Past Managers, Love or Hate?

[N'ZMAV]

SGT1 : loved.  Exactly who we needed at the time.  Should never have allowed Ellis to talk him into returning in 2002 though.  Losing to Small Heath twice tarnished him, though still did some good things.

Venglos: respected   Lovely guy, but wrong place at wrong time

Atkinson: Loved.  Villa through and through and did some great things.  Cup win probably saved him though as our league form from mid 93 to end of 94 was ropey at best.

SBL: Loved.  Rare example of brilliant as a player and brilliant as a manager as well.  Ran out of steam towards the end though.

Gregory:  indifferent.  No doubt loved the club, but also loved himself a bit too much as well.

D'OL:  Despised.  Utter arsehole who repeatedly took the piss out the fans and couldn't stop talking about Leeds.

M'ON:  indifferent. Wasted a huge chance to build a legacy by doing everything on the short term.  Moscow drove a wedge between him and the fans that never healed.  Unforgivable to walk out when he did.

Houllier:  indifferent.  Turning up at his first press conference in a bloody red tie told you how it was going to end.

Mcleish:  indifferent.  Couldn't blame him for taking the job,  but would have had to win the quadruple to win people over.

Lambert:  disliked.  Supported his appointment, but got spooked by getting battered at Chelsea and he never recovered.  Broke record after record, but all the shit ones.

Sherwood:  Disliked.  Played up to the flash cockney geezer and made self-preservation an art.

Garde:  disliked.  Was out of his depth from the start, but never had a chance with what he inherited.

RDM:  disliked.  Never good enough.  Far too lazy and dined out on luckiest champions league win ever.

Bruce:  indifferent.  Did some good things,  but was beginning to undo them when he left.  Got to preoccupied with taking digs at the fans.

Smith:  loved.  United the club and brought us back to the top flight.  Sad day when he left, but it was the right time as it saved things turning nasty.

Gerrard:  wanker.  Completely rubbed the players up the wrong way to the point where they wouldn't play for him.

Emery:  love.  Completely changed the club.  Just needs a trophy now.

agree 100%

[Risso]

Jedi at CH, ah those were the days. After Bruce we could field a defence, just, but we did pretty much destroy James Chester in doing so as there was no one else.

Jedinak up front at Leeds after Bamford got Anwar sent off will never not be funny.

[Risso]

John Gregory I never warmed to. There was always something of the Ukip/Reform voter about him.

Is that fair? He's managed in Israel, Kazakhstan and India, which dosn't strike me as the sort of career path somebody would take if they had any sort of antipathy to foreign types, or were a little Englander. The players and fans all absolutely loved him in India, by all accounts.

[Beard82]

Been thinking about this and whats interesting is my opinion at the time was different than it is now.

BFR - (Then) Loved, (Now) Always shaded by his ITV sacking. 

SBL = (t)Loved, (n)loved -Brilliant

JG - (t)Indifferent, (n)Like - spoilt by the last 2 managers - but now group in "the good time"

GT (t)Indifferent, (n)Like - Always liked him, but didn't think it was the right appointment.

DOL (t)Indifferent, (n)mild dislike, was pleased when he was appointed - but also pleased when he left.  As grown older - released he is an unlikeable person. 

MON (t) Liked, (n)mild dislike - as above

GH (t) Indiffernt, (n) indifferent

McLeish (t) Hated, (n) indifferent.  Signaled giving up then.  Now, better than some of the shite that came after.

Lambert (t) Liked, (n) indifferent - don't think he did too bad considering, massively limited, rubbish football

Sherwood - (t) disliked, (n) disliked - bit of a twat - mostly harmless

RG - (t) indifferent, (n) indifferent - couldn't pick him out of a line up

RDM - (t) indifferent, (n) indifferent - at least it was brief

SB - (t) indifferent, (n) Mild like - he did ok, and stopped it from becoming more of a shit storm then it needed to be.  limited but amazing author.

Deano - (t) Loved, (n) Loved - for me at least, gave me a connection back to the club - gave me some of my favorite times supporting the club - laid a lot of good foundations and a top guy. 

SG - (t) Dispised, (n) mild dislike - Was against from the start - was obvious CP would go for him, so guess we had to get that out of the system.  Was worried it signaled that as a club we didn't have a clue, and played out exactly as expected.   He was promoted above his pay grade but was always going to be our next manager when Deano left.  At least no long-term damage was done.  He will probably be England manager at some point

Unai Love - every day I think about how this is a match made in heaven.  Could be dynasty-level kind of stuff

[SoccerHQ]

As time has gone on I think McLeish's season looks (slightly) better than it did.

His issue was of course coming here after relegating SHA playing terribly negative football. He also joined when we'd finished 6th just 12 months previously so his appointment wasn't aligned with where we thought the club should go back to rather than the massive austerity drive that was just starting.

I think like most of the fanbase we all just sat with our arms folded in a muted fashion up to the December as results were solid if unspectacular. Then he played Hutton right midfield at Spurs and all hell brook loose.

That typical Villa season in the 2010s where we actually had some decent results on the road but were poor at VP. Can remember a fantastic out of nowhere 3-1 at Chelsea in the xmas period and winning at Wolves with a couple of cracking Robbie Keane goals was a game I fondly recall aswell.

He tried his best and was a decent bloke and seemed to have the respect of most of the squad back then although did chuckle at Stephen Warnock saying on a recent podcast he was reading from a statement when he was introducing himself on the first day of pre season.

We'd have finished higher if we hadn't lost Bent and Petrov for the final three months of that season. Think Dunne also did his shoulder and missed a few months aswell.

Considering Lambert came in and made us even more boring despite having better attackers his season looks a little better given what followed. Still should never have been put in that position mind.

[SoccerHQ]

From the ones in my supporting lifetime:

Total C-words: Gerrard, O'Leary
Clueless twat: Sherwood
Really rather bad: McLeish, Lambert, Garde, SGT Mk II, Houlier, Di Matteo, Bruce
Nearly, but not quite: O'Neill, Gregory
A nice idea, but no: Dr Jo
Some great football but I cannot forgive the choice of language: Atkinson
Heroes: SGT, Little, Smith
Divine: Emery

Agree with 99% of that.
I liked McLeish, nice bloke - I wonder if he would have been better than Bruce if he had joined us at at that time instead?

McLeish I think would've been better after a Lambert type. He followed MON/Houllier so expectations were we should still be pushing for europe/top 8 regardless of who we were selling.

If it was just keep us up on a low budget and introducing young players he'd have probably just about kept on doing it like he did in 11/12.

It's basically the job Dyche is being asked to do at Everton, keep them up with little spending until they move into the new ground.

[SoccerHQ]

I forgot Houllier completely. He would probably into the ego category.

Houllier was basically the managerial equivalent of signing Ginola or Pires. Very good in his prime as he showed rebuilding Liverpool from nearly men in the 90s to a decent European force but he was never going to do the same here, not least due to his health which cut short his one season here.

Back then we really need an Emery type given we'd just finished 6th three years running.

Looking at the list and it's baffling why we persisted with solid but unspectacular British managers for so long.

Find a decent European coach, back him and you'll be comfortable top half at the very least as many other clubs showed in the 2000s.

[VillaTim]

Houllier did sign Pires didn't he ? Pires did not age well on a football field , ran about like an OAP.

[PeterWithesShin]

To have only had 5 overseas managers, and 3 of them were already well experienced in England, possibly explains why we've been shit for so long.

[SoccerHQ]

To have only had 5 overseas managers, and 3 of them were already well experienced in England, possibly explains why we've been shit for so long.

That's what disappointed me about the second half of the Lerner ownership. If you're going to cut costs and sign cheaper players at least appoint a manager who has a good grasp of foreign markets.

I guess that was the thinking behind trying to get in Martinez in summer 2011 as he'd signed some unknowns at Wigan who'd done well from Latin America and elsewhere.

Instead we went from wanting a Martinez to a McLeish and just following the conservative and dull British route.

In some respects having a complete control freak like O'Neill as manager was actually the best appointment for Lerner as meant he didn't have to find competent people to fill in technical director/DOF roles. Again we later saw what a disaster that was in the final 18 months.

Probably the one manager I quite liked who's seen as a general disaster is Sherwood.

Took over when we were on one of our endless scoring droughts but quickly got Benteke scoring, gave a chance to Grealish when he was still a complete novice and that Liverpool cup SF was genuinely outstanding in how comfortable we looked. Which made the complete surrender in the final more disappointing.

He did what was required though. All the talk then of him not wanting the foreign players but he stayed played likes of Gana,Ayew and Amavi at least. Had no chance with Gestede effectively being Benteke's replacement and went early enough in that season for us still to have some chance of staying up.

Also still speaks well enough of us in interviews compared to Bruce or Lambert.

[PeterWithesShin]

I've said this before about Sherwood. And the QF and SF will always be in the memory as 2 fantastic days.

I think that Sherwood was exactly what we need when he was appointed. I think sometimes we forget how bad things were when he arrived. Pretty much everyone thought we were down after that Hull defeat and 'performance'. We needed a cocky fecker to come in and use enthusiasm and cockiness etc to lift everything, players and fans. It sounds stupid now but his "A sherwood team wins" kind of guff was needed.

I also think he was exactly what we didn't need to be in charge at the start of the following season.

[adrenachrome]

I've said this before about Sherwood. And the QF and SF will always be in the memory as 2 fantastic days.

I think that Sherwood was exactly what we need when he was appointed. I think sometimes we forget how bad things were when he arrived. Pretty much everyone thought we were down after that Hull defeat and 'performance'. We needed a cocky fecker to come in and use enthusiasm and cockiness etc to lift everything, players and fans. It sounds stupid now but his "A sherwood team wins" kind of guff was needed.

I also think he was exactly what we didn't need to be in charge at the start of the following season.

Good analysis.
As I used to say: "Positivity without a plan".
He gave us a much needed boost, but was never going to last without a good DoF.

[dave.woodhall]

John Gregory I never warmed to. There was always something of the Ukip/Reform voter about him.

Is that fair? He's managed in Israel, Kazakhstan and India, which dosn't strike me as the sort of career path somebody would take if they had any sort of antipathy to foreign types, or were a little Englander. The players and fans all absolutely loved him in India, by all accounts.

I don't do rational.

[brontebilly]

Houllier really was awful, worse than DOL in how dismissive he was of the club and the players. Fawning over Liverpool at every turn.

[Rory]

John Gregory I never warmed to. There was always something of the Ukip/Reform voter about him.

Is that fair? He's managed in Israel, Kazakhstan and India, which dosn't strike me as the sort of career path somebody would take if they had any sort of antipathy to foreign types, or were a little Englander. The players and fans all absolutely loved him in India, by all accounts.

I don't do rational.

I don't remember too much about Gregory, but as a child at the time he definitely scared me. I wasn't prepared for him after the gentleness of Brian.