DCJonah

Is this the year the villa fans turn on randy Lerner?

I think the squad is very poor. We have a poor defensive unit. No strength in midfield and only one player we can rely on for regular goals. I think this squad could be in real trouble this year.

If he's healing this quick and will be going along with pre season I'd imagine clubs may show an interest this window.

The thing is what decent player is going to join a club where the owner and manager could potentially change in the near future? I think only older players with no other real options will be joining this summer.

Was thinking the same. Get him signed up

Why would anyone blame McLeish? He's just one person in a line of people who have made poor decisions at this club. The issue has been and currently is the owner.

I'd be a lot more excited about this if he was part of a new management team starting a new plan. I think Keane has the potential to be a good assistant manager.

Probably because he knows its not a long term thing.

I'm not sure that's true. I don't think it's enough to just say "I was a great player so listen to me." If that was the case then surely all the best managers and coaches would be past top class players.

This approach works for some, though I fear it to be the exception rather than the rule. There is no doubt he drilled people hard and wanted the best the whole time but in our dressing room I feel he is going to alienate more people than he drives to success. Yet the person he knows him and knows our dressing room clearly thinks otherwise. But to be fair that person also thought the previous two would be positive for the club. IMO I don't think the Keane appointment is a negative and I don't believe he's going to bully players. On the flip side I'm not sure what impact he can have on poor players and if tactically, he has different ideas to Lambert.

As do I.

I think bad coaching, Lambert not being able to organise a defence and our desire to hoof the ball results in our defence being bombarded and looking poor.

So where will he be used? Will Lambert finally play a winger in a wide position or will he be our attacking midfield player?

I think given our situation giving a player like herd a chance in an area we're weak in isn't a bad idea.

I'd say its slowly dying. Season ticket sales are decreasing, we're becoming financially weaker than other clubs, the reputation of the club is getting worse and if we continue to battle relegation each year we will slip away at some point.

This. How much impact can an assistant manager really have? Especially one who is only a short term, part time appointment.

Not sure if its good news or nothing news.

Howard Hodgson has posted a fairly detailed plan on TBAR.

Delph, herd, Cole looks a better midfield 3 than what we had most of last season.

Wouldn't be against giving him a chance in midfield. Always looked OK there when he's had a chance.

I can't see someone buying us in January. Too much risk involved in regards the chances of us being relegated. I think any new owner will want a summer window to ensure their new purchase stays up.

I believe our lowest Premier League home attendance is 17,940. Do you still feel we may break it this season? Really its that low? No chance then.

I'd agree the way we ended the season has an effect on the optimism, or lack of at the moment. But I'm not sure I'd say it was just the last quarter. I think we picked up 18 pts from the 2nd half of the season. I think apart from a couple of games the whole second half was very poor. I think my lack of optimism comes from I don't really see how we're going to improve that much from how we finished the season.

Me and my family renewed basically right on the deadline. It was something we really thought long and hard about. And if i'm honest I currently regret my decision. What's our lowest premier league attendance? I have a feeling we may break it this season.

I think they can brand him worst premier league manager as there's a case to argue that last year was our worst season in the premier league. I don't agree that it's the worst, but even if it was that doesn't really mean a great deal when you consider the conditions he had to work under with regards to injuries and spending. To be honest I think people exaggerate how bad last season was just a little bit. It was poor yes, but up until the end of March (and Benteke's injury) it felt like a pretty non-eventful season where we weren't challenging for anything but weren't in any danger of going down either. Lambert's first season was much worse for me. See I'm the opposite, I thought last season worse. I'd disagree about it feeling non eventful till march, I always felt we were liable to drop down the league. I think you have to take account the constraints he's worked under but at the same time I think the last couple of seasons justify the case put forward that he could be our worst premiership manager.