Papillon

Yeah that would be a very good idea. Revenue goes down because fans are not buying season tickets, sales must be down as well in the official stores, players must be reading the newspapers shaking their heads in disbelief, Downing has probably packed his bag in instant reaction, Young is laughing all the way to Manchester and players who fancied going here must really love the way things are going. So all in all, that plan is awesome!

Proven Premier League experience? Experience in relegating his team over and over? That Charles Krulak is a puppet without any football knowledge is obvious, but the other advisors used by Lerner must seriously be changed.

I too find the graffiti atrocious. However, that is what happens when you make absolutely headshaking decisions at top level. Every fanbase have morons, and they show their capability in desperate hours...

A fortress? Birmingham City scored the least amount of goals at home this season. A measly 19 goals! They won 6 games out of the 19, which is also pretty grim. So is this what we aspire to do? Last season we took more points than them at home, we scored more goals and we let in fewer as well. They lost 5 games at home, which may sound like very few, but all in all it's roughly the same as Bolton, Stoke, Wigan, Newcastle and West Bromwich. See a pattern? Their ultradefensive approach may force them to a decent protocol in terms of goals, but they don't win either and it wrecks the whole point. Remember also that we were abysmal last season, still managed to beat their ass comfortably.

How many Italian fans do we have? Like 12?

Watch Young take Downing with him out the door. And when Darren Bent notches in 15 goals before Christmas, watch him escape to the first club coming here knocking. He went from Sunderland because they weren't progressing under a dire manager. Then we go on and make contact with a fool even under him in the pecking order!

Abandon ship!!

The message this sends out to our players, the disrespect our fans get and the absolute no chance we have of getting better players.... It is there for all to see. Hiring Houllier, a person well past his top and out of the modern game, was a big error. Then they go on to get Alex McLeish - a person who has basically never performed anything worth mentioning. What he has done in Scotland is totally uninteresting, winning up there is got to do with beating one opposition side - namely Celtic. When this guy gets appointed, it will leave anger and sad faces on almost all our supporters. Attendances will go down drastically, revenue will follow that pattern of course, players will not opt to join us, our best players will leave the ship instantly (see what happens with Downing now!) and the most loyal guys will turn on him faster than any other manager. Hiring a rubbish ginger, walking cathastrophe of a manger who used to be Birmingham material? And he got them relegated two times!?!? This is the best man you can come up with? There is something seriously rotten going on at AVFC.

Birmingham would never relegate under Jose Mourinho. Their team is better than relegation, just like West Ham, but under the wrong manager the players will not perform out of their skin. And no, him taking this job has got nothing to do with guts. He is out of a job, he is never going to get a better offer from a better clubs - because all other chairman know what limited ability he will bring. Not just to the pitch and in terms of final placement in the table, but his lack of flair, lack of attacking tactics correlated with lack of people in the stands, players who would never joing because of him etc.

Responding to your message about not letting the fans picking the manager. Of course not, but the fans in this instance have a lot more knowledge to the game compared to you guys. And when this happens, this violent level of dismay - it should be a clear indication that you are making a huge, huge mistake at board level, once again. You failed miserably the last time, and this time you are forking out people two levels under Houllier. The man has no pull when it comes to acquiring the right players (because he has never worked with any good players), he has relegated twice with a team good enough to stay up and he plays horrible football. He is known for his defensive and boring style of football, so how come you are interested? In the end of the end, the fans that matters (economically) are the ones that needs to be pursuaded to come to Villa Park. I was there once last season, even though I do not live in the country, but do not expect people like me to make an effort to go over when the team is uninspiring. Appointing Alex McLeish is like saying you want to have 32.000 people on the ground, how is that for financial planning?

The most depressing thing about McLeish isn't his brand of football actually, it's the fact that he will not persuade a single class player to come here. Imagine sitting at a table with that ugly, ginger bastard looking at you. Doesn't exactly scream ambition does it?

Tactics is actually an important word here as well. Imagine the board leaking false stories to hike up the general perception of Hughes/Martinez. What is quite obvious right now is that I would have kept Houllier with open arms. And I would have loved to have Mark Hughes on board, Martinez too!

Hiring Alex McLeish would be a travesty, a real decline in expectations and such a letdown. You know exactly what you get from him... he has no potential to evolve or show a few tricks up his sleeve. He is just plain dull, and he has relegated twice the last few seasons? What track record is that!? So he won a Carling Cup, but we all know that is mostly down to luck and teams underperforming against them. If this is the sole person best equipped in the world to take over a club such as ours, then I would have to say that I don't think our board know what the hell they are doing. And Charles Krulak coming on here talking about war strategies gets as worthless as his role in the Villa board itself.

What annoys me the most today is Graham Taylor, the guy who explicitly showed what happens when you do not perform the needed due diligence on a new manager. People like him disgust me, people who have done very little to deserve the money he is sitting on right now. And why is he allowed an opinion? The last time he managed here he did a disasterous job, a totally inept performance and he was sacked. So I ask again, why is his opinion valid and worth an article in the newspapers? Atrocious!

I **** hate Twitter. A bunch of grown up men using "txt lingo", acting like small children serving gossip without any validity. And there is no jurisdiction or organ watching over each person is there? So every journo for every shitty newspaper in this country can serve us puke without any legal consequences, even though he is clearly acting on behalf of his newspaper.

Sure going to Villa would be a sideways step for Moyes, nobody in the world is denying that. However, that is not important at all anymore. Because the top clubs are never going to give him a job so we can leave that out of the question. The difference with Villa and Everton is of course that he will have money and new opportunities. He has reached the optimum level at Everton and the squad is slowly declining in ability without him being able to buy new players. Perhaps not a big reason to change a comfortable life situation, but you never know.

I am young-ish still, at 25 years old. However, one of the things that makes me the most despressed in the world is when grown-ups use TXT-speak on Twitter.... **** embarressment

Comparing Bruce and Martinez is not worthwhile at all. Why? Age and different squads, the latter being totally uninteresting as well. History is full of managers getting that ONE big chance to form their careers. And history is full of people switching jobs all the time, never performing any better elsewhere. Steve Bruce is the definition of mediocre, he will never bring any club forward. Martinez, he is talented. What he has done with crappy Wigan does not judge him completely in my view. He is very young, managers need time to develop their gamebook.

Martinez is one of those people I regard to have a high potential. It's of course very difficult to determine potential ability for a manager as opposed to a player, but I just have that feeling. Saying that, this is desperate times for Lerner. Probably not first choice at all, but a lot more exciting one than McClaren. Lacks the pull to get us players though, and Young will leave no doubt about it. Probably Downing too. He is no Benitez in terms of reputation

When talking about "Bent meltdown" the only manager to cause such a scene would be Moyes. Ancelotti? Not really, he has been mentioned in the media and I think all should see the possible downside in having him here. A very expensive mistake so to speak.

In my opinion Rafa will at least raise the spirits of the players. Above all, he is very respected in world football. Take away the last year at Liverpool from his resume and nobody would put him outside the Elite list of managers in the world. The Inter season was bad, but I don't really think he was fit to manage at that time. He needed a break perhaps, which ultimately ended badly. When it comes to Moyes, he has created miracles for Everton - but would he do the same at Villa? Completely different team, system, city etc etc. Could have ended badly. All in all, a decent appointment if true. Better than MANY candidates, and will get us a few good players.

The one and only interesting thing here is of course; will he leave behind the antics from when he was last Liverpool manager? We have to remember that NO person would have survived the last year he had there, pressure was way too high and he didn't have the money to spend. In many ways it looked like he was working his way out - getting a hefty package from the owners as well. Above all, he is a very good manager. However, his Internazionale failure leaves dark clouds on his resume without a doubt. Certainly better than many candidates, especially rubbish like McClaren and Curbishley. My first pick would of course be David Moyes like all the rest of you, as I think Ancelotti would have been a very bad match. Would he fit into the system living in Birmingham, managing a club without the glamour like he is used to? Don't think so, I believe he would have grown tired in a very short time. Rafa? Can be exactly the same, but not far from the top of the list when it comes to international influence. Can attract star players.