How not to manage Aston Villa

[dave.woodhall]

Alex Whybrow chips in:

https://heroesandvillains.info/2022/10/22/how-not-to-manage-aston-villa/

[PeterWithe]

I don’t pay a lot of attention to the post game interview stuff but I can’t remember him being particularly arrogant in his time here, rather the opposite.

[Toronto Villa]

Well it always the players not knowing what to do, players needing to step up. The tactics were abysmal, the subs terrible. The insistence on McGinn as HIS captain, and playing him all the time despite dis form being terrible. The set up didn’t work and the football got worse and worse and yet he didn’t try to fix it. And then to cap it all off he puts out that side and that formation during the week and we got torn to pieces. We had a short spell early on post Coutinho joining where things looked really promising, the football was great but it was never built upon.

[PeterWithe]

He was a poor football manager, I’m just not sure some of the other stuff levelled at him is particularly accurate or fair.

[Scott Nielsen]

He was a poor football manager, I’m just not sure some of the other stuff levelled at him is particularly accurate or fair.

Agreed. It's puzzling why that fact alone is seemingly not enough.

[Toronto Villa]

I certainly didn’t like that for a man who insisted Mings looks him in the eye, whatever that was all about, he was someone who couldn’t look away fans in the eye after defeats. Just walked off the pitch. You don’t do that. I don’t like personal vitriol, which it unfortunately got to in some segments, but his professional conduct left a bit to be desired. I think he’s learned a tough lesson with this experience and he will need to reinvent himself to get back into another prominent management role.

[PeterWithe]

I think he would have been well aware of our feelings toward him, expecting him to come over to the fans so another ‘round of fucks’ could have been administered at a closer range might be expecting a bit much.

[Legion]

Done.

[LeonW]

Pretty spot on piece for me. I think Purslow’s responsibility in this cannot be overstated enough.

[Diablo]

I think Gerrard with his media training and his (brilliant playing career) as a manager had "confidence over competence" and "(personal) style over (managerial) substance". He looked the part and talked a good game but just didn't have the actual chops. His hard man act was embarrassing af and not a good look!

[ChicagoLion]

Good article.

[N'ZMAV]

I think Purslow has one shit managerial appointment left in him.

He’s had one. Fucked it up.

Next is crucial for everyone. Not sure I trust him to nail it.

[ldavfc4eva]

Good article, pretty much sums his tenure up.

I don’t think he was arrogant when being interviewed but as others have said he certainly had the air of a billy big bollocks at times.

He has been there, done it and done it well - but as a player not a manager, so as others suggest, I think he needs someone alongside him to almost keep him in check and tell him no every now and then.

As for Purslow, as N’ZMAV says, he is one more poor appointment away from the sack too. Perhaps he needs to stick to the business side of things and we get a proper DOF in for the football side. Ashworth would have been great but I’m sure there is someone out there who could come in and do the job.

[RichardBatchelor]

The article is full of projections and assumptions. It doesn’t speak for me. I liked him as a player, he was a rubbish manager for us but it’s nothing personal.

[SaddVillan]

I think Purslow has one shit managerial appointment left in him.

He’s had one. Fucked it up.

Next is crucial for everyone. Not sure I trust him to nail it.

Think he's only gone and done it.

Assuming of course, that he was the person responsible for landing Emery.