar gloom at Villa Park.

The records show that Villa are one of Britain's truly big clubs, seven-times winners of the league, seven-times winners of the FA Cup. But context suggests that they were a really a big club only until about the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War.

There have been plenty of spells in the second tier and one forlorn sojourn down in the third, in 1970-71 and 1971-72, since then.

I am not attempting to belittle Villa - and I have a soft spot for the side that won the European Cup under the enigmatic Tony Barton - they were packed with quality and verve, from Gordon Cowans all the way through to Gary Shaw. Nor am I suggesting that they are on a par with their various yo-yoing Midlands rivals: Villa are basically a steady top-tier team and spent 24 seasons in the Premier League from its inception until 2016, but they have won nothing of note since 1982 and the pinnacle of their achievements more recently have been top-six finishes under Martin O'Neill.

 I mention this to provide a little context regarding the sacking of Steven Gerrard, who was booted out of Villa Park last week apparently with the blessing of the Holte End. His departure followed a 3-0 capitulation to Fulham that left Villa fourth from bottom, separated from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 18th only
by goal difference.

Their progress down the table has been gentle, but hastened by draws in games that they might have been expected to win, against Leeds United and Nottingham Forest, for example. Adjusting to the top flight is a difficult business and takes time: you can expect the trapdoor to beckon for the first three, four or five seasons. It is an economic adjustment as well as a footballing adjustment. During the close season Villa spent in the manner of a mid-table side, bringing in the Brazilian defender Diego Carlos from Sevilla for about £26 million, a slightly fading Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona for £17 million (who had been on loan at Villa Park since January) and the Belgium international Leander
Dendoncker. Carlos has done his achilles tendon and has played only two games for his new side, so Gerard might have claimed to have been a little unlucky. Dendoncker, meanwhile - Gerrard's third biggest signing - has been used latterly as a substitute. Villa's
problems are at both ends, but particularly in attack - only Wolves have scored fewer goals.

The forward line has been constantly chopped and changed leading some to suspect that Steven G didn't know what his best side was. This is quite possibly true - but then I am not sure anyone knows what Villa's best side is. There are too many also- rans and never-rans in the squad - Calum Chambers, for example, who is at best a half-decent Championship-level defender.

Villa were supposed to be a brief and glorious staging post for Gerrard on his way to managing Liverpool. Is he any good as a head coach? He gained one title with Rangers during his three years there, so I would suggest that this was a promising start but that the jury is still out.

There is no great reason why a top player should become a top manager and indeed it is unusual when this happens. But I still Premier League than we have seen of late and there will be a good eight or nine clubs fighting to avoid the trapdoor and frankly - Aston Villa were always going to be among them, regardless of who was in charge. To break into the top six requires enormous amounts of money, spent wisely over several years. Villa lack the capacity for that sort of expenditure and the truth is that if you are not battling to be in the top six then you are more often as not likely to be fighting against relegation. My guess is that Gerrard's departure will leave Villa slightly less well equipped for that scrap”

What a pile of shit

Can some one edit this shite and send it back to him please?

[Nunkin1965]

So many inaccuracies so difficult to take it seriously.

Rubbish article that is shallow to say the least.
You'd be handing that work back in if you were at school!
I'm reminded of my English teacher hurling books at kids who had handed shite homework in and Liddle would have had the same treatment with this.

[garyellis]

Back to the poll - Emery and Rodgers are very credible candidates.
My big concern with Rodgers is his inability to fix Leicester’s weakness for leaking goals from set pieces.

[Monty]

Villa, Leicester, Everton expect not to go down at the very very very least, and have every right to sack managers who look like failing at this very basic requirement.

As to Liddle, maybe he should stick to subjects he knows better, like pushing women down the stairs

Or imagining shagging schoolgirls

Just an old school, no bullshit, family values, wifebeating nonce.

[aj2k77]

We have had plenty of spells out of the top flight? 4 years in 50ish isn't it?

[Sexual Ealing]

Rod Liddle is a c*nt regardless of what he thinks about Aston Villa. He's not worth talking about outside the context of punching pregnant women.

[Dante Lavelli]

What’s Amorim’s English like?

If communication is one of his strengths then hopefully nothing is lost in translation (arguably like Emery).

[Deano's Mullet]

Liddle can go fuck himself. If Man Utd had done the treble in 1994 would he have ignored the league cup? Tosser.

[Villan82]

What is the point of Rod Liddle? A right wing fact free zone and a terrible writer.

Some facts Mr Liddle.

We have won more in 30 years than Newcastle have won in about 60 years, have won the league much more recently than Spurs and have reached the pinnacle of European football within the past 40 years. We were runners up in the league twice in the 1990s (so finished in the top 2, three times in thirteen years (1981-1993). The past 25 years has been a barren period by our standards but we still have had European qualifications, runs in Europe (1998, 2008), six top 6 finishes (Gregory, O'Leary and O'Neill) and four major finals (2 FA Cup, 2 League Cup).

[luke95]

Back to the poll - Emery and Rodgers are very credible candidates.
My big concern with Rodgers is his inability to fix Leicester’s weakness for leaking goals from set pieces.

Weve already got a specialist in that department ain't we ....Nanny Macphee?

[Nev]

Rod Liddle is a ******. As soon as I saw his name I didn't read any further.