Fazilla

The first payment for my season ticket is due in 3 days - I hope if it is McLeish it's done before then so I can cancel my direct debit.

I am going to renew my season ticket tomorrow because I support Villa much more tham any hatred of a rival team.

I would prefer Hughes or Moyes but if it is McLeish so be it.

It will sort the real supporters out. Those who really love Villa will follow the club no matter who is the manager.

When I was young my father said, son I have something to say and what he told me I'll never forget until my dying day. He said son you are a Villa fan and that's the way you'll stay, happy to be a Villa fan until your dying day.

Skybet now have FSW at 1/6...very short odds. Very scary :shock:

Ive also noticed that things are very quiet regarding his future, other than his desire to stay in England.

I think its a strong a possibility he has already agreed to take over the reigns of another club, but is it us?

Why are most not in favour of FSW?

1. Barrygate.

2. Negative tactics.

3. Being fat.

4. Having a wild beard.

5. Poor signings for top dollar such as Babel, Aquilani and Keane.

Why do people always nail the 'bad' signings?

Torres, Xabi Alonso, Reina?

People nail his bad signings because all of his better signings were in his early years at Liverpool. If I was confident he could bring in the quality of Torres, Alonso and Reina to Villa I would back him.

However, his last year at Liverpool and his spell at Inter were poor. He also chopped and changed his team for no apparent reason, which used to frustrate their supporters.

Skybet now have FSW at 1/6...very short odds. Very scary :shock:

Ive also noticed that things are very quiet regarding his future, other than his desire to stay in England.

I think its a strong a possibility he has already agreed to take over the reigns of another club, but is it us?

Why are most not in favour of FSW?

1. Barrygate.

2. Negative tactics.

3. Being fat.

4. Having a wild beard.

5. Poor signings for top dollar such as Babel, Aquilani and Keane.

Was there a lap of honour at the end of the 05/06 season (DOLs last match)? I don't remember going to that one.

Yes there was a lap of honour and DOL was getting loads of abuse from even the docile supporters in the North Stand.

ancelloti? mourinho?

what the f... are you lot smoking? ancelloti wants to win more champions leagues, as does mourinho, avfc may not be the ideal club to do that with right now...

I honestly don't think Mourinho is that far fetched. It's fact that he wants to return to England and the Man Utd job isn't free any time soon...neither is arsenal. Chelsea he won't go back to so the only really feasible clubs left are spurs and man city. If he was offered the Villa job with a sizeable wage (sticking issue) then I'm sure he'd consider it at least. Trouble is I cant see the board having the ambition to even think about approaching him let alone offering enough in terms of wages and transfer kitty.

i want some of what your on

Crack cocaine, I swear by it.

Seriously though is not worth an approach? How are we going to ever improve if we dont show some ambition. Think of the scenes at Villa Park the day O'Neill was appointed...now imagine for a second what it would be like if Jose was appointed!

Is it wrong to dream a dream?

Jose is the man. Go for it Randy.

I agree with Mark Draper (Tim), why not offer it to Jose. He is probably fed up with all the politics at RM and might relish the challenge of turning a club like Villa into a real force again.

What does 'Tim' mean? :?

Think we should start a Mourinho to Villa campaign

That was Draper's nickname at Villa. Tim - nice but dim.

Good point on Ancelloti.

If the club have got the ambition they say they have then we should be short listing managers of the following calibre: Martin Jol, David Moyes, Ancelloti w/ Wilkins, Paul Lambert (bottom of the pile but as a gamble).

And while we're at it why not offer Mourinho the job - it's well known that he wants to return to England and to work on a long term project with a club in the Premier League - why not sound him out and break the bank for him! The worst that could happen is that he'd say No!

The probable list I fear though is more along the lines of Rafael Benitez, Allardyce, Curbishley et al.

My big worry is Benitez, yes he probably has the best CV of anyone out of work and undoubtedly has achieved a lot in football but I just don't see how he would 'fit' with Aston Villa Football Club. Appointing Benitez would almost certainly end in tears.

Please Randy do not appoint Benitez. He was effectively sacked by Liverpool and Inter Milan so why would he be successful at Villa?. Some of his last signings were poor, he constantly changed the team and employed negative tactics.

We do not want another Liverpool reject. Collymore, Baros and Houllier is enough for any club. None of them have been any good and Benitez would be the same.

However, as he is out of work and it would not upset any other club if we employed him, I fear this is the option we will take.

I agree with Mark Draper (Tim), why not offer it to Jose. He is probably fed up with all the politics at RM and might relish the challenge of turning a club like Villa into a real force again.

I find it very strange that Ireland was given a contract worth £65,000 a week. We are led to believe that one of the reasons that MON left was his refusal to cut the wage bill, but as soon as he is gone we give Ireland a monster contract.

I can't see any club being prepared to pay him anywhere near the contract he is on at Villa. Therefore, we are likely to be stuck with him for the next three years. I think that the only way Man City got rid of him was to pay him off, but Ireland still managed to break his confidentiality clause and may not get his money.

He will probably be happy to do a Beye and play in the reserves while he costs us a fortune.

moyes is an interesting choice, i'm not sure he'd come right now, but maybe a fresh start for him would spur him on to break the glass ceiling he seems to have found with the toffees.

ranieri is getting on a bit but i like him and he'd probably build a decent squad and leave us better off in the long run.

jol would probably like another crack at the prem, and his tottenham side was a good one.

lot of speculation though, when are we going to know if houllier is staying?

The easy option for Randy is to stick with Houllier and MacAllister and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they are both there at the start of next season.

However, given the doubts about Houllier's health I think this would be the wrong choice, not to mention how bad results have been.

he did build a great chelsea side and a great valencia side. he also worked miracles at juve and they went into freefall without him. the roma job was a bad one to take on but he's from rome and couldn't resist. i don't know enough about atletico to comment.

from what he did at chelsea though he could be a good appointment in the way that he would buy well to compliment what we have...

i'd much rather him than fat sam any day, or rafa...

I do not want him, fat sam or rafa. He may have built a great side at Chelsea, but he was given alot of money. Could he do the same at Villa with a much smaller budget and a brief to cut the wage bill?

He has been awayy from the premiership since 2004 and I think he would find it tough to come back, just like Houllier did.

well, let's agree to disagree about mou then!

ranieri? i quite like the idea...

Claudio Ranieri as next Villa manager, do I not like that.

He is another old manager who has seen better days.

The tinkerman has been sacked by Chelsea, Valencia and Juventus and resigned from Roma and Atletico Madrid before they could give him the boot.

I thought villas-boas was mourinho type anti football?

No way. I watch alot of Portuguese football and Porto have been fantastic this season. In the last two games I saw them play over the easter holidays they beat Benfica away 3-1 and beat Villareal 5-1.

Look at what has happened with Porto this season. They appointed Andre Boas who is 33 years old with no playing pedigree. They have just won the league and cup and are are on the verge of the Europa Cup final.

Except Porto wasn't his first job... his work at academica got him the porto job.. getting them to mid table and promoting "attractive football" ... I understand what your trying to say though as it's a gamble.

I would rather us take a gamble on an up and coming manager than take an older manager who has failed elsewhere.

However, does Faulkner have the footballing knowledge to find that person?

Moyes was an inexperienced manager at Preston when Everton took a chance on him and I think he has done a fantastic job there. Perhaps somebody like Lambert could do a similar job for us and given our greater spending power even get us challenging for a CL spot.

Benitez was sacked with Inter in 7th place in Serie A. I could have done better with that team.

One of the things that used to annoy Liverpool fans with Benitez was his negative tactics. He would also constantly be changing the team even if it had just had a good result. He would rest Torres when he was on fire and as a result Liverpool under achieved.

It really is up to Faulkner to do his research and find us a manager who can take us places.

Look at what has happened with Porto this season. They appointed Andre Boas who is 33 years old with no playing pedigree. They have just won the league and cup and are are on the verge of the Europa Cup final.

Although I would be happy to see Hughes or Moyes, I am open to suggestions from Faulkner. The trouble is I reckon that most Villa fans know more about football than him.

I remember when Villa appointed Ron Saunders as manager. The majority of Villa fans didn't want him as he had done poorly at Man City, but within a month we had changed our minds and he turned out to be the best manager we have ever had by a country mile.

Benittez may have won the European Cup and Spanish title, but if he was that good Liverpool would have kept him. Houllier has won the French title and cups in England. That did not make him right fo Villa.

My mate is a Liverpool season ticket holder and he was not impressed by his transfer dealings towards the end of his time there (Keanne £19m and Aquilani £17m). However, I will admit that he made three great signings in Alonso £11m, Reina £6m and Torres £20m in his early years at Anfield.

I just think that Moyes or Hughes would be able to work within the budget that Randy is likely to put in place. He wants to cut the wage bill and I am not convinced that Benitez could do it and still keep Villa competitive. Moyes in particular has shown that he can work within a tight budget.

I'm actually warming to the idea of Benitez, as long as he doesn't see us as a stepping stone back to Anfield or Spain. I think his comments about buying into a "plan" and the "academy" is very much aimed at Randy. There's not any other European Cup winning managers that are likely to come to Villa any time soon.

I really do not want another Liverpool reject. If he is not good enough for Liverpool he is not good enough for Villa. Given all the stick he has taken from the Holte End being a fat Spanish waiter, I think he would face the same sort of problems as Houllier.

It has to be Moyes or Hughes for me. Seeing Sidwell set up Fulham's second goal yesterday made me think that Hughes has given him the confidence that our managers never could.

Is Gardner ready for first team action because we need somebody who can drive us forward from midfield.

How did Bradley play?

You think J2M is a luxury we can't afford? After Petrov's inept performances for the majority of the season (barring Man City) I doubt we can use him instead. Delph has been up and down. NRC has done the simple things well all season, nothing spectacular, but as equally a good a job as Petrov apparently does.

Interesting to see that Bradley is playing for the reserves tonight. He could give us more presence in midfield than JM2.

I do not think it is fair to judge Bradley on one poor game at Man City.

Well the good news is he has done the oposite, staying no matter what apparently.

What a fantastic professional Downing is.

First of all he is asked to play on the right by Houllier. Has he moaned? No he has adapted.

I thought he was brilliant yesterday.

He has come out in support of the manager when all around him have been blaming any body but themselves.

For example, is the fact that we have conceded so many goals from set pieces Houllier's fault or just poor defending from international players?

I can't see properly whether that crossed the line. However that was a blatent dive from Jageilka.

I was directly in line with the ball and it did not look in to me. I think that the TV replay is inconclusive therefore a goal should not be given.

The penalty was harsh and typical of the luck we are getting. It is the first penalty they have been awarded this season. However, JM2 should have been replaced 10 mins earlier by Delph and then the problem would not have arisen.

Men of the match were the 3,000 Villa fans who backed the team to the hilt.

We need that sort of support for the Newcastle game.

Looking at their likely team we should win this.

Well I am glad you are so optimistic.

Would you have said the same ten minutes after the Wolves game?

I am going to the Everton game more in hope than great expectation that we will win.

Not decided if I'm going yet. No Idea how I'd get there. Cheapest I've found is 32.60 open return from NS to Lime Street. Anyone found anything cheaper or mind another to tag along as I'm likely to be by myself?

I am driving to the game and can give you a lift.

Deadly would have made a better choice from day one when it came to appointing a manager.l

In all fairness his choice of managers was pretty hit and miss.

Better than this..

Deadly brought in Dr Jo and I think he appointed Bingo Billy.

There wont be another manager because we don't have a strong enough owner to sack him imo. I'm starting to think its to late anyway, i dont think a new man could fix the mess that this prick has created. Fat Sam would be the only man to get us out of this mess imo.

The thought of the big boot up field with Big Sam is quite depressing, but if he could keep us up I would go for it. Give him a short term contract with a big bonus if he keeps us up.

He would probably put Bradley in midfield, bring Carew back in the summer, sign Samba and put Carlos at right back. At least we wouldn't concede so many goals from corners, but the football would be dreadful.