sharkyvilla

Given by miles

I'm really amazed at the negative opinions of Di Matteo. I thought he handled himself brilliantly, showed variety in his tactics and best of all won. Apart from a 12 game period his managerial career has been almost total success, he's only 41 and hungry. I can see why peope may prefer other candidates, in fact I do too, but he would not be a bad appointment at all. Managers need to have had a bad spell in order to learn and get things right in the long term, which is possibly why he succeeded where AVB didn't. It was hard for AVB to turn things round at Chelsea because he had never experienced anything other than glory. He will be a much better manager now because of it I feel, and I hope we can convince him to come here. If not then Di Matteo would be high up on my shortlist.

If someone tried to make him a defensive midfielder he'd probably take it upon himself to go upfield and score a hattrick every game

Not that far-fetched but I can't see Ole going back on his word having made a very public statement, he just doesn't seem like that kind of person to me. I think it's more likely that we have a first-choice and Ole was impressive but not enough to usurp him. Why it is taking so long is anyone's guess.

True, we needed a left-back and he had been excellent for Blackburn and on the fringe of the England squad, in his mid-20s. £8m was a fair price at the time. It's more the wages and length of contract that were a disaster, added to the multitude of other disasters O'Neill saddled us with.

Aye I think it's time Randy said screw it and got in Poyet

God that picture of Lennon makes me feel ill. The thought of him at our club. I would actually prefer McLeish back

It will no doubt drop to a point. I still harbour a hatred towards Chelsea because of what they did, but they never did it to Citeh's degree. I think Citeh's 'tax' will stay very high for a long long time. And United never had the concerted spending that Citeh have had. United's has been organic growth with a big signing here or there. They've done it the 'right' way over time. Utd were fortunate in that their domination started at the exact same time as the Premier League explosion, as well as the Champions League going from strength to strength. This allied to the fact that they could add 30,000+ seats to Old Trafford with an ease that the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea have struggled meant their wealth outstrips everyone else's to such a degree that without the billionaire oil barons buying clubs, the Premier League would be so uncompetitive that it would be a joke. It would be even worse than Spain being a shootout between Barca and Real.

I think anyone who does a half-decent job will get us to 8th. I'd be disappointed with lower than that.

Yeah, it's almost as if nobody has a **** clue what's happening. I have to tip my hat to Randy for that at least, assuming he does actually have a **** clue what's happening himself. He doesnt. This is no different to the past two appointments.... A woeful list of candidates. Nowt happening for weeks Countless Favourites People turning us down. I reckon that's a bit harsh. It's been less than two weeks and the statement on what the club wants is a bit more encouraging this time round, and who we have been linked with aren't woeful for the most part.

Yeah, it's almost as if nobody has a **** clue what's happening. I have to tip my hat to Randy for that at least, assuming he does actually have a **** clue what's happening himself.

I'm looking forward to seeing what he can offer. He's the kind of signing that the likes of Fulham make on the quiet and they turn into really good Premier League footballers rather than like us blowing millions on overrated garbage.

Dunno but I'm sure he searched me when getting into Lord's on Monday. Could possibly have just been someone who looked like him.

Excuse the ignorance but who is FSW? I'm racking my brains and can't work it out Rafa Benitez = Fat Spanish Waiter Haha **** how did I miss that. Not sure he'd be a good fit tbh

Excuse the ignorance but who is FSW? I'm racking my brains and can't work it out

Yeah someone will be picking up a decent keeper that will just be starting to enter his peek. Good luck to him.

Guardiola Seriously by deduction it leaves Poyet or Di Matteo, unless they can convince AVB. Does Rijkaard still count as young? I'd love a bit of Dutch flavour at the club but I think he's manager of Saudi Arabia which I would have thought is rather well-paid.

Well, on the basis that RL and/or PF have actually met and held discussions with OGS (rather than just watching a YouTube video and whipping themselves up into a frenzy), one has to assume that they know more about him than you and have valid reasons for not pushing more aggressively for a deal. We've also only been without a manager for 10 days. I don't understand why people are panicking. Liverpool and West Brom haven't filled their manager positions either and are probably at a similar stage of recruitment as us. Solskjaer is the only one we know that has been interviewed and that was just by pure chance that Treesy works at the airport. I can be certain that the club hasn't spent the last 10 days just trying to get Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and he's stuck two fingers up at them. It sounds like they have someone they prefer to Solskjaer and are taking their time to make sure it is done properly.

Not sure about that, Di Matteo did much better with Chelsea than AVB by getting the best out of the players rather than upsetting them. We saw with Houllier how successful coming in and upsetting everyone is. Either way I'm sure AVB will be eyeing up a much higher-profile job than the Villa, no matter how much Randy wanted him.

Absolutely, they get far too hard a ride as far as I'm concerned

Tough one because it seemed that the whole fanbase had been behind Solskjaer. Poyet for me with Steve Clarke as assistant would be the perfect combination of good football and passion with a bit of steel.

My feeling is that they did make it clear he was first choice but Molde have made it as difficult as possible for him, and he's decided to have a go at qualifying for the Champions League, with the family reasons just an excuse to save everyone's reputation. He's still young after all and will get a chance at some point in the Premier League, no need for him to rush. It would have been nice if it came off but shit happens.

Insane bollocks if you ask me

I agree totally. I'm sure Randy wants above all else VP to be full every week and linking us to Solskjaer has certainly galvanised the support, judging from on here. There is something that just feels right about him, but it will take time for changes to take place.

That youtube video had a Manc coach, can't remember his name, who he clearly took from the reserves with him. I think we could genuinely expect him to try and follow the Fergie model. I'd also love Laursen to come back but I think he'd be a better manager in his own right in the long term.